Writers › Writer / Poet
Qin Taoyu
Late Tang poet, courtesy name Zhongming, a judge in the Shence army and later Vice Minister of Works; his poem The Poor Woman is remembered for its line about sewing wedding clothes for others.
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 Zhongming
Qin Taoyu, courtesy name Zhongming, from the capital region, was a late Tang poet. He served as judge of the Shence Army under the eunuch Tian Lingzi and under Emperor Xizong rose to Vice Minister of Works; his dates are unknown. A master of seven-character regulated verse, he is known for The Poor Woman, a poem that voices his own thwarted talent through a poor girl, ending with the line about making wedding dresses for other people, source of a famous idiom. His Touzhi Xiaolu in three scrolls is lost.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active under Emperor Xizong (873–888)