The understanding of Li Du's theory of superiority and inferiority is as follows:
The dispute over Li Du's superiority and inferiority during the reign of Xian Zongyuan and Du Fu left a long-term influence in the history of Li and Du Fu's poetics research. However, the occurrence of this controversy is closely related to the competition in poetry circles and the changes in poetic thoughts at that time in the middle Tang Dynasty. The three main figures who participated in this debate: Han Yu, Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi, were three great poets at that time, and they were the representatives of Han, Meng, Yuan and Bai.
This controversy seems to be a disagreement on the evaluation of Li Bai and Du Fu, two poets who have been dead for a long time. In fact, it reflects the differences, changes and competitions between the two major poetic schools in their poetic influence and poetic concepts. This controversy was made public by Han Yu's "Zhang Ji Diao": "Li Du's articles are there, and the flames are growing.
I don't know the group is stupid, so it's a slander. Mayflies shake the tree, which is ridiculous. " Regarding the direction of Korean poetry, Wei Tai's Poems on Living in Seclusion in the Near Han Dynasty pointed out: "Yuan Zhen made a comment on Li Du's merits and demerits, and first Du and then Li. Han retreated, saying, "Li Du's articles are just ..."
He Wenhuan's Poems of Past Dynasties, Zhonghua Book Company, 1981, p. 32. Fang Shiju added: Bai Juyi's "Nine Books with Yuan Dynasty" is a mockery of Li and Du, while Han's poems "are hurt by Yuan and Bai's slander, but they want to soar with their relatives". See Qian Zhonglian's Collection and Interpretation of Han Changli's Poems, Volume 9, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1984, pp. 989-99. Bai Juyi is also the object of Han Yu's criticism. According to the historical facts of the examination, the theories of Wei and Fang are well-founded.
From the time point of view, Yuan Zhen's Inscription on the Tomb of Du Jun, a Yuan Wailang from the Ministry of Engineering of Tang Dynasty, was written in the eighth year of Yuanhe (813), and it says: "As for the beauty of the child, it is said that it is time to go down to Shen Song, to be next to Su Li in ancient times, to seize Cao Liu, to hide the loneliness of Yan Xie, and to be beautiful in all times. ..... Since the poet, there is no one as beautiful as a child. At that time, Li Bai, a native of Shandong Province, was also called Li Du by people.
I can see that his majestic waves are unrestrained, his restraint is removed, and his image and Yuefu poems are modeled, but his sincerity is not as good as his beauty. If the story begins at the end, the rhyme is as big as a thousand words, and the times are hundreds, and the words are heroic and the wind is clear and deep, which means that Li Shang can't live through his fan Han, and the situation is very impressive! "