Yi Zhao

Born in 1727 and dying in 1814, Zhao Yi was a Chinese scholar-official of the Qing dynasty who built a lasting reputation as both a historian and a poet. He served in government after success in the imperial examination system, but his fame rests most strongly on his writing.

His best-known work is Notes on the Twenty-Two Histories, a book admired for its close reading of earlier dynastic histories. Rather than simply repeating old judgments, he was known for weighing sources carefully and noticing patterns, contradictions, and details that others missed.

That combination of literary talent and critical history has kept his name alive well beyond his own time. He is often remembered as one of the Qing scholars who helped make historical study more analytical, curious, and grounded in evidence.