Wei Yingwu (traditional Chinese: 韋應物; simplified Chinese: 韦应物; pinyin: Wéi Yìngwù; Wade–Giles: Wei Ying-wu; c. 737? – c. 792), courtesy name Yibo (義博), art name Xizhai (西齋), was a Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty. Twelve of Wei Yingwu's poems were included in the influential Three Hundred Tang Poems anthology. He was also known by his honorific name Wei Suzhou (韋蘇州), which was bestowed upon him as a result of his service as the governor of Suzhou.
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Biography
Wei Yingwu was born around 737 in Chang'an. He came from a prestigious family, the Xiaoyaogong branch of the Wei clan of Jingzhao, and was born into nobility; his great-grandfather, Wei Daijia, had been a chancellor during the reign of Wu Zetian. Wei Yingwu became an imperial bodyguard of Emperor Xuanzong when he was fifteen years old. Because he came from a noble background, he was not required to pass the imperial examination.
After the death of Emperor Xuanzong, Wei Yingwu served as the magistrate of Hu County and Yueyang. He was also the governor of Chuzhou (784), Jiangzhou (785), and Suzhou (787-792). He died in Suzhou in 792.
According to John C. H. Wu, the turbulence and lack of strong central leadership of China during Wei Yingwu's poetry-writing years was a major influence upon his work. One example of such sociopolitical turmoil is the An Shi Rebellion of 755–763. Wu suggests that images such as the boat moving without a person steering in Wei Yingwu's poem "At Chuzhou on the Western Stream" are a reference to the ship of state without a person at the helm.