王绩的一生行迹（585-644）
王绩（585-644），字无功，号东皋子，绛州龙门（今山西河津）人，隋末大儒王通之弟。隋末举孝悌廉洁，官秘书省正字、六合县丞；唐初待诏门下省，人称"斗酒学士"，又为太乐丞。三仕三隐，终归东皋，躬耕酿酒，自号东皋子。其诗真率疏放，洗尽六朝铅华，《野望》为现存最早的唐人五律。
绛州龙门（585） · 河汾少年
隋文帝开皇五年（585年），王绩出生于绛州龙门（今山西河津）。此地濒临黄河，相传为大禹治水凿龙门之处，山川雄奇。王家是河汾望族，其兄王通后来设教河汾，门人千余，世称"文中子"。
长安（600） · 两京求仕
隋文帝开皇二十年（600年），年方十五的王绩西游长安，拜谒权倾朝野的越国公杨素。他应对敏捷、谈吐不凡，一座皆惊，被杨素赞为"神仙童子"，少年才名由此传遍关中。
六合（610） · 两京求仕
隋炀帝大业六年（610年）前后，王绩举孝悌廉洁科，授秘书省正字，不久出为扬州六合县丞。他生性简傲嗜酒，不耐案牍，在任上因嗜酒废事被弹劾，从此看透官场虚伪，心灰意懒。
龙门（归乡）（616） · 乱世归耕
隋炀帝大业十二年（616年），天下大乱，群雄并起。王绩托言中风，弃六合县丞之职，携琴书归隐龙门故里。此后数年他躬耕东皋，与渔樵为伍，在黄河涛声中目送隋王朝走向覆灭。
长安（待诏）（624） · 斗酒长安
唐高祖武德七年（624年）前后，王绩以前朝官员身份应诏入长安，待诏门下省。门下省例给良酝酒三升，他每日有酒可饮，倒也安闲自适，京师之人因此送他一个雅号——"斗酒学士"。
长安（太乐丞）（640） · 斗酒长安
唐太宗贞观十四年（640年）前后，王绩闻太乐署府史焦革善酿美酒，苦苦求得太乐丞一职。焦革死后，其妻袁氏念旧情仍不时送酒；年余袁氏亦亡，王绩仰天长叹"天不使我酣美酒邪"，遂挂冠而去。
东皋（641） · 东皋高卧
唐太宗贞观十五年（641年）前后，王绩归隐龙门东皋，自号"东皋子"。他在此筑室临渚，种黍酿酒，与野老渔樵相往还。一个秋日薄暮，他登皋远望，写下被后世推为唐人五律开山之作的《野望》。
东皋（田园）（643） · 东皋高卧
唐太宗贞观十七年（643年），王绩在东皋的隐居生活已臻化境。他自撰墓志，预立遗嘱，以生死为平常事；白日耕读，夜晚弹琴饮酒，与友人王处士等秋夜相逢，写下了充满田园真趣的小诗。
龙门（长逝）（644） · 东皋高卧
唐太宗贞观十八年（644年），王绩在龙门东皋的家中安然辞世，享年六十岁。临终前他自撰墓志铭，自言"才高位下，免责而已；天子不知，公卿不识"，以平静诙谐的笔调为自己三仕三隐的一生画上了句号。
The Life Journey of Wang Ji, the First Recluse of the Tang
Wang Ji (585-644), of Longmen on the Yellow River — younger brother of the Confucian master Wang Tong, uncle of Wang Bo — was the first great recluse-poet of the Tang and the first voice of its countryside: his 'Gazing Afar' ('tree after tree, all autumn color; hill after hill, only the sunset') is the opening masterpiece of the regulated five-character poem. He took and left three offices across the Sui-Tang divide, twice purely for the wine attached to them — the 'Dou-of-Wine Scholar' — and wrote his own epitaph: 'talent high, position low — no matter; the emperor does not know me, the ministers do not know me.'
Timeline of the Journey
- 585 · Longmen — Born to the great He-Fen family where the Yellow River cuts the Dragon Gate: a scholar-brother, a hermit's temper, and the Sui empire for a backdrop.
- 600 · Chang'an — At fifteen, presented to the chancellor Yang Su: quick answers, unshakable poise, the court astonished — 'a child-immortal,' the great man said.
- 610 · Liuhe — Text-corrections officer in the Palace Library, then assistant magistrate at Liuhe by Yangzhou: the office lost to wine — twice reprimanded, once impeached — the message received.
- 616 · Longmen — The world in pieces, the Sui dying: he pleaded a stroke, quit Liuhe, and went home with his zither and books to plough at East Bank and watch the river carry the dynasty away.
- 624 · Chang'an — The new Tang dynasty's call to old Sui officials: an expectant post at the Chancellery — where the ration included three sheng of good wine a day. The capital nicknamed him 'the Scholar of the Dou of Wine,' and he found the name exact.
- 640 · Chang'an — Hearing that the music-bureau clerk Jiao Ge brewed the best wine in the capital, he begged the post of assistant director of the Imperial Music — purely to live next to the vat. Jiao Ge died; the widow kept sending the wine; then she died too: 'Heaven will not let me drink beautiful wine!' — and he resigned on the spot.
- 641 · Donggao — The final retirement as 'Master of the Eastern Bank': grain planted for brewing, farmers and fishermen for company — and on an autumn evening, the five-character regulated poem perfected in eight lines of level ground and sunset.
- 643 · Donggao — The last years: his own tomb-inscription drafted ('the emperor does not know me...'), night zither, morning plough, small poems of perfect ordinariness.
- 644 · Longmen — Dead at sixty, his own epitaph standing by the grave: the dynasty's first recluse, its first country poem, and its funniest resignation letter.
'Tree after tree, all autumn color; hill after hill, only the sunset.' The Tang's first great landscape line came from a man who worked for the government three times, exclusively for the wine — Wang Ji founded Chinese pastoral and its drinking culture in one person.
