T'sai Yen

T'sai Yen (c. 3rd century) was the first great women poet of China. She was daughter of a scholar who became scholar herself in her own right. Huns captured her and made her a concubine of a Hun chieftain. She bore two sons to him. She was finally ransomed and later married a Chinese official, but left her sons behind.

Wisdom & Quotes

• That I can live long enough

To obtain one and only one desire-
That some day I can see again
The mulberry and catalpa trees of home.
- Eighteen verses sung to a Tartar Reed Whistle

Kaccipettu Nannakalyar