Wu Guolun

Life

His place of origin is given as Xingguo in Huguang's Wuchang Prefecture (now Yangxin, Hubei), but also as Xingguo in Jiangxi; his forebears are also said to have come from Jiaxing before moving to Xingguo. His great-grandfather was Wu Cheng, his grandfather Wu Yi, his father Wu Yan, and his mother was née Li; his elder brothers were Wu Guozuo, Wu Guoshi, Wu Guodian, and Wu Guohua, and his wife was née Chen.

He was born on the twenty-first day of the first month of the third year of the Jiajing reign (1524). He was a shengyuan, and in 1549 placed first in the Huguang provincial examination as the jieyuan; in the following year he passed the Gengxu examination as a third-class jinshi, ranked 184th.

He was first appointed zhongshu sheren and, in the fifth month of the thirty-fourth year of the Jiajing reign, promoted to bingke jishizhong. Because he offended Yan Song over the mourning rites for Yang Jisheng, he was demoted in the third month of the following year to an official in the Jiangxi Surveillance Commission, then transferred to be Nankang prefectural judge and to Guide; accounts differ as to whether he left office immediately or after two years.

After Yan Song's fall, he returned to office as Jianning tongzhi and later served as prefect of Shaowu. In early Longqing (1567), after a censorial review in the eleventh month, he was transferred to a remote post and appointed prefect of Gaozhou. As prefect of Gaozhou, he trained soldiers and resisted Japanese raids. In the twelfth month of the fifth year of Longqing, he was promoted to Guizhou ti xue fu shi and, in the sixth month of the second Wanli year (1574), to left canzheng of Henan; he was later dismissed in the grand evaluation and returned home.

He died at home on the twenty-third day of the sixth month of the twenty-first Wanli year (21 July 1593), aged seventy, and was buried at Chenbu Laoguanzui, ten li northeast of the prefectural city.

Literary activity and associations

His talent was unrestrained, he was hospitable and free with money, and he excelled at poetry; with Li Panlong and others he was counted among the Later Seven Masters. After retiring to the countryside, his reputation grew still greater. He corresponded with Li Panlong; Wang Shizhen and Wang Shimao wrote prefaces to his works, and Li Weizhen composed his epitaph.

Works

His works include 《甔甀洞稿》 in fifty-four juan and 《甔甀洞續稿》 in twenty-seven juan; 《甔甀洞正續稿》 is also found as a title. He also wrote two qilu poems titled 《登黃鶴樓》, and the line “千帆雨色當窗過，萬里江聲動地來” is often quoted by later readers. 《荊楚文庫》 includes 《吳國倫集》.