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10<br />
white in hot climates (baicao 白 草 ). The following outline 34 derives particulars from frontier themed<br />
poems <strong>of</strong> the High Tang 35 (shengtang 盛 唐 ) period which include specific place names pertinent in<br />
delineating the northern frontier. The aim <strong>of</strong> such a sketch is to familiarize the reader with physically<br />
and temporarily distant locales common in frontier poetry as they relate to contemporary geographical<br />
realities, and is by no means an exhaustive list <strong>of</strong> every town, region or topographical feature <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Tang frontier.<br />
The northeastern region <strong>of</strong> the Tang frontier can be visualized as having encompassed the Liao<br />
river basin ( 辽 河 流 域 ) <strong>of</strong> modern Liaoning province, Yingzhou 36 营 州 (west <strong>of</strong> Jinzhou in Liaoning<br />
province), Jimen 蓟 门 (modern Jixian county 蓟 县 north <strong>of</strong> Tianjin 天 津 ), and Youzhou 幽 州 (near<br />
Beijing's Daxing county 大 兴 县 ), the latter having been both an important transportation junction in<br />
the northeast and an area <strong>of</strong>ten alluded to in frontier poetry as having produced an great number <strong>of</strong><br />
martial talents. Gao Shi's “Song <strong>of</strong> Yingzhou” (“Yingzhou ge” 营 州 歌 ) presents a captivating vignette<br />
<strong>of</strong> Yingzhou's residents and their seemingly superhuman skills in both imbibing and equestrianism 37 :<br />
营 州 少 年 厌 原 野<br />
皮 裘 蒙 茸 猎 城 下<br />
虏 酒 千 钟 不 醉 人<br />
The young men <strong>of</strong> Yingzhou are content with the wild plains,<br />
In fuzzy fur garments they hunt below the citadel.<br />
Lu 38 wine, a thousand goblets, does not intoxicate,<br />
34 The following is a condensed lesson in frontier geography adapted from Ren Wenjing's Tangdai biansaishi de wenhua<br />
chanshi, pp. 132-139.<br />
35 In this instance, poems authored by Wang Changling 王 昌 龄 (690-756), Gao Shi (706-765) and Cen Shen 岑 参 (715-<br />
770).<br />
36 A footnote to Gao Shi's “Song <strong>of</strong> Yingzhou (“Yingzhou ge” 营 州 歌 ) remarks that Yingzhou had both Han and Qidan 契<br />
丹 (a non-Chinese ethnic group <strong>of</strong> the northeast) inhabitants, and that the people <strong>of</strong> Yingzhou were especially gallant<br />
and embodied a strong martial spirit. See GSJJZ, p. 37.<br />
37 The poem is also a powerful example <strong>of</strong> one variant <strong>of</strong> frontier poetry: poems detailing the customs and culture <strong>of</strong> non-<br />
Chinese peoples living in frontier regions. This and other features <strong>of</strong> frontier poetry will be discussed in the following<br />
two chapters.<br />
38 Term for northern, non-Chinese peoples.