Yang Wan (Gējì)

Yang Wan (c. 1602—1644; Chinese name: Yáng Wǎn, courtesy name: Wǎnshū 宛叔), was one of the famous geji of the Qinhuai pleasure district in Nanjing during the waning years of the Ming dynasty.

Biography
Yang Wan’s family background is unknkwn. According to Mao Yuanyi's preface to Yang Wan's first poetry collection, she was born around 1602. It was likely she began training as a geji, from a very young age.

The geji of the pleasure district along the Qinhuai River were especially celebrated for their sophistication, refinement, and literary and artistic accomplishments. Qian Qianyi believed that among the talented gejis, Wang Wei and Yang Wan could stand on equal footing with Liu Rushi. Yang Wan and geji Wang Wei became friends,they called each other sworn sisters. Although Yang Wan was not as famous as Wang Wei, she was also quite talented, especially good at regular script. The two had similar backgrounds, so they were like sisters.

The military official and scholar Mao Yuanyi had been an associate of Matteo Ricci, and wrote the military treatise Wubei Zhi, which included the Mao Kun map. Mao Yuanyi, who was also a poet, valued his concubines’ artistic achievements and pursuits.Yang Wan married Mao Yuanyi as a concubine in 1612. Wang Wei married Mao Yuanyi as a concubine in 1617. Geji who got married were expected to quit their profession and observe the private lifestyles expected from respectable wives, but Yang Wan had an unusual arrangement with her husband to continue her professional pursuits. She had various lovers during their marriage, with her husband’s knowledge and tolerance.

Mao Yuanyi suffered a political fall and exile, which led him to excessive drinking. He died in 1640. Wang Wei remarried, and Yang Wan continued her profession. Four years later, she was forcibly taken, along with several other geji including Chen Yuanyuan, by an officer of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Tian Hongyu, father of the imperial concubine Tian Xiuying. Tian Hongyu intended for them to serve in the household of the Chongzhen Emperor, but that plan didn’t come to fruition due to the emperor’s death during the peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng. In the upheaval, Yang Wan tried to escape the capital disguised as a beggar, but she was murdered by bandits.

Poetry
Despite her fame during her lifetime, in the early Qing Dynasty a backlash against women’s cultivation of artistic skills and the decadence associated with the geji profession caused Yang Wan and her work to be disparaged. Very few of her poems have survived.