Introduction to Bai Juyi

Bai Juyi is also known as: King of Poetry and Demon of Poetry. Name: Lotte, Xiangshan Jushi, also known as Mr. Zuiyin. Era: Tang Dynasty. Ethnic group: Han. Birthplace: Xinzheng, Henan. Date of birth: February 28, 772. Time of death: September 8, 846. Main works: "Zhi Zhong Shu Sheng", "Sitting Alone in Xinting to Call upon Li Shilang Gongchui After Illness", "Reminiscing about the South of the Yangtze River", "Three Wonders of Homeland", "Farewell to the Ancient Original Grass", etc. Main achievements: The main advocate of the New Yuefu Movement and wrote many poems reflecting the people's sufferings.

We will introduce you to the detailed content of Bai Juyi from the following aspects:

1. Bai Juyi’s poems

"Song of Everlasting Sorrow", "Recalling Jiangnan" ", "Spring Tour of Qiantang Lake", "Ode to the Dusk River", "Farewell to the Ancient Grassland", "Pipa Yin/Pipa Line", "Charcoal Seller", "Viewing the Wheat", "Peach Blossoms in Dalin Temple", " "Chi Shang", "Flowers Are Not Flowers", "Zhi Zhong Shu Sheng", "Lang Tao Sha", "Lang Tao Sha", "Early Spring Travel in Chang'an", "Three Wonders of Home", "Sitting Alone in Xinting After Illness" "Shi Lang Gong Chui", "Five Poems Part Three", "Yong Huai", "Inscription on Yueyang Tower".

2. Main Achievements

Official Affairs

The early period of the Hanlin bachelor's degree was a period of benefiting the world, and the later period was a period of self-reliance. Bai Juyi was awarded Jinshi at the age of 29 in the 16th year of Zhenyuan (800). He successively served as secretary, provincial secretary, Zhiwei, and Hanlin bachelor. During the Yuanhe period, he served as Zuo Shiyi. He wrote a large number of allegorical poems, and his representative work is "Qin Zhongyin" Ten The first poem, and the fifty poems of "New Yuefu", these poems made the powerful gnash their teeth, sigh, and change their color. In the sixth year of Yuanhe, Bai Juyi's mother died of mental disorder in Chang'an. According to the rules at that time, Bai Juyi returned to his hometown to observe mourning for three years. After completing his mourning, he returned to Chang'an. The emperor arranged for him to become Dr. Zuo Zanshan.

In June of the tenth year of Sima Yuanhe in Jiangzhou, when Bai Juyi was 44 years old, Prime Minister Wu Yuanheng and Yushi Zhongcheng Pei Du were assassinated. Wu Yuanheng died on the spot and Pei Du was seriously injured. For such a major event, the eunuch group and the old bureaucracy group that were in power at the time actually remained calm and were not in a hurry to deal with it. Bai Juyi was very angry and wrote a letter urging the murderer to be severely punished and to enforce law and order. However, instead of praising him for his enthusiasm for state affairs, those in power said that he was an official of the Eastern Palace and it was an act of transgression to discuss government affairs before admonishing officials. Therefore, he was demoted to the governor of the state. Wang Ya said that his mother fell into a well and died while looking at flowers. He wrote poems about flowers and wells, which violated filial piety. Such a person was not qualified to govern the county, so he was demoted to Jiangzhou Sima. In fact, the reason why he was offended was those satirical poems.

Being demoted to Jiangzhou (now Jiujiang) was a heavy blow to Bai Juyi. He said that he "eliminates sorrow and joy on his face, and eliminates all thoughts of right and wrong in his heart." His Buddhist and Taoist thoughts grew in his early years. Three years later, with the help of his friend Cui Qun, he was promoted to the governor of Chungju.

In the fifteenth year of Yuanhe, the governor of Hangzhou, Tang Xianzong died violently in Chang'an. Tang Mu Zong succeeded to the throne. Mu Zong loved his talent and recalled him to Chang'an, where he successively served as a minister, a foreign minister, and a host and guest doctor. , Zhongshu Sheren, etc. But at that time, the court was in chaos, with ministers vying for power and fighting openly and secretly. Mu Zong was politically idle and did not listen to advice. So he strongly requested to be released. In 822, Bai Juyi was appointed governor of Hangzhou. During his tenure in Hangzhou, he saw that the farmland in Hangzhou was often threatened by drought, but officials were unwilling to use water from the West Lake to irrigate the fields, so he overcame numerous obstacles and criticisms, mobilized migrant workers to heighten the lake embankments, build embankments and sluices, and increased the lake's water capacity. It solved the irrigation problem of hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland between Qiantang (now Hangzhou) and Yanguan (now Haining). Bai Juyi also stipulated that the large and small sluices and bucket gates of the West Lake must be closed in time when farmland is not irrigated; any leaks must be repaired in time. Bai Juyi also organized the masses to re-dregate six wells dug by Li Mi, the governor of Hangzhou, in the Qiantangmen and Yongjinmen areas during the Dali period of the Tang Dynasty, improving the water conditions of residents.

Literary Juyi was a great poet with great influence in the mid-Tang Dynasty. His poetic ideas and poetry creation, with his outstanding emphasis and full expression of popularity and realism, occupied an important place in the history of Chinese poetry. status. In "The Nine Books of Yuan Dynasty", he clearly said: "The servant's ambition is to be both helpful and good, and his behavior is to be unique. If you follow it from beginning to end, it is Tao, and if you talk about it and invent it, it is poetry. It is called an allegorical poem, and it is the ambition of concurrently helping others. It can be seen from this that among Bai Juyi's four categories of poems: allegory, leisure, sentimentality, and miscellaneous rhymes, the first two categories embody his "consistency." The method of doing both good and good things alone is the most valued. At the same time, he put forward his own literary proposition: "Articles are written according to the time, and songs and poems are written according to the situation.

"And his poetic ideas were mainly based on the creation of early allegorical poems.

As early as "Celin" written in the early Yuan Dynasty, Bai Juyi showed an emphasis on realism and vulgarity. , emphasizing the tendency of allegory: "Today's articles of praise and criticism are not verified, so the method of punishment and encouragement is missing; poems of beauty and criticism are not in line with politics, so the meaning of supplementary inspection is abolished. ?Those who combined Ci, Fu and Jiongjie with satire, although their quality is wild, should be picked up and rewarded. " (Sixty-eight "Discussion Articles") The function of poetry is to punish evil and encourage good, and to review current affairs. The means of poetry are to praise and criticize, and to allegorize. Therefore, he advocated: "Establish officials who collect poetry and develop satire. , observe the gains and losses of his politics, and understand the feelings of his superiors and subordinates. " (Sixty-nine "Collecting Poems") He opposed the simple pursuit of "high palace rhythm" and "wonderful writing" without leaving the content. He also opposed the gorgeous poetic style of "mocking the wind and moon and playing with flowers and plants" since Qi and Liang Dynasties. In "Preface to New Yuefu" In it, he clearly pointed out that the criteria for writing poetry are: "The words are clear and precise, and those who want to see them are easy to tell; the words are straight and clear, and those who want to hear them are deeply warned; the things are verified and true, so that those who want to pick them up It is also used to convey messages; its body is smooth and unbridled, and can be used in music and songs. "The words "quality and diameter", "straight and cut", "core and solid" and "shun and four" respectively emphasize that the language must be simple and popular, the discussion must be straightforward and explicit, the writing must be pure and pure, and the form must be clear. It is fluent and has the color of a ballad. In other words, poetry must be written authentically, believable, easy to understand, and easy to sing to music.

The above mentioned requirements for poetry must be achieved by Bai Juyi. The whole purpose has only one purpose, so he went on to say: "In short, we should do it for the king, for the ministers, for the people, for things, for things, not for literature. " ("Preface to New Yuefu") In "Nine Books of the Yuan Dynasty", he looked back on his early creations and said: "Since he came to the dynasty, he has grown older and read more and more things. Every time he talks to people, he asks more about current affairs; Reading history, I often seek theory and truth, and then I realize that articles are written according to the time, and songs and poems are written according to the situation. "Writing for the times and events, the first thing is to write "for the king". He also said: "But it hurts the people's illness and does not know the taboos of the times" (Part 2 of "Two Poems on Hurt Tang Qu"), and created a lot of reflections It is an allegorical poem about the sufferings of the people, but its general direction is "Only singing can make people sick, and I hope the emperor will know about it" ("Ji Tang Sheng"), because only by listening to the people's feelings can the emperor open up the barriers and understand people's feelings, and politics can be achieved. Only then will they move towards Xiu Ming.

"Pipa Song" and "Song of Everlasting Regret" are Bai Juyi's most successful works. The outstanding feature of their artistic expression is the strengthening of lyrical elements. Although these two works also use narratives and descriptions to express events, they simplify the events beyond simplicity. They only use one central event and two or three main characters to structure the whole story. For example, the dramatic Mawei Incident has only a few authors. A few strokes are about to go by, and in the description of the characters' psychology and the rendering of the environment and atmosphere that are most convenient for lyricism, the ink is poured out like rain, in order to be as full as possible. Even in "Pipa Xing", which has a lot of ink on the description of music sounds and the narration of character encounters, The works also use emotions to closely connect sounds and events. Sounds rise with emotions, and emotions change with events, so that the process of the poem is always accompanied by moving emotional power. In addition, the lyricism of these two works is also great. This is reflected in the use of selected images to create the appropriate atmosphere and enhance the artistic conception of the poem. For example, in "Song of Everlasting Sorrow", "Seeing the moon in the palace is sad, and hearing the heartbreaking sound of bells in the rain at night", and "Maple leaves and flowers rustling in autumn" in "Pipa Xing". Poems such as "The moon dips in the vast river at farewell" may combine the cold moonlight, pattering night rain, and heartbreaking bells into an ecstasy scene, or use the rustling maple leaves, dihua flowers and the vast river moon. It constitutes a picture of sadness and loneliness, and the desolate, sentimental, and melancholy emotions revealed in it color all the characters and events in the poem, and also make readers feel shaken and unable to control themselves when faced with such an artistic conception and atmosphere.

Three. , Anecdotes and Allusions

Love in Xiangling When Bai Juyi was 11 years old, he moved his family with his mother to Fuli, Xuzhou (now Suxian County, Anhui Province) where his father Bai Jigeng was an official to avoid the war in his hometown. There he met a neighbor woman who was 4 years younger than him. Her name was Xiang Ling. She was lively and cute, and she also knew some music. So the two became inseparable and childhood sweethearts until Bai Juyi was 19 years old. When Xiang Ling was 15 years old, she first fell in love, and the two began their first love. Bai Juyi wrote a poem called "The Neighbor Girl", which recounted the story of Xiang Ling at the age of 15, praising Xiang Ling's beauty and her sweet voice. In 798, when Bai Juyi was 27 years old, he had to leave Fu Li to live with his uncle in Jiangnan. Along the way, he wrote three poems in memory of Xiang Ling. , "A Night in the Boudoir" and "Sauvignon Blanc".

It can be clearly seen from the poem that after 17 years of getting along and 8 years of love, Bai Juyi and Xiang Ling have a deep relationship. After the separation, not only did I miss each other bitterly, but I also considered getting married. But Xiang Ling was worried that her family's family status was low and she would not be able to catch up to Bai Juyi. Finally, he expressed his sincere wish that heaven will surely come true and that we can walk side by side step by step. At the beginning of the 16th year of Zhenyuan, Bai Juyi was admitted to Jinshi at the age of 29. He lived in Hui Fuli for nearly 10 months. He sincerely asked his mother to marry Xiang Ling, but his mother, who had strong feudal ideas, refused. Bai Juyi had no choice but to leave home with extremely painful mood. In the autumn of the 20th year of Zhenyuan (AD 804), Bai Juyi became a school clerk in Chang'an and had to move his family to Chang'an. He returned home and once again begged his mother to allow him to marry Xiang Ling. He refused his request again and refused to allow the family to see each other when they moved out. Their marriage was hopeless, but their deep love did not end. Bai Juyi punished his mother for her mistake by not marrying others, and wrote poems in memory of Xiang Ling three times: "Embracing Xiang Ling on Winter Solstice Night", "Feeling Autumn and Send Far Away" and "Send Far Away". In the past eight years, his mother never allowed Bai Juyi to meet Xiang Ling, nor allowed him to mention Xiang Ling. When Bai Juyi was 37 years old, he was forced to die by his mother and was introduced to the sister of his colleague Yang Rushi. However, he still wrote poems in memory of Xiang Ling until the seventh year of Yuanhe. For example, "Night Rain", "Sense of Mirror", etc. Later, when Bai Juyi was wronged and was demoted to Jiangzhou, he and Mrs. Yang met the wandering father and daughter of Xiang Ling. Bai Juyi and Xiang Ling held each other's arms and cried, and wrote a poem titled "Reunion". At this time, Bai Juyi was 44 years old and Xiang Ling was 40 years old, but not married. In this poem, Bai Juyi once again uses the word hate. This hatred has nothing to do with the hatred in "Song of Everlasting Sorrow". Therefore, Bai Juyi's personal experience of this tragic love laid the foundation for "Song of Everlasting Sorrow". It was not until Bai Juyi was 53 years old, on his way back to Luojing after serving as the governor of Hangzhou, that he saw that his old village neighbors had changed and Xiang Ling had disappeared, and the tragedy of this 35-year-old love finally came to an end. period.

When Fan Su Xiaoman was the governor of Hangzhou, whenever there was a beautiful scenery or a snowy morning or a moonlit night, he would invite guests to his home. He would first brush the wine jar, then open the poetry basket, and then hold silk and bamboo. So while drinking, he recited poems and played the piano. Next to me, there was a family boy playing "Neon Clothes and Feathered Clothes" and a little prostitute singing "Willow Branches". It was really a great pleasure. It didn't stop until everyone was drunk. Bai Juyi sometimes took pleasure in going out to play in the wild. He put a harp and a pillow in the car, and hung two wine bottles from bamboo poles on both sides of the car. He held the harp and drank wine, and then returned home exhausted. According to "Qiongyou Ji", Bai Juyi's home had a pond where he could go boating. He hosted banquets for guests. Sometimes on the boat, he ordered people to hang more than a hundred empty bags beside the boat, filled with fine wine and delicacies, and go with the boat. When he wanted to eat and drink, he would pull them up. After eating and drinking, he would pull up one bag and another. Until you finish eating and drinking. Fang Shao's "Bo Zhai Bian" volume says: Bai Letian's many happy poems, among the 2,800, include 800 for drinkers. This number is not small. When he drank, he used wine to relieve himself. He used a day of drunkenness to relieve nine days of hard work. He said: "Don't despise a day of drunkenness. This is to eliminate the fatigue of nine days. Having a plain mouth and a handsome waist, and having prostitutes (the prostitutes here are equivalent to concubines or family singing and dancing prostitutes in Chinese history) began to have fun in the Eastern Jin and Tang Dynasties. It was more common in this era. In order to get rid of the troubles in life, Bai Juyi indulged himself in prostitution, poetry and wine. He kept prostitutes and drank too much until his old age. There were more than a dozen prostitutes named in his poems, the most famous of which was Xiao. Man and Fan Su. It is recorded in Tang Meng's "Poetry of Benshi·Shige": "Fan Su, a concubine of Bai Shangshu (Juyi), is good at singing, and Xiaoman, a prostitute, is good at dancing. He wrote a poem: Cherry Fan Sukou, Yangliu Xiaoman. "Waist". Modern people describe beautiful women as cherry mouth, small waist or willow waist, which they learned from Bai Juyi. Bai Juyi later became old, frail and sick, and decided to sell horses and engage in prostitution. He did not want them to suffer with him. But he The beloved horse turned around and couldn't bear to leave. Fan Su and Xiaoman still had feelings for Bai Juyi, and they couldn't bear to leave. Fan Su said sadly: "The Lord has been riding on this Luo for five years, holding the prong in his hand." Underneath, neither surprised nor relieved. I have been in charge for ten years, and during this time, I have done nothing wrong or made any mistakes. Although the current appearance is ugly, it has not deteriorated. Luo's strength is still strong, and he has no fear. That is, Luo Zhili can still take a step on behalf of the master; Su Zhige can also give the master a cup. Once gone, there is no return. Therefore, when Su is about to leave, his words will be bitter; when Luo is about to leave, his cry will be sad. This man's affection is also the horse's affection. How can the Lord be ruthless? Bai Juyi also sighed and said: "Luo Luo, don't hiss, Su Su, don't cry; Luo Luo returns to the temple, Su Su returns to her boudoir." Although I am ill and old, I am lucky enough not to die before Xiang Ji, so why should I abandon Zou Xi and say goodbye to Yu Ji in one day? So plain! Sing willow branches to me. I will drink the golden fou, and you and I will return to our hometown of drunkenness.

"Of course, Fan Su and Xiaoman left when Bai Juyi was 70 years old. Bai Juyi wrote in his thoughts: "In the small building with two willow branches, _ Na has been with the drunkard for many years. After he is released tomorrow, there should be no spring breeze in the world. In March of the fifth year, the present day is over, the guests have dispersed and the banquet is empty; illness and happiness live side by side, and spring and Fan Su return at the same time. "When he was 67 years old, he wrote a "Biography of Mr. Zuiyin". This Mr. Zuiyin was, of course, himself. He said in the "Biography" that there was a man named Mr. Zuiyin, whose name, place of origin, and As for his official position, we only know that he served as an official for 30 years and retired to Luocheng. His residence had a pond, a bamboo pole, a pavilion, a boat bridge, etc. He loved drinking, reciting poems, playing the piano, and hanging out with drunkards and poetry friends. , the piano lovers play together. This is also true. Bai Juyi has visited the temples, hills, and springs inside and outside Luoyang City.

The famous home-made wine Bai Juyi brews is of high quality. He wrote a poem about the wine: "Opening the jar and pouring down the jade liquid, gold and fat; Holding and playing with it can already make you happy, and you can taste it with pleasure; one drink will make you hospitable, and then drink away the frown; drink for four or five times in a row, and the body and mind will flow freely." " ("Bai Juyi Volume"). The history of Bai Juyi's wine making is not only recorded, but to this day, there is also the story of "Bai Juyi made wine to enjoy the neighbors on New Year's Eve" that has been circulated among generations in Weibei.

Looking at Luoyang Zhenyuan In the fifteenth year (799), Bai Juyi went from Fuliang County, Jiangxi Province to his mother in Luoyang Province. In February of the 20th year of Zhenyuan (804), when he was the school secretary, he visited Luoyang in the spring of the fourth year of Changqing (824). ) In May, Bai Juyi's term as governor of Hangzhou expired. He did not want to go to Chang'an and planned to return to Luoyang to live in seclusion, so he spent his remaining salary, plus the money from the price of two horses, in Ludaoli, Luoyang (today's east of Zhaocun, southeast of Luoyang City). Shiziqiao area), he bought the old residence of Yang Ping, the former minister of Sanqi, and realized his long-cherished wish of "just being able to live in my house". Soon after, Bai Juyi was called to serve as the governor of Suzhou. Liu Yuxi returned to Luoyang together. In the first year of Taihe (827), he went to Luoyang as an envoy and made friends with Huangfu Yong, Su Hong, Liu Yuxi, and Yao He. In the third year of Taihe (829), Bai Juyi was dismissed as Minister of Punishment. The guest of the prince, who was in charge of Dongdu, went to Luoyang in April and stayed at Xiangshan Temple in Dongshan, Longmen, Luoyang for a long time until his death 18 years later. As he himself said: "In the past, he stayed temporarily, but today he has returned permanently." He was a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty of my country. More than 3,000 poems have been circulated to this day, ranking first among the famous poets in the Tang Dynasty. In the second year of Huichang (842), when Bai Juyi was 71 years old, he and the monk Ruman of Xiangshan Temple formed an incense society. The white-robed Jiuzhang, who calls himself "Xiangshan Jushi" and "Mr. Zuiyin", has been an official for more than 30 years. He has been poor and self-conscious, and has never forgotten the sufferings of the people. When he was 73 years old, he donated money and proposed public governance. The dangerous section of the Yihe River, known as the "Bajietan", made it possible for "night boats to pass here without capsizing, and the journey to the north will now be free of hardships." Zi Juyi was very happy about this. One year before his death, he wrote " There are two sentences in "Happy Two Stanzas": "If you have any happy things in your heart, you will open Longmen Bajie Beach." In July of the sixth year of Taihe (832), Bai Juyi donated the money he spent to write an epitaph for Yuan Zhen. In the first year of Kaicheng's reign (836), Xiangshan Temple was renovated and given a new look. Bai Juyi compiled 65 volumes of "Bai's Collected Works" and 3,255 poems were stored in the Bo Pagoda Courtyard of Shengshan Temple in Luoyang. , which provides a large amount of useful historical materials for future generations to study the social conditions and poetry creation of the Tang Dynasty. Among the more than 3,000 poems he left behind, there are more than 800 poems praising Luoyang, such as "The Second Work of Eastern Flowers in Luocheng". "Remember to return to the poem, most of the flowers belong to Luoyang" in "Eight Poems on Willow Branches" "It is February in the east, and the golden branches reflect the Luoyang Bridge". In Bai Juyi's writing, people understand the beauty of Luoyang and are more fond of Luoyang. Love. As Xu Ning, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote in his poem, "Nowadays, Bai's poems are published, and no one fails to sing about Luoyang Autumn." In the spring of the fourth year of Huichang (844), Bai Juyi was 73 years old, and he still went to Zhaocun ( In the fifth year of Huichang (845), he watched the apricot blossoms in Luoyang City and wrote the poem "Apricot Blossoms in Zhao Village". The 136-year-old monk Ruman and the 136-year-old Li Yuanshuang also participated in the Seven Elders Meeting, known as the "Nine Aspirations Map". They drank wine and wrote poems, which became a legend in the poetry circle. In August of the sixth year of Huichang (846), Bai Juyi passed away. Before his death, he made a will: "I will not return to Wang Gui, but I will be buried on the side of Ruman in Xiangshan Mountain." He wanted to be with the mountains and rivers of Luoyang forever. In accordance with his will, his family buried him on Pipa Peak in Dongshan, Longmen. In order to better commemorate this great poet, people expanded his tomb on Pipa Peak and built the "White Garden".

The entire Baiyuan Manor is solemn, simple and elegant. Its layout is based on the topography, with twists and turns, winding paths leading to secluded areas. Houses and pavilions are built according to the mountains, at various heights.

White Causeway in West Lake Before Bai Juyi came to West Lake, West Lake had not received fundamental improvement. In drought weather, the water in West Lake is very shallow and is not enough to irrigate farmland; every time it rains heavily, the lake will overflow and cannot be stored. This situation prevents the West Lake from achieving its maximum effectiveness, causing problems with both agricultural and civilian water sources. Bai Juyi came to Hangzhou as governor with the ambition of "caring for the people". After taking office, he put the project of thoroughly regulating West Lake on the agenda. One of his main achievements as governor of Hangzhou was to build a lake-defending platform on the northeastern shore of West Lake, which effectively stored water and released floods, ensuring that farmland had water for irrigation and people had water to drink. This project of embankment and lake storage was completed two months before Bai Juyi left office. In March 824, Bai Juyi personally wrote the article "Qiantang Lake Stone Notes", carved it into a stone tablet, and erected it on the shore of the lake. This inscription has become an important historical document about West Lake water conservancy. Bai Juyi built the lake-defending embankment, so people called it "Bai Gong Embankment" to express their love and memory for Bai Juyi. Of course, Bai Juyi also encountered some troubles in the process of building embankments to defend the lake. For example, at that time, some people were very worried about the measures to build embankments and gates and release lake water to irrigate farmland, and they raised objections. Bai Juyi explained and refuted these one by one. In addition, Bai Juyi also made detailed calculations on the water storage capacity of the West Lake after the lake embankment was built and the actual function of releasing lake water to irrigate farmland. Of course, the final construction of the lake-defending embankment was very successful. By the Ming Dynasty, Baigong Embankment still existed. It was not only a water conservancy facility, but also a lively and prosperous transportation artery in Hangzhou at that time. It's a pity that the original site of Baigongdi no longer exists today. When people visit the West Lake, they use Bai Causeway as a substitute for Baigong Causeway to express their love and memory for Bai Juyi. Of course, the Bai Causeway we are talking about today is not the Baigong Causeway built by Bai Juyi. Bai Juyi went to serve as the governor of Hangzhou in October of the second year of Changqing's reign, which lasted three years, but the actual time was only 20 months. In this short period of time, Bai Gong did many major things for Hangzhou, which were of great significance to the development of Hangzhou. Hangzhou is a city with beautiful mountains and rivers. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides and has endless springs. It is also surrounded by the West Lake, which is thirty miles away, and contains a lake of fresh water. It is said that the water source is quite abundant. But in the Tang Dynasty, residents' drinking water was a big problem. It turns out that Hangzhou is close to the Qiantang River. Due to long-term erosion by the salty tide of the Qiantang River, the groundwater is salty and bitter, making it impossible to drink. Hangzhou in the Tang Dynasty was much smaller than today. Most residents in the city live near wells and drink well water, but the well water is salty and bitter. It is still a long way to get water from the West Lake, and even further to get water from the surrounding mountains and streams. Residents often run around to solve daily water supply problems, wasting time and energy. The first official to dredge six wells and solve the drinking water problem was Li Mi. The six wells built by Li Mi were not wells dug deep from the surface to draw groundwater, but wells that diverted water from the West Lake through pipes to a certain location to store water, similar to a reservoir, and its water source was the West Lake. As long as the water in the West Lake does not dry up, there will be endless fresh water in the wells in the city, and residents can avoid the pain of traveling long distances to fetch water. Bai Juyi went to Hangzhou to be the governor, forty years after Li Mi built Liujing. At this time, the underground water pipes were often clogged and the water flow was sluggish, affecting the water supply from six wells in the city. Bai Juyi discovered this problem and was determined to continue Li Mi's achievements of benefiting the people, thoroughly manage the West Lake, and dredge the six wells. From the autumn of 823 to the spring of 824, he personally presided over and completed the huge water conservancy project of the West Lake.

It was difficult for Bai Letian to live in Chang'an for the first time, but his reputation was not yet established, so he paid tribute to Gu Kuang with songs and poems. Kuang sighed and said: "Everything in Chang'an is expensive, and it is not easy to live there." After reading the poem "Farewell to the Ancient Grass in Fude", he said: "The wild fire will not burn it out, but the spring breeze will blow it again." Kuang sighed and said: "There is a sentence How difficult it is to live in the world like this!" (Dianxue "Tang Zhayan" Volume 7) Bai Juyi (772-846), whose courtesy name was Letian, also called himself Mr. Zuiyin. His ancestors were from Taiyuan, Shanxi, and later moved to Hancheng, Shaanxi, and finally settled in Xia_, Shaanxi. It is said that Bai Juyi was only two months old when his wet nurse held him in her arms and pointed to a book at home for him to read. Although he could not speak, he already knew the words "zhi" and "wu" in his heart. Therefore, when people later humbly claimed that they did not recognize many things or had limited knowledge, they often used this allusion and said that they had "little knowledge of nothing". When he grew up, Bai Juyi especially liked reading, and his memory was extremely good. Every book he read, he kept it firmly in his mind.

And the extraordinary talent revealed in his poems is even more surprising. Bai Juyi, whose poetic talent was already extraordinary, came to the capital Chang'an alone when he was 16 years old. He famously visited Gu Kuang, the author who was in charge of compiling national history and drafting proclamations and edicts for the court at that time, so that he could ask Mr. Gu to provide kind guidance on his poems. Gu Kuang, a native of Suzhou, is a famous poet who thinks very highly of himself and rarely praises others. Although there is a lot of traffic in front of his house and many people come to visit and ask for advice. That evening, the servant was about to light the lamp and prepare dinner; at this moment, a young man in a hurry handed over his own name card and signed the three neat regular characters "Bai Juyi" on the cover of his poem. The old poet Gu, who was already a little tired from frequently receiving visitors, caught a glimpse of the three characters "Bai Juyi" and couldn't help laughing: "Haha, what a big tone! You know, the price of rice in Chang'an, the capital, is very high now. Usually it is It’s not easy to live here, let alone live in vain!” After saying that, before his family put the food on the table, he casually browsed the poem manuscript submitted to him by Bai Juyi. As soon as you open the title page, the first poem inside is the five rhymes entitled "Farewell to the Ancient Grassland of Fu De". The poem goes like this: When the grass grows in the original land, it will grow with each year. Wildfires never burn out, but spring breezes blow them again. The distant fragrance invades the ancient road, and the clear green meets the deserted city. I sent the king and grandson away again, full of love. ②When he saw the couplet "The wild fire will not burn out, but the spring breeze will blow it again", his eyes suddenly lit up, and the old poet Gu could no longer look away. It is conceivable that at this time, he no longer dared to be careless. He twirled his slightly gray beard with one hand and held the poem manuscript tightly with the other hand, then savored it carefully and nodded from time to time. Then he freed up the hand that gently stroked his beard, slapped the table and exclaimed: "If you can write such good poems, how difficult it is to live in Chang'an! What I just said is just a preamble. You're kidding!" This is the old poet Gu's appreciation of the tenacious vitality contained in the wild grass in Bai Juyi's poem. Even after it has been burned by wildfires, it will still survive the spring breeze (please note that these two words are a connotation in ancient poetry) (Extremely Rich Vocabulary) blowing, it sprouted buds vigorously and began to grow and multiply rapidly. As a person, shouldn't we be like this weed in the wilderness, fighting tenaciously in the face of adversity in order to survive stubbornly? And this requires careful observation and profound understanding! Needless to say, this is the necessary good quality for a poet, so the old poet Gu could not help but be deeply impressed by the talented young man in front of him. Next, after receiving strong praise and introductions from the old poet Gu Kuang, the name of the young Bai Juyi's poems immediately spread throughout the capital. But it is a pity that since Bai Juyi has not been able to get a stronger recommendation, although he lived in Chang'an for three years, he did not find his ideal way out, so he had to leave sadly. It was not until the 16th year of Zhenyuan of Dezong (800) that he obtained the Jinshi through the Higher Education Examination, and then embarked on an official career. Furthermore, his poem name is not only well-known throughout the country, and many of his outstanding works are circulated everywhere, but his poem name has also spread to Jilin Kingdom, which is now North Korea. It can be seen that the old poet Gu did not misunderstand Bai Juyi. Note: ① However, according to Bai Juyi's "Yu Yuan Jiu Shu", it is called seven or eight months. ② Many anthologies in the 20th century only selected the first four sentences of the poem based on "The Biography of Talented Scholars of the Tang Dynasty". You must know that this is not scientific; moreover, it is also a wanton castration of Bai Juyi's poems. As for its chin couplet, it is a sentence construction method of flowing pairs. At the same time, it also uses the poetry technique of "save every sentence".

IV. Introduction to works

One Saint and Two Immortals Li Bai, Du Fu and Bai Juyi are the three great poets in China. People respect Du Fu as the "Sage of Poetry" and "History of Poetry", and Li Bai as the "Sage of Poetry" and "History of Poetry". "Poetry Immortal", he called Bai Juyi "Poetry Demon", etc. Japanese academic circles called Bai Juyi the "Poetry God". In fact, in the Tang Dynasty, Bai Juyi was called "Poetry Immortal". Please read Tang Xuanzong's poem: "For sixty years, who taught me how to become a Poet Immortal? Who taught me how to become a Poet Immortal?" "The boy recited the song of Everlasting Sorrow, and Hu'er was able to sing the pipa. The article was widely heard by the public, and for a time he felt sad." And Li Bai's "Poetry Immortal" was the title given by literati in the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, scholars believe that the Chinese poetry world should be divided into one saint and two immortals.

Creation advocates that articles should be written according to the time, and songs and poems should be written according to the situation.

The style of the work is beautiful, popular, harmonious in tone, vivid in image and political allegory.

The main works are "Song of Everlasting Sorrow", "Pipa Play", "The Charcoal Seller", "Farewell with Ancient Grass", "Spring Journey to Qiantang Lake", "Ode to the Dusk River", "Recalling the South of the Yangtze River", "Peach Blossoms in Dalin Temple" and "Tongren". Li Shiyi drunkenly recalled Yuanjiu", "Zhizhong Shusheng", "Saurus Acacia", "Inscribed on Yueyang Tower", "Viewing the Cutting of Wheat", "Asking Liu Shijiu", "Buying Flowers", "Since the Henan Pass, the brothers were separated from each other due to hunger in the chaos of the pass" "Chun Yin Wang", "Fang Yan", "Chi Shang", etc.