An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
According to Chinese history, the Tang Dynasty was the period Chinese classical literature flourished with outstanding achievements in poetry. During the period 618-907 literates were not the only composers as it had been the norm during the periods before that, instead, people from all social strata, including emperors, generals, ministers, imperial concubines, maids from the imperial palace, tradesmen and porters, entertainers, Buddhist and Taoists were all keen in writing poems.
Poetry at that time was used widely in many forms for example in memorials to the throne, official and private letters, allegories, travel notes, narrative literature with alternate prose and rhymed lines, storytelling and ballad-singing were all presented in the form of poetry. It was this period that Chinese poetry reached unimaginable heights, according to historians there are over 50,000 poems from over 2,300 Tang poets which still remain today.
http://blog.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-1825133-29289.html
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