Liu Yin

Chinese poet and painter

• Born: 1618
• Birthplace: Wujiang, Jiangsu province, China
• Died: July 21, 1664
• Place of death: Jiangsu province, China

An accomplished poet, Liu Yin also cowrote poems with her husband Qian Qian Yi, and she coedited the women’s section in his influential anthology of Ming Dynasty poets. Liu’s paintings have met with sustained modern critical interest as a result of their originality and fresh style.

Early Life

In 1618, Liu Yin (lee-ew yihn) was born into a family of insufficient means to prevent her from early extramarital sexual experience. Her foremost Chinese biographer, Chen Yin Ge, holds that Liu had a romantic relationship with the married poet Chen Zilong from the time she was fourteen, in 1632, until she turned seventeen in 1635. She may even have lived with Chen Zilong for half a year in 1635, before his jealous wife made her leave. By 1636, contemporary sources identify Liu as working for the Gui family brothel in the town of Shengze, near Liu’s hometown of Wujiang, near Nanjing.

As the Gui establishment was upscale, young Liu enjoyed a status comparable to a Japanese geisha. As such, education in poetry and painting was considered essential. In 1636, Liu worked at the Gui facility as an apprentice and servant to the sex worker Xu Fo, who was most likely her teacher in art and poetry. Liu’s first paintings were of orchids, narcissus, and bamboo, the favorite subjects of her colleagues. Typically, courtesan artists like Liu would give their paintings to especially well-liked clients.

Resolved to escape life as a courtesan and looking for a man with similar artistic interests, Liu Yin sought the acquaintance of male poets. According to legend, Liu asked for a date with Chen Zilong, who refused her through an intermediary. If Liu had been his lover before, this story was invented to protect Chen’s reputation. In 1640, Liu cross-dressed as a male scholar and went to see the famous poet and critic Qian Qian Yi. She asked to study poetry with him, and a serious relationship ensued, despite the fact that Qian was already married. On July 14, 1641, Qian made Liu his second wife, as male polygamy was permitted. At age twenty-three, Liu ceased to be a courtesan and instead became a wife.

Life’s Work

Liu Yin quickly settled into a productive artistic relationship with her husband. Qian supported and mentored Liu. He took her poetry and painting seriously, even though he lived in an age that discriminated significantly against women artists. In addition to her own work, Liu and Qian began writing poems together. They also discussed art and poetry with the intellectuals and artists who visited Qian. On these occasions, Liu wore a male scholar’s dress. She chose this outfit deliberately not just to blend in, but also to show her intellectual equality.

In 1643, the building for Qian’s private library was completed. Set below some hills in the province of Jiangsu, the three-story building was called Jiang Yun Lou (Crimson Cloud Mansion). It was here that Liu spent the happiest years of her life. She and Qian worked in the library together, writing poetry, editing an anthology of Ming poets, and studying art and literature. Liu also continued to paint.

Liu’s surviving paintings demonstrate the growth of her artistic independence at Qian’s library. An early album attributed to Liu, the exact date of which is still disputed, contains eight paintings in ink and colors on paper. These paintings copy Chinese masterpieces of an earlier period, a common practice at the time. Liu’s paintings generally feature human figures embedded in landscapes and seem to tell a story, a trademark of Liu’s art. They portray such figures as a tiny solitary fisherman in his boat just below imposing rocks or one person strolling through an orchard while another sits in a nearby garden pavilion.

Liu’s most famous work, on permanent exhibition at the Palace Museum of Beijing, is the hand scroll ink-and-color painting Yue di yanliu tu (1643; misty willows at the moon dike). It was created when Liu and Qian visited Wiping Water Mountain Lodge, Qian’s old villa. The painting shows this villa comfortably nestled within wind-blown willows. There is a small boat moored close to the villa, and the sickle of a newly crescent moon lies on its side above the trees and atop a red river bridge. Liu’s inspiration, Qian wrote later, came from an earlier poem of his that describes this scenery. He had written the poem in 1637, before meeting Liu. Once Liu finished the painting, Qian added his earlier poem on the blank right side of the scroll.

Liu’s life at the library was not limited to study and the creation of art and poetry. The Crimson Cloud Mansion was also the center for an active social life. In 1643, Huang Yuan Jie, another woman painter, lived there, at her friend Liu’s invitation.

China’s larger political turmoil also affected Liu’s life. When the Manchus conquered China and Nanjing fell to the invaders in 1645, Liu implored Qian to commit suicide with her rather than live under the foreigners. Qian refused, however, and Liu chose life as well. Liu loved Qian loyally. Even though Qian collaborated somewhat with the Manchus, in 1647 he was thrown in jail for sheltering a Ming loyalist. Liu did everything she could to have him released and succeeded after forty days. In 1648, she gave birth to their only child, a daughter whose name is no longer known.

Liu experienced great professional success in 1649. Qian published his anthology of Ming poets, Liechao shiji (1649; famous poets), the women’s section of which Liu had substantially edited. The book became famous, and it enhanced Liu’s reputation. Her own poems were widely read as well. Disaster struck the next year, however, when Crimson Cloud Mansion burned down. Most of the books and treasure stored in the mansion were lost, and Liu and Qian’s life changed dramatically. They began to focus on Buddhist studies and year by year lived an ever more religious lifestyle. In 1663, at age forty-five, Liu Yin shaved her head like a Buddhist nun.

In June, 1664, Qian Qian Yi died. He left their daughter and his son with his first wife in the care of Liu Yin. Immediately, Qian’s enemies forced Liu to hand over most of Qian’s fortunes. Especially vicious was Qian Zeng, whom Qian Qian Yi had supported throughout his life. He relentlessly pursued Liu and took almost everything from her that she tried to save for the children. Once land, treasure, and household staff (including slaves) were taken, Qian Zeng demanded three thousand silver taels in cash, a sum Liu no longer possessed.

On July 21, 1664, Liu Yin hanged herself. She committed suicide as a protest against Qian Zeng and his gang. Before she sacrificed her life, Liu asked her friends to intervene with the government so that some material means of their father would be left for the children. Shocked by Liu Yin’s suicide, Qian’s friends eventually settled with Qian Zeng, restoring a legacy for Liu’s stepson, who would become a government official. Her daughter also married well. In 1808, the house where Liu Yin hanged herself, unused after her death for fear of her angry ghost, was converted into a temple honoring her life.

Significance

Liu Yin’s life has been celebrated for its artistic and literary triumph and for the uncompromising nature of her final act. Traditionally, her suicide out of concern for the future of her daughter and her stepson has been hallowed as exemplifying motherly love. To modern critics, it also points at the limited choices of a persecuted woman in early Qing China. In the end, Liu felt that only the most drastic, self-negating step would have any effect.

Liu Yin’s paintings are respected for the originality of style and execution she brought to her subjects. Her landscapes anticipate the works of later generations of male painters and possess a lyrical propensity for storytelling. Liu’s poems are collected both in widely read general anthologies and in collections of her husband Qian’s works. The poems she wrote together with Qian are gathered under the title of Dong shan chou he ji (east mountain poetic conversations) in Qian’s complete works. Her artistic spirit transcended the gender limitations of her age.

Bibliography

Cahill, James. “The Paintings of Liu Yin.” In Flowering in the Shadows: Women in the History of Chinese and Japanese Painting, edited by Marsha Weidner. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990. Informative discussion of the major paintings attributed to Liu, with a brief discussion of her life. Includes reproductions of her art. The same book also contains a chapter on “Women Painters in Traditional China” by Ellen Johnston Laing that provides background for understanding Liu’s life and art. Illustrated, notes, bibliography, glossary of Chinese names.

Chang, Kang-I Sun. “Ming-Qing Women Poets and the Notions of ’Talent’ and ’Morality.’” In Culture and State in Chinese History, edited by Theodore Huters et al. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1997. Scholarly discussion of the standards for evaluating the artistic achievement of poets like Liu Yin, as well as their choice of subject matter and their position in Chinese society. Notes, bibliographic references.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Women Writers of Traditional China. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2000. Liu Yin is referred to as Liu Shih in this excellent anthology that contains a selection of her poetry, the biographical-critical preface Liu wrote for women poets in Qian Qian Yi’s anthology, and the preface to her own works written by Chen Zilong. Invaluable English source for Liu’s poetry and criticism.

Weidner, Marsha, et al. Views from the Jade Terrace: Chinese Women Artists, 1300-1912. Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1988. Catalog of the first American exhibition that included works by Liu Yin. Has reproductions of her paintings and a sketch of her life. Illustrated, notes, bibliography, index.