Writers › Writer / Poet
Xiao Que
Northern Qi poet of the Lanling Xiao clan, a crown prince's attendant, whose couplet on lotus dew and moonlit willows was praised by Yan Zhitui.
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 Courtesy name Renzu
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Xiao Que, courtesy name Renzu, came from Lanling in Nan Lanling commandery (modern Wujin, Changzhou) and belonged to the Liang imperial clan. He entered Northern Qi in the Tianbao years (550-559) and served as Crown Prince's Attendant in the Wuping years (570-576); his dates are unknown. A poem he wrote one autumn night contains the lines 'lotus dew falls, willows thin in the moon', which Yan Zhitui praised for their clarity. A few of his poems appear in the Gu Shi Yuan and Jade Terrace anthologies.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active in Northern Qi (550-576 CE)