About the author
Li Chun is an author about whom very little is publicly known. The only work recorded under this name is Li Xisheng's Remarks on Poetry (Li Xisheng shihua). His nationality, dates of birth and death, courtesy name and biographical details cannot be verified, and no commonly accepted English rendering of his name is available; this entry can therefore only comment on the work itself. Li Xisheng's Remarks on Poetry belongs to the shihua genre, in which brief, essay-like entries comment on poets and poems, quote and appraise individual lines, and discuss the rules of composition. Such works are a primary source for understanding traditional Chinese poetic criticism and reading taste. They do not aim at a tightly organized system but value practical judgment, written in concise language with views unfolding entry by entry. Since other information about the author is lacking, readers may best approach the book within the shihua tradition, attending to its critical perspective and choice of material rather than expecting a complete authorial biography.