Liu Yuxi was from the Tang Dynasty.

Langtaosha (1)

(Tang) Liu Yuxi

Jiuqu Yellow River and Wan Li Sand,

Waves and strong winds swept from the horizon.

Now go straight to the galaxy,

Go to Penny and Weaver's house.

Author background

Liu Yuxi (772-842), a Han nationality in the Tang Dynasty, had a dream. Liu Yuxi's ancestral home is Jiaxing, and his ancestral grave was originally in Luoyang Beimang. Later, Xingyang was reburied because of the isthmus. The Liu family lived in Luoyang, and the Central Plains was at war. His father moved to Jiangnan, where Liu was born. After his father died, he helped to transport the coffin back to Luoyang, and his mother also returned from Jiangnan. Maybe I lived in Xingyang for a while afterwards. There is a saying in Historical Records and Biography of Huo Zhi that Liu Yuxi "lived in Yingze, Zhenyuan". Liu lived in Luoyang until his later years, and later died in Luoyang. Liu said that he was a guest in the south of the Yangtze River, called himself a pheasant, said that Luoyang was always there, and said that his family was born in Xingyang, but his family occupied Luoyang. It can be seen that he has lived in Jiaxing, Xingyang and Luoyang. If we can contact his ancestral home in Luoyang, we still think it is more reasonable to call him Luoyang. There is also a saying that he is from Pengcheng (now Xuzhou, Jiangsu), because Liu Bang is from Pengcheng, and Pengcheng is the county where Liu is located, just like Han Yu is in Changli. He used to supervise the censor and was a member of the Wang Reform School. What is the specific life experience, we have not yet verified. Famous poets, philosophers and writers in the middle and late Tang Dynasty were called "great poets". His family is a scholarly family handed down from generation to generation by Confucianism. Advocating political innovation is one of the core figures of the Wang school's political innovation activities.

Later, Yongzhen failed to innovate and was demoted to Langzhou Sima. Instead of indulging in self-indulgence, he wrote with a positive and optimistic spirit, actively learned from folk songs, and created poems imitating folk songs such as Picking Ling Xing.

Liu Yuxi was once sent back to Beijing by imperial edict, and was demoted as a secretariat of Lianzhou because of a poem "Peach trees were all planted in Guanli, Du Xuan after Liu Lang went". Later, he was appointed as Jiangzhou Secretariat, where he wrote a lot of Zhi Zhu Ci. Many famous sentences are widely read. In the summer of 824, he wrote the famous "Missing in the Old Times" in Xipaotai Mountain: "Since Wang Jun brought his towering ship down from Yizhou, the ghost of the royal family has languished in Nanjing. The long Zhang Qian chain sank to the bottom of the river, and a flag was lowered on the stone wall. How many sad past in life, the mountains still remain cold. Today, every sea is home, and ancient fortresses are full of ruins and autumn reeds. " This poem was greatly appreciated by later literary critics and regarded as a masterpiece of Tang poetry with endless meanings.

Later, after several transfers, Liu Yuxi was sent to Suzhou as a secretariat. At that time, Suzhou was flooded and there was hunger everywhere. After he came to power, he opened a warehouse to relieve hunger, exempted taxes and reduced labor, and soon brought the people out of the disaster and lived a life of peace and contentment. Suzhou people loved him and thanked him, so they called Wei and Bai Juyi, who had been the secretariat in Suzhou, "three sages" and established the hall of three sages. Tang Wenzong also praised his achievements and gave him a Zijin fish bag.

Liu Yuxi returned to Luoyang in his later years, making a guest appearance as a prince, adding school history, making friends and writing poems, and living a leisurely life. After his death, he was posthumously appointed Minister of the Interior.

There are more than 800 poems in existence. His poems study folk songs, reflect people's life and customs, have a wide range of themes, and draw lessons from the implicit, simple and beautiful characteristics of Bashu folk songs in style, which are fresh and natural, healthy and lively, and full of life interest. His satirical poems often use allegorical excuses to attack and suppress the innovative dignitaries in Yongzhen, which involves a wide range of social phenomena. In his later years, his style became more subtle, ironic and unobtrusive. There are more than 40 poems with the characteristics of folk songs. When Liu Yuxi was in Luoyang, he and Bai Juyi created the inscription "Recalling Jiangnan".

Liu Yuxi was buried in Xingyang, Henan (now Xingyang, Zhengzhou) after his death.

Annotation explanation

Langtaosha: Tang's name. Created by Liu Yuxi and Bai Juyi, the form is seven-character quatrains. Later it was used as a epigraph name.

Jiuqu: According to legend, the Yellow River has nine bends since ancient times. There are many places to describe twists and turns.

Wave erosion: Wave erosion.

Blow: Turn over.

Morning glory and Vega: the names of two constellations in the Milky Way. According to the ancient legend, the weaver girl is a fairy girl in the sky, who descended to earth and married the cowherd. After the Queen Mother of the West recalled the Weaver Girl, the Cowherd chased after the sky, and the Queen Mother of the West punished them across the river, allowing them to meet only once a year on the evening of July 7.

Modern Translation of Ancient Poetry

The Yellow River in Wan Li twists and turns with sediment, and the waves are rolling, like a huge wind from the end of the world. Now we can go directly to the Milky Way along the Yellow River. Let's visit the home of Cowherd and Weaver Girl.