The singular mid-Yuán 元 Hànlín literary patriarch and principal Yùtáng (Hànlín) state-paper composer of the Zhìzhì and Tiānlì eras (1321–1330); senior member of the mid-Yuán four-master quartet (YúYángFànJiē). Zì Bóshēng 伯生; hào Dàoyuán 道園 (“Dào-Garden”); posthumous shì Wénjìng 文靖. Native of Shǔjùn 蜀郡 (Sìchuān). 1272–1348 (CBDB 10801).
Recruitment. Recovered into Yuán imperial service by Chéng Jùfū 程鉅夫 KR4d0466 in the Zhìyuán 23 (1286) southern-recruitment expedition — Yú was then 14 years old. This recruitment is one of the foundational consequential acts of Yuán imperial Hàn-Confucian formation.
Career. Successive Hànlín offices spanning four Yuán reigns (Chéngzōng, Wǔzōng, Rénzōng, Yīngzōng, Tàidìngdì, Wénzōng, Shùndì). Principal Hànlín state-paper composer of the Zhìzhì and Tiānlì eras: the cháotíng diǎncè (court canonical-investiture documents) and the gōngqīng dàfū bēibǎn (senior officials’ steles-and-tablets) all came from his hand.
Mid-Yuán quartet. With Yáng Zài 楊載 KR4d0495 (1271–1323), Fàn Pèng 范梈 KR4d0496 (1272–1330), and Jiē Xīsī 揭傒斯 KR4d0497 (1274–1344) forms the canonical YúYángFànJiē mid-Yuán literary quartet.
Maternal lineage. Mother Yángshì 楊氏 was the daughter of the Sòng Héngyáng magistrate Yáng Wénzhòng 楊文仲. The maternal-uncle’s-great-grandson Yáng Chūn 楊椿 of Méishān composed the preface to the Dàoyuán yígǎo in Zhìzhèng jǐhài (1359).
Within the Kanripo corpus.
- KR4d0493 Dàoyuán xuégǔ lù 道園學古錄 (撰) — the principal 50-juàn collection edited by his disciple Lǐ Běn 李本
- KR4d0494 Dàoyuán yígǎo 道園遺稿 (撰) — supplementary collection compiled by Yú’s grand-nephew Yú Kān 虞堪
Reference. Yuánshǐ j. 181.