Bào Zhào 鮑照 (ca. 414–466), zì Míngyuǎn 明遠, native of Dōnghǎi 東海 (his ancestral place was Shàngdǎng 上黨, but the family had long since moved south), was the great LiúSòng poet of the seven-syllable yuèfǔ and one of the YuánJiā sān dà jiā 元嘉三大家 (with Xiè Língyùn 謝靈運 and Yán Yánzhī 顏延之). From a humble background, he was discovered by the Línchuān Wáng 臨川王 Liú Yìqìng 劉義慶 (the patron of Shìshuō xīn yǔ 世說新語), who made him a guóshìláng 國侍郎. Subsequent posts: shìláng under the Shǐxīng Wáng 始興王 Liú Jùn 劉濬; Hǎiyú lìng 海虞令; Tàixué bóshì 太學博士 cum zhōngshū shèrén 中書舍人; Mòlíng lìng 秣陵令; Yǒngjiā lìng 永嘉令; and finally xíng cānjūn 行參軍 under the Línhǎi Wáng 臨海王 Liú Zǐxū 劉子頊 in Jīngzhōu 荊州 — hence the conventional title Bào cānjūn 鮑參軍. He died in 466 at Jiānglíng 江陵, killed by mutinous troops in the chaos around Liú Zǐxū’s failed rebellion against Sòng Míngdì 宋明帝.
Bào is the founding figure of seven-syllable / qī yán poetic tradition: his eighteen Nǐ Xíng lù nán 擬行路難, the great Wú chéng fù 蕪城賦 on the ruins of Guǎnglíng 廣陵, and the dozens of yuèfǔ on military and erotic themes are direct ancestors of Lǐ Bái’s 李白 Xíng lù nán. Standard biographies in Sòng shū 51 (where he appears via Yǔ Yán’s preface) and Nán shǐ 13. CBDB gives 414–466. The catalog meta of KR4b0011 gives 405–466, but standard scholarship and CBDB both give 414–466, followed here. The Táng-period spelling Bào Zhāo 鮑昭 reflects taboo-avoidance of Empress Wǔ’s name 武曌 and is not authentic; pre-Wǔ histories consistently write 鮑照. His writings survive in KR4b0011 Bào Míngyuǎn jí 鮑明遠集 (also Bào cānjūn jí 鮑參軍集 / Bào shì jí 鮑氏集), edited by Yú Yán 虞炎 in the Southern Qí.