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| Photo: Wikimedia |
I went to Huang Shan
mountain in Anhui province, to meet Li Bai, one of China's most famous poets.
Against a backdrop of misty mountains, he met me cross-legged in front of a
small table on the veranda of a food stall. Not to forget a cup of wine was served
for him and me. I say 'not to forget' because it is a tradition in China to
serve wine or other liquor to guests as a courtesy. In addition, Li Bai has a
reputation as the Drunk Poet, due to his penchant for liquor until he drunk, but
able to write interesting poems in that state.
It seemed that Li Bai
wanted to isolate himself in the area around here, to write poems, being close
to the common people, after being 'expelled' from the Royal Academy by Emperor
Xuanzong in Chang'an (the ancient name of Xi'an city). He was expelled because
of the intrigues of ministers who were jealous of his talent to write beautiful
poems. He traveled from mountain to mountain, deepened Taoism and wrote many of
his poems there.
That morning I met Li
Bai at dawn on the Bright Peak Summit of Mount Huangshan to enjoy the golden
light of the sun slowly creeping in from behind the mountains. We just sat in
silence while Li Bai was writing a poem, he was just like that, could
spontaneously write poetry when attracted by something he encountered. Sometime
later he showed me his poem:
Thirty six strange peaks, Immortals with black
top knots.
Morning sun strikes the tree tops,
Here in this sky mountain world. Chinese
people, raise your faces!
For
a thousand years cranes come and go. Far off I spy a firewood gatherer,
Plucking sticks from stone crevices.
I responded:
"Mountains often
appear in your poetry, right?"
Li Bai, smiling, quoted another of his poems:
“You ask for what reason I stay on the green mountain,
I smile, but do not answer, my heart is at leisure.
Peach blossom is carried far off by flowing water,
Apart, I have heaven and earth in the human world.”
I said:
“Heaven and earth in
the human world, I really can sense the deep influence of Taoism, which views
the Universe as an interconnected organic entity. None exists separately from
the others.”
Li Bai:
“I recited ‘Liu Jia’
at the age of five, an ancient Taoist book that has been lost, and see a
hundred schools at the age of ten. At the age of fifteen, I and Dongyanzi, a
Taoist hermit, went to mount Minshan to live there in seclusion. I lived in there
for several years. We raised many exotic birds in the forests, lived and worked
as animal breeders. These are beautiful and docile birds, because we used to
feeding them, so they come regularly to ask for food. It's as if they can
understand people's language, with a call, they fly from everywhere before
coming down, can even peck at people's hands. With grains, they are not afraid
at all”.
I said:
“Before you exiled
yourself to this area, it is said that you were once a high ranking official
serving Emperor Xuanzong in Chang'an. How did it happen?”
Li Bai:
“I was wandering around Zhejiang and Jiangsu
and eventually made friends with Wu Yun, a famous Taoist priest, who was close
to Emperor Xuanzong. One day Wu Yun was summoned by the Emperor to attend the
imperial court, and his praise of me was great.
His praise led Emperor Xuanzong to summon me to the court of Chang’an.
It seemed that the Emperor, aristocrats and common people alike were fascinated
by my talents and personality. At first he gave me a job as a translator, as I knew
non-Chinese language. Eventually the
Emperor gave me a post at the Hanlin Academy, the royal academy which served to
provide scholarly expertise and poetry for the Emperor.”
“Surely you wrote
poems for Emperor Xuanzong?”
Li Bai:
“I wrote several poems
about the Emperor's beautiful and beloved Yang Guifei, the favorite royal
consort.”
I said:
"May I hear one
of them?"
Li Bai:
“Clouds remind me of her apparel, flowers remind me of her countenance,
The spring breeze blows against the banister, the dew are splendidly
lush.
If we cannot meet atop the Jade Mountain,
Then we will surely
encounter one another on the jade terrace basked under the moonlight.”
I said:
“Hmmm… by mentioning
the Jade Mountain, this poem implies the empress as charming as a fairy from
the heavens, and you will meet her in the mortal world under the moonlight… The
Daoism impression is very strong, heaven and earth as a harmonious wholesome beauty.
One of the other poems
you have written since sitting in the palace is about the drunkenness of
drinking wine. A theme that is rarely expressed as poetry, because it is
considered unworthy, not beautiful, and too 'mortal'. You seem to be very much
into drunkenness perhaps because as people have known, you like drinking to the
point of intoxication, and you even write the best poetry in drunken state. One
of your famous poems is “Drinking Alone Under the Moon”, which express the
feeling of drunkenness and loneliness in a poetic and romantic way, loved by
the public because the feeling is so 'grounded to the earth’ mirroring the
habits of Chinese people from all walks of life to get drunk.
Li
Bai, staring at the sky and quoting " Drinking Alone Under the Moon "
I pour myself a drink, no loved one near.
Raising my cup, I invite the bright moon
and turn to my shadow. We are now three.
But the moon doesn’t understand drinking,
and my shadow follows my body like a slave.
For a time, moon and shadow will be my companions,
a passing joy that should last through the spring.
I sing, and the moon just wavers in the sky;
I dance and my shadow whips around like mad.
While lucid still, we have such fun together!
But stumbling drunk, each stagger off alone.
Bound forever, relentless we roam:
reunited
at last on the distant river of stars.”
I said:
"Wow, it's so
impressive that his feeling of loneliness is combined with the dance in the
universe. Poetic, romantic and once again very thick sense of Taoism.
However, with such beautiful poems that you
wrote why were you expelled from the Palace?"
Li Bai:
"Because of Gao Lishi
the eunuch minister who has the most political influence in the palace. He
envied me and along with other spiteful officials conspired to get rid of me
with various intrigues. Knowing my habit of drinking until the drunk, one day
they trapped me into drinking until drunk. Then in a drunken state I was brought
to the Emperor to be humiliated. The emperor was angry and then drove me out of
the palace, so I decided to leave Chang'an..."
I said:
“How did you feel
leaving Chang’an?”
Li Bai, citing ‘The City of Choan’ Li Bai, another name of 'Chang'an
City' or Xi'an:
The phoenix are at play on their terrace.
The phoenix are gone, the river flows on alone.
Flowers and grass
Cover over the dark path
where lay the dynastic house
of the Go.
The bright cloths and bright caps of Shin
Are now the base of old hills.
The Three Mountains fall through the far
heaven,
The isle of White Heron
splits the two streams apart.
Now the high clouds cover the sun
And I can not see Choan afar
And I am sad.”
This
is an imaginary interview in memory of Li Bai.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/travel/article/20180201-chinas-spectacular-mountains-encased-in-ice
http://www.chinese-poems.com/lb.html
https://inf.news/en/culture/e8d711cc03d575390b3618b9193cdbd0.html
https://naiyee.org/2018/09/23/li-bai-drinking-alone-under-the-moon/
https://allpoetry.com/poem/13689358-The-City-of-Choan-by-Li-Po
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Bai
