First of all, although Bai Juyi satirized and warned women, he also emphasized the responsibility of men.
In the creation of Song of Eternal Sorrow, Bai Juyi showed obvious sympathy for Li Yang's love tragedy. Although he sneered at the seduction of women and did try to "punish the stunner", he did not put all the responsibility for the chaotic country on Yang Guifei. Bai Juyi also pointed out in his poem that "the emperor of China longed for the beauty that might shake an empire, and he was an emperor for many years, but he couldn't get it", which led to "finally being elected as the imperial palace one day". It can be seen that the responsibility of Tang Xuanzong is also emphasized in the poem. Of course, women can confuse people, but if all men are restless Liu Xiahui, how can they confuse this country?
This is more obvious in Li Furen. The first paragraph of his poem mainly focuses on the memory of Li Furen by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. At the end, he laments that "not only the Emperor of the Han Dynasty is sad, but also the ancient and modern times are sad" and "people are heartless", showing an understanding attitude towards the infatuation full of human nature. He just thinks that if it causes unforgettable emotional pain to the emperor and even affects the political affairs, it is better to "not meet each other". It can be seen that Bai Juyi did not let women take full responsibility, but he also emphasized the responsibility of men themselves.
Secondly, Bai Juyi criticized the concept of in-laws in his earnest concern for the fate of women's marriage and showed deep sympathy for women abandoned by men or their families.
The hierarchy of marriage has always been an integral part of feudal ethics, and the concept of "suitable for each family" is the standard that feudal marriage is difficult to change, and economic status has become the decisive factor in determining the marriage object. Such a family status makes no one ask for help. In response to this problem, Bai Juyi once lamented that "it is easy to learn in a poor family, and it is often late to adopt a daughter" ("Late Peach Blossom"). In On Marriage, the poet, starting from the harsh reality that material life determines the fate of marriage, compares the different experiences of poor women and rich women, and expresses his grievances to poor women. At the same time, he praises and criticizes the different conduct of "light husband" rich women and "filial piety" poor women, which reflects Bai Juyi's marriage view of attaching importance to personality and respecting women's good moral character. This is obvious except for criticizing the concept of marriage and family.
Although the subtitle of A Silver Bottle at the Bottom of the Well is "Stop Prostitution", the heroine is described as a positive figure in the poem. She has a beautiful appearance and lively personality, and resolutely eloped with the hero because of her desire for love. However, "if she is hired as a wife and concubine, frequent worship will make her unbearable", and finally her husband kicked her out of the house and made her want to go back to her family. Compared with men, this kind of women boldly rebelled against feudal ethics and had a strong sense of marital autonomy. Although the poet complained about her, he also had obvious sympathy. The image of this woman and her fate created by the author also arouse people's deep thinking. What killed this beautiful woman was feudal ethics and ethics. Similarly, there are similar unfortunate women in the seventh part of Mother Biezi, Taihang Road and Ten Continued Ancient Poems.
Thirdly, Bai Juyi showed sympathy for the fate of frustrated maids and ordinary maids, and strongly criticized the harem system.
From the analysis of Shang Yang's White-haired Man in the last part, we can see Bai Juyi's sympathy for frustrated maids. In addition, they also poured out the despair of "the beauty is broken before she is old, and she will sit in the Ming Dynasty on the steamer" and "the words of the harem", and the helplessness of "I don't know how to leave my old love and where to make a new love". ("complaint") and so on. Similarly, out of sympathy for the unfortunate fate of the ladies-in-waiting, Bai Juyi praised the move of Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty to "release 3,000 women from the palace" ("Seven Virtues Dance"). Moreover, in his works with ladies as the theme, there is no appreciation of ladies' dancing as the content.
This theme of "pity, claustrophobia and resentment" is more obvious in Bai Juyi's poems about Wang Zhaojun. In "Two Poems of Wang Zhaojun", the poet expressed deep sympathy and pity for him:
His face was covered with beard and wind, his eyebrows were broken and his face was red. Sad, hard and haggard, but now it seems to be drawing.
China sent back a message, when will the gold be redeemed from Emei? If the king asks for the color of his concubine, it's better not to be as good as when he was in the palace.
However, hundreds of years have passed since Wang Zhaojun's tragedy, and the inhuman harem system has not been abolished, but has intensified. The common people had to "burn their faces into scars" (Guo Zhaojun Village) and express their resistance to the empresses system by disfigurement.
Finally, Bai Juyi reveals the poor living conditions of working women in his works and shows deep sympathy for them.
It is obvious in a flash of silk, the red carpet and watching the wheat harvest. What's more, the poet's sympathy has reached the point of shame. In Watching Wheat Harvest, he compares his food and clothing with the abject poverty of poor women, lamenting that "I am ashamed to think of it, but I can't forget it every day", which shows his self-blame and conscience as an honest official.
To sum up, Bai Juyi's early view of women was still a progressive view of women possessed by upright Confucian scholars at that time, although it was limited by the times and classes.