Liu Ling

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

Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove

One of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, Liu Ling was a Taoist 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, show him drinking wine from a gourd, and his most famous work is a poem titled "In Praise of the Virtue of Wine".

Literature

Ulrich Holbein: Unheilige Narren. 22 Lebensbilder. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2012. S.42-43 (German)