Biography
Li Bai (李白, 701–762 AD) was one of the greatest Chinese poets of the Golden Age of China during the Tang Dynasty. He was born in present-day Turkestan in Central Asia, which at the time was under Chinese control. His parents were living there in exile. When Li Bai was five years old, they were allowed to return to their homeland, Sichuan Province, one of the most civilized and prosperous regions of China. According to historical descriptions, Li Bai was taller than the average Chinese man and had large eyes and lips. He trained in martial arts, but at the age of twenty he chose the life of a hermit and devoted himself to meditation. He withdrew to a remote mountain, where he studied literary and religious texts and quickly gained a reputation for his wisdom and poetic talent. After four years of isolation and the study of Taoism, which he embraced in preference to Confucianism, he felt spiritually prepared to re-enter society and began traveling throughout China. He spent much of his life wandering, spreading Taoist ideas, composing poetry, and meeting other poets and intellectuals. During his travels he is believed to have married four times and fathered at least ten children. Around 740, he spent a year in the company of five other writers, forming an informal group devoted to poetry and wine known as the “Six Idlers of the Bamboo Brook.” In 742, during a visit to the capital, Chang'an, he was warmly received at the imperial court and appointed to a prestigious position at the Hanlin Academy. However, he was dismissed in 744, either because some officials believed that one of his poems criticized the regime, or, according to other accounts, because of his excessive drinking and unconventional behavior.Li Bai then resumed his wandering life among the mountains and cities of China. His travels came to an abrupt end when he became involved in a political uprising. He was tried and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to exile in the far southwest of the empire. In 758 he was granted amnesty and allowed to return to eastern China, where he died in 762. According to legend, he drowned after falling from a boat while drunkenly trying to embrace the reflection of the moon in the water. His poetry has remained beloved to this day, distinguished by Taoist mysticism, a deep love of nature, wine, friendship, and the joys of life.