Li Houzhu (李後主; pinyin: lǐ hòu zhǔ) (936 or 937 - 978) was a Chinese poet and the last ruler of the Southern Tang Kingdom from 961 to 975 during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period; he has been called the "first true master" of the ci form (Indiana Companion p. 555). His given name was Li Yu (李煜; pinyin: lǐ yù).

Li ascended the throne in 962, and immediately accepted a role subservient to the Song Dynasty to the north. He devoted much of his time to pleasure-making, and this is reflected in his early poems.

However, his best-known poems were composed during the years after the Song formerly ended his reign in 975 and brought him back as a captive to the Song capital, Bianjing (now Kaifeng). Li's works from this period dwell on his regret for the lost kingdom and the pleasures it had brought him. Legend goes that he was finally poisoned by the Song emperor in 978.

He developed the ci by broadening its scope from love to history and philosophy, particularly in his later works. He also introduced the two stanza form, and made great use of contrasts between longer lines of nine characters and shorter ones of three and five. Only 45 of his poems survive.

His story remains very popular in many Cantonese operas.

Further reading

• Nienhauser, William H (ed.). The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature. Indiana University Press 1986. ISBN 0253329833

External link

• Sinorama.com