Nalan Xingde was born in Beijing on December 12, the 11th year of Shunzhi (January 19, 1655 AD). His father was the jewel of the prime minister during the Kangxi period, and his mother was a Luo family. She is the fifth daughter of Prince Azig and the first-grade wife. His family, the Nalan clan, belonged to the Zhenghuang Banner. It was one of the eight most prominent Manchu surnames in the early Qing Dynasty, and was later known as the "Yehenala clan". Nalan Xingde's great-grandfather's name was Jintaishi, who was Yehebeile. His sister Menggu married Nurhachi as his concubine in the 16th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty and gave birth to the prince Huang Taiji. Later, the marriage relationship between the Nalan family and the royal family was also very close. Therefore, it can be said that Nalan Xingde was destined to live in a family of emperors and nobles as soon as he was born. His life was destined to be rich, prosperous, and full of flowers. However, perhaps it is fate that plays a trick on people, but Nalan Xingde is like "Although he is prosperous and prosperous, he is not content with too many things. There is no glory in the world, and if you are concerned about wealth and honor, you can be content with poverty." The gate is wide and the building is full of people, and there are always thoughts of mountains and rivers, fish and birds.”
Nalan Xingde was born in the twelfth lunar month and was called Dong Lang when he was a child. He was talented since childhood and had a photographic memory of reading. He appreciated it and recommended it to his brother Xu Qianxue, a cabinet bachelor and minister of the Ministry of Rites. Nalan Xingde took part in the Shuntian Prefecture Township Examination at the age of 18 and passed the examination. At the age of 19, he was preparing to take part in the General Examination, but was unable to take part in the Palace Examination due to illness. In the following years, he studied more diligently and worshiped Xu Qianxue as his teacher. Under the guidance of famous teachers, he presided over the compilation of a 1792-volume compilation of Confucianism - "Tongzhitang Jingjie" in two years, which was appreciated by the emperor and laid the foundation for future development. He also compiled what he saw and heard in the process of studying the classics and history and the records of his friends. It took him three or four years to compile a four-volume collection "Lushui Pavilion Miscellaneous Knowledge", which included history, geography, astronomy, calendar, Buddhism, and music. , literature, textual research and other aspects of knowledge. It shows his extensive knowledge base and various interests and hobbies.
When Nalanxingde was 22 years old, he took the Jinshi examination again and ranked seventh in the second class with excellent results. Emperor Kangxi granted him the official position of third-class bodyguard, and later he was promoted to second-class, and then to first-class. As an imperial guard beside the emperor, he participated in romantic and elegant poetry as a handsome and mighty military attache. He accompanied the emperor on his hunting tours in the south and north, traveled far and wide, and was ordered to participate in important strategic reconnaissance. He sang poems with the emperor and translated and translated works. Because of his holy will, he was rewarded many times. He was an enviable young talent with both civil and military skills, and was the emperor's most valued companion. Close ministers, dignitaries with a bright future.
But as a prodigy in poetry and art, deep down he was tired of the vulgar officialdom and the life of a servant, and had no interest in fame or fortune. Although "I am in a high gate and a wide mansion, I often think about the mountains and rivers, fish and birds." His poems and prose are all excellent, especially his lyrics, and he is world-famous. When he was 24 years old, he compiled and selected his own lyrics into a collection called "Side Hat Collection", which was later renamed "Drinking Water Collection". Later, someone added and filled in the gaps in the two collections of lyrics, with a total of 342 poems. It is called "Nalan Ci". The handed down "Nalan Ci" enjoyed a high reputation in society at that time and was highly praised by literati and bachelors. It became an outstanding representative of the Ci community of that era.
In 1674, when Nalan Xingde was twenty years old, he married the daughter of Lu Xingzu, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and was given the title of Shuren. At that time, Mr. Lu was eighteen years old. He was "born to be graceful and dignified in nature". After getting married, the two became loving and affectionate, and their happy newlywed life inspired his poetry creation. However, only three years later, Lu died due to dystocia, which caused great pain to Nalan Xingde. From then on, "there were many mourning songs, and the hatred of close friends was particularly deep." The heavy mental blow caused him to repeatedly reveal the sadness and sadness of missing lovesickness and the feeling of longing for loss in his subsequent mourning poems. Nalan Xingde later married the Guan family and had a concubine named Yan. It is worth mentioning that when Nalan Xingde was thirty years old, with the help of his friend Gu Zhenguan, he met Shen Wan, a talented girl from Jiangnan. Shen Wan, whose courtesy name is Yuchan, was born in Wucheng, Zhejiang Province. He is the author of "Selecting Dream Ci". The work focused on commemorating the death of the deceased is "The God is rich but the husband is not diminished". Unfortunately, their love ended in tragedy due to Nalan Xingde's family problems, and Shen Wan returned to Jiangnan. As a romantic and talented man of the generation, Nalan Xingde's love life has been talked about by future generations. There are also various rumors in the market. The most widely rumored is that his cousin entered the palace, but in the end it cannot be verified.
Although Nalan Xingde only lived for a short period of thirty-one years, he was one of the most famous poets in the Qing Dynasty. At that time, when the poetry world was undergoing a resurgence, he stood side by side with Chen Weisong, the representative of the Yangxian School, and Zhu Yizun, the leader of the Western Zhejiang School, and were known as the "Three Great Masters of Qing Ci".
However, the difference is that Nalan Xingde was a Manchu nobleman who had recently entered the customs. It is amazing that he could master and use Han culture so profoundly.
There are 348 poems by Nalan Xingde in existence (one theory is 342), covering aspects such as love and friendship, frontier fortress in the south of the Yangtze River, chanting things and history, and miscellaneous feelings. Although he has a small number of lyrics as an author, and his vision is not very broad, because the poems are charming and emotional, and Nalan Xingde is an extremely honest person, his lyrics are all excellent. , which was highly praised at that time and later generations. Wang Guowei, a famous scholar in modern times, gave him high praise: "Nalan Rongruo sees things with natural eyes and expresses emotions with natural tongue. This is because he first entered the Central Plains and was not infected with the customs of the Han people, so he can really do this. Since the Northern Song Dynasty, there has only been one person. ." Kuang Zhou Yi also praised him as "the first lyricist in the early days of the Republic of China" in "Huifeng Cihua".
Nalan Xingde's Ci poems were successively collected into "Side Hat" and "Drinking Water", and later generations often referred to Nalan Xingde's Ci poems. Looking at the style of Nalan Xingde's poetry, it is fresh, elegant, and sad, which is quite close to that of the later masters of the Southern Tang Dynasty. He himself also admired Li Yu very much. He once said: "The poems written by Huajian are like ancient jades, precious but not applicable; the poems written by Song Dynasty are applicable but less precious. The poems written by Empress Li have their own beauty, and they are even more confusing." /p>