Cén Cān 岑參 (715–770)
The principal frontier-poet (biānsài shī rén 邊塞詩人) of the High Táng, conventionally paired with Gāo Shì 高適 in the GāoCén 高岑 couplet of the biānsài school. Native of Nányáng 南陽 (modern Nányáng in Hénán); great-grandson of Cén Wénběn 岑文本 (a chief minister of Tàizōng) and grandson of Cén Zhǎngqiàn 岑長倩 (a chief minister of Wǔhòu, executed 691).
Orphaned early; self-educated. Jìnshì of Tiānbǎo 3 (744). Successively yòu nèishuàifǔ bīngcáo cānjūn 右內率府兵曹參軍, Dàlǐ píngshì 大理評事 with jiānchá yùshǐ 監察御史 honorific, and (the basis of his frontier verse) twice deployed to the western frontier as pànguān 判官: Ānxī jiédù pànguān under Gāo Xiānzhī 高仙芝 (749–751) and Běitíng jiédù pànguān under Fēng Chángqīng 封常清 (754–755). Post-rebellion offices: qǐjū láng 起居郎, Guózhōu chángshǐ 虢州長史, and finally Jiāzhōu cìshǐ 嘉州刺史 (in modern Lèshān, Sìchuān, 766–768) — whence Cén Jiāzhōu 岑嘉州. Died at Chéngdū in Dàlì 5 (770), aged 56, unable to return north because of post-rebellion road closures.
The two western frontier sojourns at Ānxī (modern Kucha) and Běitíng (modern Jīmsār) were the basis of his signature biānsài poetry — the most geographically specific body of frontier verse in the Tang corpus, with the iconic Báixuě gē 白雪歌 and Zǒumǎ Chuān xíng 走馬川行 as centerpieces. His extant collection is the Cén Jiāzhōu shī KR4c0029 in 7 juǎn.
CBDB confirms 715–770 (cbdbId 32583).