The origin of Li Bai’s name
The first theory: When Li Bai was seven years old, his father wanted to give his son a formal name. Li Bai's parents loved reading, and they wanted to train their son to be an elegant and refined person. The father usually likes to teach his children to read and write poems. When he was planning to name the name, he and his mother agreed to test his son's ability to write poems while walking in the courtyard.
My father looked at the verdant trees and flowers in the courtyard in spring, and recited a poem: "The country of spring brings warmth and flowers bloom, and it comes first to welcome the spring." The mother continued: "The fire burns the leaves and the red clouds fall in the forest. ". Li Bai knew that his parents had recited the first three lines of the poem, so he deliberately left the last line in the hope that he could continue. He walked to the blooming plum blossoms, thought for a moment and said: "The plum blossoms are in full bloom and the tree is white."
"White" - doesn't it express Li Hua's holiness and elegance? The father had an idea and decided to choose the two characters "Li" and "Bai" at the beginning and end of the wonderful sentence as the child's name, so he named his seven-year-old son "Li Bai".
The second theory: Li Yangbing's preface to "The Collection of Thatched Cottage" says: "Fleeing to Shu, he pointed to the plum tree again and was born Boyang. On the night when Jiang was frightened, Chang Geng fell into a dream. Therefore, he was born with the name Bai, "Etaibai". Fan Chuanzheng's "The Tombstone of Li Gongxin, a Hanlin Scholar from the Tang Dynasty" wrote: "When the prince was born, the former prince pointed to the sky (Li) branch to give him his surname, and the late wife dreamed of Chang Geng and told her auspiciousness. The name and character were taken from the image. ".
It is not difficult to see from the above documents that Li Bai’s name was given to Li Bai after his father returned to Shu and restored his surname to Li. After Li’s mother dreamed of the Taibai Venus, So she became pregnant and gave birth to Li Bai amidst unbearable labor pains. Li Bai's name was derived from this dream.
Li Bai (701-762), also known as Taibai, also known as Qinglian Jushi, also known as "Exiled Immortal", was a great romantic poet in the Tang Dynasty. He was hailed as the "Poetry Immortal" by later generations. Du Fu is collectively known as "Li Du". In order to distinguish him from the other two poets Li Shangyin and Du Mu, who are known as "Little Li Du", Du Fu and Li Bai are also collectively known as "Big Li Du". According to the "New Book of Tang", Li Bai was the ninth grandson of Emperor Xingsheng (King Li Hao of Liangwuzhao) and had the same ancestry as the kings of Li and Tang. He is cheerful and generous, loves drinking, writing poetry, and making friends.
Li Bai was deeply influenced by Huang Lao Liezhuang's thoughts. There is "Collection of Li Taibai" handed down to the world. Most of his poems were written when he was drunk. His representative works include "Wang Lushan Waterfall", "The Road is Difficult" and "The Road to Shu is Difficult". "About to Enter the Wine", "Mingtang Fu", "Early Departure from Baidi City" and many other poems.