The period from the second half of the fifth century to the first half of the sixth
century in many ways represents a watershed in the evolution of classical Chi-
nese poetry. During the Yongming reign (483–493) in the Qi dynasty (479–502),
a group of poets devoted themselves to creating euphony by balancing the tones
of Middle Chinese prosody. Although not universally followed in their own time,
the rules they devised, honored and perfected by Tang dynasty poets, became the
basis of so-called regulated verse (lüshi) and exerted an enormous influence on
later Chinese poetry. One of the initiators of prosodic innovation was Xie Tiao
(464–499), an aristocrat whose life was cut short at age thirty-five by his refusal to
participate in a palace coup.
The changes that occurred in classical Chinese poetry, however, went far be-
yond tonal euphony. During the long and peaceful rule of Liang Wudi (Emperor
Wu of the Liang [r. 502–549]), a devout Buddhist, southern China witnessed an
age of splendid cultural achievements with unprecedented literary and religious
activities. The literary salon of Crown Prince Xiao Gang (503–551) was the site
of an altogether new poetry, named gongti shi (palace-style poetry) after the East-
ern Palace, the official residence of the crown prince. Denounced by Confucian
moralists as decadent and often mistakenly described as a poetry dedicated to the
portrayal of court ladies and romantic love, it was, in fact, a poetry informed by a
Buddhist vision of the illusory nature of the material world and characterized by a
prolonged, focused, and illuminating gaze at physical reality.
Xiao Gang, also known as Emperor Jianwen of the Liang (r. 549–551), was prob-
ably one of the most underestimated and misunderstood classical Chinese poets.
He spent most of his youthful years as regional governor and was appointed crown
prince in 531. In 548 Hou Jing, a northern general who had defected to the Liang,
turned on his benefactors and, in the following year, captured the Liang capital.
Emperor Wu of the Liang died shortly thereafter, and Xiao Gang ruled for two
years as a puppet emperor under Hou Jing before being murdered by Hou Jing’s
men. Yu Xin (513–581), the most famous member of Xiao Gang’s salon, spent the
second half of his life in the north after the south had been devastated by the Hou
Jing Rebellion.
x i e t i a oBelonging to the same illustrious clan as the famous landscape poet Xie Lingyun
(385–433), Xie Tiao nevertheless achieved a completely different style from that of
❀ 7 ❀
Pentasyllabic Shi Poetry
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