Bai Juyi (772 AD) was born in the family of the eunuch in Xinzheng, Henan, his ancestral home was Gongyi, and his father was Xuzhou. His maternal grandfather, Chen Run, was a well-known poet.
According to Luo Zhenyu, a scholar at the end of the Qing Dynasty, Bai Juyi's parents were close relatives who married, and after the death of his father's wife, he continued his niece and gave birth to Bai Juyi. So in terms of generation, Bai Juyi's mother can also be his cousin.
However, considering the characteristics of the integration of Hu and Han in the Tang Dynasty, this kind of marriage phenomenon was also common. Chen Yinke once said: "Tang Yuanliu is from Yidi, so the rudeness of the boudoir is not different", despite this, although the Bai family is not a wealthy family, it also maintains no worries about food and clothing.
It is recorded in the "Nine Books of Heyuan" that "at the age of five or six, he learned to write poetry, and at the age of nine, he knew sound and rhyme." Fifteen or sixteen, I knew that there was a jinshi, and I read on the bitter festival." Bai Juyi began to learn poetry creation since he was a child, and he was already proficient in sound and rhyme at the age of 9When I was 15 to 16 years old, I learned that there was a Jinshi exam and studied diligently.
In 786 AD, 16-year-old Bai Juyi left his hometown for the first time to go to Beijing to take the Jinshi examination, and specially brought his personal poetry collection to Gu Jing's apartment for advice. At first, in the face of this little-known young man, he was not optimistic about the situation, but when he saw it, it was engraved on the paper"Bai Juyi"Three words, he couldn't help laughing:"Juyi, do you know that Chang'an rice is expensive, and it is not easy to live in a big place, hehe. "Subsequently, he flipped through the poetry collection presented by Bai Juyi, among which"Leaving the grass on the plain, one year old and one withered. Wildfires burn inexhaustibly, and spring breezes blow and regenerate"The poem shook it and immediately praised:"With this talent, it is not difficult to live in this city!"Sure enough, Bai Juyi was successfully promoted the following year. At this time, he is like a spring breeze, full of ambition, full of longing and yearning for the future.
Now, let's go back in time and talk about his past.
As a teenager, Bai Juyi moved to Fuli, Anhui Province with his family, where he met his neighbor Xiangling, who was only 4 years younger than him. After the two fell in love for many years, Bai Juyi expressed his praise and love for Xiangling in the poem "Neighbor Girl", "Wan Ting is fifteen victorious to the heavenly immortals, and the white sun is Heng'e dry land lotus." Where to teach parrot language, embroidered in front of the bed under the blue screen window", the poem depicts the Xiang Ling is as beautiful as a fairy, which is really exciting. However, in the face of Bai's mother's denial of Xiang Ling's identity as a rural girl, Bai Juyi was forced to choose to give up and marry Xiang Ling immediately. He promised Xiang Ling:"I am willing to be a distant beast, walking side by side, willing to be a deep mountain tree, and a branch of life", in order to show his unwavering and unswerving love vow.
Bai Juyi became the champion at the age of 29. After learning the good news, he quickly returned home to seek his mother's understanding and proposed to marry Xiangling again. However, his mother was still resolutely opposed, knowing that in that era, filial piety was paramount, and Bai Juyi could not do anything.
In the years that followed, Bai Juyi went through the ups and downs of the Huan Sea, and when he was 33 years old when he was serving as the secretary of the provincial school, he begged his mother to take Xiangling with him. However, not only did he not get an answer, but he was severely reprimanded by his mother. In addition to being lost, he wrote the words "Sending Xiang Ling" to express his emotions, and then left. At this point, Xiang Ling completely disappeared from his life.
During his tenure in Chang'an, Bai Juyi was extremely resistant to the marriage contract, until he was forced by his mother to agree to marry the sister of his colleague Yang Yuqing when he was 37 years old. Although on the day of his wedding, he cared about Xiangling and wrote the poem "I miss people, separated from a distant country." I have something to feel the world, and I am in the deep intestines" to express my deep thoughts. On the occasion of parting, he once again expressed his concern for Xiangling, and then went to Jiangzhou to take up his post.
On the way to Jiangzhou, Bai Juyi happened to meet Xiangling. The two of them, who had been separated for many years, recognized each other in the crowd, but were silent for a long time. Later, Bai asked Xiang Ling if he was married, and Xiang Ling replied "No". This sentence made Bai Juyi wake up and understand that the original oath was made by him, and now he is the one who violates the promise. Watching Xiang Ling's figure disappear into the streets and alleys, Bai Juyi was full of emotion, and he wrote another song".I comb my white hair to add new hatred, and I sweep away the moths to reduce the old appearance. should be blamed by the people, and the young people will meet each other at an old age.
Since then, Bai Juyi's life has been full of twists and turns, and he has experienced many hardships such as unemployment, debasement, and exile. Although he had three wives and many concubines in his life, Xiang Ling always occupied the most special corner of his heart. Although this relationship ended in regret, it also made him feel very emotional, and he felt that the world is impermanent. So to a certain extent, Xiangling is Bai Juyi's "long hatred song"."This hatred lasts forever."