白居易（772～846），字乐天，号香山居士，又号醉吟先生，河南新郑（今河南郑州新郑市）人，是我国唐代伟大的现实主义诗人，唐代三大诗人之一。唐代宗大历七年（772年）正月，白居易出生于郑州新郑东郭宅（今新郑市东郭寺村）。白氏祖籍山西太原，白居易的祖父白锽移居下邽（今陕西渭南市北）。白锽后曾任巩县（今河南郑州巩义市）县令，和当时邻居新郑县令是好友，见新郑山清水秀，遂移家于新郑，白居易本人就出生于河南新郑，卒后葬于河南洛阳。
Bai Juyi (772-846), courtesy name Letian, also known as Xiangshan Jushi and Zuiyin Xiansheng, was born in Xinzheng, Henan (now Xinzheng City, Zhengzhou, Henan). He was a great realist poet in the Tang Dynasty and one of the three great poets of the Tang Dynasty. In the first month of the seventh year of Dali (772) in the reign of Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty, Bai Juyi was born in Dongguozhai, Xinzheng, Zhengzhou (now Dongguosi Village, Xinzheng City). Bai’s ancestral home was Taiyuan, Shanxi. Bai Juyi’s grandfather Bai Xun moved to Xiagui (now the north of Weinan City, Shaanxi). Bai Xun later served as the county magistrate of Gong County (now Gongyi City, Zhengzhou, Henan). He was a good friend of the county magistrate of Xinzheng, his neighbor at the time. Seeing the beautiful scenery of Xinzheng, he moved to Xinzheng. Bai Juyi himself was born in Xinzheng, Henan, and was buried in Luoyang, Henan after his death.
《忆杭州梅花》
白居易
三年闲闷在余杭，曾为梅花醉几场。
伍相庙边繁似雪，孤山园里丽如妆。
Reminiscence of Plum Florets in Hangzhou
Bai Juyi
I led a gloomy life in Yuhang for three years’ inhabitation,
For the sake of plum florets, experiencing repeated intoxication.
In Wuxiang Temple, they densely and luxuriantly flourished, resembling flakes of snow,
And, in Gushan Garden, presented a scene so pulchritudinous as fair’s adornment and decoration.
