Xue Neng

Life

In 846, Xue Neng passed the jinshi examination. In 854, during the Dazhong era, he was appointed magistrate of Zhouzhi and thereafter repeatedly served in military-governor staffs; by the thirteenth year of Dazhong he was Observer-Judge to Li Fu, military governor of the Yicheng circuit. After entering the court, he held the offices of Investigating Censor, Vice Director in the Bureau of State Offices, and Vice Director in the Ministry of Justice. In 864, Li Fu, then military governor of Dongchuan, recommended him as a circuit deputy; he later served concurrently as prefect of Jiazhou. Returning to the court, he held posts in the Offices of State Guests and State Revenue and in the Ministry of Justice, rose from jishizhong to Mayor of Jingzhao, served as military governor of Xuzhou in the Ganhua circuit, was recalled as Minister of Works, and was subsequently appointed military governor of the Zhongwu circuit at Xuchang.

His other recorded appointments included staff service under the Taiyuan, Shanguo, and Heyang military commands, as well as prefectural posts at Fengyi and Tongzhou. Further prefectural postings were at Pengcheng, Xunyang, Jianwei, and Xuchang; the Jingzhao mayoralty is dated to 870, while the successive Xuzhou appointments fall between 873 and 880. In 880, amid a military mutiny at Xuchang, the general Zhou Ji expelled Xue Neng and proclaimed himself liuhou. One account says that Xue wandered in Hannan and died; other accounts leave his end unknown, while another says that Zhou Ji massacred his household.

Poetry and works

Xue Neng was intensely devoted to poetry, composing one poem a day as a regular exercise and working with great diligence. He held his poetic talent in high regard, at times claiming first-rank status and even looking down on Li Bai, Du Fu, and Bai Juyi. When Liu Deren brought him a volume of poems, Xue answered that a thousand poems were like one poem and that the beginning of the volume was like its end, a jibe at the lack of variation in the work.

Titles associated with his collected works include *Jiangshan ji*, *Xuchang ji*, *Xue Xuchang ji*, *Xue Neng shiji*, *Xue Neng ji*, and *Fancheng ji*. *Xue Neng shiji* is transmitted in ten volumes; *Quan Tang shi* preserves four volumes of his poems, while *Quan Tang shi xubian* adds one poem, two fragments, and one preface. The more widely circulated form of *Xue Xuchang ji* is based on editions in *Tangren wushi jia xiaoji* and *Tangshi bai mingjia quanji*.

Critical assessments of his poetry were divided. Some critics considered his talent limited, his style lacking in elevation, and his self-regard excessive; others praised the many fine examples among his seven-character quatrains and the distinctive force of his various forms, noting his unusual imagery, his creation of a separate poetic realm, and the occasional breadth and sweep of his writing.