Son of 曹操 whose gift for writing gave the idiom 才高八斗. Legend says his brother 曹丕, as emperor, ordered him to make a poem in seven paces or die: the result is the 七步诗. He also wrote 洛神赋.
Legend has it that Cao Zhi composed a poem within seven paces.
Tips
culture
In the 七步诗 he compares the brothers to beans boiled over a fire of their own stalks: 本是同根生，相煎何太急, 'we grew from the same root, why such haste to cook each other?' The second line is still said of people on one side who turn on each other.
history
The idiom 才高八斗 goes back to the poet 谢灵运: all the talent in the world, he said, came to ten 斗. Cao Zhi alone held eight, Xie himself one, and everyone else shared the last.
