Li Ao (772-841)

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Lǐ Áo 李翱, styled Xizhi 习之 (772-841) was a Tang Dynasty philosopher and scholar. He was born in Chengji 成纪, Longxi 陇西, in the northwest of the empire. After achieving the degree of jinshi in 798, Li Ao joined the imperial bureaucracy and served in the history department at the capital.

In 809 he was assigned to the southern provinces and made the trip with his pregnant wife from Luoyang to Guangzhou over nine months. The course they took included the modern provinces of Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Guangdong. His record of the trip, the Lai Nan Lu "Record of Coming to the South" 来南录, contains detailed descriptions of early southern China and is considered one of the earliest forms of the diary.

At the time of his death Li Ao held the position of Inspector of Shannan circuit. There is some debate about the year of his death. The Jiu Tang shu gives the date of 841. Qing Dynasty historians, however, have argued that it should be 836.

Late imperial scholars regarded Li Ao as the founder of one of the ten great schools of philosophy in the Tang and Song dynasties. As a philosopher Li Ao was heavily influenced by Buddhism and also the great neo-Confucianist Han Yu 韩愈. His extensive writings are preserved in the Li Wen Gong wenji (李文公文集). This work is presumably a later edition of the ten chapters of the Li Ao ji (李翱集) as referenced in the Xin Tang shu. Some of the few poems he produced can also be found in the Quan Tang shi (全唐诗).