Qingzhao (清照) — "clear illumination." **Li Qingzhao (1084-c. 1155)** is **widely regarded as the greatest female poet in Chinese history** — Song Dynasty master of *ci* (lyric poetry). Married to the scholar Zhao Mingcheng, **she co-authored with him the foundational *Records on Metal and Stone*** before the Jurchen invasion shattered their lives. Her later poems are masterpieces of widowed grief: *"Searching, searching, lonely, lonely, sorrow, sorrow, pain, pain."*
**Honored with a crater on Mercury named after her.**
Qingzhao reduces to four — the number of greatest Chinese female poet.