Li Yu (李煜 937 - 978), historically known as Last Emperor of Southern Tang, reigned from 961 to 975.

In terms of politics, Li Yu was an incompetent emperor. When Li Yu was 38 years old, the Song army went across the Yangtze River and besieged Jinling. He surrendered to Song after the capital was lost the next year, but was poisoned to death later by Zhao Guangyi, Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty.

For all that, Li Yu was versatile in art, such as calligraphy, painting, poems, and so on, among which his achievement in ci was especially outstanding. His ci poems were mainly collected in Ci of the Second Emperor of Southern Tang. Altogether 32 pieces, the content can be classified into two categories: the first category was written before he surrendered to Song, which is narrow in theme and mainly reflects palace life and love; the second category was written after his surrender to Song, which depicts the scene of his overlooking afar by relying on the railing or returning back his formal life in his dream and expresses his infinite attachment and misery to the "former homeland" and "past events". Li Yu's works are mostly pathetic and sorrowful, including Corn Poppy Flower, Waves Sift Land, the Midnight Crow, and so on