Wang Wei

During the Tang dynasty, Wang Wei was a poet, painter, musician, and statesman; combining the humanist principles of a Chinese scholar-official, he filled several bureaucratic offices in the Tang court, both in the capital and in the province of Shantung. After surviving the Anshi Rebellion (755–759) and mourning the deaths of his wife and sister, he withdrew to his rural residence on the Wang River, where he studied Buddhism and penned many of his greatest poetry.

The Southern School of Painter-Poets was created by Wei. He is best known as a landscape painter who pioneered the use of monochrome and pomo ("breaking the ink"), a technique in which ink is applied in patches or washes that create blank areas. Although none of his works survive, the spiritual aspect of his landscapes impacted numerous painters. Wei's poetry exemplified Zen Buddhist values of detachment and simplicity; he rarely employs details in his poems, typically recounting natural phenomena like as water and mist rather than human presence. His poetry has been widely anthologized, and he is regularly referenced with famous Tang period writers like Li Po and Tu Fu.

Net worth: : $24.3 billion