Ying Chang 應瑒

Ying Chang, courtesy name Delian, was a native of Runan. The Records appends him, together with Liu Zhen, to the end of the Biography of Wang Can. Earlier, when Cao Pi became General of the Household for All Purposes, he and Cao Zhi, Marquis of Pingyuan, were both fond of literature, and Wang Can, together with Xu Gan of Beihai, Chen Lin of Guangling, Ruan Yu of Chenliu, Ying Chang of Runan and Liu Zhen of Dongping, was treated by them as a close friend. Records, Wei 21 §9 · 18

Ying Chang and Liu Zhen were each summoned by Cao Cao and became Clerks on the Chancellor's staff. Ying Chang was transferred to Household Cadet to the Marquis of Pingyuan, and later became Literary Scholar to the General of the Household for All Purposes. Both wrote several dozen prose pieces and rhapsodies. Records, Wei 21 §19

Ruan Yu died in the 17th year of Jian'an (212), and Xu Gan, Chen Lin, Ying Chang and Liu Zhen died in the 22nd year (217). In a letter to Wu Zhi, Prefect of Yuancheng, Cao Pi wrote that an epidemic had spread the previous year and many of his relatives and friends had suffered from that calamity, so that Xu Gan, Chen Lin, Ying Chang and Liu Zhen had all passed away at once. Records, Wei 21 §20

Taking up their writings one by one, the letter said of Ying Chang, 'Delian always had a brilliant literary grace and cherished the intention of writing; his talent and learning were sufficient to compose a book, yet his fine aspiration was not fulfilled — truly painful and regrettable.' It closes by saying that they merely fell short of the ancients, yet were still the outstanding men of their age. Records, Wei 21 §21–22

After Ying Chang, Chen Shou appended Ying Qu, writing that Ying Chang's younger brother Ying Qu and Ying Qu's son Ying Zhen both made names for themselves through their writing. Ying Qu rose in office to Palace Attendant, and in the Xianxi era Ying Zhen took part in the military affairs of the Chancellor of State. Records, Wei 21 §25–26

In his assessment in Records of Wei 21, Chen Shou said that Emperor Wen and the Prince of Chen, in their noble status as princes, broadly loved literary grace, so that talented men came forth together, and among them six men, Wang Can and the others, were the most renowned. Records, Wei 21 §99