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In addition to these visual perceptions, nostalgia for home was also triggered in both Tang and pre-
Tang frontier poetry by aural elements of the borderland setting, such as the sounds of non-Chinese
music:
胡 笳 落 泪 曲
10
羌 笛 断 肠 歌
Tunes from Hu pipes cause tears to fall,
Songs from Qiang flutes break one's heart.
(Yu Xin, “Imitation: Singing My Feelings”, seven of twenty-seven, lines 3-4)
秦 中 花 鸟 已 应 阑 In Qin the season of birds and flowers is surely over now,
塞 外 风 沙 犹 自 寒 Here past the frontier the wind and sand are still
bitterly cold.
夜 听 胡 笳 折 杨 柳 By night we listen to Hu flutes play 'Snapping the Willow
Branch' 11 ,
12
教 人 气 尽 忆 长 安 It makes a man's bold spirit fail and think of Chang'an. 13
(Wang Han, “Song of Liangzhou”, lines 5-8)
酒 泉 太 守 能 剑 舞
高 堂 置 酒 夜 击 鼓
胡 笳 一 曲 断 人 肠
15
座 上 相 看 泪 如 雨
The Prefect of Jiuquan 14 is able to do the sword dance,
In the main hall cups of wine are set out and drums are
played throughout the night.
As soon as Hu pipes play a tune everyone's heart breaks;
Seated down and looking at one another, tears fall like rain.
(Cen Shen, “Written After Getting Drunk at a Banquet Held by the Prefect of Jiuquan”)
Aside from nostalgia inducing northern winds, desolate deserts and lachrymose music,
homesickness in frontier poetry could also be transmitted by less imagistic means, such as letters from
home. Although more practical than later sentimental usages, the exchange of letters in Chen Lin's
10
“Ni Yonghuai” 拟 咏 怀 by Yu Xin 庾 信 (513-581). See Yu Zishan ji 庾 子 山 集 3.42 in SKQS.
11
“Snapping the Willow” (“Zheyangliu” 折 杨 柳 ) is a yuefu title. The snapping and presentation of a willow branch was a
gesture made at parting. See chapter three of this thesis for another example of the title's usage.
12
“Liangzhou ci ershou” 凉 州 词 二 首 by Wang Han 王 翰 (687-726). See Guoxiu ji 国 秀 集 [ 上 ], p. 9 in SKQS.
13
A slight modification of Stephen Owen, tr., The Great Age of Chinese Poetry, p. 13.
14
Name of a Tang dynasty commandery. The local seat of government was at today's Jiuquan county 酒 泉 县 , Gansu
province.
15
“Jiuquan taishou xi shang zuihou zuo” 酒 泉 太 守 席 上 醉 后 作 by Cen Shen. See CSJJZ, p. 188. See also chapter two
and three of this thesis for comments on the poem.