In A.D.816, the poet was exiled to Jiangzhou (today's Jiujiang). Before he left, he spent an evening with his bosom friend, Yuan Zhen. Raising their golden wine goblets, they drank their fill under the moonlight, pouring out their feelings on parting. By chance they met a female pipa player from the capital. Listening to her playing the pipa and showing sympathy for her poverty, the poet wrote down his ideas about life's ups and downs. The pipa is said to most ably express life's joys and sorrows.
