No More Learning

Most of the accounts of Li Po's life which have hitherto appeared are
based on the biography given in vol. v. of the "Memoires Concernant
Les Chinois. " It is evident that several of the frequently quoted
anecdotes in the "Memoires" are partly based on a misunderstanding of
the Chinese text, partly due to the lively imagination of the Jesuits.
The Sung writer Hsieh Chung-yung arranged in chronological order all
the information about the poet's life that can be gleaned not only from
the T'ang histories, but also from the poems themselves.

In the communications of the Gesellschaft fur Natur und Volkerkunde,
1889, Dr. Florenz makes some rather haphazard and inaccurate selections
from this chronology.

The Life in the "New T'ang History" has, I believe, never before been
translated in full. The Life in the so-called "Old T'ang History" is
shorter and contains several mistakes. Thus Li is said to have been a
native of the Province Shantung, which is certainly untrue.

The following additional facts are based on statements in the poet's
own works.

With regard to his marriage in A. D. 730 he writes to a friend: "The
land of Ch'u has seven swamps; I went to look at them. But at His
Excellency Hsu's house I was offered the hand of his grand-daughter,
and lingered there during the frosts of three autumns.
" He then seems
to have abandoned Miss Hsu, who was impatient at his lack of promotion.
He afterwards married successively Miss Lin, Miss Lu, and Miss Sung.
These were, of course, wives, not concubines. We are told that he
was fond of "going about with the dancing-girls of Chao-yang and
Chin-ling. " He had one son, who died in A. D. 797.

With regard to his part in the revolution, the "New History" seems
somewhat confused. It is probable that his sojourn in the prison at
Kiukiang took place before and not after his decree of banishment. It
is also uncertain whether he knew, when he entered the service of Lin,
that this prince was about to take up arms against the Emperor. The
Chinese have reproached Po with ingratitude to his Imperial patron,
but it would appear that he abandoned Prince Lin as soon as the latter
joined the revolution.

A mysterious figure mentioned in the poems is the "High Priest of
Pei-hai" [in Shantung], from whom the poet received a diploma of Taoist
proficiency in A. D. 746.

Li Yang-ping gives the following account of Po's death: "When he
was about to hang up his cap [an euphemism for "dying"] Li Po was
worried at the thought that his numerous rough drafts had not been
collected and arranged. Lying on his pillow, he gave over to me all his
documents, that I might put them in order.