Mei Yuan

Born in 1716, Yuan Mei was a Qing dynasty poet, essayist, and scholar from the Hangzhou region. He earned the jinshi degree at a young age and entered official service, but his government career was relatively brief. He later settled in Nanjing at the Sui Garden, where he wrote prolifically and built the independent literary life for which he is best remembered.

Yuan Mei is especially admired for writing that feels direct, vivid, and human. Along with poetry and essays, he is also associated with ghost stories and with food writing through Suiyuan Shidan (Recipes from the Garden of Contentment), a classic work of Chinese gastronomy. Sources consulted in this search describe him as an important Qing writer whose interests ranged across literature, criticism, travel, and the pleasures of daily life.

The dates attached to his name sometimes vary by source: some modern references list 1716–1797, while others use 1716–1798. In either case, he is remembered as one of the most distinctive literary voices of eighteenth-century China.