Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES OF A FEW OF THE MORE EMINENT CHINESE POETS Li Peh. Li Peh (Tai Peh; Tsing Lien) lived during the Tang Dynasty, probably from A. D. 699 to 762, and he is regarded as the most brilliant of all Chinese poets. He was connected by descent in the ninth generation with the Imperial family of the T'ang Dynasty, but was born in a remote part of the Empire now included in the Szechwan Province. When but ten years old Li Peh was familiar with poetry and other branches of literature, and, as he grew older, his ability and genius attracted the attention and praise of the highest in the land. When introduced to the Court at Chang-an, Ho Chi- chang, one of the courtiers, exclaimed:—' He is one of the immortal genii banished to earth.' For a short time, too, he was greatly favoured by the Emperor, Hsiien-Tsung, but, having incurred the enmity of the Emperor's chief concubine, he had to withdrawfrom the Court and relinquish all hopes of official promotion. He then travelled widely, writing many poems on the beauties of nature, and also in praise of wine and music, to the former of which he was too strongly addicted. In the later part of his life, it seems, he became involved in political intrigues, for which offence he was banished to a distant region. But in his old age he was allowed to return, and he ended his days peacefully at T'ang-t'u (a place near the modern Nankin), whose governor was a kinsman named Li Yang-ping. Chang Kiu-ling. Chang Kiu-ling (Tze Sheo) was the son of an official in the T'ang Dynasty. At a very early age he displayed great ability, and while still comparatively young, took a high literary degree (Tsin- tze), and then held high office under the Emperor Hsiien-Tsung, with whom he sometimes ventured to remonstrate for his licentio...