Le Classique du The

Lu Yu was born just two years before the Jurchen Tartars conquered the north, dividing China in two. Though Lu's family lived in Shan-yin (modern Chekiang) in the Chinese-held south, his father instilled in Lu a strong patriotic fervor, which one can see clearly reflected in much of his shih shih poetry. Like Fan Ch'eng-ta and Hsin Ch'i-chi, he longed to see China reunited under a native ruler.

Lu's career looked promising when he passed the examinations in 1153 and 1154, but, because he incurred the wrath of the Prime Minister, he was barred from taking office until the man's death six years later. At that time, he was recalled to the capital of Lin-an (Hangchow) and given an appointment. He thereby became a colleague of Fan Ch'eng-ta's, but his outspoken views on military policy made him enemies at court. He ended up serving in a succession of remote provincial posts in Szechuan, Fukien, Kiangsi, and then finally in his native Chekiang. He retired from government in 1190 to his home in Shan-yin.

Lu's disappointments were not limited to his public life. His first marriage to his cousin T'ang Wan ended in tragedy when his mother forced him to divorce her. One of his best-known tz'u poems is thought to have been written on a holiday outing years after the enforced separation, when he and his former wife (both remarried), accidentally met in a garden. She is supposed to have asked her second husband to take some food and wine to Lu Yu, who responded with the poem. Imagined in this context, the verses are moving, particularly the ending lines: "Though our eternal vows remain/Letters of love can be sent---never, never again!"