SòngYuán transition poet, paired with Qiú Yuǎn 仇遠 (1247–1327) in fame as “QiúBái” 仇白 — the two most-celebrated late-Sòng / early-Yuán Hángzhōu poets. Zì Tíngyù 廷玉; self-styled Zhànyuān 湛淵 (“Deep-and-Clear [Abyss]”) after his West Lake retirement-hut at the Jīnshātān 金沙灘 (Golden-Sand-Bank); in late life further styled Qīxiá shānrén 棲霞山人 (“Roosting-at-Sunset-Glow Mountain-Man”). Native of Qiántáng 錢塘 (Hángzhōu, modern Zhèjiāng).
Career. Already poetically famous in the late Sòng Xiánchún era (1265–1274). After the Sòng fall, by recommendation of the Yuán painter-official Lǐ Kān 李衎 (1245–1320), awarded the Tàipínglù rúxué zhèng 太平路儒學正 (Confucian School Rectifier for Tàipíng circuit), eventually Lánxīzhōu pànguān 蘭溪州判官 (Vice-Magistrate of Lánxī Department). Retired kǎnkě bùdá (rough-going-and-not-arriving) — his career roughly paralleling Qiú Yuǎn’s.
Poetic reception. Dài Biǎoyuán’s preface to the Zhànyuān jí praises Bái as “very much like Chén Yǔyì [Chén Qùfēi] after [his] crossing the [Yangtze] river” — placing Bái in the major Sòng-poetic-individuality lineage. Sòng Lián’s mùzhì records the judgment of Liú Chénwēng 劉辰翁 (1232–1297): Bái’s verse is not diāokè kēsuì (carved-and-trivial-fragmented) but has the Yúnshān Sháohù (Cloud-Mountain Sháo-music) sound — i.e. open, archaic, transcendent quality. Bái was also the Yuèquán yínshè 月泉吟社 (Moon-Spring Poetry Society) eighteenth-place laureate under the pseudonym Táng Chǔyǒu 唐楚友.
Reception by other figures. [Xiè Áo] 謝翺 and Fāng Fèng 方鳳 also evaluated his form-and-tone as exceedingly high. Táo Jiǔchéng 陶九成 in his Chuògēng lù 輟耕錄 records Bái’s Yǎnyǎ shí shǒu 演雅十首 cycle.
Original corpus and transmission. Original Zhànyuān jí in 8 juàn (per Chénghuà Hángzhōu fǔzhì); listed in the Wényuāngé shūmù. Lost by Qīng times. The single-juàn surviving recension (in the Sìkù) is an early-Qīng anthology compilation by the Hángzhōu scholar Shěn Sōngtíng 沈崧町, containing 2 fù, 63 shī, 6 wén.
Within the Kanripo corpus. KR4d0449 Zhànyuān jí 湛淵集 (撰).