What is the real reason for Bai Juyi’s wet blue shirt

What is the real reason for Bai Juyi’s’ wet blue shirt ‘? Below, the History Encyclopedia editor will bring you a detailed article introduction.
In the representative work of the great Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi, “The Song of Pipa,” there is a line that goes, “The green robe of the Sima of Jiangzhou is wet.” Later interpretations of this line are generally based on the sentiment of Bai Juyi, who felt sad about his demotion as the Sima of Jiangzhou. However, some people find it strange that the Sima of Jiangzhou in the Tang Dynasty should have been a “frontier official” with a fifth rank official and a command of state troops. Why does Bai Juyi still have a ‘wet blue shirt’?
In the tenth year of the Yuanhe era (815 AD), Bai Juyi, who was then the Left Shi Yi (ranked eighth), was appointed as the Sima of Jiangzhou (ranked fifth) due to being excluded. In terms of rank, Bai Juyi, who was transferred from Zuo Shiyi to Jiangzhou Sima, was actually promoted, and he should be happy about it. However, Bai Juyi’s Jiangzhou Sima had three flaws, which led him to write ‘Jiangzhou Sima’s green shirt is wet’.
Firstly, although Zuo Shiyi was only ranked eighth, he was a direct official of the province and had the power to report directly to the emperor. Bai Juyi was appointed as the Sima of Jiangzhou because he angered the prime minister by giving advice to the emperor. Although the rank of Jiangzhou Sima (ranked fifth) is much higher than that of Zuo Shiyi, his actual political influence is much smaller. Bai Juyi’s so-called “promotion” refers to being expelled from the central court.
Secondly, Bai Juyi was a historical figure during the mid Tang Dynasty, and many local official positions had long ceased to exist due to the fragmentation of fiefdoms. Zhou Sima was nominally the “third in command” in charge of the military and horses of a state, second only to the governor and the chief historian, but his real power had already been taken away by the military governor during the mid Tang Dynasty. Therefore, Bai Juyi’s appointment as the prefectural Sima was a virtual official who “did all the Sima’s work, but only had officials and salaries”.
Thirdly, the official ranks in the Tang Dynasty were divided into two types: scattered officials and official officials. Scattered officials were used to determine the salary of officials, while official officials were used to determine their actual power. Bai Juyi served as the official of Jiangzhou Sima, while his scattered official at that time was the General Shilang (ranked ninth). That is to say, Bai Juyi is using the treatment of a ninth grade worker to do a fifth grade job, and such an inappropriate configuration is obviously someone manipulating him.
Overall, Bai Juyi’s appointment as the Sima of Jiangzhou was due to his exclusion from the central government, lack of real power, and low treatment, indicating that someone in the court was trying to take advantage of him. Faced with such a situation, the talented and ambitious Bai Juyi appeared powerless, and naturally became “wet in the blue shirt of Jiangzhou Sima”.