Li Bai
Classical Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty (701–762)

Li Bai (c. 701 – 762), also known by his courtesy name of Taibai, was a Chinese poet acclaimed as one of the best and most important poets of the Tang dynasty, and even in the whole of Chinese poetry. He and his friends such as Du Fu (712–770) were among the prominent figures in the flourishing of Chinese poetry of the Tang dynasty, often called the "Golden Age of Chinese Poetry". The expression "Three Wonders" denotes Li Bai's poetry, Pei Min's swordplay, and Zhang Xu's calligraphy.
Around 1,000 poems attributed to Li are extant. His poems have been collected into the most important Tang dynasty collection, Heyue yingling ji, compiled in 753 by Yin Fan. Thirty-four of Li Bai's poems are included in the anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems, which was first published in the 18th century. Around the same time, translations of his poems began to appear in Europe. In Ezra Pound's famous work Cathay (1915), Li Bai's poems enjoy the lion's share (11 out of 19).
Li Bai's poems became models for celebrating the pleasures of friendship, the depth of nature, solitude, and the joys of drinking. Among the most famous are "Waking from Drunkenness on a Spring Day" (春日醉起言志), "The Hard Road to Shu" (蜀道難), "Bring in the Wine" (將進酒), and "Quiet Night Thought", which are still taught in schools in China.
“Li Bai” enters the record as classical Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty (701–762). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Classical, Chinese and poet can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Li Bai” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Classical, Chinese and poet provides the most credible route into that argument.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7071. VIAF identifies the subject as 108726426. The Library of Congress control number is n50062078. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1915.
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This entry incorporates text from “Li Bai” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.