Liu Ling (), born 221 and died 300 CE, was a Chinese poet and scholar. Little information survives about his family background, though he is described in historical sources as short and unattractive, with a dissipated appearance.

Name

Liu Ling's name is commonly misprinted as "劉靈".

Background

Liu Ling was born in the state of Pei of the

Western Jin dynasty Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

(266–316 CE), which is now the Suzhou of

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

province.

Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove

One of the

Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove (also known as the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove, ) were a group of Chinese scholars, writers, and musicians of the third century CE. Although the various individuals all existed, their interconnection is ...

, Liu Ling was a

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Tao ...

who retreated to the countryside in order to pursue a spontaneous and natural existence that would have been impossible under the tight constraints of the Imperial court.

Personality and life

Popularly regarded as an eccentric, he was notorious for his love of alcohol. The earliest depictions of him, on tombs in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, show him drinking wine from a gourd, and his most famous work is a poem titled "In Praise of the Virtue of Wine". An oft-quoted folk tale about Liu Ling claims that he was followed at all times by a servant bearing a bottle of wine and a shovel, who was equally prepared to offer him wine at a moment's notice or bury him if he fell over dead. Another cites his practice of commonly walking around his home in the nude, explaining to surprised visitors that he considered the entire universe his home and his rooms his clothing, and then inquiring as to why they had just entered his pants. "I see the earth and skies as my home, and this room as my pants. What are you, gentlemen, doing in my pants?" Liu Ling and his beliefs about drinking are mentioned in CHAPTER XXXVI of

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

autobiographical novel An autobiographical novel is a form of novel using autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fictive elements. The literary technique is distinguished from an autobiography or memoir by the stipulation of being fiction. Bec ...

John Barleycorn "John Barleycorn" is an English and Scottish folk song listed as number 164 in the Roud Folk Song Index. John Barleycorn, the song's protagonist, is a personification of barley and of the alcoholic beverages made from it: beer and whisky. ...

''.

Literature

* Ulrich Holbein: ''Unheilige Narren''. 22 Lebensbilder. Marix Verlag,

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

2012, . S.42-43 (German)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Ling Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove Cao Wei poets Jin dynasty (266–420) poets People from Suzhou, Anhui Poets from Anhui 221 births 300 deaths