You can see that his poems are full of scientific nouns, especially concerning the transformation of cinnabar (ed. mercuric sulphide). In one poem Po Chu-i says how the blush that comes from drinking wine is more divine than the after-effects of eating the sage's cinnabar. In fact, he was trying to transform some cinnabar, only he did not dare to try it out.
有科學背景的人，讀起白居易會更有意思，你可以發現他的詩充滿了科學名詞，尤其是煉丹術，他曾經在詩中表示，喝點老酒滿面紅光，比吃仙丹更神氣，其實他本人是煉過丹的，只是沒膽試，因為當時有許多人服丹中毒。