In a letter to Han Chaozong of Jingzhou, the poet Li Bai quoted a saying of the scholars of his day: sheng bu yong feng wanhu hou, dan yuan yi shi Han Jingzhou. “In life, there is no need to be made a lord of ten thousand households. One only wishes to know Han of Jingzhou.”
People’s Daily dates the letter to 734, when Li Bai was 34 and living in Anlu. He asked Han to recommend him for office. The letter brought him neither a post nor a meeting.