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author
active 13th century-14th century Wenfang Xin
A Yuan-dynasty poet and biographer, this writer is best remembered for compiling one of the classic collections on Tang poets. His work preserves lives, anecdotes, and literary judgments that shaped how later readers understood the Tang tradition.
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唐才子傳
by active 13th century-14th century Wenfang Xin
About the author
Active in the Yuan period, Xin Wenfang (also written Wenfang Xin in some catalogs) is known chiefly as the author of Tang Caizi Zhuan (Biographies of Talented Poets of the Tang). Chinese reference sources describe him as a poet and official, with the style name Liangshi, and note that he was associated with the western regions under the Yuan dynasty.
His best-known contribution is the compilation of Tang Caizi Zhuan, completed in 1304, a biographical collection covering hundreds of poets from the Tang and Five Dynasties periods. The book became an important source for later readers because it gathers literary lives, critical remarks, and historical anecdotes in one place.
Details of his personal life appear to be limited in easily confirmed sources, so he is remembered less for a fully documented biography than for the lasting influence of the book he left behind. For anyone interested in classical Chinese poetry, his work remains a valuable doorway into how medieval poets were read and remembered.