Meng Qi was a Tang-dynasty writer on poetry. Because public records are limited, his birth and death dates, native place, and official career are unknown. The work attributed to him that survives today is mainly Benshi Shi (Poems with Their Original Circumstances); two works under this title are recorded in the collection and classified as classic works. The book gathers anecdotes about Tang poets and the backgrounds of their poems, recording in separate entries the circumstances that prompted each poem, how it circulated, and the words and deeds of those involved, preserving both poems and their stories. It is regarded as a forerunner of the later shihua, or poetry talk, genre. By linking events to poems and poems to events, it preserves much Tang poetry and literary anecdote and helps readers understand the concrete settings in which works were produced. Its entries are concise and factual in tone, emphasizing records and anecdotes, and it remains useful for the study of Tang poetic backgrounds, poets' interactions, and the origins of shihua. Owing to the loss of documents, Meng Qi's other writings and biographical details are now unclear, and his influence rests chiefly on Benshi Shi.
