Li Bai

Overview

Li Bai (701, first year of the Chang'an era – 762, first year of the Baoying era), courtesy name Taibai and art name Qinglian Jushi, was also known as the “Banished Immortal” and was later honored as the “Poet Immortal.” The source presents him as the greatest Romantic poet of the Tang Dynasty. Together with Du Fu he was known as “Li and Du,” and the two are described as representing the highest achievement of classical Chinese poetry. Li Bai's poetry is characterized in the source as free-flowing and unrestrained, marked by extraordinary imagination, natural language, and varied musicality; he was especially accomplished in yuefu songs, long song-style verse, and seven-character quatrains. He held lifelong ambitions to order the state and benefit the people but never found a lasting opportunity to realize them. His travels took him across much of China, and about a thousand poems are said to survive, exerting a profound influence on later generations.

Biography

Li Bai's family origins are disputed. The Old Book of Tang calls him a man of Shandong, while the New Book of Tang makes him a ninth-generation descendant of Li Gao, Emperor Wuzhao of Western Liang, from Chengji in Longxi. His clansman Li Yangbing wrote in the preface to the Caotang Collection that Li Bai's family descended from Li Gao, had been moved to Tiaozhi because of an offense, and returned to Sichuan during the Shenlong era. Fan Chuanzheng's funerary inscription names his father as Li Ke and says the family had lived at Suyab before returning to Guanghan in Sichuan during Shenlong. Two principal birthplaces are recorded: Changlong County in Mian Prefecture of Shu, now Qinglian in Jiangyou, Sichuan, and Suyab in the Western Regions, now Tokmok in Kyrgyzstan. Guo Moruo argued that Li Bai was born at Suyab into a Han Chinese family, whereas Chen Yinke considered Li Bai's family to have been of non-Han origin from the Western Regions. Whatever the competing theories, the source treats his upbringing in Sichuan as certain.

In 705, the first year of Shenlong, when Li Bai was five, he began applying himself seriously to study. His Letter to Chief Secretary Pei of Anzhou says: “五岁诵六甲.” In 715, at age fifteen, he had already produced a number of poems and rhapsodies that won praise from prominent men, began seeking patronage, practiced swordsmanship, and admired knight-errant conduct. In 718, at age eighteen, he lived in seclusion and studied on Mount Daitian-Dakuang, traveling among Jiangyou, Jiange, Zi Prefecture, and nearby places and broadening his experience.

In 724, at age twenty-four, Li Bai left his home region for extended travels. The following year he left Sichuan, “仗剑去国，辞亲远游,” passing through Chengdu and Mount Emei, traveling by boat east to Yuzhou and then onward to Dongting and Yangzhou. In 726 he fell ill in Yangzhou. That winter he left for the north, traveling toward Ru Prefecture; on passing through Chen Prefecture he met Li Yong and also became acquainted with Meng Haoran.

In 727 Li Bai lived at Shoushan in Anlu and married a granddaughter of former Grand Councilor Xu Yushi, settling there. The Xu family was a former grand-councilor household. With their support Li Bai remained in Anlu, hoping that the family's status would eventually create an opportunity for advancement. Over the next several years he repeatedly called on officials in Anzhou seeking recommendation, but without success. In 730 he went to Chang'an in search of office, visited Grand Councilor Zhang Shuo, became acquainted with Zhang's son Zhang Ji, stayed at Princess Yuzhen's retreat in the Zhongnan Mountains, and called on other princes and high officials, again without result.

In 731 Li Bai lived in poverty in Chang'an and mixed with ordinary townspeople. He later left the capital by way of Kaifeng for Songcheng and in autumn reached Mount Song, where he missed his old friend Yuan Danqiu and developed the idea of seclusion. In 732 he met Yuan Yan and Cui Chengfu in Luoyang, returned to Anlu in autumn, and met Cui Zongzhi on the way through Nanyang. In 733 he built a stone chamber at Taohua Cliff on Baizhao Mountain near Anlu, opened mountain fields, and lived by farming and reading. Because his native-place registration could not be established and there was no genealogical documentation, the source says he could not enter the imperial examination system and had to seek advancement through personal appeals to powerful patrons.

In 735 Li Bai traveled to Bing Province with his friend Yuan Yan and received warm hospitality from Yuan's father, the Prefect of Taiyuan. In 737 his wife Lady Xu died. Li Bai moved with his children to Nanyang and at the end of the year went west to Chang'an, where he presented writings in self-recommendation but received no appointment, afterward living in seclusion in the Zhongnan Mountains. In autumn 738 he stayed as a guest at Princess Yuzhen's retreat there but was treated coolly. In 740 he left Chang'an for Shandong and lived on Mount Culai with Kong Chaofu and four others, the group later known as the “Six Recluses of the Bamboo Stream.”

In 742, the first year of Tianbao, Li Bai's fame as an eminent recluse reached the capital. On the recommendations of Princess Yuzhen and He Zhizhang, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang summoned him. According to the source, when Li Bai entered the palace, Xuanzong descended from his carriage to meet him, “以七宝床赐食于前，亲手调羹.” The emperor questioned him about contemporary affairs; Li Bai answered fluently and was appointed Hanlin Attendant. When he met He Zhizhang at Ziji Palace and showed him his poems, He read The Difficult Road to Shu and Song of the Roosting Crow and exclaimed: “公非人世之人，可不是太白星精耶？” calling him a “Banished Immortal.”

Whenever Xuanzong held a banquet or excursion, Li Bai was ordered to accompany him and compose verse on the occasion. In 743 he wrote the Songs of Music in the Palace by imperial order and received a brocade robe. In late spring, when peonies were in bloom at Xingqing Pool and Xuanzong viewed them with Yang Yuhuan, Li Bai was ordered to compose the Qingping Tunes. He increasingly disliked the life of a court poet and began drinking heavily. He associated with He Zhizhang and others in the group remembered as the “Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup” and at times failed to attend when summoned by the emperor. On one occasion, while drunk and drafting an imperial document, he stretched out his foot and made Gao Lishi remove his boots. People in the palace resented him and slandered him to Xuanzong. Gao Lishi also spoke against him to Imperial Consort Yang, arguing that a poem comparing her to Zhao Feiyan was insulting; she consequently rejected Li Bai. In the third month of 744 Li Bai asked to “return to the mountains” and was “given gold and released to return,” leaving Chang'an.

After leaving Chang'an, Li Bai began roughly a decade of wandering. In summer 744 he reached the eastern capital Luoyang and met Du Fu. Li Bai was already famous throughout the realm, whereas Du Fu was young and still frustrated in Luoyang. Although Li Bai was eleven years older, the two formed a close friendship on equal terms. Wen Yiduo later compared their meeting to “青天里太阳和月亮走碰了头.” That autumn Li Bai and Du Fu traveled to Liang and Song and met Gao Shi; the three traveled together, discussed literature and poetry, and talked widely about the state of the realm. They also went to Yangtai Palace on Mount Wangwu in Jiyuan, Henan, hoping to visit Sima Chengzhen, only to learn that he had died. Moved by this, Li Bai wrote Shang Yangtai Tie.

That same year Li Bai and Du Fu went to Shanfu, present-day Shan County in Shandong, where they were warmly received by magistrate Tao Mian and Li Bai's clansman Li Ning. Li Bai left poems including Ascending Magistrate Tao's Banyue Terrace at Shanfu and Returning from an Autumn Hunt at Mengzhu at Night and Drinking at the East Tower of Shanfu While Watching Performers. Around autumn and winter the two poets separated. Li Bai went to Qi Prefecture and received Daoist registers from the Daoist master Gao, formally completing a Daoist ritual, and then went to Anling County in De Prefecture to ask Gai Huan to prepare a zhen-register.

In autumn 745 Li Bai and Du Fu met for the third time in eastern Lu. In a little over a year they had arranged two joint journeys and met three times. They visited recluses together and went to Ji Prefecture to call on the calligrapher Li Yong. They parted in winter and never met again, though Du Fu remembered Li Bai throughout his life.

In 746 Li Bai traveled in Jiangdong, reunited with Yuan Danqiu and Kong Chaofu, and associated with the Daoist Wu Yun. In 749 he married Lady Zong, a descendant of former Grand Councilor Zong Chuke. Thereafter he and his wife traveled through Lujiang Commandery, Mount Lu, and Jing Province. Early in 752 he traveled far north to Youzhou, hoping to obtain a military post, but returned disappointed. In 753 he visited Xuanzhou and Jinling. The following year Wei Hao, a recluse from Mount Wangwu who admired Li Bai, traveled a great distance south and found him at Yangzhou. Li Bai entrusted his manuscripts to Wei Hao and asked him to compile them.

When the An Lushan Rebellion broke out in 755, Li Bai and Lady Zong fled south. In spring he was in Dangtu, but on hearing that Luoyang had fallen he returned from Dangtu to Xuancheng and took refuge in Shanzhong. At Liyang he met Zhang Xu; in summer he traveled into Yue territory. On hearing that Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi had won major victories in Hebei, he returned to Jinling. In autumn, after learning that Emperor Xuanzong had fled to Sichuan, he went west along the Yangtze and lived in seclusion among the Pingfeng peaks of Mount Lu.

In 757 Li Bai accepted an invitation to join the staff of Prince of Yong Li Lin and wrote the cycle Songs of Prince Yong's Eastern Campaign, expressing his wish to render service to the state. Prince Yong, however, led troops east without authorization, prompting a punitive campaign and his eventual defeat. Li Bai was imprisoned at Xunyang, rescued by Song Ruosi and Cui Huan, and became a member of Song Ruosi's staff, accompanying him to Wuchang. Using Song's name, Li Bai recommended himself to the court in hope of renewed employment, but he was ultimately convicted because of his participation in Prince Yong's expedition and sentenced to long exile at Yelang, in present-day Tongzi, Guizhou.

In 758 Li Bai left Xunyang for Yelang, accompanied for part of the journey by his brother-in-law Zong Xian. He passed Xisai Station and reached Jiangxia, visited Li Yong's former residence, ascended Yellow Crane Tower, and looked toward Parrot Islet. In autumn he reached Jiangling and entered the Three Gorges in winter. In 759, after drought in the Guanzhong region, the court declared a general amnesty. Li Bai regained his freedom and hurried downstream, composing Leaving Baidi City Early to express his feelings. At Jiangxia he went boating by moonlight on Dongting Lake with the demoted Jia Zhi. Soon afterward he returned to his old haunts in Xuancheng and Jinling, moving between the two for about two years and still depending on others for support.

In 761, already in his sixties, Li Bai returned to Jinling because of illness. His circumstances were difficult, and he eventually sought refuge with his clansman Li Yangbing, then magistrate of Dangtu. In 762 Li Bai became gravely ill. From his sickbed he entrusted his manuscripts to Li Yangbing and died at Dangtu on the thirtieth day of the eleventh month, aged sixty-two. He was first buried east of Mount Long at Dangtu and in 817, the twelfth year of the Yuanhe era, was reinterred on the southern side of Qingshan.

Major Activities

The source presents Li Bai as a summit of Romantic literature in premodern China and says his achievements in long song-style verse and seven-character quatrains reached the highest level of the Tang. About a thousand poems survive. Representative works named in the source include Quiet Night Thought, Bring in the Wine, The Difficult Road to Shu, Hard Roads in Shu / Hard Is the Way of the World, Leaving Baidi City Early, Ascending Phoenix Terrace at Jinling, and Seeing Meng Haoran Off to Guangling at Yellow Crane Tower. His poetic style is characterized as free, unrestrained, imaginatively bold, highly original, naturally flowing in language, and varied in rhythm. Li Yangbing wrote in the preface to the Caotang Collection: “千载独步，唯公一人.” Lu Huangmen is quoted as saying: “陈拾遗横制颓波，天下质文，翕然一变。至今朝诗体，尚有梁、陈宫掖之风，至公大变，扫地并尽.”

Li Bai was particularly accomplished in yuefu and song-style verse. He inherited the Han and Wei yuefu tradition but transformed it through powerful exaggeration, imagination, and unrestrained language, pushing the form to a new height. His seven-character quatrains were likewise described as reaching the highest Tang level, and he was paired with Wang Changling. His subjects were broad, including transcendents, wine, meditation on the past, farewell, frontier life, and landscape, all presented through his distinctive Romantic style.

Li Bai regarded himself as possessing the talent to support the state and cherished an ambition to order society and benefit the people, but his official career was frustrated. In youth, according to the source, problems with his registered native place prevented him from entering the imperial examinations, forcing him instead to seek patrons. During Kaiyuan he repeatedly called on local and central officials without receiving important employment. In 742 he was summoned to the capital and served as Hanlin Attendant, but only as a court literary figure who composed poetry and attended the emperor, without actual authority over state affairs. In 744, after slander, he was “given gold and released to return.” After the An Lushan Rebellion he joined the staff of Prince Yong Li Lin hoping to serve the state, but after Prince Yong's defeat he was implicated, imprisoned, and exiled to Yelang, marking the tragic end of his political ambitions.

Li Bai traveled across much of China. In youth he visited many places in Sichuan; after leaving Sichuan he traveled through Dongting, Yangzhou, Ru Prefecture, and Anlu, made repeated journeys to Chang'an and Luoyang, and also traveled in Bing Province, Youzhou, Qi and Lu, Jiangdong, Xuancheng, Jinling, Mount Lu, and other regions. These journeys broadened his experience and supplied rich material for his poetry. The source also stresses his deep links to Daoism: he received Daoist registers, associated closely with Yuan Danqiu and Wu Yun, and made seeking transcendents and Daoist teachers an important part of his travels.

Li Bai met Meng Haoran in 726 and left the poem Seeing Meng Haoran Off to Guangling at Yellow Crane Tower. He met Du Fu in 744 and formed a deep friendship; Du Fu remembered him throughout his life. Li Bai traveled through Liang and Song with Gao Shi; later, after Gao Shi rose to high office, Li Bai appealed to him for help during the exile case but received no assistance. He was close to He Zhizhang, who called him a “Banished Immortal.” He knew Li Yong and wrote To Li Yong. Yuan Danqiu was an intimate friend and frequent travel companion. Li Bai also associated with Cui Zongzhi, Cui Chengfu, Yuan Yan, Kong Chaofu, and others.