Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 01-13-05 19:14
Chinese Story - Li Bai the Tang poet
Please click on Chinese Simplified to read Chinese.
靜夜思---Jing4 Ye4 Si
床前明月光﹐---Chuang2 qian2 ming2 yue4 guang,
疑是地上霜。---Yi2 shi4 di4 shang4 shuang;
舉頭望明月﹐---Ju3 tou2 wang4 ming2 yue4,
低頭思故鄉。---Di tou2 si gu4 xiang.
The moon shines on my bed,
照在床前明月的亮光﹐
I suspect it is the frost on the ground;
我疑心是地上的霜。
Lifting my head I look at the moon,
我抬起頭來望望天上的明月﹐
Look down I am thinking of my hometown.
低下頭來便想念自己的故鄉了。
By Li Bai (李白 701AD to 762AD)
Li Bai was born in 701AD during the reign of the first and only powerful
female ruler in China, Empress Wu Zetian (武則天) whose real name was Wu
Ying (武嬰). The birth place of Li Bai was Suiye (碎葉) in Anxi county (安
西縣) of Gansu province (甘肅省). The present day of Suiye is in the Lake
of Balkhash in Kazahstan. Since Li Bai was born there, many people mistook
him of Turkish descent or at least some Turkish blood (胡人).
Li Bai's original ancestral home was in Qinglian of Sichuan province (青
蓮四川省). Li Bai's ancestor (great-grandfather, I think) was banished by
the authority of the Sui Dynasty (隋朝 589AD to 618AD) to Suiye which was
then under the jurisdiction of Sui Dynasty Dynasty. When Tang Dynasty (唐
朝 618AD to 907AD) was established by Li Yuan (李淵) or Emperor Gao Zu (高
祖皇帝 618AD to 627AD) amnesties were granted to all those who were ostracized
from the homelands. The outcasts were free to return home at any time as
they wished.
Li Bai's father was called Li Ke (李客), a rich business man. When Li Bai's
mother was in full term pregnancy with him, one night, in her dream, she
saw the star of Venus (太白星) shining brightly. A few weeks later Li Bai
was born. Li Bai's parents named him after the star of Venus. So he was
called Li Taibai (李太白) and his given name was just Bai (白). He called
himself Li Bai. Years later, Li Bai had a little sister and his father named
her Yueyuan (月圓 round moon or full moon). When Li Bai was 5 years old
Li Ke took his family and returned to their ancestral home Qinglian village
(青蓮鄉) in Zhangming county (彰明縣) of Jinzhou (錦州) in the present day
Sichuan province (四川省).
Li Bai grew up and educated in his hometown by an educational system of
the Dynasties of Han and Wei (漢朝與魏朝教育制): 五歲學六甲﹐十歲觀百家)
When he was 15 years old he heard of a hermit, a master of martial art,
by the name of Jing Zhigao (景之杲), who lived in the mountain of Douchui
(竇圌山), quite far from his home. He took a sword and went up the mountain
to seek for master Jing Zhigao. There were snakes, tigers and many harmful
animals in the mountain. Eventually, he found master Jing Zhigao who accepted
him as his pupil. Li Bai learned martial art from master Jing for about
a year before he returned home.
Li Bai continued to study all sorts of literature books and he was already
very good in writing poetry (Xie Shi Zuo Fu 寫詩作賦). Li Bai did not sit
for any governmental examinations. He considered it was too troublesome
to sit for any examinations.
In 725AD, during the reign of Emperor Xuan Zong Li Longji (玄宗皇帝李隆基
713AD to 755AD), the famous Tang Minghuang (唐明皇), Li Bai left home to
seek for a living and began his wandering life.
After touring places for three years (remember his father was a very rich
businessman) he arrived in Anlu in Hubei province (安陸 湖北省). He was
27 years old when he married the granddaughter of Xu Yushi (許圉師), the
former Prime Minister in the administration of Emperor Gao Zong Li Zhi (高
宗皇帝李治 650AD to 683AD). He named his eldest son, Ming Yuenu (明月奴).
That was why many of his poems are about the moon which he loved. His other
son was called Po Li (頗黎), the name of a type of crystal stone (水晶石
). Although he still traveled a lot after marriage yet most of the time
he stayed in An Lu as a family man
When Li Bai was about 35 he left home and traveled to Taiyuan (太原 the
present day city of Taiyuan in Shanxi province 山西省). Li Bai arrived in
Taiyuan during the summer and put up with his friend Yuan Canjun (元參軍
). Li Bai toured all the interesting places around Taiyuan. In Autumn, Li
Bai left Taiyuan for Qilu (齊魯 in present day Shandong province 山東省).
In Qilu he spent most of his time in two places, Rencheng (任城 the present
day city of Jining 濟寧) and Shaqiu (沙邱 the present day city Yixian 掖
縣). He bought a house in Shaqiu where he lived for a long time.
Here in Shaqiu he befriended Kong Chaofu (孔巢父), Han Zhun (韓準), Pei
Zheng (裴政), Zhang Shuming (張叔明) and Tao Mian (陶沔). The six of them
lived in Zulaishan (俎徠山) in the south of Taishan (泰山). People nicknamed
them the "Zhu Xi Liu Yi 竹溪六逸" or The Six Hermits of Bamboo Brook.
He left Qilu and went touring to the present day provinces of Jiangsu (江
蘇省), Anhui (安徽省) and Zhejiang (浙江省). After all these years he began
to have a clear picture about politics. Emperor Xuan Zong admired his literary
talent and in 742AD called him to come to Changan (長安 the present day
city of Xian 西安市 in Shaanxi province 陝西省) to work for him. Li Bai
had never set foot on the capital before. He was very happy to be called
by the Emperor to Changan. Li Bai thought he could display his literary
talent while he was in Changan. He was quickly disappointed by being offered
as an ordinary employee but an official in the Hanlin Academy (翰林院) or
the Imperial Academy.
Li Bai was too disappointed of being employed as an ordinary employee, a
Gong Feng (供奉 a courier in the Hanlin Academy 翰林院) or the Imperial
Academy. Other than working as an attendant (侍從), Li Bai befriended many
people, like He Zhizhang (賀知章), Cui Suizhi (崔祟之), Chao Heng (晁衡)
and many others. At their leisure they drank and talked on all kinds of
subjects (談天說地).
Staying for three years in Changan was more than enough for him. Li Bai
resigned and went back home to his family in Rencheng in Shandong province
(任城在山東省). For the rest of the years he went touring to places like;
Guangling (廣陵 present day Jiangdu county 江都縣), Jinling (金陵 present
day city of Nanjing 南京市) in Jiangsu province (江蘇省), Xuancheng (宣城
) in Anhui province (安徽省) and many other places, until he was 55-year-old
when he met Prince Yong Lin (永王璘) in mountain Lushan (廬山).
Prince Yong Lin formed an army trying to overthrow his elder brother Li
Heng Emperor Su Zong (肅宗皇帝李亨 756AD to 762AD) and Li Bai was asked
to become one of his advisors. The rebellious army of Prince Yong Lin was
crushed the following year. Li Bai was arrested and imprisoned in Xunyang
(潯陽 present day Jiujiang city 九江市 in Jinagxi 江西省). One of his best
friends, Du Fu (杜甫), wrote poems on how he missed Li Bai as an intimate
friend; poems like Meng Li Bai (夢李白) and,Tian Mo Huai Li Bai (天末懷李
白) or I dreamed of Li Bai (see Tang Shi San Bai Shou 唐詩三百首). Du Fu
was angry over the banishment of Li Bai and he wrote:
[Two lines from the second part of the poem I dreamed of Li Bai 夢李白]
冠蓋滿京華,---Guan gai4 man3 jing hua2,
斯人獨僬悴.---Si ren2 du2 qiao2 cui4.
孰云網恢恢?--Shu2 yun2 wang3 hui hui?
將老申反累!---Jiang4 lao3 shen fan3 lei2
There are officials everywhere in the capital,
聲勢顯赫的官吏, 在京城中到處都是﹐
Why you are the only one who is down and out.
獨有你這個人卻這樣潦倒﹐
Who says the heavenly principles are broad?
誰說天理是寬廣的﹖
And let you suffer at old age!
否則你的年紀將老﹐身體何以反要受累呢﹗
(Du Fu met Li Bai in 744AD in Luoyang 洛陽. Together they went touring for
two years. They departed from each other in Lujun 魯郡 in Shandong province)
Although he was bailed out from the prison by his friends, Li Bai was ostracized
to Yelang (夜郎 present day Tongzi 桐梓 in Guizhou province (貴州省). At
the age of 60 he was rehabilitated and he returned home in Rencheng).
In 762AD, when he was 62-year-old, Li Bai went for a drinking party with
a few friends in a boat. While cruising along a river near the present day
city of Xuancheng in Anhui province (宣城安徽省), Li Bai was drunk. It was
full moon that night and the reflection of the moon on the surface of the
river was beautiful. Li Bai always loved the moon. He had written many poems
about the moon. He loved the moon so much that he wanted to grab it. Off
his nut (foolishly), Li Bai jumped into the river trying to scoop up the
moon. With a loud splash that was the end of the famous poem. Li Bai was
drowned. His best friend Li Yangbing (李陽冰) buried him in a rocky place
called Cai Shiji (采石磯) near the river in which he was drowned
CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
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