贺知章的一生行迹（659-744）
贺知章（659-744），字季真，号四明狂客，越州永兴人。证圣元年进士，为浙江史上第一位状元。官至太子宾客、秘书监，世称"贺监"。性旷达豪放，善谈笑，工草书，为"吴中四士"与"饮中八仙"之一。金龟换酒识李白，呼为"谪仙人"。天宝三载还乡为道士，卒年八十六。
越州永兴（659） · 越州少年
唐高宗显庆四年（659年），贺知章出生于越州永兴（今浙江杭州萧山）。越州山阴、永兴一带山川灵秀，自东晋以来即为名士渊薮。贺知章少以文辞知名乡里，诗文书法皆为人称赏。
长安（695） · 状元及第
武周证圣元年（695年），贺知章赴长安应试，中进士，并在"超拔群类"制科中脱颖而出，相传为该科状元，是浙江历史上第一位状元。初授国子四门博士，迁太常博士，从此开始长达五十年的京官生涯。
洛阳（722） · 两京馆阁
唐玄宗开元十年（722年），兵部尚书张说为丽正殿书院修书使，荐举贺知章入书院参与纂修《六典》《文纂》等典籍。贺知章随驾东都洛阳，与徐坚、张九龄等同馆编书，文名日盛，迁太常少卿。
泰山（725） · 两京馆阁
唐玄宗开元十三年（725年），玄宗东封泰山，贺知章以礼部侍郎随驾，参与封禅大典，并撰写《禅社首乐章》。封禅礼成后，他以定礼仪之功加集贤院学士，兼礼部侍郎，声誉益隆。
长安（贺监）（738） · 贺监风流
唐玄宗开元二十六年（738年），贺知章改任太子宾客、银青光禄大夫，兼正授秘书监，世称"贺监"。年近八旬的他愈发旷达不羁，自号"四明狂客"，与李白、张旭等纵酒论诗，名列"饮中八仙"之首。
长安（金龟换酒）（742） · 贺监风流
唐玄宗天宝元年（742年），四十二岁的李白初至长安，往紫极宫谒见八十四岁的贺知章。贺知章读《蜀道难》，惊叹之下呼李白为"谪仙人"，解腰间金龟换酒，与之尽醉。两代诗仙的忘年之交，成为盛唐诗坛千古佳话。
长安（辞朝）（744） · 归乡羽化
唐玄宗天宝三载（744年）正月，八十六岁的贺知章因病恍惚，上表请度为道士、还乡终老。玄宗亲自赋诗相赠，诏令皇太子及文武百官于长安东门设帐饯行，宠遇之隆为唐代文人所罕见。
越州镜湖（744） · 归乡羽化
唐玄宗天宝三载（744年）夏，贺知章回到阔别五十余年的故乡，舍宅为千秋观，玄宗赐镜湖剡川一曲。他泛舟镜湖、登临稽山，不久羽化于故乡，享年八十六岁，是唐代诗人中最得善终、最为高寿者之一。
The Life Journey of He Zhizhang, the Madman of Siming
He Zhizhang (659-744), styled Jizhen, the 'Madman of Siming,' was the first zhuangyuan in Zhejiang's history and the jolliest old man of the High Tang. Librarian to the heir apparent, one of the Eight Immortals of Wine, he read Li Bai's 'Hard Road to Shu,' cried 'You are a banished immortal!' and staked his golden tortoise for drink — then went home at eighty-six a Daoist, to the lake of his boyhood.
Timeline of the Journey
- 659 · 越州 — Born in Yongxing of Yuezhou — land of gentlemen since the Eastern Jin; poems, books and brushwork famed in the villages young.
- 695 · 长安 — Jinshi and top of the special 'lifting the outstanding' examination — Zhejiang's first zhuangyuan; Erudite of the Four Gates, then of the Court of Sacrifice.
- 722 · 洛阳 — Into Zhang Yue's Lijieng Academy at Luoyang, compiling the 'Rites and Institutions' with Zhang Jiuling and Xu Jian.
- 725 · 泰山 — With Xuanzong to the Feng sacrifice on Mount Tai, drafting the ritual music — a career of courts and ceremonies at its height.
- 738 · 长安 — Tutor to the Heir Apparent and Librarian — 'He the Librarian'; at nearly eighty he took the name Madman of Siming and drank with Li Bai and Zhang Xu.
- 742 · 长安 — Li Bai, new from Sichuan, showed him the 'Hard Road to Shu': 'a banished immortal!' — and off came the golden tortoise for the wine.
- 744 · 长安 — At eighty-six he asked leave to go home and be a Daoist; the emperor wrote him a poem, the crown prince and all the court saw him off east of the city.
- 744 · 镜湖 — 'I left home young, return old; my accent unchanged, my hair thinned' — the children laughed and asked where the visitor was from. He died that year by Mirror Lake.
'I left home young and come back old.' One quatrain of homecoming and one of willows — He Zhizhang needed only two small poems to live in every mouth for thirteen hundred years.
