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Bai Juyi, along with [[Du Fu]], [[Li Bai]], and [[Wang Wei]], is considered one of the greatest Chinese poets in history. He is perhaps best known for authoring the "[[Song of Everlasting Sorrow]]" (C: ''Changhen ge'', J: ''Chôgonka''), a lengthy poem which tells the story of Imperial concubine [[Yang Guifei]].

Bai Juyi, along with [[Du Fu]], [[Li Bai]], and [[Wang Wei]], is considered one of the greatest Chinese poets in history. He is perhaps best known for authoring the "[[Song of Everlasting Sorrow]]" (C: ''Changhen ge'', J: ''Chôgonka''), a lengthy poem which tells the story of Imperial concubine [[Yang Guifei]].

He was originally from Taiyuan in [[Shanxi province]], and later led a successful career as a scholar-bureaucrat at the Imperial Court.

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 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.

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[[Category:Heian Period]]

[[Category:Heian Period]]

[[Category:Scholars and Philosophers]]

[[Category:Scholars and Philosophers]]

[[Category:Artists and Artisans]]

[[Category:Artists and Artisans]]