Li Houzhu - Devotion To The Arts

Devotion To The Arts

Although, Li Yu indeed was a great exponent and developer of the Ci poetry form, which form sometimes or often seems to characterize poetry of the Song Dynasty, there is also some difficulty in categorizing him as a Song poet: the Southern Tang state is more of a continuation of Tang than a precursor on the Song side of the divide of the history of the Tang-Song transition. Li Yu represents both a continuation of the Tang poetry tradition, as well as representing the Ci poetic style which is so especially associated with the poetry of Song.

Li Houzhu devoted much of his time to pleasure-making and literature, and this is reflected in his early poems. A second phase of Li's ci poems seems to have been the development of a sadder style after the death of his wife, in 964. However, his best-known, and saddest, poems were composed during the years after the Song formally ended his reign in 975. He was created the Marquess of Wei Ming (Chinese: 違命侯; literally, the Marquess of Disobeyed Edicts), a token title only: actually, he was a prisoner. Li's works from this period dwell on his regret for the lost kingdom and the pleasures it had brought him.

He developed the ci by broadening its scope from love to history and philosophy, particularly in his later works. He also introduced the two stanza form, and made great use of contrasts between longer lines of nine characters and shorter ones of three and five. Only 45 of his ci poems survive, thirty of which have been verified to be his authentic works, the other of which are possibly composed by other writers: also, seventeen shi style poems remain to his credit. His story remains very popular in many Cantonese operas. In 2006, a 40-episodes wuxia TV series named ' Li Hou Zhu yu Zhao Kuang Yin' or 'Li Hou Zhu and Zhao Kuang Yin' was made, with main stars Nicky Wu (as Li Houzhu), Huang Wen Hao (as Emperor Taizu of Song) and Liu Tao (as Empress Zhou, wife of Li Houzhu).