Bai juyi biography

After turning 51, Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi, courtesy name Letian, enjoyed a carefree political career. He was appointed as the prefect of Hangzhou in Julythe second year of Changqing under the reign of Emperor Muzong of Tang. He basked in the joy of the mountains and waters embracing West Lake, and wrote countless poems that were widely recited.

After serving for two years as a carefree prefect of Hangzhou, Bai was transferred to Luoyang, the eastern capital of the Tang dynasty, as chief attendant to the crown prince. He dearly missed Hangzhou and Suzhou not only because of the beautiful and mesmerising Jiangnan landscape, but more importantly because he could be far away from the dangerous political struggles in the capital.

He was truly a carefree and frivolous prefect. After over a year as Suzhou prefect, Bai took a long sick leave. Subsequently, his good friend Pei Du, who was a chancellor at the time, recommended that he return to the capital, and Bai left his beloved Jiangnan to become secretary of the imperial secretariat and vice-minister of the justice ministry.

As an informal leader of a group of poets who rejected the courtly style of the time and emphasized the didactic function of literature, Bai believing that every literary work should contain a fitting moral and a well-defined social purpose. That makes him not satisfied with cultural performance styles of Tang court. In this poem, Bai Juyi strongly criticized Tang Daqu, which was itself heavily influenced by some nonnative musical elements absent in the Han Daqu-the original form of Daqu.

The conflict between the mainstream Han culture and minority culture exposed after the An Lushan Rebellion. The alien culture was so popular and it had seriously threatened the status of Han culture. Seated performances were conducted in smaller halls with a limited number of dancers, and emphasized refined artistry.

Bai juyi biography: Bai Juyi courtesy name

Standing performances involves numerous dancers, and were usually performed in courtyards or squares intended for grand presentations. In this poem, Bai mercilessly pointed out that music style of both seated performances and standing performances were deeply influenced by foreign culture. Seated performances are more elegant than standing performances.

This poem shows the culture changing in the middle Tang Dynasty and the decline of Yayue, a form of classical music and dance performed at the royal court and temples In those two poems of Bai reflected the situation of political and culture in the middle Tang Dynasty after the An Lushan Rebellion, and he was concerned that the popularity of foreign music could lead the Tang society into chaos.

Appraisal Bai Juyi is considered one of the greatest Chinese poets, but even during the ninth century, sharp divide in critical opinions of his poetry already existed. It has bothered me that ever since the Yuanhe Reign we have had poems by Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen whose sensual delicacy has defied the norms. Excepting gentlemen of mature strength and classical decorum, many have been ruined by them.

Bai juyi biography: Bai Juyi, courtesy name Letian,

They have circulated among the common people and been inscribed on walls; mothers and fathers teach them to sons and daughters orally, through winter's cold and summer's heat their lascivious phrases and overly familiar words have entered people's flesh and bone and cannot be gotten out. I have no position and cannot use the law to bring this under control.

Modern assessment Burton Watson says of Bai Juyi: "he worked to develop a style that was simple and easy to understand, and posterity has requited his efforts by making him one of the bai juyi biography well-loved and widely read of all Chinese poets, both in his native land and in the other countries of the East that participate in the appreciation of Chinese culture.

He is also, thanks to the translations and biographical studies by Arthur Waley, one of the most accessible to English readers". In popular culture Bai Juyi is one of the main characters of the Chinese fantasy film Legend of the Demon Cat, where he is portrayed by Huang Xuan. It the movie, the poet is solving a murder mystery and struggles to finish his famous poem, "Song of Everlasting Regret".

Passions of the Cut Sleeve. University of California Press. Hinton, David Classical Chinese Poetry: An Anthology. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. Owen, Stephen Harvard University Asia Center. ISBN Nienhauser, William H ed. Indiana University Press In Matsuura, Tomohisa ed. OCLC D New York,: Macmillan, Waley, Arthur He used his elegantly simple verse to protest the social evils of his day.

He is notable for the accessibility of his work; he tried to use simple language and direct themes, and it is said that he rewrote any part of a poem which one of his servants was unable to understand. His poems are not cheerful, and were themed around his responsibilities as a governor of several small provinces, sympathizing with the plight of his people.

Bai Yuji wrote over 2, poemswhich he had copied and distributed to ensure their survival. He is renowned in Japan as well, where he is called Haku Rakuten. Bai began composing poetry at the age of five. At the age of ten he was sent away from his family to be educated near Chang'an. Because of his father's death in and strained family circumstances, Bai did not take the official examinations for the bureaucracy until the late age of He passed the jinshi degree in Their friendship became perhaps the most famous in Chinese history.

A native of Luoyang, Yuan was a descendant of Northern Wei's ruling elites. Governor of Suzhou [ edit ]. Later career [ edit ]. Retirement [ edit ]. Death [ edit ]. Works [ edit ]. History [ edit ]. Famous poems [ edit ]. Poetic forms [ edit ]. Art criticism [ edit ].

Bai juyi biography: Bai Juyi (l. )

Appraisal [ edit ]. Modern assessment [ edit ]. In popular culture [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. Works cited [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Oxford illustrated encyclopedia. Judge, Harry George. Oxford [England]: Oxford University Press. ISBN OCLC Waley refers to this village as "Li-tao-li. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved CiteSeerX Collected Poems: New York: HarperPerennial.

Bai juyi biography: Bai Juyi was a Chinese poet

External links [ edit ]. Bai Juyi at Wikipedia's sister projects. Tang dynasty topics. Green Satchel Classic. Zhang Xu 8th c. Yu Xuanji — Du Qiuniang 9th c. Authority control databases. MusicBrainz FID. Hidden categories: Articles containing Chinese-language text Webarchive template wayback links Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Articles containing Korean-language text Articles containing Japanese-language text All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from November CS1 uses Japanese-language script ja CS1 Japanese-language sources ja Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata Articles with Project Gutenberg links Articles with Internet Archive links Articles with LibriVox links.

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