View/Open - University of Victoria
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View/Open - University of Victoria
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167<br />
temperature, effects which transform typically temperature-neutral existents into cold existents. A<br />
common example <strong>of</strong> one such “cold-by-effect” existent found in the frontier sub-genre is flags. In Cen<br />
Shen's poems, the cold environment has multiple effects on these emblems <strong>of</strong> battle and allegiances.<br />
One such effect, and certainly the more conventional <strong>of</strong> the two, is that <strong>of</strong> flags freezing in the<br />
hyperborean environment to such an extent that even the strongest <strong>of</strong> winds cannot force them to flap:<br />
纷 纷 暮 雪 下 辕 门<br />
风 挚 红 旗 冻 不 翻<br />
Evening snow falls pell-mell over the military camp's<br />
main gate,<br />
The wind pulls the red flag; frozen it does not flap.<br />
(“Song <strong>of</strong> White Snow”, lines 13-14)<br />
When focalized by the poet-narrator as frozen, static flags, and not just “flags”, the flags are able to<br />
reiterate the harshness <strong>of</strong> the landscape. 96 Similarly, in lines five to eight <strong>of</strong> “Six Paeans Presented to<br />
Military Commissioner Feng On His Victory at Boxian”, the flagpole becomes the object <strong>of</strong> a snowy<br />
rage concluding a series <strong>of</strong> hibernal images:<br />
官 军 西 出 过 楼 兰 The government's army sets out west passing Loulan, 97<br />
营 幕 傍 临 月 窟 寒 Tents pitched near moon caves 98 are cold.<br />
蒲 海 晓 霜 凝 马 尾 Early frost at Puchang lake freezes horse tails,<br />
葱 山 夜 雪 扑 旗 竿 Evening snow on Cong 99 mountain beats the flagpoles.<br />
The poet-narrators <strong>of</strong> both “Song <strong>of</strong> Snow on Tian Mountain” and “Song <strong>of</strong> White Snow”<br />
96 This image is not without its forerunners. For example Zhang Zhengjin's 张 正 见 (d. 575) “Song <strong>of</strong> Rain and Snow”<br />
(“Yu xue qu” 雨 雪 曲 ): “Hu pass, a land <strong>of</strong> hardships;/Snow roads stretch on and on./Infused with ice horse hooves<br />
stomp,/Snow mixed with rain freezes flags on their poles” 胡 关 辛 苦 地 , 雪 路 远 漫 漫 . 含 冰 踏 马 足 , 杂 雨 冻 旗 竿 . See<br />
YFSJ 24.358. There is also Yu Shiji's 虞 世 基 (d. 618) “Beyond the Frontier (second <strong>of</strong> two)” (“Chusai er shou” 出 塞 二<br />
首 ): “Snow covers the road to Tian mountain,/An icy frontier at the headwaters <strong>of</strong> Jiao river./Beacon towers cloaked in<br />
fog, dark and shapeless;/Frozen frost covered flags do not flap” 雪 暗 天 山 道 , 冰 塞 交 河 源 . 雾 烽 黯 无 色 , 霜 旗 冻 不 翻 .<br />
See YFSJ 21.320.<br />
97 Name <strong>of</strong> a country in the western territories <strong>of</strong> the Han dynasty located northeast <strong>of</strong> modern day Ruoqiang county 若 羌<br />
县 Xinjiang Autonomous Region.<br />
98 “Moon caves” (yueku 月 窟 ) are a kenning for China's western region. See note to “Song <strong>of</strong> Hot Lake”.<br />
99 Literally “Onion” mountain.