Li Bai was a very famous poet in Tang Dynasty in which period there were many good poets, but Li was the best.
As his poems were so beautiful and graceful, he was frequently invited to the palace by the Yang Yuhuan, mistress of the king, to write poems for her. He wrote so many beautiful poems for her that even now, few thousand years passed, those poems have been still popular in Chinese literature.
Li wished that the king would give him a job in Government, but the king only asked him to write poems against which the king would pay him in each occasion. Li was disappointed and wrote many poems about his unhappy life which, in his opinion of good knowledge, should be a high official in the government.
It was true that Li wrote poems second to none at that period, but, on the other hand, his character was so proud, offending many people who served in the Government. Especially he offended one important person who worked as a key steward to the king. His name was called Gao Lishi who was ordered by Li to take off his shoes when at the time he wrote poems for Yang Yuhuan. This was a disgrace to Gao and afterwards Gao, saying some excuse, drove Li out of Chang’an.