Bai Li

Li Bai, also widely known in older Western spelling as Li Po, lived during the Tang dynasty and is often regarded as one of the great poets of China. Traditional accounts place his birth in 701 and his death in 762. More than a thousand poems are associated with him, and his work has remained central to the Chinese literary tradition.

He became famous for a bold, imaginative style that joins vivid natural scenes with strong feeling. Again and again, his poems turn to travel, friendship, solitude, drinking, and the night sky, giving everyday moments a sense of wonder. Readers have long admired the ease and musicality of his verse, as if it arrived in a sudden rush.

His life has also helped make him unforgettable. He traveled widely, spent time connected to the imperial court, and later experienced political trouble and exile. Over the centuries, that mixture of brilliance, wandering, and myth helped earn him the enduring nickname "Poet Immortal."