Biography

Sources

Chapter 183 of the New Book of Tang gives a short biography of Han Wo.

Birth and early life

He was born in either 842 or 844. He was a native of Wannian, Jingzhao (modern-day Xi'an, Shaanxi Province). His father, Han Zhan (韓瞻 Hán Zhān) took the imperial examination in the same year as Li Shangyin, who was also connected to Wo's family through marriage. The young Wo supposedly was recognized for his poetic genius by Li, who praised him.

Political career

In 889 (Longji 1) he passed the imperial examination, receiving his Jinshi degree. He became a scholar at the Hanlin Academy and a low-ranking official at the Central Secretariat, eventually becoming Vice-Minister of Defense (兵部侍郎). He earned the trust of Emperor Zhaozong, working with him against the eunuchs, and was recommended for the position of chancellor, but he was disliked by Zhu Quanzhong (later to become Emperor Daizu of Liao) and was therefore exiled to Pu Prefecture (modern Fan County, Henan).

Later life and death

Following his exile, Han did not return to government, and spent his last years in the Min Kingdom. He died around 923, having never returned to the capital.

Names

Courtesy name

His courtesy name was either Zhiyao or Zhiguang, or possibly Zhiyuan.

The New Book of Tang, as well as a work by Han's contemporary , refer to him as Zhiguang, but the Liexian Zhuan associates the character used in his given name Wo with the second character of Zhiyao, lending support to the idea that Zhiguang would have fit his given name better. Both the Tang Cai Zi Zhuan and the Tangshi Jishi (唐詩紀事) give his courtesy name as Zhiyao. The theory that his courtesy name was Zhiyuan relies on the .

Art name

His art name was Yushan-Qiaoren.

Poetry

In literary history, Han is generally considered a poet of the so-called late Tang period, which spanned the early-ninth century to 907.

An anthology of his poems, the Xianglian Ji (香奩集 xiānglián jí), survives. His poetry is noted for its sensual beauty, with the Xianglian Ji having given its name to xianglian-ti (香奩體 xiānglián tǐ), a style of poetry associated with him. His poems of other types are collected in the Yushan-Qiaoren Ji (玉山樵人集 yùshān-qiáorén jí|w=yü4shan1-ch'iao2jên2 chih2).

Reception

His poetry influenced the work of the fourteenth-century poet Yang Weizhen.

生平

父韓瞻，進士出身。兄韓儀，官到翰林學士。韓偓幼聰敏，十歲能詩，得姨父李商隱作詩兩首，稱其「雛鳳清于老鳳聲」。唐昭宗龍紀元年（889年）進士。佐河中幕府，召拜左拾遺，歷官翰林學士、中書舍人。黃巢軍入長安，光化三年十一月隨唐昭宗奔鳳翔，升兵部侍郎、翰林承旨。902年拒絕草詔起複在任時受賄賣官後因母喪去職的前宰相韋貽範。後因不附朱全忠，貶濮州（今河南濮陽）司馬，再貶榮懿（今四川中部）縣尉、鄧州（今河南、湖北交界）司馬。

昭宗被殺後，南依閩王王審知，住南安潘山招賢院，又曾寓居九日山延福寺，與弘一大師友好。擅寫宮詞，多寫艷情，詞藻華麗，有「手香江橘嫩，齒軟越梅酸」（《幽窗》）之句，人稱「香奩體」，一說著有《香奩集》。

後梁龍德三年（923年），韓偓病逝于南安豐州龍興寺並葬于杏田葵山。

夫人裴氏，封郡君，先卒於己；子韓寅亮。

注釋

參考書目

• 《新唐書》卷一八三

• 《十國春秋》卷九十五。

• 《唐才子傳·韓偓傳》

• 沈括《夢溪筆談》

• 鄭文寶《南唐近事》

• 王定保《唐摭言》

• 弘一大師《香奩集辨偽》