Journal paper

Issue No.	lssue 79
Title	Wu-Region Writing of the Unrecognized Scholar in Zhu Yunming’s “Seven Laments”
Author	WANG, DA-FU
Page	37～68
Abstract	In Zhu Yunming’s works, Qibei wen bears a pronounced autobiographical character. However, to read the text merely as an expression of late-life frustration is insufficient to explain the ideological depth manifested in its structure and thematic progression. This article reexamines Qibei wen by situating it at a critical juncture in Zhu Yunming’s life: his prolonged failure in the metropolitan examinations and his eventual abandonment of further examination attempts around the ninth year of the Zhengde reign, when he turned instead to official selection. On this basis, this article argues that the “grief” in Qibei wen does not lie in the loss of rank or wealth. Rather, through its seven sections—grieving for the Way, aspiration, learning, fate and timing, forebears, companions, and writings—the text unfolds Zhu Yunming’s questioning and reflection on the value of the civil examinations, the inheritance of ancestral virtue, the sense of belonging among like-minded companions, and the literary tradition. This practice of writing both draws on the legacy of sao-style impassioned lyric expression and, through the question “Where shall I return?”, transforms grief and indignation into a search for literary refuge and a repositioning of the self. Accordingly, Qibei wen is not only an important text for understanding Zhu Yunming’s state of mind when he abandoned the examinations and turned to official selection; it also reveals how Wu-region literati, under the prolonged stagnation of the examination system, sustained their sense of self-worth through local literary resources and literary writing, thereby opening another path of settlement within the tradition of Ming-dynasty writings on the unrecognized scholar.
Keyword	Zhu Yunming, Seven Laments, Unrecognized Scholar, Wu Region, Examination Delay
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