Li Po wrote "Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon" while living in Ch'ang-an, which was then the capitol city of China. He was in attendance at the court of Emperor Hsüan-Tsung. At that time, Ch'ang-an, with a population of two million people, was one of the most bustling, cosmopolitan cities in the world. It was the zenith of the T'ang Dynasty, which over the course of the past century and a half, had transformed China into one of the world's most cultured and civilized countries at the same time that Europe was lost in the Dark Ages.

The T'ang Dynasty came to power in 618, under Li Yuan. The previous ruling family, the Sui Dynasty, had prepared for China's modernization by establishing a strong central government. Under Li Yuan and his son, Li Shimin, who took power in 628, reforms took place to divide fields...