Bai Juyi (772-846) was the son of an official. As a young man, he wandered about to escape from the wars and hence suffered from poverty and hunger. Later, after having succeeded in the civil service examinations, he served for fifteen years as an official. He was disliked and ostracized by his noble colleagues and was sent away from the capital to work in remote cities.

Bai Juyi wrote almost three thousand poems, his output exceeding that of the other Tang poets. With their themes centring on the important social and political problems, Bai Juyi used plain and simple language that proved enlightening even for those who had not received even the poorest education. He also wrote many lyrics expressing his personal feelings. His long narrative poem The Song of the Pipa (musical instrument) Player is among the best known.

Du Fu (712 - 770)

Du Fu, the Sage of Poets, lived in end of the Dang dynasty. Having suffered obstacles in his official career, he began to travel around the country and to write poetry. Living as a refugee during the Rebellion of An and Shi gave him a personal empathy with the sufferings of the poor. His work shows a great depth of feeling for the plight of the common people. In 759, Du Fu went to live in Chengdu city ,Thatched Cottage which is open to visitors by now. Recording as they do both the military and political situations pertaining at this time, Du Fu's poems are referred to as "the mirror of his time". He is regarded as providing a typical representation of realism in poetry.

The most popular of his poems are the Three Officials and Three Leaves.

Li Bai (712-770)

Li Bai, the Immortal Poet, living during the peak of the Tang period, wrote as many as nine hundred poems. He was probably the greatest of the ancient Chinese poets. It is generally agreed that between them, Li Bai and Du Fu elevated the poetic form to a level of power and expression that remains unsurpassed by poets of subsequent generations. His work is characterized by its imaginative and unrestrained expression of feeling. Rated as a romantic poet, his writings are endowed with a deep appreciation of people and their lives. The magnificent scenery he saw and enjoyed as well as the profound expression of his own desires and sorrows are subjects of his work.

Qu Yuan

Qu Yuan was a great politician and poet in the Warring States Period (476 BC - 221 BC). He was born in an aristocratic family of Chu State, one of seven powerful states at that time. Fully trusted by the king of Chu State, Qu Yuan served as chief assistant to the king. He carried out political reforms, set up strict legal system, and gave full opportunity to the able. Menaced by the threat of Qin State, Qu Yuan advocated the alliance with other states, fighting against Qin with combined force. The ruler of Qin, who viewed Chu State as the number one adversary, schemed to undermine the good administration of Chu under Qu Yuan. He sent his men to bribe the brother and favorite woman of the king of Chu, who were jealous of the authority of Qu Yuan. The two spoke ill behind of Qu Yuan to the king and the king took it for truth at last. Qu Yuan was exiled eventually. In the course of his banishment, he produced a great many poets, expressing his concerns about the country and his detestation toward the treacherous persons.

On the breakthrough of Qin army into the capital of his country, Qu Yuan threw himself into Miluo River in present Hunan Province and died with his country. At the news of his suicide, Chu people, who held him in high reverence for his integrity and nobleness, rushed to rescue by boats. But, they failed even to find his body. So they dropped rice balls into the river in order that the fish would not eat his body.

In memory of this great patriotic poet, people made it a custom that on the day of his death, the fifth day of every fifth lunar month, dragon boat race would be held and people should eat Zongzi, which is the glutinous rice ball wrapped up with bamboo or reed leaves. The tradition is still kept up to now, called the Dragon Boat Day.

Si Maqian(145BC-90BC)

From his father Si Maqian inherited the position of grand historian to the Emperor, which had been a position largely concerned with keeping astronomical records. However, Sima Qian also took on an ambitious project started by his father—production of the first full history of China. This broad ranging work extending over 130 chapters is not in historical sequence but divided into particular subjects, including annals, chronicles, treatises—on music, ceremonies, calendars, religion, economics—and extended biographies. In this way, the Shi ji, or Records of the Historian, covers the period from the five sages of prehistoric times, through the Xia, Shang, Zhou, and Qin dynasties to the Han dynasty of Sima Qian’s own time.

Sima Qian made the political mistake of seeking to intercede for a general who had lost a battle when faced by overwhelming forces. This offended the Han Emperor Wu, who sentenced Sima Qian to castration. Such a sentence was calculated to cause an honorable suicide. Sima Qian, however, accepted the punishment and consequent disgrace in order to finish his history, as he explained in a letter to a friend. We are indebted to Sima Qian for most of the history we have of early China and for his demonstration that some things are more important than personal honor.

Su Shi (1037-1101)

Su Shi also known as Su Dong-po,was a poet of distinctive individuality in the Chinese literary world. A man of sanguine character, he wrote a vigorous and sprightly style, and was acknowledged as the representative of the powerful and free school of ci writing in the Song Ddynasty, thus holding a very influential place in the history of Chinese literature.

Wang Wei(701-761)

Wang Wei was one of the important pastoral poet of the High Tang period, best known for his five-character poems. He was an extremely versatile man, being a musician and painter as well as a poet. He wrote quatrains almost exclusively; these verses portray quiet scenes like those depicted in the few surviving paintings attributed to him. His delicate landscapes, famed for their depiction of water and mist, were drawn in black ink. He is considered the first master of atmosphere and the founder of Southern Chinese landscape art.

He was a devout Buddhist, a fact that deeply influenced the way in which he viewed the world and his place in it. He did not assiduously seek out the picturesque elements in the natural landscape, but rather registered the scenes about him just as they appeared. No wonder it is said "in his poetry there is painting and in his painting there is poetry".

Cao Xueqin (1715-1763)

Cao Xueqin (Ts'ao Hsueh-ch'in). Author of Honglou Meng(one of the 4 great novels in ancient China), Cao Xueqin is considered to be China's greatest novelist. He came from an eminent and wealthy family which suffered a reversal of fortune in 1728 after the death of the Kangxi Emperor and a power struggle between his sons. Cao Xueqin has spent about ten years writing and revising his novel, from roughly 1740 to 1750, but the last 40 of the 120 chapters were completed by different author named Gao Er, after his death. He also worked for a period of time in the Imperial Clan's school for the children of the nobility and bannermen, but eventually settled in the countryside west of Peking. He earned some money by selling his own paintings, but his family seems to have been perpetually in poverty. The novel, now generally recognised as a masterpiece, was not published until 1791, nearly 30 years after Cao's death.