Li Bai

Have you ever met a poet who loved the moon and wine so much people call him a 'Poet Immortal'? Meet Li Bai. Li Bai (701–762) was a Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty. In this one-minute presentation we will focus on his poetry—how his lively imagination and bright images changed Chinese verse and still move readers today.

Li Bai lived during the Tang dynasty, a golden age for poems and arts. He traveled a lot and wrote more than a thousand poems about nature, friendship, drinking, and quiet nights. One simple poem, "Quiet Night Thought," is memorized by schoolchildren across China because its lines are short and clear.

Li Bai's achievement was his gift for clear, powerful images. He used short lines and bold pictures—mountains, rivers, moonlight—to make feelings jump off the page. His poems shaped Chinese poetry for centuries; translators have carried his voice around the world. Today he is remembered as one of China's greatest poets, often mentioned with Du Fu.

Why this matters: Li Bai shows how a few bright words can make the world feel new. If you like his pictures-in-words, try writing a short poem about a tree or the moon. Li Bai's lines have crossed more than a thousand years to speak to kids just like you.