Who Was Li Bai? Tang China's Poet Immortal

Li Bai's origins are as romantic as his poetry: he was born in Suyab, a Silk Road oasis town in Central Asia under the Tang empire's western protectorate. His family migrated east to Sichuan, where the young prodigy spent a decade studying on Mount Daitian. Mastering not only literature and Daoist philosophy but martial swordsmanship, he boldly proclaimed: 'At fifteen I loved the sword, traveling far to meet lords; at thirty my writings were complete, mingling freely with high ministers.'

李白的身世如诗篇般辽阔：他出生于唐朝安西都护府辖下的中亚丝路重镇碎叶城（今吉尔吉斯斯坦托克马克市），后随家族东迁入蜀。在大匡山读书学剑十载，十五岁便剑术通神。他‘仗剑任侠，轻财重施’，胸怀匡济天下之大志。

At 24, Li Bai said a permanent farewell to his native Sichuan. With a sword at his waist and a jug of wine, he sailed down through the Three Gorges, watching Mount Emei's half-moon recede into the mist. Unlike common scholars who rushed straight to the capital for bureaucratic exams, Li Bai roamed the empire freely — meeting poets, climbing sacred peaks, and composing masterpieces at every stop.

二十四岁时，李白仗剑去国，辞亲远游。乘舟出三峡，见‘峨眉山月半轮秋，影入平羌江水流’。他不同于一般汲汲于科举的士子，而是仗剑漫游天下，黄鹤楼送孟浩然、安陆隐居碧山十年，‘问余何意栖碧山，笑而不答心自闲’。

In 742, Emperor Xuanzong personally summoned the 42-year-old poet to Chang'an, descending from the imperial carriage to welcome him. The veteran poet He Zhizhang exclaimed upon reading his verses: 'You are an immortal banished from heaven!' Appointed to the prestigious Hanlin Academy, Li Bai refused to behave like a submissive courtier. His contempt for palace sycophancy quickly led to his departure, sent away with a parting gift of gold.

742 年，唐玄宗降辇步迎，召四十二岁的李白入京供奉翰林。贺知章读其诗叹为‘天上谪仙人’。然而朝廷要求的是恭顺的倡优，李白要的却是济世安民。传说他醉中让高力士脱靴、贵妃研墨，蔑视权贵，天子终不能用，赐金放还。

After leaving Chang'an in 744, Li Bai met a younger Du Fu in Luoyang. It stands as the most famous encounter in Chinese literary history: the Poet Immortal and the Poet Sage roaming the central plains together, drinking, hunting, and discussing statecraft. Du Fu cherished this brotherhood for the rest of his life, writing over a dozen poems longing for his elder friend.

744 年，东游洛阳的李白与比他小十一岁的杜甫相遇。诗仙与诗圣同游梁宋，纵酒射猎，成为世界文学史上最璀璨的交汇。杜甫终生崇拜李白，晚年写下‘白也诗无敌，飘然思不群’的千古盛赞。

During the devastating An Lushan Rebellion of 755, Li Bai became innocently entangled in a dynastic factional struggle. Arrested and condemned to exile in the perilous southwest wilderness of Yelang, the elderly poet dragged his weary body up the Yangtze. Then in 759, at Baidicheng, news of an imperial amnesty arrived. Overjoyed, he turned his boat downstream, flying through the gorges in an ecstasy of liberation.

安史之乱爆发后，李白因入永王幕府平叛而获罪下狱，流放夜郎。年近六旬的诗人在艰难溯江流放途中，行至白帝城忽闻朝廷大赦天下。他当即掉转船头顺流而下，一日千里，写下中文世界最畅快淋漓的生命欢歌：