Worst Poet

Emperor Qianlong is the "worst poet", here are interesting facts about the Emperors of ancient China. Chinese Emperors were often also poets and calligraphers. Some of them became famous for their good verses, but the Qianlong Emperor became famous because of how lousy his poetry was. Although he is said to have written 43,000 poems in his lifetime, today he is accused of bad writing, plagiarism, and even hiring writers.

To have such a huge collection of works, on average, the Qianlong Emperor would write a poem every day. However, as an Emperor, he had to rise to the throne every day, and handle politics, and many other important activities. When reading the Qianlong Emperor's poetry, we can easily conclude that he often wrote about ordinary objects, always appearing around people, such as the poem "Cucumber". Therefore, whenever there is inspiration, Emperor Qianlong will immediately compose poetry. Among the tens of thousands of poems that Emperor Qianlong wrote, there are more than 100 works he wrote in memory of Empress Phu Sat Thi. The most special is a very simple poem, which most Chinese people now know by heart. That is "Flying Snow" (Flying Snow). Once, this "worst poet" the Emperor was enjoying in West Lake, Hangzhou, when suddenly it snowed. Witnessing that charming scene, he was filled with emotions of wanting to write poetry. And thus the poem "Flying Snow" was born.