Early Woodblock Printing and Poetry during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) The poetry of Dufu, Li Bai, and many other poets from this era made the most significant contribution to Chinese literature. Dufu and Li Bai are often regarded as China's best poets. Li Bai (701-762) was one of ancient China's best romantic poets. He lived in a time when warlords were fighting each other for power so crime and violence were common. Still, he managed to fight off his enemies and live in peace with his family until he died at age 47. His poems are still loved today. During the Song Dynasty (960-1279), authors started using prose instead of only writing poetry. This is because more people were starting to read and write than sing or play instruments. So, writers wanted to communicate information in a clear and easy-to-understand way so that more people would read their works. In addition, during this time period, scholars started classifying things like books, artists, and even plants based on how well they matched with other similar items. For example, they would group books by genre such as history, philosophy, and fiction. Authors would then choose what type of book to write according to these classifications. The great leap forward into modern times came with the printing press. Before this time, only monks, priests, and teachers could afford to buy books because they were written by hand and cost a lot to make.