Shen Bin

Shen Bin, [lived between 853 and 957 AD], courtesy name Ziwen, (Zimei in the Five Dynasties Poetry Talk. This is from the Tang Talents Biography) was from Gaoan, Yunzhou. The year of his birth and death is unknown. He lived between the seventh year of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and the fourth year of Emperor Shizong of Zhou, and was about ninety years old. He was orphaned at a young age and studied hard. He failed the imperial examination. In the middle of Qianfu (around 877 AD), he traveled to Hu and Xiang in the south and hid in Yunyang Mountain for several years. He also traveled to Lingbiao for about twenty years before returning to Wuzhong. He was a poet friend with monks Xuzhong and Qiji. At that time, Li Sheng of the Southern Tang Dynasty was stationed in Jinling, and Luo Junyi was a scholar. Bin was invited to the position, and knew that Sheng wanted to marry Yang. So he presented a landscape painting with a poem saying: "You must know that the brushwork is firm, and you are not afraid of the difficulty of tidying up the mountains and rivers." Sheng was very happy and appointed…