Wangchuan villa wang wei biography

        Wang Wei (王維, 701-761), courtesy name Mojie (摩詰), was one of the most famous men of arts and letters during the Tang dynasty (618-907), one of the golden ages of Chinese cultural history.

He is also called Wang Youcheng (王右丞, Minister Wang of the Right). Wang Wei is popularly known as a model of humanistic education as expressed in poetry, music, and painting. In the 17th century the writer on art Dong Qichang (董其昌, 1555-1636) established Wang as the founder of the revered Southern school of painter-poets, whom Dong characterized as more concerned with personal expression than surface representation.

        Wang Wei was born and brought up during the Tang dynasty when the capital, Chang’an (長安), was a truly cosmopolitan city that enjoyed both wealth and security.

He received the prestigious jinshi (“presented scholar”) degree in the imperial civil-service examination system in 721—probably more for his musical talents than anything else, although he is said to h