Chén Wéisōng 陳維崧 (1625–1682), zì Qínián 其年, hào Jiālíng 迦陵 (after Buddhist Kaliṅka), of Yí-xìng 宜興 (Cháng-zhōu prefecture, Jiāngsū). CBDB id 65534; lifedates firm. The catalog meta gives 1625–1682, which is the modern scholarly consensus from the nián-pǔ.
Eldest son of 陳貞慧 Chén Zhēnhuì (1604/1605–1656), the late-Míng Fùshè 復社 member and one of the Sì gōngzǐ (Four Princes) of the late-Míng Jiāngnán literati world. Grandson of Chén Yútíng 陳於庭 (Wàn-lì-period Hànlín). The Yíxìng Chén lineage was one of the most distinguished late-Míng / early-Qīng literati clans, with substantial property and a deep tradition of literary excellence; Chén Wéisōng grew up in a household where the leading Fùshè and Dōnglín survivors moved freely.
Wéisōng failed multiple times in the jǔrén and lived modestly into his fifties as a zhūshēng. In Kāngxī 18 (1679) summoned to the Bóxué hóngcí 博學鴻詞 special examination; passed by shīfù (poetry-and-rhapsody) entry; appointed Hànlín jiǎntǎo; died only three years later in 1682.
The most prolific and influential of the early-Qīng cí-lyricists, with the largest single-author cí corpus in Chinese literary history (1,629 surviving lyrics in 333 cí meters — far exceeding even the great Sòng masters Liǔ Yǒng or Xīn Qìjí). Founder of the Yángxiàn 陽羨 cí school (Yángxiàn = Yíxìng) — a counterpart to 朱彝尊’s Zhèxī school, distinguished by its preference for high-voltage háofàng 豪放 (bold-and-free) style modeled on Sū Shì and Xīn Qìjí. He was also a leading early-Qīng sìliù (parallel-prose) writer, paired with 吳綺 Wú Qǐ as the two founders of early-Qīng parallel-prose revival.
Works: the Húhǎi lóu shī jí 湖海樓詩集 (poetry), the Húhǎi lóu cí jí 湖海樓詞集 (his cí corpus, 30 juan), the Chén Jiǎntǎo sìliù 陳檢討四六 (KR4f0031) and Chén Jiālíng wénjí 陳迦陵文集 (KR4f0032). Posthumous editorial work by Jiǎng Jǐngqí 蔣景祁 of Yíxìng (the Jiālíng cǎotáng recensions); commentary on the parallel-prose by Chéng Shīgōng 程師恭 of Wǎn (Anhui), Kāngxī 32 (1693).