Li Bai

The Chinese poet, Li Bai, is my hero because he traveled throughout China, wrote lovely poetry, and is known in China as the "Poetry God." According to Whittier College, "Li Bai is one of the best known poets in China and the Western hemisphere. Li Bai, like Su Shi, is just one of the many poets from the Tang Dynasty. He may be well known in China as a great poet, but what else did he do?

Most of his family background is shrouded in mystery, but we still know quite a bit about his life. We do not know for certain where Li Bai was born. Many believe he was born in central Asia, but was raised in Sichuan province. His family history also is not very clear. We know his family is of Turkic origin, but even that has been questioned. Li Bai claimed to be related to the imperial family, though his claim is likely to be a hoax. Never the less, his life was certainly interesting.

When Li Bai was a young man he did many strange and out of the ordinary things we today could not even process the meaning of. China travel depot says, "While still in his teens, Li Bai retired to the mountains in the north of the providence to live with a religious recluse by the name of Tunyen-tzu." Li Bai was always known to do things in different ways and his teen years were no different. China travel depot also says that the two were known to keep strange birds as pets. Now, I do not know how this ties into his young adult life, but it certainly serves as a good example that he was not the most normal man in the world.

Li Bai was not just an unusual man; he also tends to offend those of higher power. When Li Bai was twenty-five years old, he lift Szechuen in search of opportunities to claim a seat of high position in the royal court. The easiest thing for him to do would be to take the royal exam. The problem with this was, everyone who takes the royal exam must give information on their previous three generations. Li Bai ended up never taking the exam. This just fueled the speculation that Li Bai was of royal blood. With grief from not being able to be one of the elite, Li Bai turned to a common friend that men who are filled with sorrow have.

After Li Bai decided to choose a different a path, he turned to alcohol. Li bai saw wine as a blessing, not a sin. Which is said to be one of the ruins of his marriage to a daughter of a retired Prime Minister, whose name was Xu Yushi. (It probably ruined more than just that marriage because it is said that he had three wives). No one knows for sure what his first wife's name was. Nonetheless, he saw that the alcohol fueled his creative writing. It is said that his best poems were written while he was intoxicated. Even though he lived approximately one thousand, two hundred, and fifty seven years ago, there are still hundreds of his poems still around to this day.

There are about nine hundred and ninety of his poems, that survived over the years, still in print today. Li Bai is a popular poet in China. He wrote poems of romance, nature, and the cliches of freedom. He also often wrote poetry in the forms of questions. The most popular subject in his poetry is probably himself. He portrays himself as a neglected genius, and a lover of the moon, friends, and women. He is famous for writing poems for those of higher authority and for being an acquaintance of Du Fu, another famous Chinese poet. Li Bai and Du Fu are considered to be the two most influential poets from the Tang Dynasty. Even when he died Li Bai gave every person a question to answer.

That question that we need to answer is, "How did you leave this earth, Li Bai?" Many people believe he died of an illness due to his drinking. Another person has said that Li Bai committed suicide after he wrote a poem stating his end was near. While others say he drowned while in a drunken state, trying to scoop the moon out of the river. This one makes some sense to me because in China, the moon is a woman and she is said to seduce men with her reflection. That is why the moon is considered to be so romantic in China. Which, if you remember, Li Bai was a lover of the moon.

The great poet, Li Bai, is my hero because no matter what life threw at him he still wrote wonderful poetry and made his name known; not in the way he intended, but in a way that truly makes his name shine above others. He had a confusing past, he did some strange things as a young man, he did not even allow us to know how he died. Yet, still his poems are inspiring and lovely. For these reasons Li Bai will never be forgotten and he will always be my one and only hero.