Mid-Yuán 元 poet, envoy, and Hànlín official. Zì Gāngzhōng 剛中. Native of Tiāntāi Línhǎi 天台臨海 (modern Zhèjiāng).
Career.
- Early Zhìyuán era: as commoner submitted the Dà yītǒng fù 大一統賦 (Great Unification Rhapsody) to the Jiāngzhè Xíngshěng, which forwarded it to the imperial court. Appointed Shàngcài shūyuàn shānzhǎng 上蔡書院山長.
- Zhìyuán 29 (1292): on Liáng Zēng 梁曾’s (Lìbù shàngshū) second mission to An-nán, served as deputy envoy with concurrent appointments Hànlín guóshǐyuàn biānxiū guān and acting Lǐbù lángzhōng.
- After return: promoted Hànlín dàizhì 翰林待制 concurrent Guóshǐyuàn biānxiū; then Hànlín jiǎntǎo.
- Final: Fèngzhí dàfū 奉直大夫, Táizhōulù zǒngguǎnfǔ zhìzhōng 台州路總管府治中.
Notable contribution. Author of three letters to An-nán reprehending Chén Shìshàn 陳世燇 for breach of envoy-protocol (no suburban greeting; refusal to receive Yuán envoys through the central Yángmíng gate). The letters — cí zhí qì zhuàng (firm-word vigorous-tone) — successfully obtained the An-nán submission biǎo. Not preserved in the Yuánshǐ but extant in the fùlù of his poetry collection KR4d0469.
Poetic distinction. Chén’s Guānguāng gǎo 觀光稿 and Jiāozhōu gǎo 交州稿 explicitly imitate Fàn Chéngdà 范成大’s Sòng-era embassy-northern poetry (the Lánpèi lù) — preserving topographical and ancient-traces material along the imperial-mission route. His Yùtáng gǎo preserves Shàngdū jìxíng (Yuán summer-capital) compositions.
Within the Kanripo corpus. KR4d0469 Chén Gāngzhōng shījí 陳剛中詩集 (撰).
Reference. Yuánshǐ j. 190 (Chén Fú biography); An-nán mission details in Liáng Zēng’s biography.