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Li Yu
Last ruler of the Southern Tang, who surrendered Jinling to the Song in 975 and wrote his best-known ci lyrics as a captive in Kaifeng
Mural of The Beautiful Lady Yu: When Will Spring Blossoms and Autumn Moons End, a work by this person.
A captive ruler stands beneath the moon in a northern tower, recalling carved balustrades and jade steps now lost. Beyond the walls, spring water streams eastward without end, mirroring his grief.
Also known as Nantang Houzhu · Li Congjia · Chong Guang · Lianfeng Jushi · Zhongshan Yinshi
Li Yu, born Li Congjia with the courtesy name Chongguang, was the sixth son of Li Jing, the middle ruler of the Southern Tang. He succeeded at Jinling in 961, accepted the Song calendar and sent yearly tribute, and in 971 dropped the Tang dynastic name to style himself Ruler of Jiangnan. When Song armies took Jinling in 975 he surrendered and was taken to Kaifeng as the Marquis of Disobeyed Orders, later raised to Duke of Longxi by Emperor Taizong. He died at Kaifeng on the seventh night of the seventh month in 978; the Song writer Wang Zhi's Moji says Taizong, angered by his lyrics of longing for his lost state, had him poisoned. Skilled in painting, calligraphy and music, he wrote early lyrics on palace life and, as a captive, songs of loss such as Beautiful Lady Yu and Joy of Meeting. Wang Guowei's Remarks on Song Lyrics (Renjian cihua) credits him with turning the lyric from entertainers' songs into a medium for scholar-officials.
Life and times
Dates 937 CE–978 CE