Writers › Writer / Poet
Luo Binwang
Early Tang poet from Yiwu, one of the Four Talents, who wrote Xu Jingye's manifesto against Empress Wu in 684 and vanished after the rising failed
In a study at night, a desk holds a brush pot, a porcelain vase with a plum branch, a lit red lantern, a folded fan and an unrolled blank scroll, with no one seated there, while through a round window the moon rises over a lake with a sailboat.
Also known as Zi Guanguang · Luo Linhai
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Luo Binwang came from Yiwu in Wuzhou; the New Book of Tang (Xin Tangshu) says he could write verse at seven. He began on the staff of the Prince of Dao, then served as assistant magistrate of Wugong and of Chang'an, and after repeatedly submitting memorials under Empress Wu he was demoted to Linhai, the source of his nickname. In prison he wrote 'Ode to the Cicada in Prison' to protest his innocence. When Xu Jingye rose at Yangzhou in 684, Luo drafted his proclamation against the empress; reading its line asking whether the earth on the late emperor's tomb was even dry, she asked who wrote it and said the chief ministers had failed to recruit such a man. The New Book of Tang says he fled after the defeat and was never found, while the Old Book of Tang (Jiu Tangshu) says he was executed. Under Zhongzong the court recovered several hundred of his pieces, and he is counted among the Four Talents of the early Tang.
Life and times
- c. 640 CEBorn
Tang - 684Xu Jingye's Yangzhou Uprising
In 684 Li Jingye rose at Yangzhou against the regent Wu Zetian in the name of restoring the deposed emperor, with Luo Binwang writing his proclamation, and was crushed within months. - UnknownDiedmissing after 684
Works
Literature · Poetry2- Farewell at the Yi RiverTangLuo Binwang's farewell quatrain at the Yi River, where Jing Ke once left Prince Dan of Yan
- On the Cicada, Written in PrisonTangLuo Binwang, in prison, speaks through a cicada of a purity that no one will believe
- Literature · Sayings2
- The Orphan Six Chi Tall: Luo Binwang's Call to ArmsTangIdiom from Luo Binwang's Proclamation Against Wu Zhao: who will protect the heir?
- Wind and Clouds Change Colour at a ShoutTangFamous line from Luo Binwang's call to arms against Empress Wu: a shout that shakes the sky
- Literature · Prose1
- Manifesto on Behalf of Xu Jingye Denouncing Wu ZhaoTangLuo Binwang's parallel-prose call to arms for Xu Jingye's 684 revolt against Empress Wu
