Bai Juyi, courtesy name Letian, was a renowned Chinese poet and Tang dynasty government official. Many of his poems concern his career or observations made about everyday life, including as governor of three different provinces. He achieved fame as a writer of verse in a low-key, near vernacular style that was popular throughout China, in Korea and Japan.
Bai was also influential in the historical development of Japanese literature, where he is better known by the on'yomi reading of his courtesy name, Haku Rakuten. His younger brother Bai Xingjian was a short story writer.
Among his most famous works are the long narrative poems "Chang hen ge", which tells the story of Yang Guifei, and "Pipa xing".