韦庄的一生行迹（836-910）
韦庄（约836-910），字端己，京兆杜陵（今陕西西安）人，诗人韦应物四世孙。早年孤贫力学，乾宁元年（894年）年近六旬始进士及第。长诗《秦妇吟》名动天下，人称"秦妇吟秀才"。晚年入蜀佐王建建前蜀，官至宰相。词与温庭筠并称"温韦"，有《浣花集》。
杜陵（836） · 杜陵孤贫
唐文宗开成元年（836年），韦庄出生于京兆杜陵（今陕西西安东南），字端己，是中唐诗人韦应物的四世孙。此时韦家早已败落，他自幼孤贫，却力学不辍，才敏过人。
长安（城陷）（880） · 秦妇乱世
唐僖宗广明元年（880年）十二月，黄巢百万大军攻破长安，唐僖宗仓皇逃往蜀中。四十五岁的韦庄正在长安应试，身陷重围，亲眼目睹了这座世界第一大都市的陷落与浩劫。
洛阳（883） · 秦妇乱世
唐僖宗中和三年（883年）春，韦庄间关逃出长安围城，辗转抵达东都洛阳。他在洛阳城外目睹劫后惨象，写下长篇叙事诗《秦妇吟》，一时传诵天下，人称"秦妇吟秀才"。
金陵（886） · 江南漂泊
唐僖宗光启二年（886年），中原战乱未息，韦庄南下避乱，辗转至六朝故都金陵（今江苏南京）。他登临台城旧址，凭吊六朝兴废，江南的残山剩水勾起了他对大唐命运的深忧。
桐庐（889） · 江南漂泊
唐昭宗龙纪元年（889年）前后，韦庄漫游浙西，沿钱塘江溯流而上至桐庐（今浙江桐庐），泛舟富春江。严子陵钓台的烟波山水，抚慰了他乱世漂泊的愁怀。
婺州（890） · 江南漂泊
唐昭宗大顺元年（890年）重阳，韦庄流寓婺州（今浙江金华），独登水馆，把酒苦吟。佳节思乡，故园万里，他在异乡的重阳登高诗中寄寓了深深的乱离之悲。
衢州（891） · 江南漂泊
唐昭宗大顺二年（891年），韦庄自婺州转赴衢州（今浙江衢州），在衢江之上送别友人李秀才。乱世萍踪，聚散无期，一曲离歌两行清泪，道尽了天涯沦落人的悲怆。
长安（及第）（894） · 晚达及第
唐昭宗乾宁元年（894年），五十九岁的韦庄北返长安应试，终于进士及第，结束了近四十年的科举苦旅。放榜之日，他喜极作诗志庆，随后授校书郎，正式入仕。
鄜州（896） · 晚达及第
唐昭宗乾宁三年（896年）七月，凤翔节度使李茂贞进逼长安，昭宗仓皇出奔华州，京师大乱。韦庄携家避乱于鄜州（今陕西富县）乡间，寒食清明之际在城外醉吟遣怀。
成都（入蜀）（901） · 入蜀佐命
唐昭宗天复元年（901年），韦庄应西川节度使王建之聘，举家入蜀，任掌书记，自此终老成都。蜀中远离中原兵燹，他在浣花溪畔寻得杜甫草堂旧址，结茅而居。
成都（长逝）（910） · 入蜀佐命
前蜀武成三年（910年）八月，韦庄卒于成都花林坊，享年约七十五岁，谥文靖。三年前他辅佐王建称帝建立前蜀，官至门下侍郎、同平章事（宰相），开国制度多出其手。
The Life Journey of Wei Zhuang, Last Poet of the Tang
Wei Zhuang (c. 836-910), styled Duanji, great-grandson of Wei Yingwu, was the last great poet of the Tang: trapped inside Chang'an when Huang Chao took it, he walked out through the siege to write the 'Qin-fu Lament' — 1,666 characters on the fall of the world's greatest city: 'the inner treasury burned to embroidered ash; the imperial streets trampled by the bones of nobles.' Ten years drifting through the south ('Everyone says Jiangnan is good'), a degree at fifty-nine, and a final act no one could have scripted: architect and chancellor of the Former Shu kingdom, dying at Chengdu with one dynasty founded and another mourned.
Timeline of the Journey
- 836 · Duling — Born poor in the Du-ling district, great-grandson of Wei Yingwu; alone early, studying without money, sharp beyond his years.
- 880 · Chang'an — Huang Chao's million men into the capital in the twelfth month; the examinee Wei Zhuang, forty-five, inside the walls for the sack of the world's largest city.
- 883 · Luoyang — Out through the lines by spring; in the country outside Luoyang he set the fall of Chang'an in the mouth of a Qin woman — the 'Qin-fu Lament,' sung everywhere, its author named forever after it.
- 886 · Jinling — South to the old six-dynasties capital; on the Terrace City ruins: 'River rain fine, river grass rank; the Six Dynasties like a dream, birds crying in the void' — his own dynasty quietly added to the list.
- 889 · Tonglu — Up the Fuchun river to Tonglu: the mists of Yan Ziling's fishing terrace easing, for a season, a refugee's grief.
- 890 · Wuzhou — Double-Ninth, alone at a river pavilion in Wuzhou: climbing, drinking, remembering a home ten thousand li from safe.
- 891 · Quzhou — Another year, another river farewell — to Li the scholar — the meetings and partings of people adrift like duckweed.
- 894 · Chang'an — North again at fifty-nine — and the examination finally passed: jinshi, collator, official at last after forty years of trying.
- 896 · Fuzhou — Li Maozhen's troops driving the court out of Chang'an; the new official sheltering his family in the hills at Fuzhou, drinking through the spring rites of the dead.
- 901 · Chengdu — Summoned west by Wang Jian, military governor of Sichuan: secretary of the western rivers — for good. On the Flower-Washing Brook he found the site of Du Fu's cottage and built himself a thatched hall upon it.
- 910 · Chengdu — Dead in the Flower-Grove ward, about seventy-five, canonized 'Wen-jing.' Three years before he had drafted Wang Jian's accession — chancellor, chief designer of the Former Shu's institutions — the Tang's last poet dying as a new kingdom's founding minister.
'Everyone says Jiangnan is good... better never to grow old there — go home, and your heart will break.' The empire's whole catastrophe folded into one lyric: Wei Zhuang buried the Tang and crowned a kingdom, and the lyric outlasted both.
