The Tang Dynasty
In 581 Yang Jian, prime minister of the Northern Zhou,
seized power and established the Sui Dynasty. Eight
years later he unified China after he conquered Chen
in the south, thus putting an end to the period of division
which lasted more than three centuries.
His son, who succeeded him, was a corrupt and evil
emperon. His despotic rule was hated by the people,
and peasant uprisings started. The dynasty was overthrown
only 37 years after it was founded.
Li Yuan, a military commander in Taiyuan, Shanxi raised
an army and occupied Chang'an. In 618 he founded the
Tang Dynasty. His chief advisor was his second son,
Li Shimin. In a power struggle Shimin killed his two
brothers; his father had to five him the throne.
This ambitious and capable young man turned out to
be one of the wisest emperors that ruled China. He was
later called Tang Tai Zong. The 130 years from his time
to the Time of Tang Xuan Zong was the heyday not only
of the Tang Dynasty, but of the whole feudal period
of China. The Tang emperors ruled over a vast area,
larger than /china had been during the Han Dynasty.
China was then the largest and strongest country in
the world; it was also economically and culturally the
most advanced. In Chang'an, the capital, there were
over 300,000 households, with a great number of merchants,
traders, scholars and students from foreign countries.
Chinese culture, including philosophy, and political,
legal and economic systems, had a far-reaching influence,
especially in East Asia. At the same time, foreign products
and culture were introduced into China.
In 755 the revolt of An Lushan and Shi Siming broke
out. Their troops entered Chang'an, and Xuan Zong fled
to Sichuan in a hurry. This was the beginning of the
decline of the Tang Dynasty. But the dynasty, though
shaky, continued to rule China for another 150 years,
and came to an end in 907.
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The History of Chinese Poetry
Chinese poetry has a very long history. The Book of
Songs, the first collection of folk songs and poems,
was compiled before Confucius' time, for he mentioned
the book and asked his students to study it several
times. Most of the poems in the book were composed during
the Western Zhou period, or the 1,000 years before Confucius.
It was said that the Zhou ruleers sent officials to
different parts of the country to collect folk songs.
They were then presented to the rulers, who tried to
judge the sentiments and views of the people by them.
The Book of Songs marked the beginning of Chinese literature,
and also the beginning of realism in literature. Many
of the 305 poems in the book deal with the lives of
the common people, their daily occupations, their joys
and sorrows,their hard work and duties in wars.
Then in the Warring States Period the state of Chu
in the south produced a great poet-Qu Yuan(340-278 AD).
He was the first Chinese poet whose name we know. when
he waw that his state was approaching ruin and yet he
could do nothing to save it, he drowned himself in the
Miluo River near Lake Dongting. His representative work
is the Li Sao (Sorrows at Departure), which is a long
poem describing his love for his state and his disappointment
at its situation. The poem marks the beginning of romanticism
in Chinese poetry, as it contains descriptions of imagined
scenes in heaven.
During the period of the two Han Dynastis and the period
of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, many poets wrote
poems with five-character lines. Outstanding among them
were Cao Cao and his two sons, and Tao Qian. There were
beautiful poems whose writers were unknown, such as
the "Nineteen Ancient Poems" and "Southeastward
Flies the Peacock".
The Tang Dynasty was the golden
age of Chinese poetry. In the number of poems and variety
of forms, in the beauty of imagery and broadness of
themes, Tang poetry surpassed that of all ages begore
it. In The Complete Anthology of Tang Poetry, edited
during the Qing Dynasty, are collected nearly 50,000
poems by 2,200 poets. This means that in 300 years the
Tang poets wrote more poems than all the poets had in
the 2,000 years before it.
Several factors made this possible. The Sui rulers
had started the civil service examinations with which
to select officials from among scholars. These examinations
were continued in the Tang Dynasty. As a result, many
people, mainly landlords' children, studied hard to
sit for the examinations, which required writing poems.
Besides, there was to a certain extent freedom of thought;
Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism were all studied and
discussed by scholars. The unification of the country
made it possible for scholars to travel north and south,
increasing their contacts and experience and broadening
their vision. Foreign arts, especially those of West
and Central Asia, were introduced into Central China,
and they enriched the cultural life of the Han people.
Finally, from the Western Zhou to the Southern and Northern
Dynasties, Chinese poetry had been developing and had
become rich in content and form. This long history provided
conditions for the blossoming of Tang poetry.
This long tradition had two clear features: one was
that folk songs or yuefu were the main origin of the
different poetic forms; the other was that realism was
the main tendency. Most poets were concerned about the
conditions of the country and life of the people.
Among the most famous Tang poets are Li Bai, Du Fu
and Bai Juyi.
Tang poetry is indeed an inexhaustible treasury. In
every sense it is the peak of Chinese poetry. The Chinese
people are rightly proud of this incomparable heritage.
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Li Bai
Li Bai (701-762) was born in Suiye in Central Asia.
His ancestors had been banished there by the Sui rulers.
At five he moved to Sichuan with his father, who was
probably a rich merchant. When young, he studied not
only Confucian classics, but works of other schools.
After 20 he first travelled for and wide in Sichuan,
and then he started a long journey to Central, East
and North China. He did not sit for the civil service
examination, for he looked down upon it. But he wished
to become an official. When he was 42, he was recommended
to Tang Xuan Zong, who ordered him to go to Chang'an.
He stayed there for three years and was bitterly disappointed.
During the years of An Lushan's rebellion, he joined
the staff of Prince Li Lin. Later, because Li Lin tried
to seize power and failed, Li Bai was exiled to Yelang.
On his way to Yelang he was freed by an amnesty. He
went to East China and died at 62 in Dangtu, Anhui.
He wrote as many as 900 poems. Some of them describe
the life of the people; some describe the magnificent
scenery he saw; others express his own wishes and sorrows.
His poems are characterized by unusual imagination and
free and direct expression of feelings. That is why
he is called a romantic poet.
At
dawn I left Baidi towering in the midst of colorful
clouds,
And
reached Jiangling a thousand Li away in a day.
The
screams of monkeys on either bank went on and on,
While
my light boat passed by ten thousand hills.
Satisfaction and admiration will fill our hearts when
we read such beautiful and dashing lines. They are so
colorful, so musical, and so impressive. The image in
the poem-a boat rushing toward down the gorges-is just
a description of the poet himself.
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Du Fu
Du Fu (712-770) was born in Gongxian, Henan. The son
of an official, he was interested in learning when he
was young. "I read ten thousand volumns until they
were worn out," he said. At 20 he started his 10-year-long
travels from north to south. At 35 he went to Chang'an,
where he stayed for ten years without getting any position
in the government. His disappointment made him look
at reality and see the sharp contrast between the life
of the upper classes and that of the ordinary people.
He began to write poems about the sufferings of the
poor. After the An Lushan rebellion began, he had a
hard time as a refugee, but this brought him closer
to the people. His well-known poems describing three
officials and three departures were written during this
period. In 759 he went to Chengdu. After wandering in
Sichuan, Hubei and Hunan for more than ten years, he
finally died on board a small boat on his way from Changsha
to Yueyang.
Deep sympathy for the people is one of the main characteristics
of Du Fu's poems. In this respect he surpassed all earlier
poets. His poems have been called "poetic history",
for they reflect the political and military situation
of his time, and the life and miseries of the people.
He pushed the tradition of realism in poetry to a new
level.
Here are the first six lines from the poem "The
Official of Shihao":
At
dusk I came to Shihao Village to stay overnight,
And
heard an official trying to catch somone after dark.
The
old man in the house climbed over the wall and fled,
Leaving
the old woman to face the official at the door.
Shouting
loudly, the official was very angry;
Sobbing
bitterly, the woman was full of sorrow.
Du Fu exposes the Shameless luxury of the ruling class
in these famous lines:
Behind
the red doors wine and meat stink,
But
on the roads lie men frozen to death.
Li Bai and Du Fu are among the greatest poets that
China has produced. Their poems have given the Chinese
people boundless inspiration and have been taken as
models of poetry. Han Yu, also a famous Tang poet, wrote:
"The works of Li and Du are there; their brilliant
light will shine for ever."
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Bai Juyi
Two years after Du Fu died, another great poet was
born. Bai Juyi (772-846), the son of a petty official,
was born in Xinzheng, Henan. He spent his youth wandring
about to escape wars, and was often cold and hungry.
He was successful in civil service examinations, became
an official, and worked in the central government for
about 15 years. Then because he was disliked by those
in power, he was sent ot work in Jiangzhou (now Jiujiang),
Hangzhou and Suzhou. Later he moved to Luoyang, where
he died at the age of 75.
Bai Juyi wrote more poems than any other Tang poet-nearly
3,000. Many of them deal with important social and political
problems, and show signs of Du Fu's influence. He also
wrote many lyrics expressing his personal feelings.
His two long narrative poems-"The Everlasting Sorrow"
and "The Song of a Pipa Player"-are among
the best known. Many of his poems have deep meaning,
and they are written in simple and plain language, which
ordinary readers can understand.
The following are a few lines from "The Old Man
with a Broken Arm":
In
the south and in the north of my village people wept
sadly;
Children
were parting from parents and husbands from wives.
Everyone
said that in battles against the southern tribes,
Of ten
thousand men sent there not one returned.
The poem clearly shows the poet's opposition to battles
against border tribes, which caused miseries to both
Han and tribal poeple.
In "The Song of a Pipa Player" there are
these lines describing the beautiful music produced
by the Pipa:
Strong
and loud, the thick string sounded like a sudden shower;
Weak
and soft, the thin string whispered in your ear.
When
strong and weak, loud and soft sounds were mixed,
They
were like big and tiny pearls falling on a jade plate.
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