The Chronology Of Wu Kuan’s Life

Wu Kuan (1436-1504), secondary personal name Yuan Bo, with alternative name of Pao An, is a famous litterateur and calligrapher from Changzhou (now Suzhou). He was one of the leading writers in court and the predecessors in Wu. He studied early but succeeded late. He won the third place in the Provincial Examination in1468and the first place in both the Metropolitan Examination and the final Imperial Examination of1472. Then he was granted Xiuzhuan, becoming a member of Hanlin Academy, teaching the crown prince, and finally ended the Minister of Rituals. Active during Chenghua and Hongzhi in Wu and the capital, he was respected and admired for his writing and virtue. An high officer in the court, he never forgot to promote the youth. He guided and leaded the change of literary culture and calligraphy style in the capital and Wu. Remaining honest, he was not appreciated by some dignitaries, thus he hasn’accomplished a lot in political area. The so-called gentleman of grace, elegance and dignity, he is generous and friendly with people.Wu Kuan has a wide circle of acquaintances, not only familiar with those senior officials such as Li Dongyang and Xie Qian, Wang Ao, but also intimate with civilians such as Shen Zhou and Shi Qian. Excellent at verse and prose, he was regarded as a potent assistant of Chaling Poetry School. His poetry is dignified and serene, with Pao’an Family Collection handed down. He is an expert in calligraphy, especially in Su Dongpo Style. He is the frontier of Wu Calligraphy School. His calligraphy, taken from Su and created with his own talent, is soft yet heavy. He also loves collecting books and has a lot of transcriptions. His transcriptions have always been put a high value by collectors. The Chronicle Biography is to present his entire life with detailed dates of his works and whereabouts through collecting Wu Kuan’s works of verse, prose, calligraphy and painting, consulting his friends’works and other relative books and documents.