Cen Can

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Cen.

Cen Can or Cen Shen (traditional Chinese: 岑參; simplified Chinese: 岑参; pinyin: Cén Shēn; Wade–Giles: Ts'en Shen), also called Cen Jiazhou (Chinese: 岑嘉州; pinyin: Cén Jiāzhōu; Wade–Giles: Ts'en Chia-chou), (715–770) was a Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty. He was born to a bureaucratic family in Nanyang (in today's Henan), but later moved to Jiangling, Jizhou (in today's Hubei). His great-grandfather Cen Wenben, granduncle Cen Changqian and uncle Cen Xi were all chancellors. His father Cen Zhi was Governor (Cishi) of Jingzhou. When Cen Shen was 10, his father died, and the financial situation of his family worsened. After then, Cen was learning with assiduity, reading a lot of scriptures and history books. He moved to Chang'an when he was 20, and obtained jinshi, in 744. Seven years later, Cen met Gao Shi and Du Fu, and the three became good friends.^[1] All three were poets. Cen's other friend was the great Tang poet Li Bai, who composed a poem titled "Bring in the Wine", and included a verse which mentioned his friend Cen Shen. ..."To the old master, Cen"... Bring in the wine! Let your cups never rest! Let me sing you a song! Let your ears attend!"

Cen Can lived through the period from 755 through 763 when the An-Shi disturbances shook the land, spreading civil war, disaster, and all sorts of turmoil throughout the northern parts of China.

During this period he held several assignments in the Central Asian outposts of the far-reaching Tang empire. Having supported the loyalist cause, he succeeded to a number of provincial posts under the restoration until his retirement in 768.

Cen's early poems were always landscape poems, although this is not the case of his later ones.

Cen served in the northwest frontier territories area for about ten years, his experience in this area with its harsh climate and the relentless combat of the times made a deep impact on his poetry.^[2]

Name

During the reign of Emperor Suzong he was made governor (長官) of Jia Prefecture (Jiazhou in Chinese), which earned him the name Cen Jiazhou.^[3]

Poems

Seven of Cen Can's poems were included in the famous anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems, including, according to Witter Bynner:

ASCENDING THE PAGODA AT THE TEMPLE OF KIND FAVOUR WITH GAO SHI AND XUE JU
A SONG OF RUNNING-HORSE RIVER IN FAREWELL TO GENERAL FENG OF THE WESTERN EXPEDITION
A SONG OF WHEEL TOWER IN FAREWELL TO GENERAL FENG OF THE WESTERN EXPEDITION
A SONG OF WHITE SNOW IN FAREWELL TO FIELD-CLERK WU GOING HOME
A MESSAGE TO CENSOR Du Fu AT HIS OFFICE IN THE LEFT COURT
AN EARLY AUDIENCE AT THE PALACE OF LIGHT HARMONIZING SECRETARY JIA ZHI'S POEM
ON MEETING A MESSENGER TO THE CAPITAL

His collected works are in scrolls (sections) 198 through 201 of the Collected Tang Poems.

References

↑ Wu, 121
↑ Davis, xi
↑ Kanjigen entry "Cen Can" (Shinshin/Shinjin). Gakken 2006.

Bibliography

Davis, A. R. (Albert Richard), Editor and Introduction (1970), The Penguin Book of Chinese Verse. (Baltimore: Penguin Books).
Wu, John C. H. (1972). The Four Seasons of Tang Poetry. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E.Tuttle. ISBN 978-0-8048-0197-3

External links

Works by Cen Can at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

Chinese poetry

Major eras	Classical Chinese poetry Modern Chinese poetry

Poetry by dynasty	Han poetry Jian'an poetry Six Dynasties poetry Tang poetry Song poetry Yuan poetry Ming poetry Qing poetry

Poetry works and collections	Classic of Poetry Chu Ci New Songs from the Jade Terrace Nineteen Old Poems Quan Tangshi Three Hundred Tang Poems Wangchuan ji Wen Xuan Zhuying ji

Major forms	ci fu shi qu yuefu

Individual poems list	Chinese poems (category list) List of poems (article)

Modern compilations	Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature

Authority control	VIAF: 32797146 SUDOC: 185465404 NDL: 00626954

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