Bai Juyi’s life story

Bai Juyi's life

Born in troubled times

On the first month of the seventh year of Emperor Dali of the Tang Dynasty (772), Bai Juyi was born in a "Shidun Confucianism" in Xinzheng, Henan small and medium-sized bureaucratic families. Shortly after Bai Juyi was born, war broke out in his hometown. In the feudal town, Li Zhengji separatized more than ten states in Henan, and the war was so intense that the people were in dire straits. When Bai Juyi was two years old, his grandfather, who was the magistrate of Gong County, died in Chang'an, and his grandmother died of illness shortly after. Bai Juyi's father, Bai Jigeng, first joined the army in Songzhou and was appointed magistrate of Pengcheng County in Xuzhou (780). A year later, Bai Jigeng and Xuzhou governor Li Wei made great contributions to defending Xuzhou and were promoted to Xuzhou Biejia. In order to avoid the war in Xuzhou, he gave up his family. Go to Suzhou to live in Fuli. Bai Juyi was able to spend his childhood in Fuli, Suzhou. [6]? But Bai Juyi was extremely intelligent and studied very hard. He had sores on his mouth and calluses on his hands from studying. He was so young that his hair turned all white.

Official life

In 806, Bai Juyi dismissed the school as a scholar. In April of the same year, he passed the examination in the Physical Education Department and was awarded the title of Lieutenant of Wu'an County (now Zhouzhi County, Xi'an). In 807, he served as Jinshi examiner, Jixian school administrator, and was awarded Hanlin bachelor's degree. In 808, he was appointed Zuo Shiyi and married Yang Yuqing's younger sister. In 810, he was transferred to the household department of Jingzhao Prefecture and joined the army. In 811, his mother Chen died, and Ding You resigned and returned to Xiagui. In 814, he returned to Chang'an and was awarded the title of Dafu to Prince Zuo Zanshan.

When he was appointed as Zuo Shiyi, Bai Juyi believed that he was appreciated and promoted by the emperor who loved literature, so he hoped to repay the kindness of his acquaintance by fulfilling his duties as an official. Therefore, he frequently wrote letters to express his opinions and wrote a large number of stories reflecting the social reality. Poetry, hoping to make up for the current affairs and even point out the emperor's mistakes face to face. Bai Juyi's letters were mostly accepted, but the directness of his words made Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty unhappy and complained to Li Jiang: "Young Bai Juyi, I promoted him to fame, but you are rude to me. I really can't help it." Li Jiang Jiang believed that this was Bai Juyi's loyalty, and advised Xianzong to open up his voice.

Demoted to Jiangzhou

In 815, Prime Minister Wu Yuanheng was assassinated. Bai Juyi advocated the strict arrest of the murderer, which was considered to be beyond his duties. Later, Bai Juyi was slandered again: his mother fell into a well and died while looking at flowers, but Bai Juyi wrote poems about "flower appreciation" and "new well", which was harmful to famous religion. So he used this as an excuse to be demoted to Sima of Jiangzhou (now Jiujiang, Jiangxi). In 818, Bai Juyi's younger brother Bai Xingjian went to Jiangzhou to meet Bai Juyi. When Bai Juyi was appointed as the governor of Zhongzhou, Bai Xingjian also went up the river with his brother. On the way, he met Yuan Zhen in Huangniu Gorge. The place where the three of them traveled together was called Sanyou Cave. While serving in Zhongzhou, Bai Juyi planted flowers on the hillside east of Zhongzhou City and named the place "Dongpo". [12] In the winter of the same year, he was appointed governor of Zhongzhou (now Zhongxian County, Chongqing City) and took office in 819. In the summer of 820, he was recalled to Chang'an and served as Wailang, a member of the Shangshu Department. ?

Although Bai Juyi’s mother died after falling into a well while looking at flowers, Bai Juyi had already composed many poems about flowers. According to the records of the Song Dynasty, Arai’s poems were written around the first year of Yuanhe (Arai’s poems have been lost today). , it can be seen that this matter cannot constitute a crime. The main reason why he was demoted was probably related to the fact that he offended those in power by writing satirical works. The demotion to Jiangzhou was a turning point in Bai Juyi's life: before that, he had been aiming to "do all the work" and hoped to make a beneficial contribution to the country and the people; after that, his behavior gradually turned to "taking care of himself". Although he still cared about the people, The actions shown no longer have the sparkle of the past. However, although Bai Juyi failed in his ambitions in Jiangzhou, he was still able to live in peace in general. He once built a thatched cottage in the north of Xianglu Peak in Lushan Mountain and socialized with local monks.

Served in Suzhou and Hangzhou

In the winter of 820, he was transferred to the position of host and guest doctor, Zhi Zhigao. In 821, Jia Chaosan, a doctor, began to officially wear the fifth-grade scarlet court uniform (the scarlet color is vermilion, the color used by officials above the fifth rank). Turn to the Zhu Kingdom, and then turn to the Shushe people. In 822, Bai Juyi wrote a letter discussing the military affairs of Hebei at that time, but it was not adopted, so he requested to serve elsewhere. In July, he was appointed as the governor of Hangzhou and took office in October. During his tenure, he made achievements such as building the West Lake embankment and dredging six wells. In May 824, he was appointed Prince Zuo's concubine to the Eastern Capital. In the autumn, he went to Luoyang and bought a house in Ludaoli. In 825, he was appointed governor of Suzhou and took office in May. He resigned due to illness in 826, and later traveled to Yangzhou and Chuzhou with Liu Yuxi.

While serving as the governor of Hangzhou, he saw that six ancient wells in Hangzhou were in disrepair for many years, so he took charge of dredging the six wells to solve the drinking water problem of Hangzhou people.

He also saw that the West Lake was silted up and farmland was arid, so he built embankments to store lake water to facilitate irrigation and alleviate the damage caused by drought. He also wrote "Qiantang Lake Stone Records", which engraved the policies, methods and precautions for lake water management and placed them on stones beside the lake. , for future generations to know, and had a great influence on the subsequent management of lake water in Hangzhou. Before leaving office, Bai Juyi left an official salary in the state treasury as a fund to facilitate the official turnover of officials who later governed Hangzhou, and then made up the original amount afterwards. This fund was in operation until the Huang Chao Rebellion. When Huang Chao arrived in Hangzhou, many documents were burned and lost, and the fund disappeared.

There is a white embankment in the West Lake, with willows planted on both sides. Later generations mistakenly believed that this was the embankment built by Bai Juyi, and it was called Baigong Embankment. In fact, this "White Causeway" existed before Bai Juyi came to Hangzhou. It was called "Baisha Causeway" at that time and can be seen in Bai Juyi's poems.

When Bai Juyi was in Hangzhou, Yuan Zhen was also transferred from the prime minister to the observer of eastern Zhejiang. Eastern Zhejiang and Hangzhou were not too far apart, so there were many poems of gifts and replies between the two. When Bai Juyi left Hangzhou after completing his term of office, Yuan Zhen asked Bai Juyi to hand over all his works and compile them into fifty volumes of "Bai's Changqing Collection".

During his tenure as the governor of Suzhou, Bai Juyi dug a seven-mile Shantang River from Huqiu in the west to Changmen in the east in order to facilitate Suzhou's water and land transportation. He built a road in the north of the Shantang River, called "Qili Shantang". ”, referred to as “Shantang Street”.

Late life

In 827, Bai Juyi went to Chang'an as secretary-supervisor, equipped with a purple gold fish bag, and changed into purple court clothes (the color used by officials above the third rank). In 828, he was transferred to the Ministry of Punishment and granted the title of Male of Jinyang County. In the spring of 829, due to illness, he was transferred to the Prince Guest Division and returned to Ludaoli, Luoyang. In December 830, he was appointed Yin of Henan. Yuan Zhen died in July 831. In 832, he wrote an epitaph for Yuan Zhen. The Yuan family gave Bai Juyi 600,000 to 700,000 yuan to polish the pen, and Bai Juyi donated all of it to Xiangshan Temple in Luoyang. In 833, he was discharged from Henan Yin due to illness and was appointed as the prince's guest branch again. In 835, he was appointed as the governor of Tongzhou, but he refused to take up the post. Later, he was appointed as Prince Shaofu of the Eastern Capital Branch, and was granted the title of Marquis of Feng Yi County. He remained in Luoyang. In October 839, he suffered from wind disease. In 841, the prince was dismissed as the young master and his salary was suspended. In 842, he became official as Minister of Punishment and received half salary.

In his later years, Bai Juyi's life was mostly based on a "leisurely" life that reflected his philosophy of life of "being poor means being alone." In 844, the 73-year-old Bai Juyi paid for the excavation of the stone beach that hindered boating in the Longmen area. After the completion of the work, he wrote a poem "Two Prefaces to the Eight Sections of the Stone Beach Poems on the Opening of Longmen". The poem still reflects his "advocate and both." The outlook on life of "helping the world".

Bai Juyi spent most of his later years in Ludaoli, Luoyang, making peace with Liu Yuxi, and often traveled around Longmen. He wrote "Chi Shang Chapter" and "The Biography of Mr. Zuiyin". In 845, when Bai Juyi was 74 years old, he still held the "Seven Elders Meeting" in Ludaolidi. The participants included Hu Gao, Ji Jiao, Zheng Zhi, Liu Zhen, Lu Zhen, Zhang Hun and Bai Juyi. In the summer of the same year, the Seven Elders gathered together as a monk. Ruman and Li Yuanshuang painted the "Nine Elders". In his later years, Bai Juyi believed in Buddhism and was named Xiangshan layman. He was a disciple of Seng Ruman.

An Died in Luoyang

On August 14 (September 8), the sixth year of Wuzong Huichang's reign (846), Bai Juyi passed away in Luoyang at the age of 75. He presented it to the minister's right servant She, posthumously named "Wen", was buried in Xiangshan, Luoyang. After Bai Juyi's death, Li Chen, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem to commemorate him: "I have been adorning jade beads for sixty years, who taught me how to become a poetry immortal? The floating clouds are not named Juyi, and the inaction of fortune is named Lotte. A boy interprets "Eternal Sorrow" Hu'er can sing the "Pipa" piece. The article has been widely read, and once I thought of Qing, I was the author of "Bai Shi Changqing Collection", which has seventy-one volumes.

Extended information:

Character profile

Bai Juyi (772-846), also known as Letian, also known as Xiangshan Jushi, also known as Mr. Zuiyin, his ancestral home is Shanxi Taiyuan [1-2]?, moved to Xiagui when his great-grandfather was born, and was born in Xinzheng, Henan. [3] He was a great realist poet in the Tang Dynasty and one of the three major poets in the Tang Dynasty. Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen jointly advocated the New Yuefu Movement, known as "Yuan Bai" in the world, and "Liu Bai" together with Liu Yuxi.

Bai Juyi's poetry has a wide range of themes, diverse forms, and simple and popular language. He is known as the "Poetry Demon" and the "Poetry King". He became a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy and a doctor of Zuo Zanshan. In 846 AD, Bai Juyi died in Luoyang and was buried in Xiangshan. There is "Bai's Changqing Collection" handed down from generation to generation, and his representative poems include "Song of Everlasting Sorrow", "Charcoal Seller", "Pipa Play" and so on.

Poetic works

"Song of Everlasting Sorrow", "Pipa Play", "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", "Drunken Recollections of Yuanjiu with Li Shiyi", "Zhizhong Shusheng", "Sauve Acacia", "Inscriptions on Yueyang Tower", "Viewing the Cutting of Wheat"

"Ask "Liu Shijiu" "Buying Flowers" "Looking at the Moon" "Fang Yan" "Chi Shang" "Liao Ling"

Family Members

Grandfather: Bai Huang

Grandmother: Xue

Father: Bai Jigeng

Eldest brother: Bai Youwen

Third brother: Bai Xingjian

Son: Bai Atui

Baidu Encyclopedia-Bai Juyi