"Feasting in the southern gazebo"

A true official in China always lives a second, inner life with romanticism, poetry, philosophical reflections and disagreement with reality reigns. And this – another life of the spirit – helps to survive consciousness and body in the rigid reality of the eternal need to serve the lord. 

Wang Changlin (698-757) was born near the modern city of Taiyuan, in Shanxi Province. They nicknamed him Lunji – “Sign of the Dragon” – by the name of the place, in Hunan province, where he was exiled with demotion and where he spent the last years

This is a wonderful, refined poet of the period Tan – a contemporary of famous poets Lee Bo, Du Fu and Meng Haohzhan.

And he went almost the same way: combined a low bureaucratic position with wonderful poetry, served honestly, fell out of favor, was exiled and died during the uprising of An Lushan at the age of 61 in the bozhou city area of the city of Anhui

In his youth he was poor, and to support himself, engaged in agriculture. At the age of 30, he passed the Jinshi official position and then served as First Secretary in the county office. About 713 he moved to the capital city Chang’an, and then moved to the city of Jianqin , now Nanjing, where he was the governor of the county. He’s being exiled because of some kind of swind. And he’s in 756. went on a journey on a flat-bottomed boat from the town of Lunji to the east, composing a wonderful and sad and dreary cycle of poetry. Most of all, he became famous for his “border verses” (byan sai shi) – describing the events on the northwestern outskirts of China.

 He usually wrote in the style of “qi jue” — short poems in four lines of seven characters each 

It’s not his main poem – just beautiful. Amazing skill to draw the landscape and the sensation of it through poetic lines 

Feasting in the southern gazebo”

In the rivers of the stuttered wild forest is reflected.
Above the gazebos – freshness and purity thickened.
Here are the guests from the kingdom of Chu, in rest
feasting, in peace settled, in gilded flutes play.
I’ve been wandering around the mountains all day
until the darkness comes and the clouds return to the mountain grottoes. 
Above the towers of the city wall swirls boundless
fog, Monkeys and birds – wary and dull.
All that is around me – like “silk threads and cord
s”, diligently give me some order.
And now I went on business – visiting the ruler at the Eastern Creek, from mornin
g to night to him the way to him cut through.

Silk threads and cords – meaning the imperial decree (from “Li ji”: “The words of the ruler are like a silk thread, come from it like cords”)

宴南亭
唐·王昌龄

寒江映村林,亭上纳鲜洁。
楚客共闲饮,静坐金管阕。
酣竟日入山,暝来云归穴。
城楼空杳霭,猿鸟备清切。
物状如丝纶,上心为予决。
访君东溪事,早晚樵路绝

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