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Wang Bo

Type Figure Region China Time 650–676 Also known as Zian

Wang Bo (650–676) was a famous Tang dynasty poet and one of the Four Masters of the Early Tang.…

Timeline

  1. 650–662Langzhou · SichuanWang Bo was born into a scholarly family, naturally gifted from childhood—able to compose essays at six, and at nine, reading Yan Shigu's commentary on the Book of Han, he could point out its errors. In youth he was already renowned for poetry and prose throughout Guanzhong and the Sichuan region.
  2. 663–675Chang'an · ShaanxiWang Bo, together with Yang Jiong, Lu Zhaolin, and Luo Binwang, was known as one of the Four Masters of the Early Tang, reversing the ornate poetic style of the Six Dynasties. He served as assistant judge of Guozhou but was dismissed over an incident; in 675 he went to Hongzhou, where at a banquet at the Pavilion of Prince Teng he composed the celebrated 'Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng' on the spot.
  3. 676Jiaozhi Circuit · Jiaozhi CircuitIn 676 Wang Bo traveled to Jiaozhi to visit his exiled father; while crossing the sea he was caught in a storm, drowned, and died of shock, at only twenty-six years of age, depriving the flourishing Tang literary world of a genius poet.

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