Yuan Mei's Arrival in Lishui and "On First Arriving at the Lishui County Office"

From the Hanlin Academy to acting magistrate

Yuan Mei was released from the Hanlin Academy to serve in the provinces, and acted as magistrate of Lishui. In juan 10 of his Suiyuan Poetry Talks he recalls that "in the renxu year I and Tao Xipu were transferred from the Hanlin Academy", and in the supplement, juan 10, that "at twenty-seven I acted as magistrate of Lishui". The renxu year is 1742, the seventh year of the Qianlong era. The term he uses means acting, not formally installed; Yao Nai's "Epitaph for Yuan Suiyuan" likewise says "when he first came out he was tried as magistrate of Lishui", and the two agree. The district government's "District Overview" page lists "the Qing man of letters Yuan Mei" among former magistrates of Lishui.

"On First Arriving at the Lishui County Office"

The poem appears in the supplement, juan 1, of the Collected Poems of the Xiaocang Mountain Studio:

津吏传呼款碧轮，簿书才见一番新。初官直似为新妇，满眼何尝有故人。

Translated: The ferry officer calls out as the green-wheeled carriage draws up; the registers are seen for the first time, all new. New to office, one is just like a bride; before one's eyes not a single familiar face.

The poem describes his arrival at the county office: the summons at the ferry, the newly arrived registers, the likening of a new official to a bride, and the closing line that no old acquaintance is in sight.

There is a textual variant: a report by Justice Network in January 2026 and the text consulted in the digital collection both read "the registers are seen for the first time, all new", while another edition reads "the registers, cut down, all new". The two readings are set side by side, each with its source.

In post and on leaving

juan 3 of the collected poems contains "Taking Leave of Those Who Saw Me Off on Being Transferred from Lishui to Jiangpu", opening "Outside Moling Pass the dust of the journey rises, farewell songs fill the road", and closing "I only fear that, like Ren Yan, I am still young, and may my office not burden the people".

The supplement to the Poetry Talks records that when he left, "officials and people wept and saw me off, and some threw over me a 'ten-thousand-name robe'", and that he wrote a regulated verse in the carriage beginning "Ren Yan planted sweet pear by his learning".

Yao Nai's epitaph relates an anecdote of his time in Lishui: his father came from afar to the county seat, doubted that so young a man could govern, and made anonymous enquiries in the countryside, where everyone said "we have a young magistrate Yuan in this county, a very good official indeed"; the father was pleased and entered the official residence.

Uncertainties

First, the poem's title and lines have variants — "seen for the first time" and "cut down" are set out with their sources, without a choice.

Second, no source consulted gives the years in which Yuan Mei took up and left the Lishui post; this entry records only that he acted as magistrate from 1742. The year of his transfer to Jiangpu could not be verified and is not supplied.

Third, both "acting" and "tried as magistrate" indicate a provisional appointment, and the entry does not present it as a formal one.

Fourth, the "ten-thousand-name robe" and the "good official" anecdote come respectively from Yuan Mei's own account and from Yao Nai's epitaph, and each is attributed.