View/Open - University of Victoria

95
(lines 5-10)
The poem now moves to differentiate itself from the conventional, heavily militarized army
encampment where responses to frontier life and service might be made by presenting a gathering
infused with elements of the local cultural atmosphere despite being held in a Chinese military
headquarters:
暖 屋 绣 帘 红 地 炉
织 成 壁 衣 花 氍 毹
灯 前 侍 婢 泻 玉 壶
In a warm room, embroidered blinds and red braziers,
Patterned rugs woven as wall hangings.
Before the lamps, maid servants pour from jade flasks,
金 铛 乱 点 野 酡
219
酥 A fluster 220 among gold plates for the wild camel 221
mincemeat.
(lines 11-14)
These four lines form the locus of the poem 222 when read through the facet of the frontier subgenre's
thematic prism of displays of local people and customs. Two elements in particular underscore such a
reading: the patterned rug wall hangings, 223 a visual indication of the local culture, and wild camel
meats, a gastronomical expression of the region. By narrowing his focal beam at these items, the poetnarrator
enhances the “outside” frontier cultural presence “inside” the Chinese governed world of the
army camp, and in doing so discloses the concomitant existence of two worlds. The non-Chinese half
of the binary, however, is mute in this case, and only a material manifestation of itself. But this
219
The CSJJZ suspects that this character should be read as “ 驼 ”; the intended “ 驼 ”was led to the erroneous
“ 酡 ”during the printing process by way of the proceeding character's radical (the 酉 of 酥 ) having exerted a reverse
influence on “ 驼 ”. See CSJJZ, p. 166.
220
Describes a scene of chopsticks clashing towards bowls to pick up morsels of food (Ibid., 166). Chan translates 乱 点 as
“sparkles” though I prefer the suggestion provided by the CSJJZ and read 乱 点 as the miniature, chaotic swarm of
clicking chopsticks deflecting off bowls and plates.
221
Chan translates 野 [ 驼 ] 酥 as “rustic delicacies”. I've chosen to be more literal in order to bring out the local flavour (pun
unintended) of the western frontier. See also the previously cited section of “Written After Getting Drunk at a Banquet
Held By the Prefect of Jiuquan” ( “Jiuquan Taishou xishang jiuhouzuo” 酒 泉 太 守 席 上 醉 后 作 ) for another instance of
fine camel dining.
222
The poem continues with a delightfully decadent description of slaves, singers and slender fingers casting gambling
dice. Since these passages do not contribute to arresting examples of local peoples and culture in frontier poetry, I've
chosen to omit them in this section.
223
The translation unfortunately does not convey the fact that these “patterned rugs” (qushu 氍 毹 ) were representative
products of the western region in ancient China.