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Li Baiyao
Sui–Tang historian and writer who completed his father Li Delin's draft into the History of Northern Qi for Emperor Taizong.
In an archive hall, tall wooden shelves hold scrolls and bound books with small tags, and one person climbs a ladder with their back turned; a long table in front holds an unrolled river map, a bronze lamp and a copper jug, with a city wall seen through the window.
Also known as Zi Chonggui · Posthumous name Kang
Li Baiyao, courtesy name Chonggui, was a native of Anping in Dingzhou and the son of Li Delin, Sui Director of the Secretariat. Known early for his talent, he endured demotions and exile under the Sui but won Emperor Taizong's favour under the Tang, serving as Secretariat drafter, Vice Minister of Rites and tutor in the heir's household, and was enfeoffed as baron and later viscount of Anping. Commissioned to revise the rites and statutes, he also built on his father's history of the Qi to complete in 636 the work now called the History of Northern Qi, for which he was made Cavalier Attendant-in-ordinary. He died in 648 aged 84, posthumously named Kang.
Life and times
Dates 565–648 CE