Jiang Yan (poet)

Jiang Yan (444 – 505) was a poet and fu writer during the Northern and Southern dynasties period known for his imitation poetry, a prominent genre of the Six Dynasties era.

Jiang Yan stated that he loved the strange and different, and therefore sought new social trends and literary habits. This affected his friendships and writing style.

There was a legend saying that Jiang once dreamt of returning his magic brush to Guo Pu and lost his talent in writing ever since. The idiom "" is therefore used for describing the situation when a creator is experiencing writer's block after using up all his/her talent.