Ji Yun

Ji Yun (simplified Chinese: 纪昀; traditional Chinese: 紀昀; pinyin: Jǐ Yún; 1724–1805), also known as Ji Xiaolan (simplified Chinese: 纪晓岚; traditional Chinese: 紀曉嵐; pinyin: Jǐ Xiǎolán) or Ji Chunfan (Chinese: 紀春帆; pinyin: Jǐ Chūnfān) was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer. He was an influential scholar of Qing dynasty China and many anecdotes have been recorded about him. Ji Yun left behind a book entitled Notes of the Thatched Abode of Close Observations (閱微草堂筆記) and another book named Wenda Gong Yiji (紀文達公遺集; "Collected Works of Lord Wenda", i.e. Ji Xiaolan), which was edited by later generations. He was often mentioned with Yuan Mei as the "Nan Yuan Bei Ji" (Chinese: 南袁北紀; lit. 'Yuan of the south and Ji of the north').

Ji Yun was born in Xian County of Zhili province (modern Hebei). When he was young, he was deemed intelligent. His father Ji Rongsu was a civil minister and archaeologist.

In 1747, Ji Yun rose to intellectual prominence after winning the highest distinction in the provincial examinations. Several years later, in 1754, he attained the jinshi degree, whereupon he entered the Hanlin Academy.

Ji Yun's career was not, however, smooth sailing. In 1768, he became an accessory in a bribery case after he tipped off a brother-in-law about the severity of charges pending against him, for which crime he was banished to Dihua in Ili (predecessor of Xinjiang Province).

On his return from Xinjiang, Ji was received by the Qianlong Emperor in 1771 when the ruler happened to be returning from Jehol to Beijing, and he was ordered to write a poem on the return of the Turgut Mongols from the banks of the Volga. Ji's rendition of the inspiring tale of the return of the exiled Mongols, later celebrated in English by poet Thomas de Quincey (1785–1859) in his epic Revolt of the Tartars, delighted the emperor, for whom he became an unofficial poet laureate. The job of compiling the Siku Quanshu was his dubious reward.

One year later, Ji Yun was pardoned from his sentence, and, on his return journey in 1771, he wrote a travel account distilled into 160 poems titled Xinjiang zalu (新疆杂录; Assorted verses on Xinjiang). This remains one of the most useful sources in Chinese on life in Xinjiang Province in the late-eighteenth century.

He was an avid tobacco smoker, which he famously smoked with his pipe. He was an enthusiastic food gourmet with a special liking for fatty pork and strong tea and disliked starchy staple foods like rice, potatoes, wheat and corn. He loved women and had many concubines throughout his life. It was said he consummated with five different women every day. He seldom rode sedan chairs and preferred to walk.

In the first year of the Jiaqing Emperor's reign, he was appointed as the secretary of defense. Despite his bad habits, Ji Yun died in his sleep in 1805, aged 81.