Ministers › Remonstrators
Li Bo
Mid-Tang official and writer, once a recluse at White Deer Grotto, whose explanation of Stone Bell Mountain Su Shi disputed.
At dawn in a palace courtyard, a large drum hangs in a small roofed frame beside a red pillar, with a bound bundle of scrolls on a low stand in front; a stone balustrade leads toward a large hall in the mist, and a row of tiny people stands far away.
Also known as Zi Junzhi · Master of White Deer
Li Bo, courtesy name Junzhi, of Luoyang, descended from a Northern Wei duke. In youth he lived as a recluse on Mount Lu with his brother Li She, keeping a white deer, which earned him the name Master of White Deer; his study site later grew into the White Deer Grotto Academy. Entering office in the Yuanhe era, he served as remonstrator, grand master of remonstrance, prefect of Jiangzhou, surveillance commissioner of Guiguan and adviser to the heir apparent, known for blunt counsel and for dredging the Lingqu canal. His essay explaining Stone Bell Mountain by the ring of two stones was dismissed as shallow in Su Shi's famous record.
Life and times
Dates 773–831 CE