Li Bai 李白 (701 – 763 AD), also known as Li Po, or Li T’ai Po, was a beloved poet of the Tang dynasty in ancient China. His sparkling poetry and flamboyant life style earned him the title of Poet Immortal. 1200 years later, Li Bai to the Chinese is as alive and revered as Pushkin is to the Russians.
Legend has it that Li Bai was born in present day Tajikistan, where his father was a successful trader along the Silk Road. Legend also has it that his mother was of Turkic descent, instilling in young Li Bai a love of words, including the Turkic tongue. This innate affinity with words quickly distinguished Li Bai from his peers, for he approached the classics with sheer joy and boundless imagination, traits that became the hallmark of his life and works. Back in China to present day Sichuan, Li Bai continued his intense education, embracing at age 15 the Taoist discipline and ancient martial art and developing a lifelong love for nature and poetry.
Ten years later, already a poet with some fame, Li Bai left home to seek inspiration from China’s magical mountains and formidable rivers. He was quick to gather a crowd of followers, and just as quick to disappear without a trace. His prolific poetry was a rich mosaic of the places, the people and the impressions he gathered throughout his long years of roaming. Wine, presumably, was his one single constant companion.
From rags to riches, from maids to ministers, Li Bai always had something to say, in a simple yet strikingly colorful way. He was loved for his generosity, solicited for his bonhomie, envied for his talents and ultimately survived by his inimitable poetry.
At one point in his life, the free spirit was sorely tested by the enticements from the Imperial Palace. Yet the life of a court poet/entertainer soon bored him. His short but fatal fling with politics landed him in exile for life, confined to a boat, but exonerated three years later by an unexpected royal pardon.
As befitting the end of a great romantic poet, Li Bai drowned while reaching for the moon on a lake. He was 63. He was deeply mourned by the people and fellow poets like Tu Fu and Meng Haoran (Meng Kao-yen), but his poetry lives on, inspiring generations of men of art and letters, as exemplified by Gustav Mahler and his Das Lied von der Erde.
© Diana Liao