As it happens, when the state is confident, rich and at peace, literature flourishes and when it is mandatory that all those aspiring to be civil servants not only understand poetry, but also be able to compose poems, then naturally many poets are born and many poems composed. Not all of what was written is intact today, but according to one estimate around 50,000 poems by 2, 300 poets from this period survive. These poems are mostly about philosophy—Buddhist, Daoist and Confucianist—but there are also poems on human relations dealing with friendship, for instance.
Friends were admired and friendship was celebrated. Moreover, in a society where one’s wife was thought of as clothing but friends were perceived more in terms of limbs, it is no wonder that people placed such a high value on friendship. Since many of the poets were elite bureaucrats chosen through a rigorous examination process, they befriended their own circle. As it usually happens in government service, the bureaucrats were often transferred from one place to another. Usually a poem was composed for a friend transferred to different province as a sign of respect and admiration, which also served as a parting gift. And is there a better way to celebrate friendship and or organize a farewell than getting drunk/intoxicated together?
Perhaps, no poets from this period can out-match Li Bai (701-762 AD) who composed scores of poems about wine and friendship. Li Bai, famous for his poetry and his fondness for drinking, composed many poems on drinking with friends. His poem, “For the moment, drinking wine” (qiang jin jiu) contains lines that express his deep held appreciation for friendship and merry-making. “A fortune spent in gold will come back again. So roast the goats and kill the cattle. Down three hundred cups in a single breath, for the moment’s pleasure.” And it seems that he had already thought of how to pay for the meat and wine. He assures his company to feel at home and not worry about paying the bill: “How can a good host ever stint for drink? Straightway I’ll buy enough for all. Thoroughbreds and costly furs? Let’s call my son to pawn them for the best of wine. Together we shall banish the most endless, ancient sorrow.” At times when he had no one to drink with, he invited the moon to drink with him (of course, we can infer that he already had his fair share of drink before composing this poem). In what is probably one of the most famous Tang poems, “Drinking alone under the moon” (yue xia du zhou) he invites the moon to drink with him, and pledges undying friendship.
The last two lines read: “Sober, we rejoice together, drunk each takes his leave. To seal forever such unfettered friendship, let’s meet beyond the milky way.” He ends another poem, “Inquiring of the moon, wine-cup in hand” (ba jiu wen yue) with the following lines, “My only wish is that when wine and song are near, moonlight will forever linger on this goblet fair.” So deep was his friendship with the moon that once on a boat with his favorite pot of wine, he saw the reflection of the moon in the water, and thinking that it had drowned and needed to be rescued, he jumped in the water and as everyone before him and everyone after him who jumped in the water drunk, he drowned to death.
Du fu (712-770 AD), contemporary of Li, is another famous Tang poet who attached a great deal of importance to friendship. Although poor by the then standards, he didn’t let his poverty come in between celebrating good times with his friends. His poem “A friend visits” (ke zhi) truly expresses his happiness when his friend pays him a visit in his humble adobe. Being a Confucianist scholar, he probably remembered what the great sage had said centuries ago: “A friend visiting from afar is a happy affair.” Du writes, “Far from town the food is bland, and all we have to drink is this home brew. If you like, I’ll call my old neighbor. To help us finish off the last few drops.” But we have every reason to believe that the neighbor was never invited and the two friends finished the pot of wine by themselves and maybe even borrowed a pot or two from the old neighbor because people then believed that when drinking with a good friend, even a thousand cups (of wine) is less.
If Du Fu celebrated his friend’s arrival with home brew, another poet, Du Mu (803-852 AD) drank in sadness as his friend was departing for another town. He describes the pain of parting with his good friend in his poem, Farewell (zheng bie). The poem reads, “Passion so deep appears as none; Before these farewell cups, unable even to smile. The candle too takes pity on our parting, Shedding tears until the coming of dawn.”
Perhaps, no poem expresses the pain of parting with a good friend more than “Seeing off Yuan Er going to Anxi” (weicheng qu: song yuan er shi anxi) by Wang Wei (701-761 AD). A later day poet, Su Dongpo (1037-1101 AD) said of Wang Wei that, “there was painting in his poems and poems in his paintings.” This genius painter, calligrapher and poet had a friend named Yuan Er, who was transferred to one of the farthest corners of China. Yuan Er met Wang before leaving the city and the two friends drank together. Wang requests his friend to “drink one last cup to celebrate their friendship, because once Yuan leaves the city, both of them will be without friends’’ (translation, mine).
Being able to make good friends and handle alcohol was considered one of the virtues in ancient China. And the afore-mentioned poets did live up to the social expectations of the time. Although composed almost 1400 years ago, these poems are still widely read in China today and have in one way or the other influenced Chinese thinking on friendship and drinking. So let’s raise a cup (OK, make it two) to honor these great poets of the bygone days, and of course our friends of the present. Bottoms up. Ganbei!
For the translations of poems except Wang Wei’s, I have relied on 100 Tang Poems by Zhang Tingchen and Bruce M Wilson
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