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Li Bai has generally been regarded as one of the greatest poets in China's Tang period, which is often called China's 'golden age' of poetry. Around a thousand existing poems are attributed to him, but the authenticity of many of these is uncertain. Thirty-four of his poems are included in the popular anthology 'Three Hundred Tang Poems'.<br/><br/> Many of the Classical Chinese poets were associated with drinking wine, or more precisely, alcoholic beverages. In fact, Li Bai was part of the group of Chinese scholars during his time in Chang'an, called the 'Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup', as mentioned in a poem by fellow poet Du Fu. However, Li Bai is of special note in this respect. As Burton Watson put it, 'nearly all Chinese poets celebrate the joys of wine, but none so tirelessly and with such a note of genuine conviction as Li Bai'. This lifestyle may have given rise to the story that Li Bai drowned after falling from his boat when he tried to embrace the reflection of the moon in the Yangtze River while intoxicated.
Han Yu (768–824), born in Nanyang, Henan, China, was a precursor of Neo-Confucianism as well as an essayist and poet, during the Tang dynasty. The Indiana Companion calls him 'comparable in stature to Dante, Shakespeare or Goethe' for his influence on the Chinese literary tradition. He stood for strong central authority in politics and orthodoxy in cultural matters. He is also among China's finest prose writers, second only to Sima Qian, and first among the 'Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song'. Song Dynasty poet Su Shi praised Han Yu recording that he had written prose which 'raised the standards after eight dynasties of literary weaknesses'.
Jia Dao was a Chinese poet active during the Tang Dynasty. He was born near modern Beijing; after a period as a Buddhist monk, he went to Chang'an. He became one of Han Yu's disciples, but failed the jinshi exam several times. He wrote both discursive gushi and lyric jintishi. His works were criticised as 'thin' by Su Shi, and some other commentators have considered them limited and artificial.
Su Shi was a writer, poet, artist, calligrapher, pharmacologist, and statesman of the Song Dynasty, and one of the major poets of the Song era. His courtesy name was Zizhan and his pseudonym was Dongpo Jushi. He is often referred to as Su Dongpo. Besides his renowned poetry, his other extant writings are of great value in the understanding of 11th century Chinese travel literature as well as details of the 11th century Chinese iron industry.