第26课 繁荣的唐诗和宋词

第26课繁荣的唐诗和宋词

Li Bai

Li Bai (AD 701–AD 762), whose cour-tesy name was Taibai, was born in Longxi and moved to Shu (present-day Sichuan). When he was twenty-?ve years old, he started wandering throughout China and travelled to present-day Hubei, Shanxi, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, and Zhejiang. When he was in his forties, he was given a post at the Hanlin Academy at the recom-mendation of He Zhizhang, but he had to resign at the orders of Emperor Xuanzong, because his character did not suit life in the imperial court. At the age of ?fty-eight, he was involved in a revolt against the Emperor and the failure of the rebellion resulted in his exile to Yelang (present-day Tongxin of Guizhou Province). He was pardoned He died at Dangtu.

Li Bai loved mountains and rivers and wrote many landscape poems. His poems were full of enthusiasm, fresh, imaginative, simple, and romantic. Over a thousand poems are attributed to him, many representing the pinnacle of poetic perfection, for instance, A Dream Journey in the Mount Tianmu, Hard Roads in Shu, The Hard Road, and Bringing in the Wine.

Du Fu

Du Fu (AD 712–AD 770), whose courtesy name was Zimei, was born in Gong County in Henan. He left home at the age of twenty to travel around the countr y. Later, he f ailed the jinshi imperial examination. He met and befriended Li Bai while traveling. He settled in Chang’an and lived there for ten years, and was given a junior post ther e. Du Fu led a largely itinerant life when Chang’an fell after the An Shi Rebellion broke out, and only settled temporar ily in Sichuan with a friend. He died on a boat in Yueyang at the age of ?fty-eight. He was also called Du Gongbu, as he served as yuanwailang of the Gong Bu. Du Fu lived at a time of constant unrest when the Tang Dynasty had started its decline. He was also called the “poet-historian,” and Sanli and San-bie series are eternal masterpieces. Credited as the Poet-Sage, he used re?ned and digni?ed language in his writing, which was powerful and solemn.

The Su Father and his Two Sons

The Three Su ref ers to Su Xun (AD 1009–AD 1066) and his two sons Su Shi and Su Zhe. They were great writers f rom the Northern Song era, and Su Shi attained the hi ghest achievements. Su Xun wrote primarily about hi story and politics, and his prominent works are Quanshu and Lunheng. Su Zhe (AD 1039–AD 1112) was the author of Luancheng Ji.

Su Shi (AD 1037–AD 1101), whose courtesy name was Zizhan, was born i n Meishan (present-day Sichuan). In AD 1057, he and his brother passed the imper- ial examinations and attained the jinshi degree. Beginning in AD 1060 and lasting for the next twenty years, Su held a variety of government positions throughout China. He was also a member of the Han-lin Academy. He was demoted and exiled to

Juchanghua (present-day Changji ang County in Hainan) because he suggested that some of Wang Ans hi’s new policies be implemente d, and was therefore not tolerated by the conservative f action. He died in Hangzhou on his way back to the north from exile. Su Shi Su Shi excelled in the shi, ci, and fu forms of poetry, as well as prose, calligraphy, and painting. With his poetic f ame largely resting on his ci style poems, Su Shi also founded the haofang school, which cultivated an attitude of heroic abandon. In both his written works and visual art, he combined spontaneity, objectivity, and vivid descriptions of natural phenomena. Nianujiao: Chibi Huai Gu (Remembering Chibi, to the Tune of Niannujiao) and Shui Diao Ge Tou (Remembering Su Che on the Mid-Autumn Festival) were examples of this. The ?rst poem was inspired by the 3rd century naval battle in the Three Kingdoms Era, the Battle of Chibi in AD 208. Su Shi was also a great calligrapher and painter who was skilled at painting bamboo, withered trees, and strange-looking stones.

Li Qingzhao

Li Qingzhao (AD 1084–AD 1155), whose pseudonym was Yi’an Jushi, was born in Jinan, Shandong. She was a fa-mous ci poet living at the turn of the Northern and Souther n Song dynasties. Being a poet of the school of delicate restraint, she was natural and expressive in style, merging passion with literary images and creating an artistic concep-tion in which feelings and scenery were well blended. Among her most promi nent poems were “To the Tune of Like a Dream: Last night a sprinkling of rain” and “Shengshengman: I’ve a sense of something missing I must seek.” Legend has it that once her poet husband put one of her poems together with his own ?fty poems, showing them to a friend Li Qingzhao and asking his opinion. After reading them the friend told his three f avor ite lines, “Oh, I c annot say it is not enchanting. Only, when the west wind stirs the curtain / I see that I am more graceful than the yellow ?owers,” which are the last lines of Li Qingzhao’s poem.

Lu You

Lu You (AD 1125–AD 1210), whose courtesy name was Wuguan and pseudonym was Fangweng, was born in Shangyin in Yuezhou (present-day Shaoxing). He passed the imperial examination with a jinshi degree during Emperor Xiaozong’s reign. He served as tongpan of Zhenjiang, tongpan of Kuizhou, and anfushi of Chengdu. Lu You was committed to saving the na-tion by ousting the Jurchens. He was a great literary ?gure most prominent for his achievements i n the shi and ci poetry forms. His poems are full of his feelings about unrest and patriotic spirit. This is best articulated in the following lines: “All turns to dust in my dying eyes, /only regret is that a uni?ed land is not seen. / When the day of the emperor’s troops sweeping the North comes, / you must not forget to tell me before my tombstone.”

Guan HanqingYuan Qu became a major performing art during the Yuan Dynasty. It is the synthesis of Yuan zaju (Yuan opera) and Sanqu (songs). Yuan zaju, composed of music, singing, dancing, performing, and narrating, is a comprehensive stage art

and performed according to a script composed of both verse and prose. Sanqu refers to popular songs from the northern regions.

Guan Hanqing is the most prominent playwright. Guan (pseudonym Zhaishou) was born in Dadu (present-day Beijing). He wrote over sixty plays in his life, of which more than ten survived. He expressed his deepest sympathy for the oppressed and ex-posed corrupt rulers i n his plays. Injustice to Dou’e is the best-known play that he wrote.

Wu Daozi

Wu Daozi was a painter of the Tang Dynasty, born in Yangzhai (present-day Nanyu Coun-

ty in Henan), whose dates of birth and death are unknown. He was made xianwei of Xia-qiu, Yanzhou (present-day Yanzhou Coun-ty in Shandong), and neijiao boshi, a court

painter dur ing Emperor Xuanzhong’s reign. He was very skilled at free br ushstrokes and wasconsidered one of the forerunners of the freehand style. He was honored as the sage of painting. The King Sends His Son Sakya-muni was among his most famous works. Emperor Xuanzong asked him to create a painting after he retur ned from his trip to Jianglingjiang River. It only took him a single day to depict the landscape of 150 kilomete rs along the r iver. He was best known for ?gure painting, and the ribbons he painted were so lifelike that they seemed to be blow in the wind.

Yan Liben

Yan Liben (?–AD 673), born in Wannian of Yongzhou (now Xi’an), was a Tang painter. He was skilled at ?gure painting, using energetic brushstrokes for dif-ferent stor ies. Among his master pieces is Emper or Tang Taizong Meeting Tibetan Emissar ies (38.5 x 130 cm), depicting the scene of Emperor Taizong receiving Ludongzan, the Tibet envoy. X. Science and Technology during the Sui, Tang,and Song Dynasties

Sun Simiao

In the Sui and Tang dynasties, tremendous progress was made in Chinese medicine. During the Zhenguan reign of the Tang Dynasty, the government set up many medi-cal schools with highly specialized medical disciplines. Under the rule of Emperor Gaozong, the government ordered doctors to compile Tang Ben Cao, which was the ?rst pharmaceutical book in the world compiled and distributed by a government. Europe did not produce a similar book until over eight hundred years later. During the Tang Dynasty, many prominent doctors emerged. Sun Simiao was the most outstanding one. He devoted himself to writing Beiji Qianjin Yaofang (Essential Formulas for Emergencies Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold), and was honored as the “King of Chinese Medicine” for his signi?cant contributions to Chinese medicine and excellent care given to his patients.The Beiji Qianjin Yaofang was completed in AD 652, comprising thirty volumes. It collated the medical formulas of the former generations and folk remedies and also expounded on the

diagnosis, pre-