中英雙語話中國歷史名人 第50期:白居易

Bai Juyi (772~846), courtesy name Letian, literary name Xiangshan Jushi, was a Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty who used his elegantly simple verse to protest the social evils of his day, including corruption and militarism.

白居易(772~846)，字樂天，號香山居士，中國唐代詩人。白居易用優美樸素的詩歌對當時社會的黑暗(包括腐敗和黷武主義)提出了抗議。

Bai Juyi began composing poetry at five. Because of his father's death in 794 and straitened family circumstances, Bai did not take the official examinations for the bureaucracy until the late age of 28. He passed them and also did extremely well at another examination he took two years later.

白居易5歲開始作詩，但是794年因爲他父親去世家庭環境貧困，白居易28歲才參加科考，但是白居易一次就中了進士，而且兩年後又以“拔萃”登科，做了校書郎。

As a result, he was given a minor post at the palace library, as was another successful examination candidate and poet, Yuan Zhen. They shared views on the need for both literary and political reform, and their lifelong friendship became perhaps the most famous in Chinese history.

白居易的同年，另外一位詩人元稹與他共事，他們都認爲需要進行文學改革和政治改革，彼此間終生的友誼可能是中國歷史上最著名的。

In 807, Bai became a member of the prestigious Hanlin Academy in Chang'an, the capital, and he rose steadily in official life, except for his banishment in 814 to a minor post at Jiujiang, which arose from the slander of rival courtiers.

807年白居易入翰林院，他的官職穩步上升。但是814年白居易因受政敵的誹謗而遷九江郡司馬。

He assumed the important posts of governor of Zhongzhou (818), Hangzhou (822), and later, Suzhou.

白居易先後擔任過忠州刺史(818 )、杭州刺史(822)和蘇州刺史。

In 829 he became mayor of Luoyang, the eastern capital, but he retired from that post in 842 because of illness.

829年白居易以太子賓客分司東都洛陽。842年病退。

Bai was the informal leader of a group of poets who rejected the courtly style of the time and emphasized the didactic function of literature, believing that every literary work should contain a fitting moral and a well-defined social purpose.

白居易是一羣詩人的非正式領導。他們拒絕接受當時典雅的文風，強調文學的教誨功能。他們認爲“文章合爲時而著，歌詩合爲事而作。”

He considered his most important contributions to be his satirical and allegorical ballads and his "new yuefu, "which usually took the form of free verse based on old folk ballads.

白居易認爲他最重要的貢獻是他的諷喻歌謠和“新樂府”詩。新樂府詩通常以舊民歌爲基礎，採用自由的形式。

The most prolific of the Tang poets, Bai aimed for simplicity in his writing, and--like Du Fu, a great Tang poet of the preceding generation whom Bai greatly admired--he was deeply concerned with the social problems of the time; he deplored the dissolute and decadent lifestyles of corrupt officials and sympathized with the sufferings of the poor.

作爲唐代最多產的詩人，白居易致力於樸素的寫作風格，並且像他非常仰慕的前輩偉大詩人杜甫一樣，他也非常關注當時的社會問題，他對腐敗官員揮霍頹廢的生活方式表示痛恨，對窮人的苦難生活表示同情。

Many of Bai's poems are quoted in the Japanese classic The Tale of Genji.

日本經典文學作品《源氏物語》引用了白居易的很多詩。