Bai Xingjian was a literary figure of Tang-dynasty China. Public information about him is limited: his birth and death years, native place, and official career are not reliably recorded in the available sources, and his English name is unknown. What can be confirmed is that two of his works are included here, the representative one being The Tale of Li Wa, along with an unannotated edition of the same work, commonly classified as a classic. The Tale of Li Wa is a celebrated Tang chuanqi, centering on the vicissitudes of Li Wa and the young scholar from Xingyang. Its plot is intricate, its characters vivid, and its language concise and full of feeling; it has long been regarded as one of the representative works of Tang tales. The work influenced later fiction and drama in themes of love and marriage and in character portrayal, and has been widely circulated and adapted. Owing to limited sources, his life, associations, and full literary achievement await further study.
