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Gu Mei (Chinese: 顧媚; Wade–Giles: Ku Mei; 1619–1664), better known by her art name Gu Hengbo (Chinese: 顧橫波; Wade–Giles: Ku Heng-po), also known as Xu Mei and Xu Zhizhu after her marriage, was a Chinese Yiji, poet and painter. She received the title "Lady (furen)" from the early Qing court, and often addressed as "Lady Hengbo" in Qing writings.

Gu was famous for her beauty and talent within painting and poetry and counted among the elite of courtesans alongside Dong Xiaowan, Bian Yujing and Liu Rushi. She was admired for her paintings of orchids, and published a collection of poems which was given good critics, although few of her works have survived.

Life

Gu Mei was born near Nanjing in 1619.Before Gu Hengbo married Gong Dingzi, she was a Gējì in the Chongzhen reign area of Nanjing. She was well versed in literature and history, and was good at poetry. She was known as "the best in Nan Qu(南曲第一)".Gu Hengbo painted Mo Lan in her own style and did not follow the painting methods of previous generations. The landscapes she also painted were very natural. When she was eighteen years old, she joined Li Xiangjun, Wang Yue and others in the "Lan Society" founded by Yangzhou celebrity Zheng Yuanxun in Nanjing. In her Tower Meilou in Qinhuai district in Nanjing, she hosted a famous literary salon, which counted Chen Liang, Qian Lucan and Mao Xiang among its guests. Yu Huai described Meilou (literally house of bewitchment) as lavish and extravagant.

Gu Mei also acted in kunqu as a male (sheng) impersonator. One of her roles was Zhou Yu (周羽) in Disciplining the Son (教子). The writer Yu Huai (余懷) recounted how after he had helped her when she ran afoul of the law, she offered to perform a stage drama for him on his birthday.

She fell in love with one of her patrons, Liu Fang (劉芳), promised to marry him and to end her career as a Yiji. When she later changed her mind, Liu Fang committed suicide.

One of her patrons, the career official Gong Dingzi, paid 1,000 ounces of silver for her services. In 1643, she left her profession to become a concubine to Gong Dingzi and settled with him in the capital. His openly demonstrated love for her attracted much attention during their time, as it offended the norms of Confucian ideals, and her influence over him became legendary. She is known to have saved the Yan Ermei from execution, and to have been the benefactor of the artist Zhu Yizun.

In 1659 Gu Mei gave birth to a daughter. Anxious to have a son, Gong Dingzi built a private Buddhist temple where the couple could pray for a son.

References

1. ^ Lee, Lau & Stefanowska 2015.
2. Xu, Sufeng (February 2007). "Lotus Flowers Rising from the Dark Mud: Late Ming Yijis and Their Poetry" (PDF). core.ac.uk. McGill University. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
3. "Panel from Orchids and Rocks, Gu Mei, ca. 1644" (PDF). www.smithsonianofi.com. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
4. Berg 2013, p. 89.
5. Wang Ning (王宁). "晚明金陵名妓度曲考" [A Study on Late-Ming Jinling Courtesans and Qu] (PDF) (in Chinese).
6. Mann 1997, p. 260.
7. Berg 2013, p. 117.
8. Berg & Starr 2007.

Bibliography

• Berg, Daria (2013). Women and the Literary World in Early Modern China, 1580-1700. Routledge. ISBN 9781136290220.
• Berg, Daria; Starr, Chloe (2007). The Quest for Gentility in China: Negotiations Beyond Gender and Class. Routledge. ISBN 9781134077045.
• Lee, Lily Xiao Hong; Lau, Clara; Stefanowska, A. D. (2015). Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: v. 1: The Qing Period, 1644-1911. Routledge. ISBN 9781317475873.
• Mann, Susan (1997). Precious Records: Women in China's Long Eighteenth Century. Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804727440.
• Wang, Dewei; Shang, Wei (2005). Dynastic Crisis and Cultural Innovation: From the Late Ming to the Late Qing and Beyond. Harvard University Asia Center. ISBN 9780674017818.
• Zhang, Hongsheng (2002). "Gong Dingzi and the Courtesan Gu Mei: Their Romance and the Revival of the Song Lyric in the Ming-Qing Transition", in Hsiang Lectures on Chinese Poetry, Volume 2, Grace S. Fong, editor. (Montreal: Center for East Asian Research, McGill University).

• 1619 births
• 1664 deaths
• 17th-century Chinese painters
• 17th-century Chinese poets
• Ming dynasty painters
• Chinese women painters
• Chinese women poets
• Ming dynasty poets
• Qing dynasty poets
• Painters from Nanjing
• Poets from Jiangsu
• Writers from Nanjing
• 17th-century Chinese women writers
• Eight Beauties of Qinhuai
• Chinese concubines
• 17th-century Chinese actresses
• 17th-century Chinese women singers
• Ming dynasty actors
• Male impersonators in Chinese opera
• Actresses from Nanjing
• Singers from Nanjing
• Kunqu actresses
• Ming dynasty Gējìs
• Chinese Gējìs