Méi Yáochén 梅堯臣 (1002–1060), zì Shèngyú 聖俞, customarily known as Wǎnlíng xiānshēng 宛陵先生 from his native Wǎnlíng (= Xuānzhōu 宣州 / Xuānchéng 宣城, Ānhuī). Entered office by yīn (paternal hereditary privilege) and served in mid-rank prefectural posts (county magistrate, zhǔbù, xiànwèi) for over thirty years; never passed the jìnshì (took it repeatedly without success — his career frustration is the touchstone of Ōuyáng Xiū 歐陽修 歐陽修’s famous qióngzhě érhòu gōng 窮者而後工 (“only after impoverishment is the work refined”) xù preserved at the head of the Wǎnlíng jí). Eventually summoned to court as guózǐjiān zhíjiǎng, then promoted to Shàngshū dūguān yuánwàiláng shortly before his death — hence the customary title Méi Dūguān 梅都官. Participated in the editorial team of the Xīn Tángshū under Ōuyáng Xiū. Together with Sū Shùnqīn 蘇舜欽 and Ōuyáng Xiū the principal gǔwén-period poet who broke from the YángLiú Xīkūn manner — the Sìkù tíyào: “the one who assisted Ōu in changing the shī-style was Yáochén.” His Wǎnlíng jí 宛陵集 KR4d0056 in 60 juǎn was first edited by his wife’s nephew Xiè Jǐngchū 謝景初 (10 + 5 juǎn phases) and finalized by Ōuyáng Xiū c. 1046; further appendix material in later cuts. Wáng Shǔ 王曙 (Wáng Wénkāng) reportedly said of the young Yáochén’s poems “for two hundred years there has been no such work” — the locus classicus of his Sòng reputation. Sòngshǐ 443.