Writers › Writer / Poet
Li You
Eastern Han writer from Luo in Guanghan, courtesy name Boren, recommended by Jia Kui under Emperor He, who helped compile the Dongguan Hanji and lived to eighty-three.
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 Boren
Li You, courtesy name Boren, was from Luo in Guanghan, in present-day Sichuan, an Eastern Han writer who died at eighty-three; his dates are unknown. Known for his writing in youth, he was recommended by Jia Kui under Emperor He and made a record clerk of the Orchid Terrace. Under Emperor An he was a counselor and, with Liu Zhen, compiled the Dongguan Hanji; he remonstrated against Liu Bao's removal as crown prince, and under Emperor Shun became Chancellor of Le'an. Twenty-eight of his pieces survive, including the Pingle Guan fu, Jiuqu ge and the Ju cheng ming, an early text on cuju. Liu Xie found his inscriptions thin and wordy, while Zhang Pu praised their restraint.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; lived to eighty-three; active from Emperor He to Emperor Shun of Eastern Han