THE HEAVENLY PATRIOT

Li Qingzhao 1084–1151

Many poets are remembered after they die, but not many have an impact crater named after them on the planet Venus. One such is Li Qingzhao, who lived during the late Song dynasty. Li Qingzhao grew up as part of China’s culture of highly regulated court bureaucracy. Her husband’s position as a senior official offered her access to a world of high culture – an opportunity she exploited with relish.

Li learned many of the great Chinese classics by heart, and became an expert on the calligraphy and epigraphy (study of ancient inscriptions) that were part of the body of knowledge that defined civilised society at the time. She also developed into a brilliant and renowned poet in her own right.

“Oh,” Li wrote later, “if only that life could have continued.” Unfortunately, it didn’t. The Song dynasty was a time of great political turmoil and, in 1127, a neighbouring people, the Jurchen, invaded, compelling the dynasty to flee its capital in the city of Kaifeng. Li’s beloved husband died of a disease early in the conflict and she was forced to wander for years, trying to preserve as much of her family’s collection of books and precious artefacts as possible, but to little avail. Within a few years there was nothing left but a handful of remnants.

Eventually Li settled down in the new capital of Hangzhou, but after an acrimonious divorce from a second husband, her reputation was now vulnerable. However, she took advantage of her new, lower status, to write a series of broadsides condemning the Song rulers for succumbing to the invaders. In doing so, she established a reputation as a true patriot that has lasted to the present day, along with her name as a poet of high distinction. Little wonder that the modern-day Chinese chose to name a heavenly object after her.