Bai Juyi (772-846), whose courtesy name was Letian, also known as Xiangshan Jushi, and Mr. Zuiyin. A native of Taiyuan (now part of Shanxi). A famous realist poet in the Tang Dynasty and one of the three major poets in the Tang Dynasty. In the third year of Yuanhe (808), he worshiped Zuo Shiyi, and was later demoted to Sima in Jiangzhou (now part of Jiangxi), and moved to Zhongzhou (now part of Sichuan) as governor. The following is an introduction to Bai Juyi, a poet from the Tang Dynasty.

Born in troubled times

In the first month of the seventh year of the Dali calendar of Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty (772), Bai Juyi was born in Dongguozhai, Xinzheng, Zhengzhou, Henan (today's Dongguosi Village, Xinzheng City) to a "Shidun Confucian" family Small and medium-sized bureaucratic families. Shortly after Bai Juyi was born, war broke out in Henan. Li Zhengji in Pu Town 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 (AD 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 left his family home. Sent to Fuli, Suzhou to live in peace. Bai Juyi was able to spend his childhood in Fuli. 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 secretary. 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 overstepping 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 was demoted to Sima of Jiangzhou (now Jiujiang, Jiangxi) on this reason. In the winter of 818, he was appointed as the 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.

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 at 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".

Served in Suzhou and Hangzhou

In the winter of 820, he was transferred to the position of host and guest doctor, Zhizhigao. In 821, he became a minister of Chaosan, and began to officially wear the imperial robes of the fifth rank of Fei. (Fei is vermilion, the color used by officials above the fifth rank.) He was transferred to Zhuguo, and then to Shusheren. 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 term of office, 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.

When he was the governor of Hangzhou, he saw that six ancient wells in Hangzhou were in disrepair for a long time, 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.