Li Jiao

Life

At the age of twenty, Li Jiao passed the jinshi examination and the special policy examination in the top grade; his career spanned the reigns of Gaozong, Wu Zetian, Zhongzong, and Ruizong. His offices included county commandant, investigating censor, censor, jishizhong, Sima of Runzhou, Fengge Sheren, Director of the National University, and Minister of Rites. Under Gaozong, he was sent to proclaim the imperial policy in Yong and Yan prefectures in Lingnan; all the rebels surrendered, and the emperor commended him.

During Wu Zetian’s reign, when Lai Junchen prosecuted Di Renjie, Li Sizhen, and others, Li Jiao reexamined the case and defended Di, offending the throne and being sent out as Sima of Runzhou. He was soon recalled as Fengge Sheren, and many court documents and major edicts were entrusted to him. In the early Shengli era, he was promoted with Yao Chong to a post of equivalent chancellorship, then became Attendant in the Lantai, retained his chancellorship, and supervised the national history; recognized by Wu Zetian for his literary ability, he became chancellor three times and helped compile the *Sanjiao Zhuying*.

When an auspicious stone was found at Fushui during Wu Zetian’s reign, Li Jiao was serving as a censor and submitted an essay entitled *Huangfu*, which was mocked by his contemporaries. After Zhongzong was restored, Li Jiao was sent out as prefect of Tongzhou for his association with the brothers Zhang Yizhi; another account gives Yuzhou instead. He was recalled after several months and returned to the council, becoming Zhongshu Ling in the second year of Shenlong, a senior scholar of the Xiuwen Academy the following year, and Duke of Zhao after first being made Duke of Zanhuang County. In the third year of Jinglong (709), he held the rank of Tejin, acted as Minister of War, and served as an official of the third grade in the central secretariat and gate administration.

After Ruizong’s accession in 710, Li Jiao was removed from political administration, appointed prefect of Huaizhou, and retired because of his age. After Xuanzong’s accession, he was expelled because of a memorial submitted during Zhongzong’s reign asking that the sons of the Prince of Xiang not remain in the capital, and he was later recalled as assistant governor of Luzhou; another account says that he was first demoted to Chuzhou and then transferred to Luzhou. He died at the age of seventy.

Literary achievement

Li Jiao was celebrated for his abundant talent, and his compositions were widely recited. Before entering office he associated with Wang Bo and Yang Jiong; he was ranked with Cui Rong and Su Weidao, and after the others had died he became a senior literary figure whose work was followed by contemporary scholars. He was known with Su Weidao as “Su-Li,” and with Su Weidao, Cui Rong, and Du Shenyan as the “Four Friends of Literature.”

He exchanged poems and prose with Du Shenyan, Luo Binwang, Su Weidao, and Cui Rong, and also had exchanges of poems and prose with Emperor Gaozong, Emperor Zhongzong, and Wu Sansi. He was particularly accomplished in yuefu and song-ballad forms, with long poems that were fluent and rich in feeling. One poetic assessment observes that one of his pentasyllabic old-style poems approached archaic prosody while most of the remainder mixed regulated forms; although his other old-style pentasyllabic and heptasyllabic poems were not fully pure, their language was skillful, and some of his 120 object-poems were outstanding. Another assessment criticizes the ornate display of his heptasyllabic verse, the excessive use of set subject matter in the object-poems, and their derivation from Liang-Chen miscellany.

Works and transmission

Li Jiao helped compile the *Sanjiao Zhuying* and was associated with works including the *Collected Works of Li Jiao* and *Li Jiao’s Miscellaneous Poems*. The *Collected Works of Li Jiao*, once in fifty juan, has been lost; the three-juan version now circulated was compiled in the Ming period, while the *Quan Tang Shi* includes five juan of his poetry.

The 120 poems of *Miscellaneous Poems* once circulated separately; Zhang Tingfang wrote a commentary on them during the Tianbao era of Xuanzong, and Japanese editions and several old manuscripts survive. Xu Dingxiang produced a commentary on Li Jiao’s poetry. The *Quan Tang Shi Yi* adds six poems, with one attribution variant as Li Qiao written with the character *qiao* in “bridge”; the *Quan Tang Shi Wai Bian* and *Quan Tang Shi Xu Shi* add three poems and two fragments.

Family and associations

His father was Li Zhen’e and his maternal uncle was Zhang Xi. His sons were Li Chang (679–730), Li Yu, Li Can, and Li Yi; the last three are each assigned a death year of 755.