“西湖”之名由他而来

叶璐

2020年金秋，杭州优秀传统文化丛书首发仪式在杭州市民中心举行。整套丛书的内容，涵盖城史文化、山水文化、名人文化、遗迹文化、辞章文化、艺术文化、工艺文化、起居文化、风俗文化、思想文化等方面，既有全面展示，又有亮点凸显。

而中国作家协会会员、诗人李郁葱所著的《江南忆，最忆白乐天》，则是其中我比较喜欢的一本。本文可算是对该书的一段赏析吧。

且向钱塘湖上去

公元772年2月28日，白居易出生于河南新郑的一个大户人家。他自幼天资过人，16岁便吟出了惊艳大唐的千古名句：

离离原上草，一岁一枯荣。

野火烧不尽，春风吹又生。

远芳侵古道，晴翠接荒城。

又送王孙去，萋萋满别情。

公元822年的夏天，当时还是左拾遗的白居易被朝廷任命为杭州刺史。刺史，相当于今天的市长。能够远离朝堂，白居易感到很开心。在这之前，他已经上奏了很久，要求外放，如今终于实现了。

为何白居易要放弃天子近臣的职位，远走外乡呢？书中写道：

“少了那些蝇营狗苟和利益团体的掣肘，他也许能够做一些实事。这也是多方政治势力博弈的结果，毕竟，后世说的‘东南形胜，三吴都会的杭州此时也已是帝国重镇，但相对于长安、洛阳、建康（今南京）、江都（今扬州）、江陵（今荆州）、会稽（今绍兴）等老城而言，当时的杭州城并不瞩目。”

而另一个让他有所期待的原因是：

“这两年，曾经是好友的裴度和元稹龃龉不断，元稹罢相，目前为同州刺史，有传言说将转任浙东观察使，官署在越州（今绍兴）。而此时，白居易的外放要求得到实现本身就很微妙，当然，相交莫逆的两人同在浙江更是一件值得庆幸的事。”

经历了3个月的跋山涉水后，从富春江入城，白居易一家终于抵达杭州。

“一道残阳铺水中，半江瑟瑟半江红。可怜九月初三夜，露似真珠月似弓。”“且向钱塘湖上去，冷吟闲醉二三年。”这一路的山水盛景，令白居易酿就了许多经典诗作。

让白居易如愿以偿地成为杭州刺史，是上天对白居易的眷顾;而给杭州选了白居易掌政，则是上天对杭州的眷顾。随着这位“诗人市长”的到来，杭州也迎来了新一轮的发展。

绿杨阴里白沙堤

湖光山色固然动人心魄，只是白居易到杭州时老天爷却给了他个下马威。

这在白居易走入杭州城的那一刻已有所感觉：这个城里走动着的人，他们脸上所散发出的气息，不是一个鱼米之乡的正常味道。

他从下属处得知，杭州遇上了持续干旱，民生凋敝。坐拥钱塘江、富春江这样的浩荡江水，城里也有西湖，杭州为什么还会发生旱荒？《江南忆，最忆白乐天》一书中，交代了白居易实地调查后得出的结论：

“原来西湖并没有得到根本整治，这湖是：一旦遇到干旱天气，西湖水浅到不够灌溉农田;但如果遇到洪涝天气，又会致使湖水泛滥，杭州城里一片汪洋。”

于是，白居易到杭州之后的第一件事就是治理西湖。

当时的西湖和我们今天看到的西湖有些不同，作者在书中有作介绍：

“在与白堤相连的湖东北地区，当时有一个和西湖相通、规模与之相仿的大湖泊，称为下湖。而西湖也曾经相对被称为上湖，但应该是沼泽地貌为主，风光和上湖不可同日而语。明人记载：汉唐之交，杭州城市未广，东北两隅，皆为斥卤，江水所经。”

白居易决定在下湖和上湖之间修建拦湖大堤。尽管反对意见不少，但不同于他诗人的身份，白居易展现了作为政治家的素质，也向同僚展示了他的决心和魄力。他把计划和前景一一呈现，这种解释也让人们相信：

“湖堤筑成后，西湖的蓄水量与放湖水灌农田的实际功能是可以实现的，因为白居易和他找到的水利专家对此作了细密的测算，并曾带着下属们实地勘察。设想中的一些细节同样具有说服力，比如说在拦湖堤坝的南北各设大水门，一旦启用，则提前规定有关供水手续，采用当天申请当天有效的辦法。此外，在湖水放水的情况下，把位于东北的临平山脚下的鼎湖之水引进官河……”

在治理西湖的同时，白居易还疏浚了40年前杭州刺史李泌所开的六井，解决了杭州百姓饮水难的问题。

一连串的民生困扰得到解决后，白居易才缓下步调，享受杭州城的美景。牵马漫步于白沙堤上，一首让湖山增色的《钱塘湖春行》从口中吟出：

孤山寺北贾亭西，水面初平云脚低。

几处早莺争暖树，谁家新燕啄春泥。

乱花渐欲迷人眼，浅草才能没马蹄。

最爱湖东行不足，绿杨阴里白沙堤。

在很多年后，由于杭州地理环境的改变，白居易主持修建的那条堤已经湮没。但人们没有忘记这位刺史，于是索性将错就错把白沙堤称为白堤。

而西湖的美名，也随着白居易一首又一首的诗词的传播而开始远扬，逐渐成为江南名湖，世界名湖。

取得两片石

美好的日子总是短暂的。公元824年5月，53岁的白居易即将离开杭州。

杭州城的百姓对这个一心为民的刺史自然是依依不舍。作者在书中再现了白居易离开杭州时万人相送的情景：

“涌金门外，西湖边上，挤满了要为他送行的百姓，没有人组织，没有人吆喝，人们扶老携幼，提着酒壶为他送行。根据记载和杭州市民的口口相传，这一幕在当年送别李泌时也曾经出现过。

白居易是容易感动的人，一开始他站在车辕上，挥手向百姓们致意，后来看看实在不能推辞，索性下了马车，缓缓走着。他又是个性格爽利的人，百姓敬上的酒，小杯大口他来者不拒，白发老者，垂髫小童……在杭州人民的夹道相送中，从涌金门出发至江边官道，区区两里，白居易他们的马车走了一个上午。白居易有点醺醺然，不知道是因为酒还是因为百姓的热情。”

白居易在杭州担任刺史3年，留下了一湖清水、一道芳堤、六井清泉、200多首诗的宝贵财富。无论是杭州的民生工程，还是对杭州的文化传播，白居易的成绩斐然。

但他離开杭州时，却和来时一样，一驾马车，简简单单。他把节衣缩食积攒下来的官俸都留给了官库，唯一带走的，是西湖边的两块石头和孤山寺的一只仙鹤。可他觉得自己为杭州百姓做得还不够多，回洛阳后，在老友刘禹锡面前深深自责：

“白居易递给刘禹锡的，就是流传到后世的《三年为刺史》，共两首，诗写得隽永，但又浅出，一首是：‘三年为刺史，无政在人口。唯向郡城中，题诗十余首。惭非甘棠咏，岂有思人不？另外一首是：‘三年为刺史，饮冰复食檗。唯向天竺山，取得两片石。此抵有千金，无乃伤清白？

第一首很谦虚，好像午夜梦回，醒转时，突然想知道他所思念的地方有没有人思念他;第二首却是一种自责和辩解。”

白居易在杭州的日子虽然不长，但他片刻不能忘记杭州，忘记西湖。

后来，当好友姚合去杭州当刺史时，他对姚合千叮万嘱，那一湖水一定要保护好，还写了《杭州回舫》寄给姚合：“自别钱唐山水后，不多饮酒懒吟诗。欲将此意凭回棹，与报西湖风月知。”

“西湖”由此成名。

当姚合杭州刺史3年任期结束归来时，白居易在招待姚合的家宴上，带着对杭州的日夜牵挂和无法回去的遗憾，吟诵出了让杭州人民深深动容的不朽诗篇——《忆江南》：

江南好，风景旧曾谙：日出江花红胜火，春来江水绿如蓝，能不忆江南？

江南忆，最忆是杭州：山寺月中寻桂子，郡亭枕上看潮头。何日更重游？

这一年，白居易66岁，身体已经老迈衰颓，他重游的想法只能在梦中实现了……

Bai Juyi （772-846）， one of the best known Tang poets in the history of Chinese literature， was appointed Hangzhou governor in the summer of 822. He had submitted a request for an appointment away from the capital of the dynasty for a long while. He was happy that the request was approved. There have been guesses at why Bai chose to quit a court job and exile himself from the center of politics to a remote place and there have been suggestions.

It took Bai three months to reach Hangzhou. The poems he wrote on his way to the city revealed what he was thinking about his future in Hangzhou. He wanted to relax for a while and enjoy the peace. Both professional and amateur historians agree that Bais appointment to Hangzhou was a blessing to the great poet and a godsend to the city.

However， Hangzhou wasnt what the governor had imagined it to be. Instead， he ran into an immediate grave challenge on his arrival. There was an ongoing drought that year. The West Lake wasnt what it is today. Part of the lake was a swamp. It wasnt even called the West Lake， though it was west of the city proper of Hangzhou. In a drought， the shallow water body didnt have enough water to provide any relief to local residents and farmlands around the city. On the other hand， the city was often inundated by floods from the lake and from the Qiantang River on the other side of the city.

Bai Juyi launched a large-scale project to make the lake function better as a reservoir： it should be deep enough to hold water for droughts and contain floodwaters. He had a dam and two sluice gates built on the West Lake. The water-control system was designed to provide the city with an adequate water supply and discharge floods to other rivers. He put into place a regulation on water use： an application must be submitted for farmland irrigation at least one day before the sluice gates could be operated. While the water-control project on the lake outside the city was underway， Bai Juyi launched a drinking-water project inside the city. He had six wells， sunk forty years before by Li Mi， governor of Hangzhou， dredged so that they could provide local residents with clean drinking water.

It was not until the water problems got solved that Bai Juyi began sightseeing in Hangzhou and wrote poems. He served three years in Hangzhou as governor. His legacy is a lake， a causeway， six wells and over 200 poems. Before he left the office， Bai donated the salaries of three years to the citys treasury. Among his luggage were two small stones he had fetched from the West Lake and a crane from Solitary Hill Temple on the lake. He left Hangzhou without much luggage just as he had arrived three years before.

The beauty of Hangzhou haunted the poet in the following years. He wrote about his three years in Hangzhou in two poems. He was modest about his achievement in the city and a little bit worried whether the two stones he carried away from Hangzhou as souvenirs would hurt his reputation as an honest government official. When his friend Yao He was appointed as Hangzhou governor， he wrote a poem to see Yao off. It is by this poem that Bai Juyi called the lake West Lake and put it on the map of Chinese literature. After Yao ended his governorship in Hangzhou and returned， Bai held a home banquet to welcome Yao He back. It was at the party that 66-year-old Bai presented his famous poem . The poem helps make Hangzhou immortal and makes people of Hangzhou proud of Bai.

The geography changed a lot after Bais time. The dam he built was long gone. But the people of Hangzhou didnt forget him. Today， a causeway on the West Lake is called Bai Causeway， which honors Bai Juyi.