| Biography of Bai Ju Yi |
Bai Ju Yi is also known as Po Chu-i and Le-tien. He lived in 772-846. He wrote an astonishing number of poems: 3000! Bai Ju Yi is my personal favourite of the Chinese poets. Although he came from a privileged family , he spent much of his youth wandering about as a draft-dodger! During this time he was frequently cold and hungry. He succeeded in public service examinations but after some 15 years as a public servant for the central government, he was disliked by those in power and sent to work for re-education at Hangzhou, Souzhou and other places. Many of his poems are about vital social and political problems, but he also wrote many lyric poems expressing personal feeling. He was born two years after the death of Du Fu, and lived in a time when the Tang Dynasty continued to decline and the gap between the rich and the poor increased even further. His family had to flee and split up because of civil wars. At age 32 his duty was to organise and arrange the national archives. At 35, he was assisting the county magistrate to maintain law and order. At the age of 37, he was counselling the Emperor's conduct! At this time he wrote many poems admonishing the Emperor for dissipation and cruelty. The poems were forceful satires and led to his expulsion from court at the age of 44. After this he served as a civil servant in many different regions, and distinguished himself for his devotion to the people. For example, while Mayor of Hangzhou, he built a dam which provided irrigation water for the people in times of drought. When he left this district, great numbers of people gave him a tearful farewell, even trying to block his departure. He believed that literature should serve the people and be written in clear language. He read new poems to an illiterate old woman and rewrote sections that she could not understand. His poems were set to music and sung widely. They were also written on walls of schools, temples, boats and restaurants. His poems were also widely famous, in far western China, Korea and Japan. At the age of 58, Bai Ju Yi no longer wished to serve such a corrupt government and retired to Luoyang and then Huichang, where he died aged 75. My favourite poems of his are: Rain at Night Song of the Evening River Spring Visit to Chien-Tang Lake The Frivolous Rich A Woman of Quality View from a Height Song of Lovely Women Enjoying a shared party Grass The New Fur Coat Merv Daw |
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