Song of the River in the Dusk

By Bai Juyi (Tang Dynasty)

The afterglow of the setting sun spread in the river,

half of which was dark blue and half was red

What a lovely night on the third day of September，

the dew drops are as round as pearls and the new moon rises like a bow.

暮江吟

白居易（唐）

一道残阳铺水中，半江瑟瑟半江红。

可怜九月初三夜，露似珍珠月似弓。

Creative background

This poem was written by Bai Juyi in the second year of Changqing (822) of Emperor Muzong of the Tang Dynasty on his way to Hangzhou as a governor. At that time, the politics of the imperial court was gloomy, and the party strife between Niu and Li was fierce. The poet tasted the taste of the imperial officials and asked for a foreign post. The author left the imperial court in a relaxed mood and wrote this poem along the Yangtze River.

I have something to say

We say: Times make heroes. At fact, time also make poets.

Due to the different background of the times, the quality of the emerging literati is different.

In Chinese ancient, the drawbacks of feudal society are always exposed and recorded by literati through poetry. These are just like another kind of historical documents, which can help modern people better understand the social environment at that time. Therefore, we can learn history by reading historical books or ancient poems, which are our cultural wealth.