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He was originally from Taiyuan in [[Shanxi province]], and later led a successful career as a scholar-bureaucrat at the Imperial Court. Bai's father, an assistant governor, died in [[794]], and so for a time, Bai, his mother, and his two brothers, moved around the country, living with relatively alternately in [[Suzhou]], [[Hangzhou]], and outside the capital. He passed the local [[Chinese Imperial examinations|civil service examinations]] in [[799]], and the national exams the following year, after which he composed a collection of one hundred statements on government & society, which he had published. Among these was an argument against the ban on members of the merchant & artisan classes sitting for the exams; the ban was eased shortly afterwards.
He was originally from Taiyuan in [[Shanxi province]], and later led a successful career as a scholar-bureaucrat at the Imperial Court. Bai's father, an assistant governor, died in [[794]], and so for a time, Bai, his mother, and his two brothers, moved around the country, living with relatively alternately in [[Suzhou]], [[Hangzhou]], and outside the capital. He passed the local [[Chinese Imperial examinations|civil service examinations]] in [[799]], and the national exams the following year, after which he composed a collection of one hundred statements on government & society, which he had published. Among these was an argument against the ban on members of the merchant & artisan classes sitting for the exams; the ban was eased shortly afterwards.
Bai suffered a series of tragedies in [[811]]: his mother killed herself, and his only daughter died shortly afterwards, at the age of three. Bai had difficulties with his vision, and in addition was exiled and pardoned numerous times, as factions at Court gained and lost favor or power. One such incident occurred in [[815]], when, just as Bai was returning from exile, the Chief Minister was assassinated, and though not accused of association with the crime, Bai was nevertheless banished once more, in connection with accusations of the inappropriateness of his reaction to the news. That same year, he became a devotee of the Southern School of Buddhism, i.e. [[Theravada Buddhism]] as practiced in South and Southeast Asia, a school which emphasized meditation, and the Teachings of the [[Shakyamuni|historical Buddha]] over complex pantheons or rituals.
Bai was a staunch defender of [[Confucianism]] and critic of Imperial excess and ostentation; his poetry has been described as clear and intelligible, being written in a plain, accessible style.
Bai was a staunch defender of [[Confucianism]] and critic of Imperial excess and ostentation; his poetry has been described as clear and intelligible, being written in a plain, accessible style.
==References==
==References==
*Valerie Hansen, ''The Open Empire'', New York: W.W. Norton & Company (2000), 230.
*Valerie Hansen, ''The Open Empire'', New York: W.W. Norton & Company (2000), 230, 237-238.
[[Category:Heian Period]]
[[Category:Heian Period]]
[[Category:Scholars and Philosophers]]
[[Category:Scholars and Philosophers]]
[[Category:Artists and Artisans]]
[[Category:Artists and Artisans]]