Luò Bīnwáng 駱賓王 (627–684?)
Zì Guānguāng 觀光. Native of Wùzhōu 婺州 Yìwū 義烏 (modern Yìwū in central Zhèjiāng). Fourth of the Sì jié 四傑 (“Four Outstanding Ones”) of early-Táng letters, alongside Wáng Bó 王勃, Yáng Jiǒng 楊炯, and Lú Zhàolín 盧照鄰.
A child prodigy: tradition says he composed the Yǒngé 詠鵝 (“Ode to the Goose”) at seven suì. After early service as a junior secretary in the Liángwángfǔ 梁王府 he held a series of low offices in the western frontier and at Chángān, culminating as shìyùshǐ 侍御史 (Investigating Censor) under Gāozōng. Imprisoned briefly ca. 678 on a corruption charge (probably trumped-up), in which he composed his famous Zài yù yǒng chán 在獄詠蟬 (“Ode to the Cicada from Prison”); pardoned and demoted to Línhǎi chéng 臨海丞 (vice-magistrate of Línhǎi in modern Zhèjiāng), the title that gives his collection its name. He resigned the post in disgust.
In Guāngzhái 1 (684) he joined the rebellion of Xú Jìngyè 徐敬業 (Lǐ Jìngyè) against Wǔhòu and drafted the celebrated Dài Lǐ Jìngyè tǎo Wǔshì xí 代李敬業討武氏檄 (“Proclamation Against Wǔhòu”), a text Wǔhòu herself, on first reading, is said to have responded to by scolding her ministers for failing to recruit such talent. When the rebellion collapsed within a few months he disappeared. The standard histories (Jiù Tángshū, Xīn Tángshū) say he was killed in the rout at Guǎnglíng 廣陵; the Běnshì shī 本事詩 tradition by contrast records that he tonsured himself, traveled the famous mountains, and met Sòng Zhīwèn 宋之問 at Língyǐn sì 靈隱寺. The Sìkù tíyào of the Luò chéng jí KR4c0006 sets out the textual case for the standard-history account.
His extant collection is the Luò chéng jí KR4c0006 in 4 juǎn, with Yán Wénxuǎn’s 顏文選 顏文選 late-Míng commentary; reduced from the original 10-juǎn Luò Bīnwáng wén jí edited by Xī Yúnqīng 郗雲卿 under Zhōngzōng. CBDB records 627–684 (cbdbId 31143).