The Poetics of Sovereignty
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99. Yanbo 煙波 usually refers to “misty waves.” I follow Wu Yun and Ji Yu in taking this line as referring to the calm of the waters following the cessation of naval warfare.
100. This refers to the beacon fires, which no longer burn with urgency now that the fighting is over.
101. As Wu Yu and Ji Yu note, this line is not clear. Qian 錢 is probably a reference to the coin-shaped budding leaves of the elm tree, and yu 榆 is probably a reference to “Elm Pass”
in Northern Hebei, the beginning point of the Sui Great Wall. The line would seem to describe the flourishing of the elm trees following the war.
102. Xincheng 新城 was located on the borders of Koguryŏ. “Willow Barrier,” as Wu Yun
and Ji Yu suggest, refers to Willow County in Yingzhou 營州, which served as the staging point for Taizong’s 645 campaign. See Zizhi tongjian, 197.6218.
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The Writing of Imperial Poetry in Medieval China
195
Flowers are sparse in the snow on Onion Ridge,
花稍蔥嶺雪，103
Crepe-like smoke fades to haze on the flowing sands. 縠盡流沙霧。104
In “autumn driving” I turn more fearful and anxious, 秋駕轉兢懷，105
Over “spring ice” I feel deepening concerns.
春冰彌軫慮。106
War missives have ceased from the “dragon council,” 書絕龍庭羽，107
Beacon-fires have ended from phoenix-cave garrisons. 烽休鳳穴戍。108
Dressing at night, I retire the “Two Difficulties,”
衣宵寢二難，109
Dining late, I take as my repast the “Three Fears.”
食旰餐三懼。110
[rhyme:
遇 nguoH and 御 nguoH]
Decreasing violence, I restore what was abandoned, 翦暴興先廢，
Ridding the noxious, I preserve what had been lost.
除凶存昔亡。
The round canopies revert to Heaven’s embrace,
圓蓋歸天懷，111
The “square carriage” becomes our outer lands.
方輿入地荒。112
—————
103. Onion Ridge is part of the Kunlun Mountains; not surprisingly, onions grow on it. See Shuijing zhushu, 2.78. I follow the Wenyuan yinghua variant of shao 稍 instead of xiao 銷.
104. Hu 縠 (literally “crepe”) is being used here as a figure for the smoke and dust of battle.
105. “Autumn driving” ( qiu jia 秋駕) is a figure for governing the state. The term first appears (somewhat enigmatically) in the Lüshi chunqiu. See Lüshi chunqiu xinjiaoshi, 24.5.1628.
106. “Spring ice” ( chun bing 春冰) refers to the thinning ice in the spring thaw. Both this figure and that of “autumn driving” are used by Wang Rong 王融 (467–93) in his “Preface for Poems Composed on the Third Month, Third Day, by the Winding River” 三月三日
曲水詩序, preserved in Wen xuan, 46.2058.
107. This is literally the “dragon-council feathered proclamations” ( longting yu 龍庭羽), which refers to the war proclamations from the Xiongnu leaders. The term “dragon-council” refers to the site where Xiongnu leaders gathered to make sacrifices to the spirits.
See the commentary in Hou Han shu, 23.815–16.
108. “Phoenix-cave” ( fengxue 鳳穴) is a figure for a place or age in which talented men are gathered. See, for example, the naming of the Western Jin literary talents in Zhou shu, 41.743 and Bei shi, 83.2778.
109. The “Two Difficulties” are described by Zichan as follows: “the populace’s ire is difficult to go against; the monopolization of personal authority is difficult to achieve” 眾怒
難犯，專欲難成. See Zuo zhuan, Duke Xiang, 10th year / Chunqiu Zuo zhuan, p. 981.
110. The “Three Fears” are enumerated in the Han Shi waizhuan 韓詩外傳 as (1) occupying a position of power and not being willing to hear one’s faults; (2) gaining one’s ambitions and being arrogant; and (3) knowing the Way but not being able to put it into practice. See Han Ying 韓嬰 (ca. 200–120 bc), Han Shi waizhuan jinzhu jinyi, 7.295.
111. That is, the nomadic tribes return their allegiance to the Tang. I follow the Wenyuan yinghua variant huai 懷 instead of rang 壤.
112. The “square carriage” ( fangyu 方輿) is a figure for the world. “Explicating the Trigrams” 說卦 in the Classic of Changes explains the trigram kun 坤 as “earth” ( di 地), This content downloaded from 129.174.21.5 on Sat, 20 Jul 2019 13:01:45 UTC
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The great sea serves as a moat for the capital,
孔海池京邑，113
The paired rivers act as a pool for the imperial lands. 雙河沼帝鄉。114
Reflecting upon my person, I long to rouse myself,
循躬思勵己，
Investigating my subjects’ welfare, I am embarrassed 撫俗愧時康。115
to claim an age of great peace.
[rhyme: 陽 yang and 唐 dang]
As the head of state, I stockpile “salt and plum,”
元首佇鹽梅，116
As thighs and arms, I consider my assistants.
股肱惟輔弼。
“Feathered” worthies are like the four at Mt. Kong,
羽賢崆嶺四，117
“Winged” sages are like the seven at Xiangcheng.
翼聖襄城七。118
Perfidious customs, I hope, will revert to sincerity,
澆俗庶反淳，
Replace ornateness, and now, go towards substance. 替文聊就質。
Already I know to revere the Perfect Way,
已知隆至道，
Altogether we will delight in Heaven and Earth’s
共歡區宇一。
unity.
[rhyme:
質 tsyet]
—————
which is in turn explained as the “great carriage” ( dayu 大輿). See Zhou yi zhengyi, 9.83a, in Shisanjing zhushu, p. 95.
113. The “great sea,” following Wu Yun and Ji Yu, refers to the Han Sea 瀚海 (Lake Baikal, also called “North Sea” 北海 in Tang times), which is located north of Mongolia, in Rus-sia. It seems to me that this could also refer to the Yellow Sea, which would be more appropriate in this context.
114. Wu Yun and Ji Yu suggest that the “paired rivers” are two rivers found in Xiongnu territory. There is a mention of shuanghe 雙河 in the account of the Turks in Jiu Tang shu, 194B.5186. I would propose taking this as rivers found in the far northeast.
115. The poet Wang Can uses this phrase in his “Inscription on Wuyi Bell” 無射鐘銘:
“Auspicious omens occur according to the seasons; the people say it is an age of great peace” 休徵時序，人說時康. See Quan Hou Han wen 全後漢文, 91.7a, in Quan
Shanggu Sandai Qin Han Sanguo Liuchao wen, p. 966a.
116. “Salt and plum” ( yanmei 鹽梅) are figures for worthy officials, who help season the
“broth of government.” This is an allusion to the “Charge to Yue (Part Three)” 說命(下); see Shang shu zhengyi, 10.14.63c, in Shisanjing zhushu, p. 175.
117. Mount Kong (Kongtong 崆峒 or 空桐) is the region beneath the Northern Dipper;
the four stars are the handle of the Dipper. See Erya zhushu, 7.9.50b, in Shisanjing zhushu, p. 2616. “Feathered” and “winged” (in the following line) are metaphors for “assisting” or
“supporting.”
118. “Xiangcheng’s seven” alludes to the Zhuangzi story in which the Yellow Thearch and six other sages go to visit the Great Clod but lose their way at Xiangcheng. They encounter a young horse herder, who, when pressed, says that governing the empire must be like herding horses—“get rid of that which h
arms horses, and that’s all” 去其害馬者而已.
See Zhuangzi jishi, 24.830–33.
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The Writing of Imperial Poetry in Medieval China
197
If Taizong’s version of “Watering Horses” is a paean to Tang military vic-
tories over the northwestern border nations, “Grasping the Tally” extends
that triumphalist theme to the northeast. However, whereas Taizong had
reason to boast of his successes over the Turks, his representation of suc-
cess on the Korean peninsula is ideological fantasy, one that recalls the
poetic seductions of Sui Yangdi. The unification of the earth under Tang
sovereignty would not occur during his reign—nor needless to say, under
the reign of any Chinese emperor—but the act of poetic composition al-
lows the poet success in that which reality denies.
Following the rhyme-scheme, the long poem can be divided into five
stanzas of eight lines. In the first stanza with its departing-tone rhyme, the
sovereign sets off to bring peace to the unsettled borders of the empire.
The tally mentioned in the first line of the poem would normally be the
emperor’s token of authority, which was granted to the military general to
act in the emperor’s name. Here, because the bearer of the tally is Taizong
himself, the object signifies the authority of Heaven itself, the sign that
identifies the campaign as one of just cause and not an aggressive act of
expansionism. This claim is reinforced in the second couplet, which
moves from the light of the fortress torches to the sunlight that shines
down upon the scene. The war itself is over by the third couplet, and Tai-
zong returns to governing by non-action.
In the second stanza, marked by a shift to a level-tone rhyme, Taizong
celebrates his successful pacification, describing the withdrawal of military
power ( wu) and the exaltation of the civilizing process ( wen). The smoke and soot of the battle scenes now lift, returning the world to its former natural beauty; the soldiers on the frontiers are able to put away their weapons.
Taizong surveys the vast space of the barriers and borderlands in the eighth
and ninth couplets, noting how the wintry frontier scenes have been re-
placed by the promise of spring. Here, we encounter the kind of tropologi-
cal reversal that a conscript would never be allowed to experience, since the
soldier’s hardships at the frontier and his longing for the spring that never
reaches into the cold borderlands are evidence of his fortitude and sense of
duty. The emperor who restores peace, on the other hand, is allowed to en-
joy the scene of spring that corresponds to his enlightened rule.
Yet, at this point, in the third stanza, Taizong is consumed by inward
anxieties, by the private worries of the dedicated sovereign. Spring may
have come to the frontiers, but the good emperor now thinks of the thin-
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The Writing of Imperial Poetry in Medieval China
ness of spring ice, of the dangers that still lurk throughout the empire. This
new tension is marked by a return to a departing-tone rhyme. If imminent
violence and disorder are no longer the most pressing concerns, Taizong
nevertheless thinks on how the pursuit of sagely rulership never permits re-
laxation even for a moment. In the twelfth couplet, he describes how he ris-
es during the dark hours before dawn to address the “Two Difficulties,”
and how he works late into the night, vexed by the “Three Fears.”
In the fourth stanza, which turns back to a level-tone rhyme, Taizong
assesses his accomplishments. The Tang empire may enjoy unprecedented
power, with all the world paying tribute to Tang sovereignty, but the em-
peror is still “embarrassed” by how little he has accomplished. Imperial re-
solve is rekindled in the fifth stanza, which is marked by an entering-tone
rhyme. Taizong ends the poem not with a claim of achievement, but with
a declaration of his aims, stating how he will now replace ornateness with
substance and “revere the Perfect Way,” so that all within the empire will
delight in the lasting peace.
A Hunting Poem
What is striking about “Grasping the Tally” is the way in which it imag-
ines the restoration of sagely rulership—a concern that we have seen in
Taizong’s prose writings and public documents. The distance between the
sagely past and the flawed present was the central problem for Taizong’s
conception of sovereignty, and if it was hubristic to claim sagehood, Tai-
zong would nevertheless seek to identify himself with the sage-kings’ leg-
acy. Within the discourse of poetry, the representation of sagehood could
be constructed from other, more literary, echoes than the dense classicist
allusions of “Grasping the Tally.” In the following poem, Taizong revisits
the Han rhapsodic tradition:
Going Out Hunting 出獵119
The Chu king had Cloud Dream Marsh,
楚王雲夢澤，
The Han emperor had Tall Poplar Palace.
漢帝長楊宮。120
—————
119. See Chuxue ji, 22.300; Ji Yougong 計有功 (1121–61), comp., Tang shi jishi, 1.5; Quan Tang shi, 1.6–7; and Tang Taizong quanji jiaozhu, pp. 38–40. For another translation, see Wilhelm and Knechtges, “T’ang T’ai-tsung’s Poetry,” pp. 8–9.
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The Writing of Imperial Poetry in Medieval China
199
But how can they compare to using the farmers’
豈若因農暇，121
slack
season,
To inspect troops out at Mts. Huan and Song?
閱武出轘嵩。122
I deploy crack troops in a three-sided battu,
三驅陳銳卒，
I array outstanding men like the Seven Squads.
七萃列材雄。123
In cold fields the frosty vapors are white,
寒野霜氛白，
On the level plain the burning fires are red.
平原燒火紅。
With carved lances and arrows in Xia quivers,
琱戈夏服箭，
Plumed riders carry deep green bows.
羽騎綠沈弓。
Scared beasts take cover in secluded ravines,
怖獸潛幽壑，
Startled birds scatter into the azure void.
驚禽散翠空。
Long smoke-trails are dimmed in the falling light,
長煙晦落景，
Clustered trees shake in the pressing wind.
灌木振嚴風。
What I do is to eliminate the people’s banes;
所為除民瘼，
It is not to delight in wood and grove.
非是悅林叢。
This is a poem about the imperial hunt and fittingly, Taizong opens with
a pair of allusions to the hunting grounds celebrated in Han rhapsodies.
Yet Taizong does so only to criticize the Han emperors for undertaking
their extravagant, massive hunts rega
rdless of season and cost. By contrast,
he claims that he will take advantage of the “farmers’ slack season”—the
time of the year when the farmers are relatively inactive—so as not to in-
terfere with the cycle of planting and harvest. Furthermore, he casts the
—————
120. “Cloud Dream Marsh” was the hunting preserve of the Chu kings, as immortalized in Sima Xiangru’s “Rhapsody of Master Emptiness.” “Tall Poplar Palace” is a reference to Yang Xiong’s “Rhapsody on Tall Poplar Palace” 長楊賦.
121. Taizong probably means that he is taking advantage of a respite in the farmers’ seasonal activities to go hunting, so that his hunt does not disturb farming activity or the people he conscripts into serving during the hunt are not neglecting their own fields.
122. Mt. Huan is also called Mt. Huanyuan 轘轅. Mt. Song is the central peak of the Five Marchmounts ( wuyue 五岳), each of which is identified with one of the five regions of China (north, south, east, west, center). Both Mts. Huan and Song are located near Luoyang, in modern-day Henan Province.
123. I follow Knechtges’ explanation of the sanqu 三驅 here. The term is first used in the Classic of Changes, and later taken up in Ban Gu’s “Two Capitals Rhapsody.” It refers to the practice of hunters driving their prey into a formation with one open side, so as to allow a certain percentage of animals to survive. See Knechtges, trans., Wen xuan, or Selections of Refined Literature, vol. 1, p. 160. The “Seven Squads” ( qicui 七萃) is the name for the Zhou kings’ imperial guards, as used in the Mu Tianzi zhuan 穆天子傳 ( Account of Mu, Son of Heaven). See Gu Shi, annot., Mu Tianzi zhuan xizheng jiangshu, 1.2.
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entire hunting enterprise as a military inspection, a service for the public
good, and not a private indulgence. Of course, such a characterization of