Top 10 Chinese Literary Masters (10 volumes)

Author: Tong Yiqiu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-02-01
Features: Li Bai (701-762), styled Taibai, styled Qinglian Jushi. A great poet of the Tang Dynasty. His ancestral home was Chengji in Longxi (now Qinan, Gansu). In the late Sui Dynasty, his ancestors were exiled to Zhuiye in Central Asia due to a crime, and Li Bai was born there. In his childhood, he moved with his father to Qinglian Township, Changlong, Mianzhou. In his youth, Li Bai composed poems and verses, was erudite and versatile, and acted justly and heroically. In the early years of Tianbao, he was summoned to the capital and appointed as a Hanlin Academician. He resigned and left Chang'an after only more than a year due to slander from powerful officials. In 744 (the third year of the Tianbao era), he met Du Fu in Luoyang. During the An Lushan Rebellion, he served as a counselor to Prince Yong of the Li family with the hope of suppressing the rebellion. Later, when Prince Yong rebelled against the imperial court, Li Bai was implicated and exiled to Yelang. On the way back, he was pardoned and returned east, relying on Li Yangbing, the county magistrate of Dangtu. In his later years, he wandered in hardship and died in Dangtu. Li Bai was a great romantic poet of the Tang Dynasty, equally famous with Du Fu, known as "Li and Du." His poems express a disdainful spirit towards feudal nobles, show deep sympathy for the suffering of the people, praise just wars for maintaining national unity, and vividly depict the magnificent landscapes of his homeland with his pen. His poetic style is grand, unrestrained, passionate, powerful, and full of imagination. His poetic language reaches the perfect realm of "clear water emerging from a lotus, naturally free of ornamentation," and has had an extremely profound influence on later poetry. Poems like "The Hard Road to Shu," "Quiet Night Thoughts," and "Leaving Baidi Town at Dawn" are widely celebrated. He wrote "The Collected Works of Li Taibai" in 30 volumes. This set also includes works such as "The Ten Great Literary Masters of China: Du Fu," "The Ten Great Literary Masters of China: Qu Yuan," and "The Ten Great Literary Masters of China: Bai Juyi."