Liu Yuxi | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
劉禹錫 | |||||||||
 Statue of Liu Yuxi inBaidicheng | |||||||||
| Born | 772 | ||||||||
| Died | 842 (aged 69–70) Luoyang, Henan, China | ||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Essayist, philosopher, poet | ||||||||
| Notable work | "The Scholar's Humble Dwelling" | ||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 劉禹錫 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 刘禹锡 | ||||||||
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| Mengde | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 夢得 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 梦得 | ||||||||
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Liu Yuxi (Wade-Giles:Liu Yü-hsi;Chinese:劉禹錫;pinyin:Liú Yǔxī, Liú Yǔxí; 772–842) was a Chinese essayist, philosopher, and poet active during theTang dynasty.[1]
His ancestors wereXiongnu nomadic people. The putative ‘seventh generation’ family head, Liu Liang, was an official of theNorthern Wei (386–534), who followed theEmperor Xiaowen (471–499) when he established the capital atLuoyang in 494. Following the government sinification policy, he became Han and registered his surname as Liu. From then on the family was based in Luoyang.
Liu Yuxi's father, Li Xu, was forced to leave Luoyang to avoid theAn Lushan rebellion (755–763) and went toJiaxing (in the north of present-dayZhejiang Province). Liu Yuxi was born and grew up in the south. In his youth he studied with two renowned poets inKuaiji (nowShaoxing), theChan (Zen) monksLingche (靈澈, 746–816) andJiaoran (皎然, 730–799), and his later works often reflected this Buddhist sensibility.[2]
| Names | |
|---|---|
| Chinese: | 刘禹锡 |
| Pinyin: | Liú Yǔxī |
| Wade-Giles: | Liu Yü-hsi |
| Japanese: | りゅう うしゃく Ryū Ushaku |
| Zì (字): | Mèng dé (梦得; Meng-te in Wade-Giles) |
| Hào (號): | Shī háo (詩豪; Shih-hao in Wade-Giles) |
In 793, Liu passed thejinshiimperial examination. One of the other successful candidates that year was another great poet,Liu Zongyuan, whose career was to be closely connected to that of Liu Yuxi. That same year, Liu Yuxi went on to pass the higher examination (boxue hongceke). In 795, the Ministry of Appointments sent him to be a tutor to the Heir Apparent, a sign that he was destined from a prominent career. However, in 796, his father suddenly died, and he had to return toYangzhou.
In 800, Liu became a secretary to the important scholar-officialDu You who had been made the military governor of Xusihao Circuit, in charge of suppressing an insurrection inXuzhou, enabling Liu to see army life at first hand. Later he followed Du You to Yangzhou, where he enjoyed the company of the poetLi Yi.
In 802. Liu was transferred to be a registrar (zhubu) in Weinan, Shaanxi. The following year, on the recommendation of an official in the Imperial Censorate called Li Wen, Liu was transferred to the post ofinvestigating censor. At that time, the essayist and poetHan Yu was already also working as an investigating censor, withLiu Zongyuan shortly to join him. These three literary giants of the middle Tang period became friends and were to remain in close contact for the rest of their lives.[2]
In 805, the EmperorDezong died and was succeeded by his sonShunzong. The government was entrusted to two reformers associated with the new emperor,Wang Shuwen andWang Pi, 'imperial scholars' of theHanlin Academy, who initiated the 'Yongzhen Reform' (after the new emperor's reign title). Liu Yuxi and Liu Zongyuan were closely connected to these officials, working immediately under them. However, the emperor was in poor health and after only five months, the powerful eunuchs forced him to abdicate in favour of his son, who becameEmperor Xianzong. The reform party lost power, Wang Shuwen was ordered to commit suicide, and the officials connected with the 'Yongzhen Reform' were banished to remote parts of the empire.
Liu Yuxi was sent toLianzhou inGuangdong to be the local governor, then redirected, in a further demotion, toLangzhou inHunan. Liu Zongyuan was sent toYongzhou, another city in the same province. Others in the same group of banished officials includedWei Zhiyi,Cheng Yi, Han Ye (韓曄), Han Tai (韓泰), and Ling Zhun (凌准).[2]
In 815, Liu and the other Yongzhen reformers were recalled to the capital. Early the following year, he reachedChang'an, the capital, and unrepentantly wrote a poem with a veiled satire on court politics (The Peach Blossoms of Xuandu Temple 玄都觀桃花[3]) that helped earn him another immediate banishment. Liu was to be sent to be the prefect of Bo (播州, in modernZunyi,Guizhou), but as this would have been too hard a living place for Liu's mother, Liu Zongyuan offered to go there instead. FinallyPei Du, the deputy chief imperial censor (御史中丞, Yushi Zhongcheng), persuaded the emperor that Liu could be the local governor inLianzhou inGuangdong,[4] while Liu Zongyuan was sent toLiuzhou inGuangxi. In 821, Liu was again transferred toKuizhou (on theYangtze River), then transferred to another post atHezhou (Guangxi).
In 826, Liu was again recalled, this time toLuoyang, ending the long period of his banishment from the court.[2] In 827, he was given a post in the government, becoming a director (langzhong) of a bureau the following year. With the support again of the (then)Chancellor Pei Du, Liu was once again promoted to be an Academician (Jixianxueshi 集贤院学士), a post that lasted for four years, during which he was able to associate with Pei Du,Cui Qun and the poetBai Juyi. In 828, he was able to visit Changan, where he wrote the poemVisiting Xuandu Temple Again (再遊玄都觀 Zài Yóu Xuándū Guān),[5] noting that the peach trees had all disappeared, since his previous visit 14 years earlier.[2]
In 830, Pei Du resigned as chancellor, and Liu was again given a provincial post, this time as governor inSuzhou, where his work on flood control was particularly appreciated. The local people designated him, withWei Yingwu and Bai Juyi, as one of the ‘Three Worthies’ (三贤 sanxian), later to be commemorated in the ‘Three Worthies Hall’ (三贤堂). After Suzhou, he was posted toRuzhou (in Henan) andTongzhou (in Shaanxi).
In 836, he left Tongzhou to take up a nominal post in the household of the Heir Apparent in Luoyang. In 841, he also became an ‘Acting Adviser’ to the director of the Board of Rites (Jianjiao Libu Shangshu 检校礼部尚书). At that time Bai Juyi was also in retirement in Luoyang and the two old poets were able to spend time together. Liu Yuxi died in the autumn of 842 at the age of 71. He was given the posthumous rank of ‘Minister of Revenue’ (Hubu Shangshu 户部尚书).[2]
Liu Yuxi's wide interests are reflected in the subject matter of his poetry: the economic and social customs of ordinary people and their problems, folk music and folklore, friendship, feasting and drinking, and historical themes and nostalgia for the past.[2] Some of the best known are notable for their simple, 'folksong' style. Just over 700 of his poems still exist, four of them are included in the classicQing dynasty anthologyThree Hundred Tang Poems, which was first published in the 18th century.
He excelled in the shorter, more complex forms of Chinese poetry. In technical terms, he preferred using heptasyllabics (seven character lines) to pentasyllabics (five character lines) (123 to 47 examples in Wu Zaiqing's edition of selected works),regulated rather thanunregulated (145 to 22 examples in Wu), and short forms (8-linelüshi and 4-linejueju) to longer poems (142 to 25 examples in Wu).[2]
He was a close friend and colleague of three great contemporary poets:Liu Zongyuan,Han Yu andBai Juyi. Bai was born in the same year as Liu Yuxi and referred to "Liu and Po, those two mad old men" in at least one poem dedicated to Liu.[6]
Two of Liu's poems were included in one of the first collections of English translations of Chinese literature:Herbert Giles's 1898Chinese Poetry in English Verse:[7]
秋風引 Summer Dying 何处秋风至？Whence comes the autumn's whistling blast, 新妆宜面下朱楼，A gaily dressed damsel steps forth from her bower, | ||
A more recent translator,Red Pine (Bill Porter) has translatedOde to the Autumn Wind (秋风引 Qiūfēng yǐn, the same poem as Giles'sSummer Dying above),The Peach Blossoms of Hsuantu Temple (玄都觀桃花 Xuándū Guàn Táohuā), andVisiting Hsuantu Temple Again (再遊玄都觀 Zài Yóu Xuándū Guān).[8]
One of his most famous works is 'Loushi Ming' 陋室銘, "The Scholar's Humble Dwelling", a prose-poem describing living in a simple dwelling, following a life that is refined in culture and learning:
山不在高，Who heeds the hill's bare height until | ||
Li Yuxi was involved in a philosophical debate with his fellow literati, the poets Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan, concerning the duality of heaven (the sky, and by extension the natural world or God) and earth (the world of man). Han Yu, as a Confucian, regarded Heaven as paramount, whereas Liu Zongyuan regarded them as separate spheres. Lu Yuxi's view, expressed in an essay called the Tianlun Shu (Tiānlùn shū 天論書), was that heaven and earth (i.e. nature and man) interacted to some degree. Heaven sometimes predominated over earth, and earth sometimes predominated over heaven.[10]
