Li Ching-Chao

Born 1084, in Tsinan, in the province of Shantung; died 1151 (?). Chinese poet.

The daughter of the poet Li Ko-fei, Li Ch’ing-chao received a classical education. She wrote sad nature and anacreontic romances of the tz’u genre, including “I Break off a Branch of the Plum Tree,” “Spring in Wu-ling,” “As if Dreaming,” and “Mournful Sounds.” Her works are distinguished by a wealth of means of expression and intimacy of mood. In her most important poems, her personal sorrow (the death of her husband, and her wanderings) merges with the general calamity—the invasion of the nomadic tribes. The poet’s dissatisfaction with court politics is reflected in the classical poems “I Sing of the Past” and “Summer.” Her treatise on aesthetics Discussion of Poetry Written to Music is also well known.