242 t He tang Dy na s t y
- The two versions are somewhat different, with the Zhuangzi account offering more detail.
This translation is from Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings, trans. Burton Watson (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1964), 63. For the Analects version, see Confucius: The Analects, trans. D. C. Lau
(New York: Penguin Books, 1979), 149–150. - Looking back at this scene, which is the object of Li Bai’s act of guan (beholding), it is inter-
esting to recall Chen Zi’ang’s use of the same verb. For Chen Zi’ang, this type of viewing takes
him past the surface appearance of the natural world before him to reveal the invisible, ineffable
workings of the Dao. When Li Bai executes the same gesture, at least in this case, his gaze rests on
the surface of things; it is there, in the impenetrability and ambiguity of surface perception, that
the very same workings of the Dao are to be beheld. - Stephen Owen, The End of the Chinese “Middle Ages”: Essays in Mid-Tang Literary Culture
(Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1996), 10. - Bai Juyi was foremost among those who took up the declining balladic tradition of yuefu,
reviving it as a medium of social and political critique. One interesting point of comparison be-
tween Li Bai and Bai Juyi lies in their common use of the yuefu genre to radically different effects
and ends. - The Chinese chi is approximately the equivalent of one foot, and there are ten chi in one
zhang.
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———. Poetry of the Early T’ang. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1977.
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Waley, Arthur. The Poetry and Career of Li Po, 701–762 a.d. London: Allen and Unwin, 1950.
C H ine s e
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