The Li Bai Memorial, located at his birthplace, Zhongba Town of northern Jiangyou County in Sichuan Province, is a museum in memory of Li Bai, a Chinese poet in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It was prepared in 1962 on the occasion of 1,200th anniversary of his death, completed in 1981 and opened to the public in October 1982. The memorial is built in the style of the classic garden of the Tang Dynasty.
The memorial has collected Li Bai's works in 80 different editions printed in the Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, 700 volumes in total; 2,738 items of rare paintings and calligraphies left from the Ming and Qing dynasties as well as the modern and contemporary times; and sixteen steles left from the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, three of which are Class One relics. The Stele and Preface of Mr. Li Zhangming's Former Residence of Tang Dynasty, engraved in the year of 994 on a stone tablet, is 2.94 meters high, 1 meters wide and 0.24 meters thick, and has 54 Chinese characters for each line and 25 lines in total. The stele of A Story about Abbot of Daming Temple, engraved in the year of 1026 on a stone tablet, is 2.1 meters high, 0.97 meters wide and 0.22 meters thick, has 30 lines. In the memorial there is also a stone ox carved before the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). In addition, visitors can see the album of calligraphy with Setting Off from Baidicheng in Early Morning and On Hearing Wang Changling's Movement to Longbiao written by Jiang Chenying of the Qing Dynasty. Some 3,300 volumes of books and different editions of Li Bai's collection of poems published in modern and contemporary time are available in the memorial.
The Li Bai Memorial at Ma'anshan, located in the scenic spot of Caishiji, Ma'anshan City, Anhui Province, was founded in 1959.
Li Bai was fond of lingering among scenic spots with mountains and waters to get inspirations of composing poems. Such poems include Recalling Antiquity when Anchoring at Niuzhu at Night, Viewing Tianmen Mountain from a Great Distance, Niuzhuji (a rock projecting over the water at Niuzhu) and Six Poems Composed on River. The legend goes that Li Bai fell into the water and got drowned when rowing on the Caishi River to enjoy a beautiful full moon. After his death a tomb containing his personal effects was made in Ma'anshan. In the Northern Song Dynasty a memorial temple of Li Bai was built. In the year of 1440 in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Taibai Tower and Qingfeng Pavilion were erected. The existing Taibai Tower reconstructed in 1876 is one of the major historical sites under the protection of Anhui Province. In 1986, the People's Government of Ma'anshan City reconstructed a compound of buildings left from the Qing Dynasty nearby the Taibai Tower into the Li Bai Memorial. The memorial, covering an area of over 10,000 square meters, includes the Taibai Tower, the Memorial Temple of Li Bai, Qingfeng Pavilion, Taibai Hall, Tongfeng Tower, Stele Corridor, etc.
The memorial has collected over 40 sets of Collected Works of Li Bai published at home and abroad since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), seven of which are rare editions. It has also collected more than 700 items of paintings and calligraphies and hundreds of historical relics through the ages. A research office of Li Bai's life and works is attached to the memorial. Inside the Memorial Temple of Li Bai there is a 2.2-meter tall sculpture of Li Bai.
