Shěn Yàzhī 沈亞之 (?–831, zì Xiàxián 下賢), of Wúxīng 吳興 by ancestral seat (the Chángān affiliation in his original-preface is interpreted as residence; Lǐ Hè’s poem Sòng Shěn Yàzhī explicitly calls him Wúxīng cáirén and locates his home “qiántáng dōng fù dōng” — confirming the Wúxīng / Húzhōu affiliation as factual rather than ancestral). Jìnshì of Yuánhé 10 (815). In Tàihé 3 (829), Bǎi Qí 柏耆 was sent on a xuānwèi (pacification-emissary) mission to Dézhōu; Shěn was made pànguān. When Bǎi Qí was dismissed, Shěn was demoted as Nánkāng wèi (sub-prefect of Nánkāng), where he died (CBDB id 93311 gives ?–831).
Shěn’s prose is classed alongside Sūn Qiáo 孫樵 孫樵 (= KR4c0083) and Liú Tuì 劉蛻 (= KR4c0080) as the Yuánhé “xiǎnjué” (precipice-jutting) school of difficult, archaic gǔwén. His three chuánqí fictions — Qín mèng jì 秦夢記 (the dream-marriage to Qín Mùgōng’s daughter Nóngyù), Yì mèng lù 異夢錄 (frame-tale of dream-poetry exchange), and Xiāngzhōng yuàn jiě 湘中怨解 (a Xiāng-river goddess narrative) — are foundational to the late-Táng chuánqí canon and inspired the Nǐ Shěn Xiàxián form among Late-Táng poets, with both Dù Mù 杜牧 and Lǐ Shāngyǐn 李商隱 composing Nǐ (imitative) poems for him.
Principal work in the corpus: Shěn Xiàxián jí KR4c0065 in 12 juǎn. Catalog gives no specific dates; CBDB id 93311 gives ?–831. Standard reference works place him c. 781–832 with a jìnshì date of 815.