Jian'an poetry

Jian'an poetry, or Chien'an poetry (建安風骨) refers to those styles of poetry particularly associated with the end of the Han dynasty and the beginning of the Six Dynasties era of China. This poetry category is particularly important because, in the case of the Jian'an poetic developments, there is a special difficulty in matching the chronology of changes in poetry with the usual Chinese dynastic chronology based on the political leadership of the times. For example, according to Burton Watson, the first major poet of the new shi style that emerged at this time was Cao Zhi, one of the sons of Cao Cao, a family which came into power at the end of Han and developed further during the Three Kingdoms era of the Six Dynasties period.

The term Jian'an poetry covers the final years at the end of the Han Dynasty and during which the Cao family was rising, or risen, to prominence were known as the Jian'an era (196-220), the final reign era of Emperor Xian of Han: the following period is known as the Three Kingdoms era, due to the three kingdoms which divided up the Han Dynasty, and war with one another for succession to the Han empire. A prominent Han dynasty general, Cao Cao effectively took control of the Han dynasty from the Liu imperial family, and following Cao Cao's death, his son Cao Pi formalized this by accepting the abdication of the last titular ruler of Han and establishing the Cao family as the ruling dynastic family of a new state, Wei (also known as Cao Wei), one of the Three Kingdoms which were successor states to the Han empire. Besides their role as leaders in war and politics, the Cao family also had an important role in the field of poetry and literature.

Cao Cao and his sons Cao Pi and Cao Zhi are collectively known as the "Three Caos" of poetry. Along with several other poets, such as Xu Gan and the other Seven Scholars of Jian'an, their poems form the backbone of the jian'an style.

...
Wikipedia