Cheng Jinfang

Cheng Jinfang
Born	1718 Jiangdu, Jiangsu province
Died	1784
Pen name	Jiyuan (蕺园)
Occupation	Poet and scholar
Citizenship	Chinese
Genre	Poetry

Cheng Jinfang (Chinese: 程晋芳; pinyin: Chéng Jìnfāng) (1718–1784) was a well-known poet and scholar of the Qing Dynasty who followed the Tongcheng school of literary prose. His courtesy name was Yumen (鱼门) and his pseudonym was Jiyuan (蕺园).

Cheng was born in Jiangdu, Jiangsu province. His father was a merchant in the salt business. Huishang (徽商), that is to say, businessmen from Huizhou (徽州), not only did well in business, but also played an important role in cultural field. There were many Huizhou merchants who were excellent in academic fields. Cheng was such a Huishang (徽商) who did well both in business and Confucianism. He earned much while being interested in cultural investments. He achieved the Imperial examination degree of Jinshi in 1771 and he was appointed to the Hanlin Academy (翰林院). After that, he continued to take the imperial examination several times but all failed. In 1773, Cheng was appointed to edit Siku Quanshu.

Cheng married in 1736 to his cousin Xiao who was the daughter of his mother’s brother . When he got elderly, he took two concubines.

Cheng carried on the family business in selling salt. Wu Jingzi (吴敬梓), who hated salt merchants, also became his friend. When the two became friends, Cheng was 24 and Wu was 41. But their friendship wasn’t influenced by the difference of age and their sincere friendship lasted a lifetime. He often discussed academic problems with scholars. In his early life, Cheng made friends with Shang Pan (商盘) and Yuan Mei (袁枚). In his later years, he often traveled with Zhu Yun (朱筠) and Dai Zhen (戴震). Cheng was so dedicated in social and cultural work that he had no time to manage his business and eventually went bankrupt.

...
Wikipedia