Boyu Qi Su

Background

There is no exact information about the date and the place of her birth. Some sources place her in the Eastern Han dynasty other sources place her in Jin.

Career

When Su Boyu Qi's husband was sent to Shu she remained in Chang’an and during their long separation she wrote Poem on a Tray (Panzhong shi). She wrote it on a tray in the normal fashion of rows of characters forming a square, but the poem was a palindrome and has thus been described as a spiral poem. In this poem she told how much she missed her husband. Su Boyu was so moved by his wife’s poem that he returned home.

This poem is a mixture of forms. It has forty-eight lines with twenty-seven rhymes and consists mainly of lines of three characters, but with some lines of seven characters. However, the poem also reflects the unequal relationship between husband and wife in traditional Chinese society. Much has been made of how to read this very special poem, whose last line suggests it should be read from the center out to the four corners. This indicates that the tray on which Su Boyu’s wife wrote the poem was rectangular, but someone of a later age tried to recreate her poem, writing it on a circular tray.

Achievements

• Su Boyu Qi was known in Chinese literature as a talented poet who was famous for her Poem on a Tray. She inspired other poets such as Su Hui who also wrote a "palindrome" poem.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• Poem on a Tray is an excellent piece of writing based on an excellent idea. It is the very peak of poetic perfection. This intelligent, sensitive woman perhaps had the original idea [of a spiral poem]. However, in terms of literary value, the elegant, straightforward diction, the frequent transitions and brilliant inspiration are not found in the work of any literati of any age.

Connections

Su Boyu Qi was the wife of Su Boyu. She had no children.

husband:

Su Boyu

References

• Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E. - 618 C.E This new volume of the "Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women" spans more than 2,000 years from antiquity to the early seventh century. It recovers the stories of more than 200 women, nearly all of them unknown in the West.
  1998
• New Songs from a Jade Terrace: An Anthology of Early Chinese Love Poetry Translated from Chinese by Anne Birrell.
  1987