白居易 (Báijūyì): Bai Juyi (772-846), Tang dynasty poet celebrated for accessible, socially engaged verse

白居易 deliberately wrote in plain language — legend says he tested each new poem by reading it to an illiterate old woman (老妪能解) and revising anything she couldn't understand. Along with 《长恨歌》, his 《琵琶行》 is required reading in every Chinese high school.

history

He was also a reformist official who used his poetry (新乐府运动, the New Yuefu Movement) to criticize government corruption and the suffering of ordinary people — a radical use of verse for his era.