Li Qingzhao Collection -- Classics Series of the Collection Department

Author: Yang Helin (Editor and annotator)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-06-01
Features: Li Qingzhao (1084－c. 1151), a female poet of the Southern Song Dynasty. Known as the "Noble Lady of Yi An," she was from Zhangqiu, Qizhou (now part of Shandong Province). Her father, Li Gefei, was a renowned scholar of the time, and her husband, Zhao Mingcheng, was an expert in epigraphy and the study of ancient inscriptions. In her early life, she lived a prosperous life and worked with Zhao Mingcheng in collecting and organizing calligraphy, painting, and ancient artifacts. When the Jin army occupied the Central Plains, she fled south and was left in hardship after her husband's death. Her poems from the early period mostly depict her leisurely life, while those from the later period often lament her personal misfortunes, with a melancholic tone, sometimes revealing her longing for the Central Plains. In terms of style, she excelled in using plain description techniques, a new path, and her language was elegant and refined. She emphasized the importance of musicality in poetry, advocated for classical elegance and sentiment, and proposed the theory that "ci poetry is a separate genre," opposing the practice of writing poetry in the style of prose. She was also skilled in writing poems, though few have survived. Some of her surviving works express her sentiments and historical reflections with passionate words, differing from her style of ci poetry. She left behind works such as 《》 (Collected Works of the Noble Lady of Yi An) and 《》 (Ci Poetry of the Noble Lady of Yi An), which are now lost. Later generations compiled her works into 《》 (Ci Poetry of Shuyu), and modern scholars have published 《》 (Collected Works of Li Qingzhao with Annotations).