701-762
Poet

Life. Though he was once believed to have been born in Chengji (Qinan) or in Central Asia, Li is now generally believed to have been born to a wealthy family that settled in Changlong (Jiangyou), Sichuan Province, when he was five. He read widely and mastered swordsmanship as a teenager. Known for his generosity and chivalry, he loved drinking and swordplay. He was also unconventional and ignored the normal path to success through taking the civil examination. Instead, when he was eighteen or nineteen, he went into seclusion with a Daoist recluse, sincerely studied the Daoist religion, and at twenty-three began touring China. Four years later he married the granddaughter of a former prime minister. Eventually the court heard of his poems and invited him to the imperial palace, where Tang emperor Xuanzong (ruled 712-756) welcomed the poet with great honor and offered him...