WEN T'ING-YN

born 812, T'ai-yan, China died c. 870, , China Pinyin Wen Tingyun, original name (Wade-Giles romanization) Wen Ch'i, courtesy name (tzu) Fei-ch'ing Chinese lyric poet of the late T'ang dynasty who helped to establish a new style of versification associated with the tz'u form, which flourished in the subsequent Sung dynasty. Derived from ballads performed by professional female singers, or flowers, in the wineshops and brothels of the day, tz'u borrowed metres from existing musical scores and were themselves sung to instrumental accompaniment. Wen, whose aristocratic birth allowed him a life of leisure, frequented the urban amusement quarters to collect ballads as models for his own love lyrics. Admired for the delicate sensuality of his verse and his skill at evoking feminine sensibility, Wen was chosen as the lead poet in the first major anthology of tz'u poetry, the Hua chien chi (Among the Flowers), compiled by Chao Ts'ung-tsu in 940 to popularize the new genre.