Considering that Bai (also known as
Li Po) lived from 700-762 B.C., a surprising amount is known about his life, although much of that information is shrouded in inconsistencies, myths and questions with answers that are forever lost to time.
Among the topics are neo-Confucianism and neo-legalism in T'ang intellectual life 755-805, the flight from the capital and the death of Precious Consort Yang 482, Li Bai's "Rhapsody on the Hall of Light:" a singular vision of cosmic order, the inscription of emotion in mid-Tang collegial letters, imperial patronage in the formation of T'ang Buddhism, Taoism in the T'ien-pao era 742-56, and
Li Po's transcendent diction.
Aspects of Hong Kong's culture permeate the book, and a glossary features fascinating information relating to the story and its setting, including the origin of the book's title, a poem by sixth-century Chinese poet
Li Po.
Soak in the bucolic beauty of Kline Creek Farm at dusk as you muse on poems of nature, life and self by Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson,
Li Po, Rumi and others in an hourlong program at 6 p.m.
Featured are over 100 felicitous selections from Chuang Tzu, Lao Tzu,
Li Po, Confucius, and many others including: "The one who knows does not speak.
Onde ya konakona shi ikwatelela kwaashoka taa popi nopamukalo ngoka taye shi popi molwashoka osho ashike shi
li po tandi vulu okuya konakona nasho.
one else did
Li Po in mourning the major-general folding sheets and
These are loose translations from the eighth-century poet Li Bai (also known as
Li Po).
"Portrait of the Artist with
Li Po" appears in The Southern Cross (1981), after five other self-portrait poems and immediately after "Portrait of the Artist with Hart Crane," so it stands in complex relation to these other poems and to the act of painting oneself, or a self, into a poem.
In 1907, Mahler - ill and exhausted - happened upon a new translation of poets from China's T'ang Dynasty, in particular the work of Li Bai (also called
Li Po, or Li Bo) whose captivating lyrics celebrating life and drunkenness apparently stirred Mahler's creativity.
So, in spite of entitling the book Imaging the Chinese, and dedicating entire chapters to the topics of "Cuban Sinophobia" and "Orientalism," Lopez-Calvo fails to make any mention of the gross caricature of the Chinese detective radio character Chan
Li Po, whose popularity during the 1930s was so great that cinemas would interrupt their programs to broadcast the latest episodes live to their audiences.