It was later made a temple, and was clearly
abandoned
by the time Du Fu saw it.
Du Fu - 5
I know not what royal palace this was, 4 edifice abandoned beneath the sheer cliff.
In shadowy chambers ghost-fires are green,5 mournful rivulets pour over broken roadways.
The myriad vents are the true ocarinas,6 8 autumn colors are at their most brisk and aloof.
Its fair women have become the brown earth, still more, their artifice of powder and mascara.
Waiting on the golden carriage back then, 12 of the former things there are only the stone horses.
Cares come, I smooth down the grass and sit, sing out loud, tears filling my open hands.
1 This refers to the expedition of Zhou King Mu to meet the Queen Mother of the West, who feasted him at Alabaster Pool in the Kunlun Mountains.
2 That is, the extravagance of Sui Yangdi can been seen in the ornament of the ruins, which serve as evidence of why the Sui fell.
3 The ?
hunt?
was a euphemism for an emperor in flight from his capital.
Mount Taibai was close to Fengxiang, Suzong?
s temporary capital.
4 Yuhua Palace had been constructed in 647 for Taizong as a summer palace to escape the heat of Chang?
an.
It was later made a temple, and was clearly abandoned by the time Du Fu saw it. 5 These are will-o-the-wisps. 6 The ? myriad vents,? wanlai ? ? , are those described in Zhuangzi, the holes on the earth whose sounds are the piping of Nature. These are opposed to the ? ocarinas,? the sheng and yu, reed organs of a Chinese orchestra. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 328 ? ? ? ? ? ?
It was later made a temple, and was clearly abandoned by the time Du Fu saw it. 5 These are will-o-the-wisps. 6 The ? myriad vents,? wanlai ? ? , are those described in Zhuangzi, the holes on the earth whose sounds are the piping of Nature. These are opposed to the ? ocarinas,? the sheng and yu, reed organs of a Chinese orchestra. Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM 328 ? ? ? ? ? ?
