Li Bai
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Li Bai and Du Fu: China's drunken superstar poets
China's two favourite poets were born 1,300 years ago, at the beginning of the 8th Century. The language has changed so little that they remain easy for modern Chinese people to read, and their themes are still relevant today - from friendship, love and landscape to the stench of political corruption. Kaiser Kuo, a founder of China's first heavy-metal band, is probably one of the very few rock musicians, in any country, who draws inspiration from a poet born in 701AD. "He was quite a drunkard... and writing some of his best poetry apparently, while completely inebriated. You know, he's wild and associated with a kind of unbridled revelry, and yeah that's part of why I love him," says Kuo. He is talking about Li Bai, a poet born in Central Asia, who became a wandering superstar poet in China, known as "the fallen immortal" or "the immortal of wine". Tang Dynasty Tang Dynasty Image caption Chinese band Tang Dynasty - tribute to an 8th Century flowering of the arts The Tang Dynasty ruled China from 618 to 907 Its capital, Xian, thronged with merchants, monks and diplomatic envoys - the Silk Road carried Chinese goods as far as Syria and Rome There was an amazing flowering of the arts - other celebrated 8th Century poets include Wang Wei, Cui Hao and Zhang Jiuling - while painting, sculpture, calligraphy and music also flourished Tang Dynasty the rock band consciously paid tribute to this era of artistic creativity Kuo's band got together in 1988 when China had just emerged from isolation, and was falling head over heels in love with foreign culture. Moody and long-haired, the young men named their group Tang Dynasty in tribute to the artistic golden age to which Li Bai belonged. "If you were to grab any kid off the street and ask him, 'What was the greatest dynasty in China's history?' nine out of 10 of them would answer the Tang. "Part of the reason they would give was because there was a real ethic of cosmopolitanism. You know, almost a fetish for things foreign during the time," says Kuo. "And it was precisely because of this openness, this receptiveness to foreign ideas, including religions like Buddhism, to foreign arts, [that] I think people would understand that a band working in an entirely foreign idiom, calling itself Tang Dynasty, was meant to evoke that same spirit." Every Chinese person learns poems by Li Bai, and the country's other favourite poet, Du Fu, from childhood.
Li Bai
Li Bai (701-762) was one of the greatest poets of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang era was a golden age of Chinese poetry, and Li Bai’s works made up a major part of this. A large number of poems from this period still survive today, they have been translated into many languages all over the world. Li Bai is one of the most famous and well respected poets of the era. The Life Li Bai was born in 701, the exact location of his birth is unknown but it is believed to be in Central Asia. Some believe he was born in Suiye which is now Kyrgyzstan. There is a story that his mother had a dream of a falling white star and then fell pregnant with him. This gave rise to a myth that he was a fallen immortal who had come to Earth. When Li Bai was a young child his family was moved to Sichuan in secret by his father. He remained here until his mid-twenties. His memoirs suggest that he was a gifted swordsman and martial artist. He claimed to have killed several men by the time he was twenty. Tang Dynasty History An Lushan Rebellion Huang Chao Rebellion Era Information Tang Dynasty Social Structure Tang Dynasty Culture Tang Dynasty Clothing Tang Dynasty Religion Tang Dynasty Government Tang Dynasty Economy Tang Dynasty Inventions Tang Dynasty Achievements Tang Dynasty Military Tang Dynasty Map & Geography Tang Dynasty Poetry Li Bai (701-762) – Poet Du Fu (712-770) – Poet Emperors Li Yuan (566-635) Li Shimin (599-649) Wu Zhao (624-705) Li Longji (685-762) Zhu Wen (852-912) Upon reaching his mid-twenties he set sail on Yangzi River and began life as a wanderer. He married the grand-daughter of a former ruler of China, gave away much of his wealth and met famous people. He became a celebrity himself and continued to travel. He joined up with a group of other poets who also enjoyed writing about and drinking wine. Li Bai was considered a genius and became a friend and adviser to the Emperor. When war broke out and the Emperor was removed a power vacuum was created. Li Bai made an attempt to seize power, he was unsuccessful and sentenced to death. A general who Li Bai had befriended and helped many years earlier intervened on his behalf and he was exiled instead. He continued his nomadic lifestyle but traveled much shorter distances. He was to be named the Registrar of the Left Commandant’s office by the new Emperor in 762 but he died before news of this reached him. There are differing accounts of his death. It is suggested that it is likely that his nomadic existence and heavy drinking took a toll on his body which caused death by natural causes. A more romantic story suggests that he died whilst trying to embrace the reflection of the moon in a lake. This is used in Chinese culture as a caution against illusions. Surviving Work The Tang Dynasty spanned nearly 300 years in ancient China. During the period between 618 AD and 907 AD over 50,000 poems where produced by over 2000 different poets. Li Bai is credited as the author of over 1000 of these poems. A lot of his work has been preserved and survives today, although it is not known if it has been edited or otherwise altered to fit in with cultural, political and social norms of subsequent times. If it has been edited it is not known to what extent. Li Bai was viewed as controversial by some, he wrote graphically about drunkenness. He often championed drunkenness and glorified it as a lifestyle. Many of his poems were written about Chinese wine. He also glorified his wandering lifestyle. These topics would have made his poems very controversial at the time and would be considered inappropriate by some, even today. If his work has been edited since it was first written it should not diminish its importance or prevent us from enjoying his writings. A parallel can be found in modern day film making. Many movies are censored and edited by studios but this does not prevent us enjoying them. Li Bai’s surviving works remain an important part of Chinese culture. There is only one known piece of work that survives today which was written by Li Bai’s own hand. This surviving poem is named Shangyangtai which means Going Up to the Sun Terrace. This important piece shows us that Li Bai was a gifted calligrapher. This manuscript can be found in Beijing, China at the Palace Museum. The Style As a poet, Li Bai often looked back to the past for inspiration. He very rarely wrote about the future. The celebration of alcoholic beverages and a drunken nomadic lifestyle was not the only reason that his work was considered to be controversial. He often wrote poems from different perspectives and viewpoints, including from the perspectives of women. It was considered to be inappropriate at the time for a man to write with the viewpoint of a woman. He also broke many established rules of poetry at the time, and this was also seen as controversial by many people. When placed in context we can understand why this was so. Artists often will push the boundaries of what is acceptable, a common occurrence among painters in the last 300 years and musicians and film-makers today. Li Bai pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable at the time. He is remembered as a gifted man who led an extraordinary life and left behind a legacy of over 1000 great works of Chinese literature.
Li Bai
Li Bai (李白) is also called Li Po depending on the dialect. Li Bai and Dufu (712-770) are probably China’s favorite ancient poets. It is interesting that they both lived and worked for the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty in Chengdu, knew each other and even wrote poems about each other. They faced the same problems as well. Both lived through the An Lushan Rebellion. Li Bai got in trouble for being a supporter of a prince who rebelled. Dufu sided with the court. Both lived in Sichuan – Li Bai when he was young and Dufu when he was old. Both traveled extensively. Li Bai is known as a Romantic Poet. Along with writing romantic poems about women, he romanticized nature. Dufu, on the other hand, is known as a Realist poet. Li Bai apparently led a wild life. He is said to have killed people in martial arts challenges and personal duels. He wrote about common things such as natural places and cities he saw, romance, war and death and things like this. Along with having a wild life, writing poems and getting into trouble politically, he worked in the Hanlin Academy in Changan, was a friend of the Emperor, and lived in exile. Historical Relics about Libai The Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan Lushan Mountain in Jiangxi Province Mt. Emei in Sichuan Province The Three Gorges Early Life People are not sure where he was born. Some speculate that he was born in Central Asia. When he was young, he lived in Sichuan near Chengdu. There he liked to read and study ancient poetry and ancient texts such as the Dao De Jing that is the central text of Daoism. Daoism is more romantic than Confucianism and Buddhism, and he became a Daoist. He was thought to be a genius, and he also practiced martial arts and killed people in duels. Adult Life In 725, when he was in his mid-twenties, Li Bai sailed from Sichuan down the Yangtze River all the way to Weiyang (Yangzhou) and Jinling (Nanjing). Along the way, he met and stayed with famous people and rulers. He then turned back to the southwest, met Xu Yushi, married the daughter of a former high official, and lived in Hubei. Then in 742, he went with a Daoist named Wu Yun to Changan. He was introduced to the Emperor Xuanzong around 742. He became a friend of Emperor Xuanzong who appointed him to a post in the Hanlin Academy that was a group of scholars who advised the imperial court on affairs, and worked on academic matters. But he was far from an academic in personality. He never passed the Confucian Imperial Examinations. He got into trouble with the emperor and his eunuch for writing romantic poems about them. He got drunk and got into trouble with them. Then, he left. Then he wandered in the Tang Empire. He met Du Fu twice. They wrote poems about each other. Then he got into more political trouble. He was with Li Lin, Prince of Yung, who was then commander in chief of the T'ang forces in central China. In 757, he was in the fleet that was sailing against the imperial army. Perhaps he was merely visiting or perhaps he was an active in the rebellion. Li Lin was defeated, and he was banished to the southwest. Then he died five years later. Comparison with Dufu Li Bai and Du Fu have a lot in common. Both worked as imperial court officials though neither of them passed the Imperial Examination, both lived in Sichuan, and both traveled. However, they were also dissimilar. Dufu was more of an academic Confucian. Li Bai was more of a Daoist. Dufu wrote Realist poems and Li Bai wrote romantic poems. Dufu wrote in a regulated poetic style called Shi, and Li Bai liked free-form poetry like a more ancient style. Both are said to have written more than a thousand poems, but people are not sure about how many of the poems ascribed to Li Bai were written by him. They are considered China’s best poets, and wrote about everyday topics like romance, war, death, natural beauty and ancient geographical places they saw. It may be that their poems are so popular partly because Chinese people like to read about ancient places. But unlike poets in later eras whose poems became more erudite and esoteric, they wrote about everyday things that people can appreciate.
Knowledge Graph
Examples
1 Li Bai was quite welcomed by Emperor Xuanzong and always summoned to impromptu create some poems for Concubine Yang
2 In fact, at the early time, Li Bai was ambitious and wanted to have a career in social contribution.
3 From then on, Li Bai stepped into the official circle.