He once crossed the Bull Island Eddies and, reaching Ku-shu, was delighted by a place called the Green Hill, which lay in the estate of the Hsieh family. He expressed a desire to be buried there, but when he died they buried him at Tung-lin.
At the end of the period Yüan-ho,[14] Fan Ch’uan-chēng, Governor of the districts Hsüan and Shē [in Anhui], poured a libation on his grave and forbade the woodmen to cut down the trees which grew there.
He sought for Li Po’s descendants, but could only find two grand-daughters, who had both married common peasants, but still retained an air of good breeding. They appeared before the Governor weeping, and said: “Our grandfather’s wish was to be buried on top of the Green Hill. But they made his grave at the eastern hill-base, which is not what he desired.”
Fan Ch’uan-chēng had the grave moved and set up two tombstones. He told the ladies they might change their husbands and marry into the official classes, but they refused, saying that they were pledged to isolation and poverty and could not marry again. Fan was so moved by their reply that he exempted their husbands from national service. A rescript of the Emperor Wēn Tsung created the category of the Three Paragons: Li Po, of poetry; P’ei Min, of swordsmanship; and Chang Hsü, of cursive calligraphy.
Most of the accounts of Li Po’s life which have hitherto appeared are based on the biography given in vol. v. of the “Mémoires Concernant Les Chinois.” It is evident that several of the frequently quoted anecdotes in the “Mémoires” are partly based on a misunderstanding of the Chinese text, partly due to the lively imagination of the Jesuits. The Sung writer Hsieh Chung-yung arranged in chronological order all the information about the poet’s life that can be gleaned not only from the T’ang histories, but also from the poems themselves.
In the communications of the Gesellschaft für Natur und Völkerkunde, 1889, Dr. Florenz makes some rather haphazard and inaccurate selections from this chronology.
The Life in the “New T’ang History” has, I believe, never before been translated in full. The Life in the so-called “Old T’ang History” is shorter and contains several mistakes. Thus Li is said to have been a native of the Province Shantung, which is certainly untrue.
The following additional facts are based on statements in the poet’s own works.
With regard to his marriage in A.D. 730 he writes to a friend: “The land of Ch’u has seven swamps; I went to look at them. But at His Excellency Hsü’s house I was offered the hand of his grand-daughter, and lingered there during the frosts of three autumns.” He then seems to have abandoned Miss Hsü, who was impatient at his lack of promotion. He afterwards married successively Miss Lin, Miss Lu, and Miss Sung. These were, of course, wives, not concubines. We are told that he was fond of “going about with the dancing-girls of Chao-yang and Chin-ling.” He had one son, who died in A.D. 797.
With regard to his part in the revolution, the “New History” seems somewhat confused. It is probable that his sojourn in the prison at Kiukiang took place before and not after his decree of banishment. It is also uncertain whether he knew, when he entered the service of Lin, that this prince was about to take up arms against the Emperor. The Chinese have reproached Po with ingratitude to his Imperial patron, but it would appear that he abandoned Prince Lin as soon as the latter joined the revolution.