才高八斗 — “Possessing immense literary talent”

During the Southern Song dynasty, there was Xie Lingyun, a renowned landscape poet in ancient China. Most of his poems depicted the scenic landscapes of places like Kuaiji, Yongjia, and Lushan. He was skilled at portraying natural scenery and pioneered the landscape poetry genre in literary history. His poems were highly artistic, especially attentive to formal beauty, and were greatly admired by scholars and literati. As soon as his poems circulated, people vied to copy them, and they became widely spread.

Emperor Wen of Song greatly appreciated his literary talent, specially recalled him to the capital for an official position, and referred to his poetry and calligraphy as "the two treasures". He often requested Xie Lingyun to compose poems and essays while attending banquets. Xie Lingyun, who had always been conceited, became even more arrogant after receiving such preferential treatment.

One time, while drinking, he boasted: "Since the Wei and Jin dynasties, all the literary talent in the world amounts to one *shi* (a unit of capacity, one *shi* equals ten *dou*). Among this, Cao Zijian (i.e., Cao Zhi) alone accounts for eight *dou*, I get one *dou*, and all others in the world share the remaining one *dou*". From his words, it is evident that besides admiring Cao Zhi, he held no one else's talent in high regard, displaying an exceedingly high self-estimation.