Kāng Hǎi 康海 (1475–1540), zì Déhán 德涵, hào Duìshān 對山 (also Hǔxī shānrén 滸西山人, Pàndōng yúfù 沜東漁父), native of Wǔgōngxiàn 武功縣 in Shaǎnxī (then in Xī’ānfǔ). One of the most important figures of mid-Míng literary history. Jìnshì and zhuàngyuán (first place) of Hóngzhì 15 (1502); appointed Hànlínyuàn xiūzhuàn 翰林院修撰. He was one of the principal members of the Qián qī zǐ 前七子 (“Former Seven Masters”), the literary movement led by Lǐ Mèngyáng 李夢陽 (1473–1529) and Hé Jǐngmíng 何景明 (1483–1521) that called for a return to Hàn prose and Tang poetry as the canonical models of literary form.
When Lǐ Mèngyáng was imprisoned in 1508 in connection with his attack on the eunuch Liú Jǐn 劉瑾, Kāng Hǎi intervened on Lǐ’s behalf — successfully securing his release, but at the cost of being identified by Liú’s faction as a sympathizer. After Liú Jǐn’s fall in 1510, the Wǔzōng court retroactively classified Kāng Hǎi as a member of the Liú Jǐn faction and stripped him of his official rank. He retreated to his native Wǔgōng for the remaining thirty years of his life, devoting himself to literary composition, drama, and the patronage of regional Confucian education. His friendship with Lǐ Mèngyáng deepened during the long retirement.
His extant works include:
- Wǔgōng xiànzhì 武功縣志 (KR2k0030) in 3 juan, 7 sections, completed 1519. The single most influential Míng county gazetteer of the jiǎn (concise) tradition.
- Duìshān jí 對山集 — his collected literary writings.
- Pàndōng yuèfǔ 沜東樂府 — his celebrated collection of sǎnqǔ arias and zájù dramas, including the famous Zhōngshān láng 中山狼 (The Wolf of Zhōngshān), an allegorical play widely read as an attack on Lǐ Mèngyáng for ingratitude after Kāng’s earlier intervention on his behalf — though Kāng’s son Lǚ Cì later denied this attribution.
His Míng shǐ biography appears in wényuànzhuàn (literary biographies), appended to that of Lǐ Mèngyáng (Míng shǐ j. 286). CBDB: 34645 (lifedates 1475–1540). Standard biographical reference: Dictionary of Ming Biography, vol. 1, 692–94.