“… by virtue of what right
Have I never once tended field or tree?
My government-pay is three hundred tons;
At the year's end I have still grain in hand.
Thinking of this, secretly I grew ashamed.”

—  Bai Juyi

"Watching the Reapers" (A.D. 806)
Arthur Waley's translations

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Bai Juyi photo
Bai Juyi 12
Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty 772–846

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