Cáo Pī 曹丕
Zì Zǐhuán 子桓. Born 187; died 226. Posthumous title Wèi Wéndì 魏文帝 (“Cultured Emperor of Wèi”). Second son of Cáo Cāo 曹操 (155–220) and Lady Biàn 卞氏. Native of Qiáo 譙 in Pèiguó 沛國 (modern Bózhōu 亳州, Ānhuī).
Career and dynastic founder: Cáo Pī succeeded his father as Wèiwáng 魏王 in 220, then forced the abdication of Hàn Xiàndì 漢獻帝 and proclaimed himself emperor of Wèi (huángdì) in Huángchū 1 (220-11), inaugurating the Three Kingdoms period. Reigned 220–226 (Huángchū 黃初 1–7). Standard biography: Sānguó zhì Wèishū 2 (the principal běnjì). His brief reign was occupied with consolidation of Wèi rule in the north, codification of administrative reforms (notably the Jiǔpǐn zhōngzhèng zhì 九品中正制 — the Nine Rank System, introduced under his auspices by Chén Qún 陳群), and several largely indecisive campaigns against Wú and ShǔHàn. He died age 40 in 226 and was succeeded by his son Cáo Ruì 曹叡 (Wèi Míngdì).
Literary œuvre: Cáo Pī is universally recognised as one of the founding figures of Chinese literary criticism and as a major Jiànān 建安 period poet — the leading patron, with his brother Cáo Zhí 曹植 and the Jiànān qī zǐ 建安七子, of the Jiànān literary movement gathered at his father’s court at Yè 鄴. His Diǎn lùn 典論 contains the Lùn wén 論文 (“On Literature”) section — the earliest extant treatise of Chinese literary criticism, articulating the foundational claim that “literary works are the greatest accomplishment in the workings of a state, a splendor that never decays” 蓋文章經國之大業, 不朽之盛事 (cited Wilkinson, Chinese History §30.7). His poems include the Yāngē xíng 燕歌行 (“Yān-Song Lays”) — the canonical seven-syllable lament in two parts — and a substantial corpus of yuèfǔ and gǔshī. He sponsored the imperial reader compilation Huáng lǎn 皇覽 (220–222), the prototype of the lèishū encyclopaedia genre. The KR3l0137 Lièyì zhuàn 列異傳 — the earliest Chinese zhìguài anthology — is traditionally attributed to him in the Suí shū jīngjí zhì, though the attribution is contested in favour of 張華 Zhāng Huá. CBDB confirms lifedates 187–226 (id 30261).