Writers › Writer / Poet
Li Dou
Qing writer from Yizheng whose Yangzhou Huafang Lu records Qianlong-era Yangzhou, its gardens, troupes and shifan drumming.
Mural of the cultural record “Shifan Ensembles”, which this person is tied to.
Also known as Zi Beiyou · Hao Aitang
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Li Dou, styled Beiyou and known as Aitang, was a licentiate from Yizheng, Jiangsu, who never held office and was versed in music and verse. From 1764 he spent thirty years recording Yangzhou and published the eighteen-juan Yangzhou Huafang Lu in 1795. It describes gardens, sights, people, theatre troupes and street life; its entry on shifan drumming in juan 11 records the ensemble played on pleasure boats at Rainbow Bridge, a key source on Qing drama and folk instrumental music. He also wrote the chuanqi plays Suixing Ji and Qisuan Ji.
Life and times
Dates 1749–1817