One of Li Bai's six puzzles: What does Li Bai look like?
For such an elegant and chic poet, people imagine that he should be quite aura and a bit of a sage-like type. Li Bai is such a person.
At present, there is no credible portrait of Li Bai handed down from ancient times in historical materials, and the more common portrait from Ode to the ancients in Ming Dynasty has no reliable basis and is purely fiction. In my opinion, the real Li Bai may be more aura than this portrait.
People who have seen Li Bai say that his eyes are bright. For example, Hao Wei's Preface to the Collection of Li Hanlin said that he was "as hungry as a tiger", which means that Li Bai's eyes are bright and as hungry as a tiger. Cui Zongzhi said in "Twelve White Gifts to Li" that the eyes illuminate people and the eyes are the windows of the soul. This shows that Li Bai is a person with very smart eyes and looks very witty.
As for his height, he said in the book Jingzhou with Han: "Although it is less than seven feet long, it is full of heart." Based on this, it is speculated that his height is about 1.7 meters, which is considered as a tall man in the Tang Dynasty.
One of Li Bai's six puzzles: What is Li Bai's character?
To be sure, Li Bai is an extrovert. First of all, Li Bai is eloquent. Cui Zongzhi's praise for Li Bai is eloquent and absolutely amazing. Li Bai himself recorded what his cousin Li Ling asked him: "Is my brother's heart, liver and five internal organs brilliant?" Why else would you open your mouth and write it down? "("command to send my slave brother Jing Zhao to Longmen to join the army for the winter ") Brother, are your insides brilliant? Otherwise, how can you be eloquent and literary? Li Bai was very proud of this and specially recorded this passage.
Secondly, Li Bai loves to drink. Li Bai loves drinking, which is well known to all women and children, so I won't go into details. What I want to emphasize here is that drinking has made him, and there are not so many literary poems without drinking; Drinking also hurt him and made his career full of ups and downs.
Third, Li Bai attaches importance to wealth and justice. Some scholars believe that Li Baijia is a merchant family and may be rich. After Li Bai left Sichuan, he traveled around the world and spent 300,000 yuan in a short time. In the middle of Kaiyuan, a bucket of rice was thirteen, so 300,000 yuan could buy 23,000 buckets of rice, which shows that he was extremely rich at that time. However, Li Bai is by no means a extravagant and profligate rich second generation. He is charitable and values wealth more than righteousness. According to himself, whenever he sees a talented and down-and-out son, he will give him a hand. Li Bai looked down on money all his life, which explains a passage in his famous work "Into the Wine": "Why do you say, my master, that your money is gone? , to buy wine, we drink together! . Five-flowered horses, golden autumn, give them to boys, get good wine, and sell them with you for generations. " Don't think that Li Bai took out his horse and fur coat to pack wine. He is selling the horse and coat of his master Yuan Danqiu's house: Master, why did you say you have no money? Isn't there a golden robe? Tell your children to take it out and exchange it! Today you may think that Li Bai is really thick-skinned. In fact, the literati at that time paid attention to treating money like dirt, at least for those who pursued it. Therefore, for Li Bai and his friends, it doesn't matter who they sell to. This is light wealth and heavy righteousness.
In addition, there is chivalry in Li Bai. Li Bai mentioned many times in his poems that he practiced sword, and it is said that he also killed people, claiming to be brave and upright. The preface of Li Hanlin Collection says that he "has several hands than Ren Xia", which means that he killed several people when he was a teenager. Li Bai's own "Chivalry" once said: "Kill one person in ten steps and leave a thousand miles behind. I brushed my clothes and hid in my name. " Although Li Bai didn't say that the chivalrous man was himself, he was probably describing his youth. But the question is, did Li Bai really kill anyone? If he killed someone, why didn't the government pursue it?
The matter is confusing and there is no clear historical evidence to support it. Li Hanlin Collection Preface is written by Hao Wei, and all the contents about Li Bai's life are from Li Bai's own account. So whether this is true or Li Bai's exaggeration is unknown. Even if it did happen, it probably happened for a reason, because Li Bai called himself "Ren Xia", which is a common word in historical records. Helping the weak and doing good deeds is called Ren Xia. The person killed by Li Bai is likely to be a local ruffian, bully or even a robber, otherwise it would not be publicized in such a big way, and the government did not punish him. Perhaps it is also because Li Bai's murder is a good thing, so he is lenient.
Of course, this is only speculation, because there is no other historical data to support this matter, so I can only doubt it. However, Li Bai is so relished in this matter that it can be seen that he does have a strong Ren Xia style. In addition, Li Bai is a Taoist and advocates Taoism. This is probably related to his growing environment. Li Tang respected Taoism as the state religion, and Li Bai's hometown, Shu, was a region with strong Taoist colors, so he believed in Taoism since he was a child. "Preface to Li Hanlin's Collection" records that he was taught by Taoism when he was an adult, and sometimes he wore Taoist robes. The mysterious Taoist thought in his poems is the influence of Taoism on him, and even his name is immortal. According to Li Bai's compatriot Li Wei's Preface to Caotang Collection, Li Bai's mother dreamed of Chang Geng when she was pregnant. Chang Geng is the white star, which is Venus. Among the five elements, gold corresponds to white in the five colors, and Chang Geng is also known as Taibai, hence its name and word Taibai. In other words, Li Bai was closely related to the belief in immortals before he was born. Many people call Li Bai a fallen fairy, which means a fairy who was demoted from heaven to earth. It can be seen that Li Bai is really immortal, and his temperament is naturally impressive.
One of Li Bai's six puzzles: did Li Bai really have the story of an iron pestle grinding into a needle when he was a child?
We have heard a story since childhood that Li Bai didn't study hard when he was a child. On his way home from school, he met an old woman who was grinding an iron bar by the stream. Li Bai was curious and asked her, "Why did you grind this iron pestle?" The old woman replied, "It must be ground into a needle." Li Baixiao asked, "How long will it take to grind?" The old woman replied, "As long as you work hard, the iron pestle is ground into a needle." This story has always been used by parents and teachers to encourage children to study and do things in a down-to-earth manner.
But is this story true or false? Now it seems that fiction is more likely.
The story of "the iron pestle is ground into a needle" can be found in the splendid flower valley of the Song Dynasty. It is said that there is a place called Wu Shiyan in Meizhou, which is located in Xianger Mountain. Li Bai couldn't pass by there when he was studying, and then the story was told like this. Later, this story was recorded in Yu Fang Sheng Lan, Shan Kao and other books. But why is this story doubtful?
First of all, Li Bai didn't say it himself, and it didn't appear in the accounts of Li and others. They were contemporary with Li Bai, familiar with Li Bai, and keen to record his deeds, but did not involve this matter. Li Bai also talked about his experiences as a teenager, such as which mountain he studied in, who he studied with, and what hobbies he had when he was a child. For example, he described that he was an expert in raising birds when he was a teenager. He used to free-range more than 1000 birds. Under his command, local officials came to visit him. It is doubtful that such an inspirational and interesting story has never been mentioned by such a person who relishes his own experience.
Secondly, Li Bai had no record of studying in Meizhou when he was a teenager. My hometown is Jiangyou, Sichuan, and I studied in Jiangyou Mine in my early years. During the period of Song Shenzong, Li Bai was recorded as a small official in the county from a tablet of the abbot of Cizhong and daming temple. In the History Book of Peichang in Shang 'an County, Li Bai said that he had studied in Minshan Yang. It is speculated that Minshan Mountain should refer to Qingcheng Mountain. However, Jinxiu Huagu said that he studied in Xiangershan, Meizhou, but there is no historical record.
According to the above speculation, the story that the iron pestle was ground into a needle may have been invented by later generations. Li Bai is a celebrity, and joking with celebrities is a "hobby" that cannot be ruled out at all times and at all times. Moreover, this story is very inspirational and conforms to the rash values in traditional culture, so this story has been passed down to this day.
One of Li Bai's six puzzles: What kind of ambition does Li Bai have?
In fact, Li Bai's ambition is no different from that of most intellectuals at that time, that is, he wants to be a person who can help the world.
Li Bai was never satisfied with mediocrity. A friend once advised him to live in seclusion, but he refused. He wants to join the WTO, not to be born. And Li Bai has a strong desire to be an official. He said, "I don't know if I want to provide financial assistance." It is the national policy of "saving the nation to survive", so it can be seen that Li Bai is pregnant with an ideal of getting ahead. In order to get the appreciation of the powerful, Li Bai also asked others; Knowing that the emperor called him into Beijing, he was ecstatic and wrote, "Are we Artemisia?" Later, he was removed from office and he was depressed. Therefore, Li Bai's ambition is no different from those intellectuals who were eager for fame at that time.
In particular, Li Bai himself, a talented person, was famous for his poems at that time and was deeply appreciated by the world. Therefore, he is more eager to gain something in officialdom. However, the reality is cruel. The highest position he got in his life was Hanlin Houzhao, and he was just a leisure post to accompany the emperor to write poems and fu, which was far from the Hanlin university who was in a high position in later generations, so he was very lost.
Can it be said that Li Bai is a jealous person, thus reducing his evaluation?
In fact, it is understandable that Li Bai pursues being an official. In ancient society, the way out of life was very narrow. If you want to save the country, help the people and make a difference, you have no choice but to be an official. Unlike modern society, there are many ways to contribute to society. You can be a civil servant, businessman, entrepreneur, scientist, teacher, excellent worker and farmer. Therefore, Li Bai's active pursuit of official positions is understandable, but it is the embodiment of his sense of social responsibility.
Of course, it is this ambition that led to the disappointment of Li Bai's life. He is destined not to belong to officialdom, so he runs into a wall everywhere in this field. This also doomed his tragedy. We'll talk about this later. Why didn't Li Bai take the imperial examination e#
One of Li Bai's six puzzles: Why didn't Li Bai take the imperial examination?
The imperial examination system is a great pioneering work of ancient political civilization, and even has a great influence on the whole world. On the eve of the French Revolution, those enlightenment thinkers praised the imperial examination because it broke the monopoly of the nobility and gave everyone the right to participate in political activities. And to some extent, the imperial examination system is also the foundation of modern civil service system.
The imperial examination system began in the Sui Dynasty and flourished in the Tang Dynasty, especially in the periods of Wu Zetian and Tang Xuanzong. Taking part in the imperial examination has gradually become an important career for intellectuals, and all intellectuals in the world are proud of being admitted to the imperial examination. The imperial examinations of the Tang Dynasty Jinshi were mainly about Confucian classics and prose. Essays are literary works, and Li Bai's literary talent is very high, which should be one of his advantages. Moreover, there was no paste name in the imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty, which means that the examiners can see the candidates' information at a glance without hiding their names. Because of this, it is very important for candidates to have social fame before the imperial examination. So at that time, many candidates often went to the examiner's house to present their proud articles before the exam, hoping to leave a good impression. This is the so-called "writing papers". Li Bai is famous for his poems and social prestige. Many people in the DPRK know him, which is also an advantage of Li Bai. Then why didn't Li Bai take the imperial examination?
This is not that Li Bai is unwilling, but that he is not qualified. At present, there is no conclusion about Li Bai's family background. There are different opinions about the identity of Li Bai's family, why his family fled to the western regions, whether Li Bai was born in broken leaves, or even whether he has foreign descent. Let's not pursue these questions for the time being, just say what Li Baijia does. When Li Bai was still a child and not even born, Li Bai's family had moved to Jiangyou, Sichuan from the broken leaves in the western regions. Agriculture in the western region is underdeveloped and commerce is the most developed. In addition, in ancient times, businessmen were often regarded as idlers and looked down upon by literati. In addition, Li Bai is secretive about his family background, saying only that his father urged him to study, so scholars believe that the Li family is in business. Besides, Li Bai is very rich. At that time, the rich were either officials or businessmen, and the Li family was definitely not an official, so it was very possible to be a businessman. Li Bai never took the imperial examination all his life. I guess it was dragged down by this family background. The Six Codes of the Tang Dynasty stipulates: "Any official who has made great achievements in personal life and cohabitation, runs his own business and specializes in his own business is not allowed to be an official." The Book of the Old Tang Dynasty (Volume 43) and the official history also say: "The home of industry and commerce can't take the scholar as the first." It means that the children of businessmen and their close relatives are not allowed to work. In this way, Li Bai is not qualified to take the imperial examination. He finally became an academician, which was specially approved by the emperor.
One of Li Bai's six puzzles: What is Li Bai's marital status?
Marriage and family are too important for a person. Family is the cell of society. We also often say: "home and everything prosper." Family harmony is very important if you want to succeed in your career. So what kind of family life does Li Bai have?
It can be said that Li Bai's marriage is inevitably influenced by his inner demands. What is Li Bai's inner appeal? That is, to open the way for your career through marriage. The Preface to Li Hanlin said that Li Bai had four marriages in his life, two of which were formal marriages and two were informal marriages at that time.
1. First marriage
Li Bai, Xu's daughter-in-law, left Sichuan at the age of 25 and began a journey of traveling around the world. His hometown is a beautiful place, but Li Bai has great ambitions, and the small Sichuan basin can no longer hold him, so he wants to capture the world with his talents and make contributions. Li Bai has always admired Sima Xiangru's articles in the Han Dynasty. When he saw Sima Xiangru praising Yun Mengze, he went to visit. Yun Mengze was in Jianghan Plain, Li Bai went to Anlu, which is in today's Hubei Province. Just as the former prime minister Xu Jia recruited a son-in-law, Li Bai came to Xu Jia and married Xu's granddaughter. This Xu Qiang teacher was an official of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Gaozong, and now he has passed away.
Why does Li Bai want to be a son-in-law in the Xu family? After all, male chauvinism prevailed in those days. Although the status of women in the Tang Dynasty was high, it was also high in the patriarchal society. In a patriarchal society, being adopted is regarded as a shameful thing. Moreover, Li Bai's family is very good, so his adoption must not be for economic reasons. What's the reason?
I think Li Bai probably wants to use the strength of the Xu family to help him realize his ambition. As the son of a businessman, Li Bai has no political background and backer, while the Xu family, as a former prime minister, is famous and well connected. Therefore, in this case, Li Bai took her as a son-in-law and moved to the Xu family.
Xu Shi should be a virtuous woman, and they have a good relationship. Later, when Li Bai traveled around the world, he repeatedly mentioned that his wife missed him and urged him to go home. They gave birth to two children, a daughter named Pingyang, a son named Boqin and a baby named Yue Ming Nu. Although Li Bai married the Xu family, he was still very upset, so he wrote a poem saying, "It is better to marry than not to marry." (A boy's mental journey) shows that he still hopes to gain fame through personal efforts, rather than relying on his in-laws. The marriage between Li Bai and Xu Shi lasted for about ten years. Later, Xu Shi disappeared from the historical materials, and only Li Bai moved to Shandong with a pair of children. So where did Xu Shi go? Probably dead. Some people will question why Li Bai didn't write a mourning poem after his death. Didn't ancient poets often mourn the death of their loved ones? This is not surprising. Li Bai wrote many works in his life, but only over 900 poems have been handed down, and many of them have been lost. And the whole Tang dynasty was like this. The main reason is that printing in the Tang Dynasty has not been popularized. The Qing Dynasty compiled the complete works of Tang poetry, but only received less than 50,000 poems, some of which were forgeries. There are so few poems written by the Tang people in 300 years, with an average of less than 200 poems per year? I'm afraid this is hard to convince, right? Therefore, it is impossible for Li Bai not to write a mourning poem, but it has not been handed down. Second wife: Liu
2. The second marriage: knowing Liu.
The Xu family seems to have failed to bring substantial help to Li Bai. Li Bai and his children came to Xianqiu City, Yanzhou County, which is very close to Qufu. Here he met another woman named Liu, and then lived together. This may be an informal marriage, so the word "marriage" is not used in the preface of Li Hanlin's collected works.
The marriage ended in discord. It seems that the relationship between Liu and Li Bai is not good. Liu is likely to look down on Li Bai. Because bureaucracy was still prevalent at that time, being an official was the highest pursuit. When Liu saw that Li Bai was too late to be an official, he began to worry, probably mocking Li Bai with a gun and a stick.
Li Bai later received an imperial edict from the emperor and went to Beijing as an academician. He wrote such a poem "Nanling children go to Beijing":
Quidditch's fool looked down on poor Zhu Maichen, and now I have left my hometown to go to Chang 'an and go to Qin in the west.
I went out with a big smile. How can I be a person who has lived in the wild for a long time?
The allusion of "a foolish woman despises a minister" used here is obviously an allusion to Liu. "Maichen" refers to Wu people in the Western Han Dynasty. He comes from a poor family but has a high spirit, and his wife often thinks that he has not done his job well. One day, Zhu Maichen was singing while walking with firewood. His wife was very ashamed and kept stopping. Zhu Maichen wouldn't listen, and his wife asked for a divorce. Zhu Maichen said: I was rich at the age of fifty, and now I am in my forties. Don't worry, I'll give you wealth. The wife said angrily, like you, you starve to death in the ditch together sooner or later. How can I have money? So Zhu Maichen was forced to let his wife leave. When his wife remarried, she happened to see Zhu Maichen carrying firewood among the graves. Seeing his pity, she called Zhu Maichen to have dinner with her current husband.
Later, Zhu Maichen was appreciated by Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty for his contribution to the destruction of Dongyue State, and worshipped as the satrap of Huiji. Zhu Maichen took the satrap seal back to the county government (that is, the offices of various counties in Chang 'an, mainly for the use of the meter officer). When Zhu Maichen was down and out, he often ate here, so officials looked down on him, ignored him and simply ate. Zhu Maichen followed him to dinner, occasionally showing his seal. When a deacon saw the shock, he reported it to the deacon. Those senior officials all laughed and thought it was impossible. But I was not at ease, so I sent someone to check and found that it was really a satrap seal. I was shocked by my seat, and all the people lined up in the yard to pay tribute to the new prefect.
Later, Zhu Maichen Wei Yihe returned to Emperor Wu, and local officials mobilized the people to clear the road to welcome him. Zhu Maichen saw that there were ex-wives and current husbands among the recruited civilian workers, so he took them to the mansion and gave them wine and food. His wife committed suicide a month later.
What Zhu Maichen did in this story is not worth advocating. Obviously, he kills people without a knife. He was dissatisfied with his wife leaving him when she was in trouble. And Li Bai used this allusion in this poem, which is obviously alluding to Liu, so it can be seen that Liu is probably complaining about Li Bai. In contrast, Xu Shi in the first marriage cared more about Li Bai, so this second marriage was really a failure for Li Bai.
Later, although the two divorced, Liu Ye was not a fuel-efficient lamp, and probably spread a lot of gossip about Li Bai, which made Li Bai very angry. He wrote a poem "Poems of Snow Friends", which said: "That woman is not like a magpie. The intoxication of a woman is not as good as the running of a quail. " This is a sentence borrowed from the Book of Songs, which means don't listen to the slanderers of that drunken woman. This poem is often used to prove that Li Bai was framed by Yang Guifei, especially the word "Yin", which is considered to satirize the ambiguous relationship between Yang Guifei and An Lushan. However, the famous historian Guo Moruo pointed out that this woman refers to Liu. After Liu divorced Li Bai, he spread lies among Li Bai's friends. This poem was written at this time.
Later, Li Bai may have married a concubine, which is the third marriage. But in the eyes of the Tang Dynasty, concubinage is not a marriage, and this concubine may die soon, so she didn't even leave her surname. In the preface of "",Hao Wei simply used the word "Lu woman". The princess gave birth to a boy named Polly for Li Bai. This is a baby's name. Polly means glass. In the Tang Dynasty, the technology of firing glass was very underdeveloped, and glassware was regarded as a treasure, so the child was named baby.
Later, Li Bai also married a wife Zong, which was Li Bai's last marriage. At this time, Li Bai left the emperor's side and the capital was lonely. Imperial clan is the granddaughter of Zong Chuke, the prime minister of Tang Zhongzong, and also a virtuous woman. However, Li Bai's ambition and patriarchal background determined that their marriage was not smooth sailing.
The above are six puzzles about Li Bai. Want to know more about Li Bai, please pay attention to the history network!