LI JIAN (1748-1799)
Manuscript of Poems Draft
A set of fifty-two pages
Each leaf measures 25.4 x 14.6 cm. (10 x 5 ³⁄₄ in.)
Dated twenty-fourth day of the eighth month, jiyou year (1789)
Six collectors’ seals
NOTE: This book was a gift to Wang Jingwei from Li Shangming, son of Hong Kong businessman Li Youquan (1861-1940). Li Shangming was a follower of Wang Jingwei, and was in the Nanjing government in charge of opium control.

Wang Jingwei remains one of the most fascinating and complex political and literary figures in modern Chinese history. As a revolutionary, Wang played an important role in the fall of the Qing dynasty and called for democratic and social reforms during the 1920s and the 1930s, before becoming a leader of the Peace Movement during the Second Sino-Japanese War. An accomplished calligrapher, poet, writer and friend to many artists, Wang is also well-known for his collection of poetry, titled Shuangzhaolou shicigao, including Xiaoxiuji (A Little Rest) and Saoyeji (Brush Leaves) collections. A selection of poems and translation has been published in Poems of Wang Ching-wei (London, Allen & Unwin, 1938).