Writers › Writer / Poet
Zhao Yi
Eastern Han rhapsodist from Hanyang, author of Satire on the Age and Hatred of Evil
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 Zhao Yuanshu · Yuanshu · Ci Shi Ji Xie Fu Zuozhe
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Zhao Yi, courtesy name Yuanshu, from Xi county in Hanyang commandery, was active under Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han. The Book of the Later Han says he was proud of his talent and repeatedly fell foul of the law. He wrote the rhapsodies Trapped Bird and Satire on the Age and Hatred of Evil, the latter attacking his age and the powerful, and the essay Against Cursive Script. In 178 his commandery sent him to the capital as accounts officer; received by the Minister over the Masses, he only bowed instead of kneeling, and became famous in the capital.
Life and times
Dates c. 122 - c. 180