Poet who urged a return to the plain strength of Han and Wei verse. His four-line 登幽州台歌, which opens 前不见古人, is one of the most quoted poems of the Tang.
Chén Zǐ'áng dēngshàng Yōuzhōu Tái, xiěxià le " Qián bú jiàn gǔrén, hòu bú jiàn lái zhě " de míngjù.
Chen Zi'ang climbed the Youzhou Terrace and wrote the famous lines 'Before me I see no ancients; behind me, none to come.'
Tips
culture
He wrote 《登幽州台歌》 on a campaign against the Khitans in 696–697, after the general he advised ignored his plans and demoted him. It ends 念天地之悠悠，独怆然而涕下: 'I think of heaven and earth going on forever, and alone, in grief, I weep.'
history
As an unknown in Chang'an he paid a million cash for a 胡琴, invited a crowd to hear him play it, then smashed it and handed out his own writings instead. The stunt made his name across the capital. Before eighteen he had barely opened a book.
