Yuan Mei
Yuan Yuan Mei (1716–1797) was a Chinese poet and artist. He was often mentioned with Ji Yun as the "Nan Yuan Bei Ji".
Also recorded as Xiaoqixia · Suiyuanxiansheng · Yuloumeng · Cunzhai
Yuan Mei

叶衍兰(1823年-1898年) · 中國歷代名人畫像譜 ISBN 7-80640-785-5 收《清代学者像传》第一集 清叶衍兰辑摹. · Public domain
- Name
- Yuan Mei
- Born
- 25 March 1716
- Birthplace
- Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
- Died
- 3 January 1798
- Place of death
- Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
- Education
- jinshi degree
- Occupation
- Painter, poet
- Nationality
- Qing dynasty.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Yuan Yuan Mei (1716–1797) was a Chinese poet and artist. He was often mentioned with Ji Yun as the "Nan Yuan Bei Ji".
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Yuan Mei. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
gnd · 118896180 · wikidata · Q147220 · wikipedia · Yuan Mei
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Yuan Mei • Native Name — 袁枚 • Born — 25 March 1716 • Birthplace — Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China • Died — 3 January 1798 • Place of death — Nanjing, Jiangsu, China • Education — jinshi degree • Occupation — Painter, poet • Notable Works — Suiyuan shihua Suiyuan Shidan • Relatives — Yuan Ji (sister)
Early life
Early life
Yuan Mei was born in Qiantang (zh-Hant, in modern Hangzhou), Zhejiang province, to a cultured family who had never before attained high office. He achieved the degree of jinshi in 1739 at the young age of 23 and was immediately appointed to the Hanlin Academy (zh-Hant). Then, from 1742 to 1748, Yuan Mei served as a magistrate in four different locations in Jiangsu. However, in 1748, shortly after being assigned to administer part of Nanjing, he resigned his post and returned to his hometown to pursue his literary interest.
Literary career
Literary career
In the decades before his death, Yuan Mei produced a large body of poetry, essays and paintings. His works reflected his interest in Chan Buddhism and the supernatural, at the expense of Daoism and institutional Buddhism - both of which he rejected. Yuan is most famous for his poetry, which has been described as possessing "unusually clear and elegant language". His views on poetry as expressed in the Suíyuán Shīhuà (zh-Hant) stressed the importance of personal feeling and technical perfection. In his later years, Yuan Mei came to be called "Mister Suiyuan". Among his other collected works are treatises on passing the imperial examinations and on food. Throughout his lifetime, Yuan Mei travelled extensively throughout southern China, visiting Huangshan, Guilin, Tiantai, Wuyi and other famous mountains. On some of those visits, Yuan kept journal entries, representative of which is the You Guilin zhu shan't ji ("Record of tours of the mountains of Guilin"). He also accepted students. Since he admired women's poetry, he also took several female students and helped them publish their work under their own names.
Beliefs and women's literacy
Beliefs and women's literacy
Yuan was opposed to the strict moral and aesthetic norms of his day, and valued creativity and self-expression. He advocated for women's literacy. Yuan was both famed and criticized for his Sui Garden, where women would gather to compose and recite poetry. Two of Yuan's sisters enjoyed praise for their literary talent.
Wonder tales
Wonder tales
His anthology of supernatural tales, the Zi buyu (子不语 lit. "What the Master does not Speak of", a.k.a. "Censored by Confucius") was first published 1788, and later retitled Xin Qi xie (新齐谐; "New wonder tales from Qi"). It contained some 747 tales, followed by a sequel anthology. The work is classified under the biji fiction genre, but they are anecdotes collected over many years, purporting to be actual events recorded by the author.
Gastronomic work
Gastronomic work
The food writer Fuchsia Dunlop has described Yuan as "China’s Brillat-Savarin," and Endymion Wilkinson called him one of the four classical gastronomes. In a time when the taste among his contemporaries was for opulence and exotic display, Yuan stood for the "orthodox" style. "Nowadays," he wrote, "at the start of the feast the menu is about a hundred feet long". This is "mere display, not gastronomy". After one such dinner Yuan returned home and cooked congee to appease his hunger. He instructed cooks "do not fuss with the natural state of the food just to show that you are a clever cook. Bird's nest is beautiful -- why shape it into balls?" Yuan criticized his contemporary Li Liweng's magnolia pudding as "created by artifice". Yuan also resented what he regarded as the corruption of Chinese food by Manchu cooks. The appeal of Manchu cooking was in their stews and roasts, while Chinese cooked broths and soups, but when Manchus serve Chinese dinners and Chinese serve Manchu food, "we lose our originality" and we "toady to each other". Yuan published his recipes and thoughts on cooking in his 1792 gastronomic manual and cookbook The Way of Eating. A complete and annotated translation was published in 2019.
Homosexual tendencies
Homosexual tendencies
The poet is also known for his advocacy regarding male beauty, where he was in agreement with the opinion of Zheng Xie, who was an antagonist of his. An acquaintance of Yuan Mei reported the poet had "many male favorites" (in Chinese called nanchong (男寵) or waichong (外寵))".
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1716
Yuan Mei born at Hangzhou.
1797
Yuan Mei died at Nanjing.
Editions and translations
• Yuan Mei, Yingzhong Wang and Yingzhi Wang, eds. zh-Hans (Sui Yuan Shi Dan). Nanjing: Feng huang chubanshe, 2006.. • translations * * * * • * * *

Portrait of the Chineſe Poet Yuán Méi (袁枚), painted by Luó Pìng (羅聘).
Luo Ping · Univerſity of Zurich, Inſtitute of Art Hiſtory
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q147220: Yuan Mei
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Yuan Mei”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 118896180, Yuan, Mei.
Unverified · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 118896180, Yuan, Mei.Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Partially resolvedreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q147220: Yuan MeiWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,200 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Yuan HaowenAuthor
- Yuan HongAuthor
- Yuan HongdaoAuthor
- Yuan JieAuthor
- Yuan QianyaoAuthor
- Yuan ShujiAuthor
- Yuan ZhenAuthor
- Yuan ZhongdaoAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Yuan Mei?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.