Li He, courtesy name Changji, was a prodigy of the Tang Dynasty who could compose poetry at age seven and had made a name for himself in literary circles by his early teens. One day, the great writer Han Yu and his friend Huangfu Shi decided to test the boy's talent firsthand. They visited Li He's home and challenged him on the spot: "Write us a poem right now, with no preparation." Li He dashed off a verse effortlessly. They gave him another topic, and again he produced a brilliant piece. Stunned, the two scholars exclaimed, "Now we truly believe your reputation is well-earned!" Source: *Old Book of Tang*, "Biography of Li He"
Li He, the Tang Dynasty poet, never set a title before composing—he sought inspiration from life itself. Each outing, he rode a gaunt horse, accompanied by a young servant carrying a brocade pouch. As he traveled, he would ponder and, upon crafting a fine line, immediately jot it down on paper with his brush and ink, then toss it into the pouch. Some days he returned with the pouch bulging; other days, after fruitless searching, it remained empty. His mother, upon checking the pouch, often found it filled with verses and would chide him with tender reproach: "My child, will you only stop when you've coughed up your very heart's blood?" Source: *New Book of Tang*, "Biography of Li He".
Li He poured his entire being into poetry, crafting lines that would echo through the ages—"If heaven had feelings, heaven too would grow old," "Dark clouds press down on the city, threatening to crush it," "The rooster's crow brings light to the world," and "Stones shatter, the sky startles, teasing the autumn rain." His relentless refinement came at a cost: his health deteriorated, and he died at just 27, leaving behind a legacy of uniquely styled poems that forever brightened China's literary landscape.
Later, the idiom "spitting heart and dripping blood" came to describe intense mental effort and exhaustion, often used to express the hardships of artistic creation.
Source: Li Shangyin (Tang Dynasty), *A Brief Biography of Li He*
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "呕心沥血" came to describe intense mental effort and exhaustion, often used to express the hardships of artistic creation.