PO CHU-I
772 - 846
Chinese poet





Po Chu-i was the most prolific of the Tang poets. He was a member of the Han-lin Academy and mayor of Lo-yang, the eastern capital of China.

Po, like Tu-Fu, was deeply con-cerned with the social problems of his time. His poetry is marked by humour and clarity.

According to tradition, he tested his compositions on an old country woman, rejecting anything that she could not understand. The resulting simplicity and directness help explain Po's continued popularity in China.