{"id":6956,"date":"2025-10-20T16:34:37","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T20:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creatureandcreator.ca\/?p=6956"},"modified":"2025-10-27T18:43:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T22:43:15","slug":"wang-wei-the-wheel-river-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creatureandcreator.ca\/?p=6956","title":{"rendered":"Wang Wei: the Wheel River Poems"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image_pdf\"<\/a>\"image_print\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Wang Wei (\u738b\u7ef4; traditional \u738b\u7dad; pinyin, W\u00e1ng W\u00e9i<\/em>; 699\u2013761) was a Chinese musician, painter, and poet during the Tang Dynasty (618 to 907). He was a devout Buddhist and used the courtesy name Wang Weimojie in homage to the early Buddhist teacher and boddhisattva Vimalakirti <\/em>(Chinese name \u7dad\u6469\u8a70 W\u00e9im\u00f3j\u00ed<\/em>). Vimalakirti taught the practice of sunyata<\/em> (Sanskrit, emptiness; Chinese \u7a7a\u6027 K\u014dng x\u00ecng<\/em>), a meditative state wherein the mind is emptied of the self and becomes one with the universe. After a tumultuous life, Wang Wei retired to his villa on the Wang River about 40 km southeast of the imperial capital Chang\u2019an (present day Xi\u2019an). There he composed the W\u01cengchu\u0101n j\u00ed <\/em>(\u8f8b\u5ddd\u96c6 The Wheel River Collection): a set of twenty quatrains describing various locations near his villa. Each quatrain was accompanied by a reply from his prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Pei Di (\u88f4\u8fea pinyin, P\u00e9i D\u00ed, <\/em>714-?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Poet of the High Tang<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wang Wei was born to an aristocratic family in Shanxi province in northeast China. He was a precocious child and quickly showed his talents for music and painting. By 721 he had passed his imperial exams and was appointed as Court Musician in Chang\u2019an. Over the following years he continued with his music and painting, while serving in various official positions in the imperial court. In 755, the general An Lushan<\/em> instigated a revolt against the emperor. Within a year the rebels advanced on Chang\u2019an. The emperor and his court fled over the mountains to Sichuan in the West, but Wang Wei was captured and taken to the rebel capital of Luoyang some 350 km to the East. The imperial forces regrouped and defeated the rebels in 757, releasing Wang Wei. However, since Wang Wei had been forced to serve in the rebel government, he was indicted for treason. After finally being exonerated, Wang Wei retired to his villa on the Wang River, where he wrote the poems in the Wangchuan Ji<\/em> (Wheel River Collection). Wang Wei died in 761. Followers of An Lushan <\/em>continued fighting against the empire until 763.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although plagued by intense civil disorder, these times were remarkable for the glorious poetry that was written. Li Bai (701-762), Du Fu (712-770) and Wang Wei were the three greatest poets of a period that became known as the \u201cHigh Tang\u201d (Owen, 1981). Each of these poets had their own view of life: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wang Wei became known as the Poet-Buddha, Li Bai as the Poet-Immortal, and Du Fu as the Poet-Sage, respectively symbolizing Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian approaches in their poems. Accordingly, Wang Wei was characterized as the contemplative, Li Bai as the visionary, and Du Fu as the social conscience of the age. (Cartelli, 2019).<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Cartelli notes that these differences are far from categorical. The religious threads of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism are fully intertwined both in Chinese society (Ching, 1993; Hinton, 2020) and in the poetry of these three writers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wang Wei\u2019s nature poetry simply describes his experience of the world with little if  any interpretation or metaphorical explanation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wang\u2019s quatrains often ended in enigmatic understatement \u2013 a statement, a question, or an image that was so simple or seemed so incomplete that the reader was compelled to look beneath it for the importance. (Owen, 1981, p 38)<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Owen (1981, p 45) describes Wang Wei\u2019s state of mind as \u201cunselfconsciousness\u201d and relates it to the Buddhist idea of sunyata <\/em>(emptiness). Only if the mind is emptied can one become aware of truth. And truth perhaps differs between East and West:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in contrast to the West, in the Chinese tradition truth usually lay not behind a mask of orphic complexity but rather behind a mask of guileless simplicity. To draw on this philosophical tradition was to alter entirely the way in which poetry was read: what was said was no longer necessarily all that was meant, and the surface mood might not be the real mood. Particularly in the Wang Stream Collection<\/em>, we find poems that are visually complete but intellectually incomplete, which tease the reader to decipher some hidden truth. (Owen, 1981, p 39)<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yip (1972, p xi) remarks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a mode of consciousness in which there is no disturbance of intellectual impositions, no hurry-scurry to establish causal relations, each object or moment is given the fullest chance to emerge in spotlighting distinctiveness very much the way everything appears keenly fresh in the orbit of a child\u2019s vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paintings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Wang Wei was a renowned painter, none of his paintings have survived to the present day. Nevertheless, later artists made many copies and interpretations of his work. One of his most famous paintings was a scroll depicting the various locations mentioned in the Wangchuan Ji<\/em>. This essay will include images from three such copies: one by Guo Zhongshu<\/a> (929-279) now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, a copy of the Zhongshu scroll in The Freer Gallery<\/a> in Washington, and a much later scroll by Wang Yuanqi<\/a>, dated 1711, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. An intriguing website<\/a> provides images of a scroll together with translations of the Wangchun Ji<\/em> poems.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wheel River Poems<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The W\u01cengchu\u0101n j\u00ed <\/em>(\u8f8b\u5ddd\u96c6) is a collection of poems containing 20 quatrains (\u7d55\u53ef <\/strong>ju\u00e9j\u00f9<\/em>, <\/strong>literal meaning \u201ccut-off lines\u201d)by Wang Wei and 20 replies by his young prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Pei Di. Each line is composed of 5 characters in a format is known as \u4e94\u7d55 (W\u01d4ju\u00e9<\/em>). The poems describe various locations near Wang Wei\u2019s villa on the Wang River. The name of the river (\u8f8b W\u01ceng<\/em>, a different character from that in the poet’s name) specifically refers to the rim (felloes or felly) of a wagon wheel, and Hinton (2006) translates the title \u201cWheel-Rim River.\u201d The river was so named<\/p>\n\n\n\n

because of its small eddies and whirlpools which resembled wheels, or because of the spot at the mouth of the river where the current flowed around an island like a wheel (Wagner, 1981, p 88).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many authors have translated Wang Wei\u2019s contributions to the collection (e.g., Yu, 1980; Barnstone et al., 1991; Hinton, 2020), but only a few include the replies of Pei Di (Yip, 1972, Powell, 2019; Rouzer & Nugent, 2020). The general evaluation has been that Pei Di\u2019s poems were inferior to those Wang Wei. However, Pei Di was a talented young scholar, and a close reading of the poems shows that the pairing of the poems enhances their overall effect (Warner, 2005). This essay will consider five of the poems in the collection. For consistency and because of the sensitivity and precision of the translations, the English versions will all be from Hiding the Universe<\/em> by Wai-lim Yip (1972). The poems will be presented with Wang Wei on the left and Pei Di on the right. The translations will then be followed by the Chinese text, with Wang Wei above and Pei Di below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deer Park<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Empty mountain: no man is seen,                    Day in, day out, cold mountain in view.
But voices of men are heard.                            A wayfarer comes and goes alone;
Sun’s reflection reaches into the woods           Knows no things of the pine-forests
And shines upon the green moss.                    But tracks of buck and doe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The following is a reading of this poem from a website<\/a> associated with Zong-qi Cai\u2019s book on How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context <\/em>(2018).<\/p>\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/creatureandcreator.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ww-deer-park.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\n\n\n

The difficulty of translating this poem into English was the subject of Eliot Weinberger\u2019s book Seventeen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei<\/em> (1987). Chinese characters often have many meanings, and can be translated as nouns, verbs or adjectives, depending on the context. One difficulty with Wang Wei is his lack of a personal viewpoint. The ending of the first line is therefore better translated \u201cno one is seen\u201d rather than \u201cI see no one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presence of a deer park on Wang Wei\u2019s estate was probably related to Buddhist teachings. Gautama gave his first sermon, wherein he delineated the four noble truths and the eightfold way, at a deer park in Sarnath in Northern India. The Chinese character \u67f4 ch\u00e1i<\/em> now means \u201cfirewood,\u201d although it likely once also meant a \u201cfence,\u201d such as that enclosing a park.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opening word of the poem \u7a7a,k\u014dng<\/a><\/em> means empty or emptiness. Wang Wei is clearly alluding to the Buddhist concept of sunyata <\/em>(Yang, 2001; Stepien, 2014).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The characters \u8fd4\u666f translated as \u201creturning or reflected sunlight\u201d might simply mean the light from the setting sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complementary poem by Pei Di makes Wang Wei\u2019s feeling of emptiness extend over time as well as space. He also comments on the difference between the human wayfarer who knows nothing of the way of the forest, and the deer who are naturally attuned to its secrets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following illustration of the Deer Park is from the Zhongshu scroll in Tapei:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lakeside Pavilion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chinese hibiscus (Hibiscus x rosa sinensis<\/em>) is the most common variant of this showy flower. In China it often symbolizes success. The poem by Pei Di seems to occur after the party with the invited guests. The lake is now windswept, and the lonely cries of monkeys echo through the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following illustration shows the lakeside pavilion in the Wang Yuanqi scroll:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lake Yi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flute music rides beyond water’s reach.        Vast emptiness: lake has no limits.
Sun at dusk: to see my lord off.                     Blue glimmer: sky’s hue merges.
On the lake, merely turning my head:           Moor the boat with a long whistle:
Mountain’s green\u2014curling, white clouds.     From four sides clear winds come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chinese character \u9752 q\u012bng<\/em> can describe colors ranging from light green to deep blue. Many languages do not discriminate between green and blue, and the term \u201cgrue\u201d has been used for this range of colors (Bogushevsaya, 2015). One then takes the color from the context: in this pair of poems, one assumes that Wang Wei\u2019s mountain is green and that Pei Di\u2019s sky in blue. Modern Chinese has evolved the terms \u85cd<\/a> l\u00e1n<\/em> for blue and \u7da0<\/a> l\u01dc<\/em> for green, but the older word is still used. In following illustration of Lake Yi from Wang Yuanqi\u2019s scroll, the colors blue and green shade into each other. Pei Di mentions in his poem how the colors of the sky and the lake merge.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wang Wei\u2019s poem is set in peaceful weather. By the time of Pei Di\u2019s quatrain, a blustery wind has risen. The sound of the flute has changed to the more strident whistle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bamboo Grove<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sit alone among dark bamboos,                Have been to the Bamboo Grove,
Strum the lute and unloose my voice.         Daily to get close to the Way.
Grove so deep, no one knows.                    In and out, only mountain birds.
The moon comes to shine upon me.          Deep solitude: no men of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chinese guqin <\/em>is a plucked seven-stringed instrument favored by Chinese scholars. The illustration below shows an example (c 1700) from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The upper board of wutong<\/em> wood represents heaven, and the bottom board of zi<\/em> wood earth. The 13 studs (hui<\/em>) indicate positions for fingering. The strings are made of twisted silk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following is a reading of the Wang Wei poem from Librivox<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/creatureandcreator.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ww-bamboo-grove.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\n\n\n

Yu (1980, p 191) points out that the xi\u00e0o<\/em> referred to in the second line was<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a combination of Taoist breathing techniques and whistling which was said to express feelings and was associated with harmonizing with nature and achieving immortality; the word has also been translated as “humming,” “singing,” and “crooning,” The tradition of the Xiao began during the Jin dynasty and has always been linked with Taoism. Its most famous practitioner was Sun Deng, a friend of the poet Ruan Jiu whose Xiao was said to sound like a phoenix.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ideas of solitude and emptiness in the Wang Wei quatrain are extended in Pei Di\u2019s reply. He talks specifically about the Dao<\/em> (\u9053) commonly translated as \u201cThe Way\u201d \u2013  the underlying principle of the universe considered in Taoism. The character \u7121 wu<\/em>, a negative term (\u201cnot\u201d or \u201cno\u201d), is used in Taoism and Chan Buddhism to denote \u201cnonbeing\u201d or \u201cabsence\u201d (Hinton, 2020, pp 49-55). Thus, the ending of Pei Di\u2019s poem might be describing the state of mind wherein the world and its people have become nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following illustration shows the lodge in the bamboo grove as represented in the Freer gallery scroll:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poetry, calligraphy and painting \u2013 the \u201cthree perfections\u201d \u2013 are often combined in Chinese art (Sullivan 1974). The following illustration shows Wang Wei\u2019s poem about the Bamboo Grove as written by different calligraphers. On the right is regular script from Yip\u2019s Hiding the Universe: <\/em>this presents the quatrains of both Wang Wei and Pei Di. The other examples show only Wang Wei\u2019s contribution. From right to left: calligraphy from the Wangchuan Ji<\/em> scroll of Guo Zhongshu; from the scroll of Wang Yuanqi; modern cursive calligraphy by the Japanese artist Nakamura Furetsu<\/a> from around 1915.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pepper Orchard<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wang Wei\u2019s quatrain alludes to some ancient Chinese songs used to invoke the appearance of the Gods. Several of these songs were incliuded in the Juejie<\/em> (\u201cNine Songs\u201d) which were anthologized in the collection called Chuci<\/em> (\u201cSongs of the South,\u201d or \u201cSongs of Chu\u201d). The following is from the first of these songs (as translated by Hawkes and Liu, 1959, p 36):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Song to the Great Lord of the Eastern World<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a lucky day with an auspicious name.
Reverently we come to delight the Lord on High
We grasp the long sword’s haft of jade.
And our girdle pendants clash and chime
Jade weights fasten the god\u2019s jewelled mat.
Now take the rich and fragrant flower offerings
The meats cooked in melilotus, served on orchid mats,
And libations of cinnamon wine and pepper sauces!
Flourish the drumsticks and beat all the drums!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many different plants are used as gifts and food for the Gods. Cinnamomum cassia <\/em>is Chinese cinnamon, the bark of which is used as a spice. Pollia japonica <\/em>is a Chinese flowering plant that gives a strikingly beautiful (but inedible) iridescent purple fruit. Sichuan peppers are used to add spice to Chinese dishes. Melilotus <\/em>or sweet clover is a herb with an aroma like vanilla. The following illustration shows Pollia<\/em> fruit on the left and Sichuan peppers on the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pei Di\u2019s poem describes the pepper trees in the orchard without making any allusions to the invocation of the Gods. The thorns on the pepper tree are very prominent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following illustration shows a zun<\/em> and a ding<\/em>, ceremonial bronze vessels from the Shang dynasty (second millennium BCE). The zun<\/em> is from the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the ding<\/em> from the Shanghai Museum:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following illustration shows (on the left) the Pepper Tree Orchard from the scroll in the Freer Gallery. The neighbouring orchard (on the right) contains Lacquer Trees (Toxicodendron vernicifluum<\/em>), the sap of which is used in the production of lacquer. These trees are the subject of another pair of quatrains in the Wangchuan Ji<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Illusion and Reality <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferguson (1927, pp 73-74) suggested that the Wangchuan estate described in the poems and depicted on the scroll was more imaginary than real:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poem and the picture both represent Wang Ch\u2019uan as a place of splendor and magnificence, but this was the product solely of poetical license … Wang Wei could only have had a very humble cottage in this secluded spot. If it had been otherwise he would have attracted the attention of the rapacious myrmidons of the court, and the place would have been confiscated \u2026 Wang Wei\u2019s imagination \u2026 clothed a barren hillside with beautiful rare trees, with spacious courtyards, with a broad stream upon which boats plied and on whose bank stood a pretty fishing pavilion, with a deer park, with storks and birds\u2014all of the delights of eye and ear were brought together in this one lovely spot by the fancy of a brilliant genius. Life had been hard and severe for him, but his spirit was untamed. It reveled in all of the sensuous delights which it could spiritualize, even though it had spurned them when they were thrust upon it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Ferguson probably exaggerated the simplicity of Wang Wei\u2019s country home. Wagner (1981) claimed that it was far more than a \u201chumble cottage\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The villa had previously belonged to the Early T’ang poet Sung Chih-wen (ca. 663-712), but was apparently unoccupied for about thirty years between owners. When Wang Wei acquired the estate he had it repaired, and he may have personally supervised the design and reconstruction of its various houses, pavilions, gardens, and parks. Paintings and poems depict the estate as a large piece of property with elaborate residential buildings and landscape architecture: it was by no means a simple rustic hut hidden in the woods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, the scenes that Wang Wei and Pei Di described in the poems owe as much to poetic imagination as to reality. In this regard, we must wonder how the poems relate to Buddhism. The Buddhist idea of the perceived world is that it is illusion (maya<\/em>). What then is the imagined world? Does the imagination exaggerate our illusions, or does it provide insight into what might be the true reality beneath them? Wagner (1981, p 140) remarks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wang Wei aspires to transcendence of the particular, and of the visual physical world, at the same time that he is attached to the sensual delights which he so sensitively perceives in that world. Through visual imagery he achieves metaphoric representation of that realm which cannot be seen, a realm which transcends the material world, the perceiving senses, the definitions of language, and the discerning consciousness. Wang Wei’s vision, then, moves through the world of concrete natural objects to attain a glimpse of “distant emptiness.”<\/p>\n

Epilogue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can conclude this brief discussion of Wang Wei\u2019s poetry with another poem wherein he describes a trip to the Zhongnan<\/em> (\u201cfar south\u201d) Mountain near his Wangchuan Villa (translation by Rouzer, 2020, Volume I, p. 79):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cleveland Museum of Art<\/a> possesses a beautiful fan created in about 1256. On one side is calligraphy by Emperor Lizong (1205-1264) presenting the 5th<\/sup> and 6th<\/sup> lines of Wang Wei\u2019s poem. On the other side is a painting by Ma Lin (~1180-1260) showing A Scholar Reclining and Watching Rising Clouds. <\/em>The illustration at the beginning of this essay is a high-contrast rendition of the Ma Lin painting.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Owen<\/a> relates the description of the rising clouds to another Wang Wei poem (Floating on the Han River<\/em>) which contains the lines<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

what this describes is a mountain in a mist in that peculiar way in which you can just barely see a color space in the mist, and you think there’s a mountain there, but in the Buddhist sense of the illusions of the world, you have this huge thing, this mountain and all of a sudden, its presence, its very existence, sort of half fades in and out. It’s between being there and not being there.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lines describe the ideas of y\u01d2u (\u6709, being\/possession\/existence) and w\u00fa (\u7121, simplified \u65e0<\/strong>, nonbeing, nothingness). A central idea in Chan Buddhism is sunyata<\/em>: the meditative practice of emptying oneself of being to become one with the universe.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barnstone, T., Barnstone, W., & Xu, H. (1991). Laughing lost in the mountains: poems of Wang Wei<\/em>. University Press of New England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bogushevskaya, V. (2015). Grue in Chinese: on the original meaning and evolution of qing  In Bogushevskaya, V., & Colla, E., (Eds.). Thinking colours: perception, translation and representation<\/em>. (pp 26-44): Cambridge Scholars,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cai, Zong-qi (Ed.) (2018). How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context: Poetic Culture from Antiquity Through the Tang<\/em>. Columbia University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cartelli, M. A. (2019). Making it new in Tang Dynasty poetry: Wang Wei, Li Bai, and Du Fu. In K. Seigneurie (Ed.) A Companion to World Literature<\/em> (pp. 1\u201312). John Wiley & Sons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ching, J. (1993). Chinese religions<\/em>. Macmillan Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferguson, J. C. (1927). Chinese Painting<\/em><\/a>. University of Chicago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hawkes, D., & Liu, X. (1959). Ch\u2019u tz\u2019\u01d4: the songs of the South, an ancient Chinese anthology.<\/em> Clarendon Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hinton, D. (2020). China root: Taoism, Ch\u2019an, and original Zen<\/em>. Shambhala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hinton, D. (2006). The selected poems of Wang Wei<\/em>. New Directions Publishing Corp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Owen, S. (1981). The great age of Chinese poetry: the High T\u2019ang<\/em>. Yale University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Powell, M. M. (2019). Beneath the shadows: a complete annotated translation of the overlooked poet Pei Di<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>Honor\u2019s Thesis. University of Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rouzer, P. F., Nugent, C (2020). The poetry and prose of Wang Wei. <\/em>Volume 1<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>Volume II<\/em>.<\/a> De Gruyter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stepien, R. (2014). The imagery of emptiness in the poetry of Wang Wei. Interdisciplinary Literary Studies<\/em>, 16<\/em>(2), 207\u2013238.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sullivan, M. (1974). The three perfections: Chinese painting, poetry, and calligraphy<\/em>. Thames & Hudson.<\/p>\n\n\n

Wagner, M. L. (1981). Wang Wei.<\/em> Twayne Publishers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warner, D. X.  (2005) The two voices of Wangchuan Ji<\/em>: poetic exchange between Wang Wei and Pei Di, Early Medieval China<\/em>, 2005 (2), 57-72.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weinberger, E., & Paz, O. (1987). Nineteen ways of looking at Wang Wei: how a Chinese poem is translated<\/em>. Moyer Bell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yang, Jingqing (2001). The Chan interpretation of Wang Wei\u2019s poetry: a critical examination.<\/em><\/a> Doctoral Thesis, University of Sydney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yip, Wai-lim (1972). Hiding the universe: Poems of Wang Wei<\/em>. Grossman (Mushinsha).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yu, P. (1980). The poetry of Wang Wei: new translations and commentary<\/em><\/a>. Indiana University Press.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wang Wei (\u738b\u7ef4; traditional \u738b\u7dad; pinyin, W\u00e1ng W\u00e9i; 699\u2013761) was a Chinese musician, painter, and poet during the Tang Dynasty (618 to 907). He was a devout Buddhist and used the courtesy name Wang Weimojie in homage to the early Buddhist teacher and boddhisattva Vimalakirti (Chinese name \u7dad\u6469\u8a70<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":257,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,457,6,5,9,1],"tags":[760,133,124,761,1085,1088,1086,1080,67,1081,1082,1083,1087],"class_list":["post-6956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-history","category-language","category-painting","category-poetry","category-religion","category-uncategorized","tag-an-lushan-rebellion","tag-calligraphy","tag-chan-buddhism","tag-chinese-poetry","tag-confucianism","tag-deer-park","tag-du-fu","tag-high-tang-poetry","tag-li-bai","tag-pei-di","tag-sunyata","tag-taoism","tag-wangchuan-ji"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/creatureandcreator.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/creatureandcreator.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/creatureandcreator.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creatureandcreator.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creatureandcreator.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6956"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/creatureandcreator.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6979,"href":"https:\/\/creatureandcreator.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6956\/revisions\/6979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creatureandcreator.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/creatureandcreator.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creatureandcreator.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creatureandcreator.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}