Ruǎn Yǔ 阮瑀 (?–212 CE)
Ruǎn Yǔ 阮瑀 (?–212 CE), zì Yuányú 元瑜, was one of the Jiàn’ān Qīzǐ 建安七子 (Seven Masters of the Jiàn’ān Period) — the literary circle centered on Cáo Cāo’s 曹操 court at the close of the Han dynasty. He was from Chénliú 陳留 Wèishì 尉氏 (modern Henan). His CBDB id is 29613; death year confirmed by Lìdài rénwù niánlǐ tōngpǔ and Nánběi shìbiǎo 1.140.
After initially declining to serve, Ruǎn Yǔ was persuaded by Cáo Cāo and entered his service as Jūnmóu Jìjiǔ 軍謀祭酒 (Military Adviser Libationer), one of his chief secretarial and drafting officials. Cáo Pī 曹丕 praised him in the Diǎn lùn Lùn wén 典論論文 as excelling particularly in “shū jì” 書記 (official documents and records) — the administrative genres most essential to Cáo Cāo’s military-political machine. He died in 212 CE, before the epidemic of 217 CE that also claimed Wáng Càn 王粲, Xú Gàn 徐幹, Chén Lín 陳琳, and Liú Zhēn 劉楨.
Ruǎn Yǔ is the father of Ruǎn Jí 阮籍 (210–263 CE), one of the most important Wei-Jin period poets and the central figure of the Zhúlín Qīxián 竹林七賢 (Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove). His collected works (jíyìběn reconstruction) are at KR4b0111.