Xie Lingyun

Xie Lingyun (; 385–433) and also known as the Duke of Kangle (康樂公) was one of the foremost Chinese poets towards the end of the Southern and Northern Dynasties and continued in poetic fame through the beginning of the Six Dynasties, so Xie is also considered to be part of the Six Dynasties poetry era.

Life

Xie Lingyun was a descendant of two of the most important families of the later Eastern Jin times, the Xie and the Wang families. His paternal grandfather was the general Xie Xuan, a general who is best known for repelling the Former Qin army at the Battle of Fei River, thus preventing the Former Qin emperor Fu Jiān from destroying Jin, and thus allowing the continuation of the southern dynastic kingdoms. His maternal grandmother was Wang Mengjiang, the only daughter of calligrapher, writer and politician Wang Xizhi.

Birth and youth

Xie Lingyun was born in Yangxia County, Henan, but his father died early. Xie Lingyun was consequently brought up by a Buddhist monk, Du Ming, in what was then Qiantang but now Hangzhou, The family home on the northern hill had been terraced and developed with well-planned and situated orchards, gardens, walking paths, and ornate pavilions, all done with a mind to preserve and increase the viewer's pleasure: the southern hill during the youth of Xie Lingyun was left as somewhat of a wild preserve; but, between the two there was a whole range of fields and crops as well as wild plant and animal life.

Even the secluded family estate was not necessarily safe during these turbulent times; and, when a major rebellion broke out, the family abandoned their country living in favor of the relative safety of the capital city, Jiankang (modern Nanjing), for the four years of its course. He then was demoted to a position in a remote area, and so effectively exiled, to Yongjia (永嘉, modern Wenzhou in Zhejiang). After a year in office here, however, Xie claiming health problems, resigned and returned home to the family estate in Shangyu.

Retiring to South Hill After returning home to the family estate in Shining (Shangyu), where he spent considerable time attending to the previously undeveloped or cultivated South Hill,

Influence Hailed as the progenitor of the Chinese landscape poetry genre (shanshui poetry), the reputation of Xie Lingyun as a great poet remains secure, as it has for over a thousand years. The Wangchuan ji by Wang Wei and Pei Di which describes the landscape features of Wang's estate near Chang'an particularly shows the influence of Xie Lingyun's poetry describing the landscape features of his estate near West Lake.