by Chen Jack W
馬革報疆場。75
Whereas Yangdi’s poem sought to convey the dramatic feeling of the fron-
tier, Houzhu’s poem is a strange work of aesthetic fascination, which is
heightened by the use of a level-tone rhyme throughout the short piece.
The moment that the war-horse enters the borderlands in the opening line,
it is lost in the vision of shining flowers, the horse’s own shadow, and the
moon’s somber light. The perfume of the flowers and the sound of the au-
tumn wind complement the other sensory experiences, letting the poem
descend into a kind of aesthetic fascination, one bound up with the south-
ern stylistic mode. It is only at the end of the poem that Houzhu makes any
reference to public duty, and then he does so with an abruptness that cuts
against the level rhymes. The “horsehide coffins” ( mage 馬革) refers to the
practice of burying the war-dead in the skins of their horses upon the bat-
tlefield. Thus, the horse that begins the poem as a thing of beauty will be-
come a flayed skin for the soldier’s corpse at the end, reminding the reader
of how death is the inescapable fate of the brave and loyal conscript.
While Yangdi’s version of the frontier poem may represent an imperial
countertext to Houzhu’s poetic seduction, it is important to note the Sui
emperor also embraced the last Chen emperor’s oeuvre. Yangdi paid
homage to Chen Houzhu by writing new lyrics to the Chen emperor’s
“Spring, River, Flower, Moon, Night” 春江花月夜.76 Yangdi wants to
have both worlds, to speak in the poetic registers of Northern and South-
ern Dynasties. For a mere poet, this would be no serious problem. How-
ever, for a poet who is also emperor, this is a profound problem. The po-
etic desire to inhabit that other world and life—other to the morally
normative conception of sovereignty—is what leaves Yangdi open to later
historiographic charges that he failed in his role as sovereign. It is perhaps
—————
75. I follow the text preserved in Yuefu shiji, 28.558. Also see Wenyuan yinghua, 209.1037a (which has a couple of variant characters); and Xian Qin Han Wei Jin Nanbeichao shi, pp. 2508–9.
76. Guo Maoqian gives the origin of this yuefu title as a song composed by Chen Houzhu, following the attribution in the “Treatise on Music” 樂志 of the Jiu Tang shu. Houzhu’s version no longer exists. See Yuefu shiji, 47.678.
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190
The Writing of Imperial Poetry in Medieval China
because of Yangdi’s capacity for poetic fantasy that he would become vili-
fied in normative historical writings and scandal-raking works of fiction.77
Tang Taizong and the Northern Style
Tang Taizong could not have been unaware of Yangdi’s minatory exam-
ple, especially since Wei Zheng had overseen the compilation of the Sui
dynastic history. Yet many of Tang Taizong’s poems do not constitute a
radical break from the poetry of Sui Yangdi. After all, the southern court
poetic style could not be ignored by any imperial poet desiring to demon-
strate his literary sophistication, and without a real poetic alternative, it
was perhaps inevitable that Taizong would try his hand at the mainstream
style. Taizong’s real literary achievement, and one might argue, his origi-
nality, lay in his realization that poetry as a public text could manifest the
sovereign’s self-figuration and representation. His poems are marked by a
density of historical and classical allusion that speaks to the imperial de-
sire to represent the sovereign and the newly founded dynasty in such a
way that it would conform to the traditional models of the sage-kings in
high antiquity and the celebrated rulers of the past.
Nevertheless, a number of poems celebrate Taizong’s martial accom-
plishments in a recognizably “northern” poetic register, one that looks to
the barren landscapes of the northwestern frontier as evocative of un-
adorned, heroic virtue. Among them is Taizong’s own version of “A Song
of Watering Horses by the Great Wall,”78 which reads:
Beyond the frontier, sad winds cut to the bone,
塞外悲風切，
Atop of the Jiao River, ice has already formed.
交河冰已結。79
On Han Sea, there are a hundred folds of waves,
瀚海百重波，80
And across Yin Mountain, a thousand li of snow.
陰山千里雪。81
—————
77. Fictional histories such as the seventeenth-century Sui Yangdi yanshi 隋煬帝艷史
( The Sensuous History of Sui Yangdi), written under the pseudonym Qidongyeren 齊東野
人, exult in his supposed indiscretions. Even modern Chinese histories of Yangdi’s reign tend to be quite critical of almost all aspects of his life. For a typical vilifying biography of Yangdi, see Han Guopan, Sui Yangdi.
78. For texts, see Wenyuan yinghua, 209.1037b; Yuefu shiji, 38.559; Quan Tang shi, 1.3; and Tang Taizong quanji jiaozhu, pp. 14–16.
79. Jiao River 交河 is located near Turfan in modern-day Xinjiang.
80. Han Sea 瀚海 refers here to the desert regions of the northwest.
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The Writing of Imperial Poetry in Medieval China
191
At a faraway garrison, the warning beacon fire burns, 迥戍危烽火，
Across layered ridges are brought long banners.
層巒引高節。82
[rhyme:
屑 sat / 薛 sat]
In the remote distance furl the flags and banners,
悠悠卷旆旌，
Watering horses, they depart from the Great Wall. 飲馬出長城。
On cold sands stretch unbroken cavalry tracks,
寒沙連騎迹，
The north wind’s gusts interrupt border sounds.
朔吹斷邊聲。
Turkish dust is cleared off from Jade Gate Pass,
胡塵清玉塞，83
The Qiang flute harmonizes with the metal gong.
羌笛韻金鉦。
[rhyme: 清 tscheing]
To the ends of the desert, weapons are stored away, 絕漠干戈戢，
Wagons and infantry rumble across plain and marsh. 車徒振原隰。
The military commander returns to Dragon Mounds, 都尉反龍堆，84
The general turns to go back to Horse Town.
將軍旋馬邑。85
Lifting high the standard, the evil fog is calmed,
揚麾氛霧靜，
Carved on stone, meritorious names are established. 紀石功名立。
In wilderness borderlands, once armor was donned— 荒裔一戎衣，86
—————
81. The Yin Mountains lie across the center of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
82. Here gaojie 高節 refers to the long banner often carried by envoys and diplomatic representatives. An earlier example of this usage is found in Northern Wei Xuanwudi 北魏宣武
帝 (r. 499–515), “Edict Bestowing a Posthumous Honorific on Li Mi” 冊諡李謐詔. See
Quan Hou Wei wen, 10.6, in Quan Shanggu Sandai Qin Han Sanguo Liuchao wen, p. 3564b.
83. Jade Gate Pass (usually 玉門關; here 玉塞) is a strategic pass to the Western Regions, located near Dunhuang in mo
dern-day Gansu.
84. Dragon Mounds 龍堆 or White Dragon Mounds 白龍堆 names a dune located in
modern-day Xinjiang, near the Heavenly Mountains’ southern road. In the Han dynasty, this name referred to the Loulan 樓蘭 kingdom. The “military commander” might refer
to Fu Jiezi 傅介子, who assassinated the king of Loulan in order to place a more Han-
friendly king on their throne. See Shi ji, 20.1060; and Han shu, 7.230.
85. This is a city located in the northern part of modern-day Shanxi. During Han Wudi’s reign, the figure of the “general” probably refers to Wang Hui 王恢, who attempted to ambush and trap the Xiongnu shanyu at Horse Town, thereby putting an end to the Xiongnu’s perception of Han military weakness. However, the Xiongnu leader discovered the plot and evaded the trap. Wang Hui elected not to pursue the Xiongnu and was subsequently sentenced to death. See Shi ji, 108.2861–63. Although the scheme was not a military success, it nevertheless put an end to the humiliating treaty that bound the Han and the Xiongnu.
86. The reference to donning armor is to the chapter “The War Successfully Concluded” 武
成 in the Classic of Documents, which reads: “Once armor was donned, the world was greatly settled” 一戎衣，天下大定. See Shang shu zhengyi, 11.73a, in Shisanjing zhushu, p. 185.
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192
The Writing of Imperial Poetry in Medieval China
Under the Cloudy Terrace they enter, singing songs 雲臺凱歌入。87
of
victory.
[rhyme:
緝 tschep]
The poem may be divided, according to its rhyme scheme, into stanzas of
six, six, and eight lines. The first six lines employ entering-tone rhymes,
which convey the urgency and peril of the frontier situation. Once the
Tang armies appear on the scene in the next six lines, the rhyme shifts to a
level-tone rhyme, anticipating the pacification of the lands. The last eight
lines return to an entering-tone rhyme, but now it reflects the martial tri-
umph of the soldiers as they return to the capital.
Like Yangdi, Taizong works largely within the conventional imagery of
the northwestern frontiers. However, whereas Yangdi had spoken in the
voice of a conscript, Taizong seems to narrate the scene at a remove,
speaking as the omniscient emperor who sees the military victory unfold-
ing from far away. It is true, of course, that Chinese poetic grammar does
not mark subjective positions, and it is possible to render the closing cou-
plet as “In wilderness borderlands, we once donned armor / Under the
Cloudy Terrace we enter, singing songs of victory.” However, Taizong’s
poetic speaker is not in the poetic scene in the same way as Yangdi’s, who
asks, “Thousands of miles—and for what do we march?” or even that of
Chen Houzhu, who asks, “How can I repay my emperor?” One might criti-
cize Taizong’s poem for being somewhat static, lacking the pathos and im-
mediacy that a more straightforward version of the yuefu topic might have
held. Nevertheless, in the avoidance of the topic’s conventional persona,
Taizong is transforming the repertoire of the yuefu poem. That is, while
Taizong is not interested in the conventional voice of the conscript, he is
interested in the voice of the emperor, which is a conventional voice in its
own right—though not one that just any poet can assume.
The coincidence of Taizong’s own identity and the voice of his poetic
speaker suggests that the poem should not be read through the shared po-
etic repertoire of yuefu, but in the historicizing and self-expressive mode
of shi poetry. Indeed, Wu Yun and Ji Yu, the editors of the modern edi-
—————
87. I follow the Wenyuan yinghua and Yuefu shiji, which both have the variant of yun 雲
instead of ling 靈. The “Cloudy Terrace” 雲臺 is where portraits of outstanding officials and generals were painted during the Eastern Han. See Hou Han shu, 24.851. The Quan Tang shi reads “Divine Terrace” 靈臺, referring to the structure erected by King Wen of Zhou.
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The Writing of Imperial Poetry in Medieval China
193
tion of Taizong’s collected works, propose the date of 630 for the poem’s
composition, arguing that the poem seems to speak of the military victory
over the Eastern Turks in the fourth year of Taizong’s reign.88 In another
poem on a similar topic, the question of historicity is unambiguous. This
poem has been dated to 645 by Wu Yun and Ji Yu, and if the dating is
correct, it would describe Taizong’s first, failed Korean expedition, which
took place by land and sea.89 The poem reads:
Grasping the Tally, I Calm the Three Borders 執契靜三邊90
Grasping the tally, I calm the three borders,
執契靜三邊，91
Holding the balance, I govern the myriad surnames. 持衡臨萬姓。92
A jade radiance shines from the fortress torches,
玉彩輝關燭，
A golden splendor flows from the day’s mirror.
金華流日鏡。93
With non-action the universe is rendered pure,
無為宇宙清，
Having excellence, the armillary sphere is balanced. 有美璇璣正。94
—————
88. See Tang Taizong quanji jiaozhu, p. 15, n1.
89. On the 645 campaign, see Graff, Medieval Chinese Warfare, pp. 195–98.
90. See Quan Tang shi, 1.3; and Tang Taizong quanji jiaozhu, pp. 16–19.
91. In Han times, the phrase “three borders” referred to those shared with the Xiongnu, Southern Yue, and Chaoxian nations, but here refers to the western, eastern, and northern borders.
92. “Holding the balance” is an abbreviation for chiheng yongxuan 持衡擁璇, which means to hold the reins of power. Heng and Xuan refer respectively to Yuheng 玉衡 (the four stars of the North Dipper) and Xuanji 璇璣 (the handle of the Dipper) or to Yuheng (the star Alioth) and Tianxuan 天璇 (the star Merak). The phrase is used in Li Delin 李
德林 (530–90) and Li Boyao, comps., Bei Qi shu, 4.48. In a more general discussion of the Big Dipper’s significance in traditional China, Edward H. Schafer notes, “In a grand sense the Dipper presided over the welfare of the state and its sovereign.” See Schafer, Pacing the Void, p. 49.
93. The “day’s mirror” is a figure for the sun. The phrase also occurs in Wei shu, 21B.576; 98.2181.
94. The phrase you mei 有美 is somewhat odd, though possible sources are not hard to find. For example, the “Record Examining the Artisans” 考工記 has the line, “Heaven has its seasons; earth has its ethers; materials have their excellences; and artisans have their crafts” 天有時，地有氣，材有美，工有巧. See Zhou li zhushu, 39.268a, in Shisanjing
zhushu, p. 906. For Taizong, mei may denote meide 美德, or “beautiful virtue.” It is possible that xuanji 璇璣 refers not to the armillary sphere, but to the names of the stars Merak and Phecda, which compose the bottom of the Dipper’s shape. They were known to the
Chinese respectively as Tianxuan 天璇 and Tianji 天璣.
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194
The Writing of Imperial Poetry in Medieval China
Shining pendants are lik
e “the star that joins luster,” 皎佩星連景，95
Flapping clothes bring “clouds of converging felicity.” 飄衣雲結慶。96
[rhyme:
勁 keingH / 敬 keingH]
I withdraw martial force: the Seven Virtues shine,
戢武耀七德，97
I exalt cultural power: the Nine Merits are radiant.
升文輝九功。98
Smoky waves wash clean to their former sapphire,
煙波澄舊碧，99
Sooty beacon fires cease from their earlier red.
塵火息前紅。100
In frosted wilds, they sheathe lotus-carved swords,
霜野韜蓮劍，
On barrier walls, they put away moon-shaped bows. 關城罷月弓。
Coin-leaves thick, Elm Pass and Heaven are joined, 錢綴榆天合，101
At Xincheng, Willow Barrier stands empty.
新城柳塞空。102
[rhyme:
東 tung]
—————
95. The “star that joins luster” is more commonly referred to as the “Lustrous Star” 景星, an auspicious star thought to herald an age of peace. See Wang Liqi, annot., Wenzi shuyi, 2.62.
96. The “clouds of converging auspice” are better known as “felicitous clouds” 慶雲 or
“Five Color Clouds” 五色雲. See Liezi jishi, 5.175.
97. The “Seven Virtues” are enumerated in the Zuo zhuan as follows: (1) “ending violence”
( jin bao 禁暴); (2) “withdrawing troops” ( ji bing 戢兵); (3) “preserving the state” ( bao da 保
大); (4) “establishing merit” ( ding gong 定功); (5) “securing the people” ( an min 安民); (6)
“harmonizing the populace” ( he zhong 和眾); and (7) “making plentiful material wealth”
( feng cai 豐財). See Zuo zhuan, Duke Xuan 宣公, 12th year / Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu, pp.
745–46.
98. The “Nine Merits” are described in the “Plans of Great Yu” 大禹謨 chapter of the
Classic of Documents. They are divided between the “six stores” ( liu fu 六府) of water, fire, metal, wood, earth, and grain, and the “three matters” ( san shi 三事) of “rectifying virtue”
( zheng de 正德), “facilitating goods” ( li yong 利用), and “letting flourish life” ( hou sheng 厚生). See Shang shu zhengyi, 4.23a, in Shisanjing zhushu, p. 135.
