# Hu Yinglin

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Chinese scholar and writer (1551–1602)

In this [Chinese name](/source/Chinese_name), the [family name](/source/Chinese_surname) is *[Hu](/source/Hu_(surname))*.

**Hu Yinglin** ([Chinese](/source/Traditional_Chinese_characters): 胡應麟; 1551–1602), also known as **Hu Yuanrui**, was a Chinese scholar, writer and bibliophile during the late [Ming dynasty](/source/Ming_dynasty). A native of [Lanxi](/source/Lanxi%2C_Zhejiang),[1] he produced over 1,000 works of scholarship.[2] His two most noted works are the *Shaoshishan fang bicong* 少室山房筆叢 (*Notes from Shaoshishan Studio*, a work of historical and literary criticism) and the *Shisou* 詩藪 (*Thickets of criticism*), which is a treatise on poetry.[2][3]

Hu earned the rank of *juren* (a low-level degree) in the [Imperial Examinations](/source/Imperial_examination) of 1576. He travelled extensively collecting works for his personal library, the *Eryou shanfang*, often selling his clothes or his wife's jewellery in order to fund the purchase of texts. He eventually amassed a collection of more than 42,300 bamboo scrolls and around 20,000 paper books.[4][5] In later life, prevented from travelling due to ill health, Hu created an "armchair travel studio" (*wouyou shi*); since he was unable to visit the [Five Great Mountains](/source/Sacred_Mountains_of_China#The_Five_Great_Mountains), he had them painted on the walls of his room.[6]

He was one of the first critics of fiction, arguing that it was similar to philosophy.[7] Hu divided fiction into six subgenres:

- *[Zhiguai](/source/Zhiguai_xiaoshuo)*, records of strange events

- *[Chuanqi](/source/Chuanqi_(short_story))*, tales of the unusual

- *[Zalu](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zalu_(literary_mode)&action=edit&redlink=1)*, informal notes

- *[Congtan](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Congtan&action=edit&redlink=1)*, collected discourses

- *[Bianding](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bianding&action=edit&redlink=1)*, textual inquiry

- *[Zhengui](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zhengui&action=edit&redlink=1)*, rules and admonitions

He was aware, however, that this categorisation was imperfect, since one work could fit into multiple categories, and his system failed to include plays and novels entirely.[8][9]

Hu was an admirer of the [courtesan](/source/G%C4%93j%C3%AC) and artist [Xue Susu](/source/Xue_Susu), praising her "lovely and elegant appearance" and claiming that "Even those famous painters with excellent skills cannot surpass her".[10][11]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Mazur1955_1-0)** Mary G. Mazur (1 January 1955). [*Wu Han, Historian: Son of China's Times*](https://books.google.com/books?id=8BRVSYvpX9sC&pg=PA78). Lexington Books. p. 78. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7391-3022-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7391-3022-3). {{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility ([help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:CS1_errors#invalid_isbn_date))

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-WDL_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-WDL_2-1) Hu, Yinglin (1525). ["Thickets of Poetic Criticism"](http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4723/). *World Digital Library* (in Chinese). Retrieved 6 June 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Wang, Minghui. ["Hu Yinglin (1551–1602) and the Shisou"](http://www.international.ucla.edu/china/events/showevent.asp?eventid=8550). *Center for Chinese Studies*. UCLA. Retrieved 30 May 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Chow2004_4-0)** Kai-Wing Chow (2004). [*Publishing, culture, and power in early modern China*](https://books.google.com/books?id=a-_l3tDB47AC&pg=PA23). Stanford University Press. pp. 23, 33. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8047-3368-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8047-3368-7).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Theobald, Ulrich. ["Persons in Chinese History - Hu Yinglin 胡應麟"](http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Ming/personshuyinglin.html). China Knowledge. Retrieved 30 May 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Fu2009_6-0)** Li-tsui Flora Fu (1 January 2009). [*Framing Famous Mountains: Grand Tour and Mingshan Paintings in Sixteenth-century China*](https://books.google.com/books?id=ptTzNr7FwgQC&pg=PA155). Chinese University Press. p. 155. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-962-996-329-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-962-996-329-3).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-ChangOwen2010_7-0)** [Kang-i Sun Chang](/source/Kang-i_Sun_Chang); [Stephen Owen](/source/Stephen_Owen_(academic)), eds. (2010). [*The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature: From 1375*](https://books.google.com/books?id=1jGz0qXPgM0C&pg=PA71). Cambridge University Press. pp. 66, 93, 121. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-521-85559-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-85559-4).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Epstein2001_8-0)** Maram Epstein (2001). [*Competing Discourses: Orthodoxy, Authenticity, and Endangered Meanings in Late Imperial Chinese Fiction*](https://books.google.com/books?id=Q6OGXnjyIA0C&pg=PA45). Harvard Univ Asia Center. p. 45. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-674-00512-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-674-00512-9).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Inglis2006_9-0)** Alister D. Inglis (2006). [*Hong Mai's Record of the Listener And Its Song Dynasty Context*](https://books.google.com/books?id=d9Sc3ywljtEC&pg=PA107). SUNY Press. pp. 107–108. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7914-8137-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7914-8137-0).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-HammondStapleton2008_10-0)** Kenneth James Hammond; Kristin Eileen Stapleton (2008). [*The Human Tradition in Modern China*](https://books.google.com/books?id=y_nBKizpn18C&pg=PA25). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 22. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7425-5466-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7425-5466-5).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["往事｜忆父亲王一平：当年捐出伊秉绶砚与明代林良画的背后"](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_5317430).

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hu Yinglin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu_Yinglin) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu_Yinglin?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.