Jiang Shiquan (
simplified Chinese: 蒋士铨;
traditional Chinese: 蔣士銓; December 1, 1725–April 3, 1784) was a Chinese poet of the
Qing dynasty. He was active during the
Qianlong and
Jiaqing eras of the Qing dynasty, and was classed as one of the "Three Great Masters of the Qianlong Era" (乾隆三大家) along with
Yuan Mei and
Zhao Yi. Jiang stated that he learned from
Li Shangyin when he was 15, turned to study
Du Fu and
Han Yu when he was 19, and studied
Su Shi and
Huang Tingjian at the age of 40, and abandoned the style of the ancient authors to write his own poets. He was against the restorative trend of the "Former and Latter
Seven Masters" (前后七子), and disagreed with the poetry theories of
Weng Fanggang and
Shen Deqian. He claimed to absorb both the styles of Tang and Song. But his comprehension of "Xingling" (性灵) was different from that of Yuan Mei.
Today we know about 2500 of his poems. Jiang also wrote Ci and proses. He was also an important playwright, leaving us 16 plays.[1]
