About the author of "Wonderful Boat Race"

Bian Gong (1476~1532) was a writer of the Ming Dynasty. The courtesy name is Tingshi and the nickname is Huaquan. A native of Licheng (now Jinan, Shandong). In the ninth year of Hongzhi (1496), he became a Jinshi. He became a doctor of Taichang, and promoted the military department to Shizhong. He was promoted to Taichang Cheng, served as the prefect of Wei Hui and Jingzhou, and served as deputy envoy to promote learning in Shaanxi and Henan. His mother died and he stayed at home in mourning. In the first year of Jiajing (1522), he became Taichang Shaoqing of Nanjing, and his official position was Shangshu of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Because someone impeached him for drunkenness and neglect of office, he was dismissed. His official career was smooth throughout his life, and in his later years he was busy with official duties. The poems he wrote were plain and pure in tone and relatively poor in content. The Yuefu and ancient poems he created are both fewer and worse than those of Li Mengyang and He Jingming. The occasionally written "Bridge Building Resentment" and "The Ballad of the Leading Husband" are also occasional works that embellish the traditional allegorical tradition of Yuefu. They do not have the true feelings of the creator integrated into them, and they have little artistic appeal. The one that better expresses his style is Wu Qi Yan Lu Jue, which has been praised by many poetry critics. However, the material is narrow, and they are mostly social words such as gift, send, brief, harmonious, reply, and send, or routine expressive works for New Year's Day, birthdays, cold meals, etc. Some of the poems reveal a touch of sadness in the poet's life, but most of them are just moaning for no reason. He also wrote a number of good poems, such as The Prime Minister's heroic spirit is still far away, and the curtains and lights are rustling in the cold. The universe is so vast that it is difficult to send one's body, the roads are far away from each other, the beautiful woman is watching the moon in Yan City, and the tide of Zhejiang is guarded by the waterside. There is also a West Lake tree in the ancestral hall, and the southern branches are not sent toward the north ("Changwenshan Temple"). The mood is elegant and the language is clear and round, which also contains the poet's admiration for the patriotic national heroes. But generally speaking, among the four heroes of Hong (Zhi) and Zheng (De) (Li Mengyang, He Jingming, Xu Zhenqing, and Bian Gong), his creative achievements are relatively poor. His works include "Huaquan Collection".