Literature & Ideas
Peerless
Li Bai
701 – 762
The Tang dynasty poet celebrated as China's greatest romantic poet
Peerless is level 1 of 4 in the China Hall of Fame: changed the field itself. Tell the country's story without them and the story breaks. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
A wandering poet of the Tang dynasty whose verses on wine, moonlight, friendship and the mountains are among the most loved and most memorised in the Chinese language.
Li Bai spent most of his life travelling, with a brief and unhappy period at the imperial court in Chang'an. Around a thousand of his poems survive, marked by freedom of form, bold imagery and a sense of joy and longing.
With his friend Du Fu he is regarded as one of the two greatest poets of the Tang, the golden age of Chinese poetry. Children across the Chinese-speaking world still learn his short poem on moonlight and homesickness by heart.
With his friend Du Fu he is regarded as one of the two greatest poets of the Tang, the golden age of Chinese poetry. Children across the Chinese-speaking world still learn his short poem on moonlight and homesickness by heart.
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