Chinese · 701–762
Li Bai grew up in Sichuan, possibly born far to the west in Central Asia, and never sat the civil service examination — a refusal that closed the ordinary route to office and shaped everything after. He wandered, studied with Daoist masters, married into two former chancellors' families, and in 742 was summoned to the Tang court on the strength of his poems. He lasted under two years, writing songs for the emperor's favourite consort and drinking with a group known as the Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup, before being dismissed. During the An Lushan rebellion he joined a prince who was declared a rebel, was jailed and sentenced to exile in the far south, and was pardoned partway. About a thousand poems survive under his name. They are fast, loud and metrically loose where Du Fu is exact, full of moonlight, swords, wine and departure. The legend that he drowned reaching for the moon's reflection is not true and has never stopped being repeated.