Mawei Slope
Xuanzong turned his horse back, and Lady Yang had died;
Their intimacy was hard to forget as a new day began.
This was, in the end, the act of a ruler judged wise;
Who was it, then, in the well at Jingyang Palace?
Notes
Mawei is associated with the death of Yang Guifei during the An Lushan rebellion. The return is commonly read as Xuanzong’s later journey back from Shu. The well at Jingyang Palace alludes to the capture of the last Chen ruler. The poem’s judgment of the rulers is open to discussion.
Meaning
The poem recalls Yang Guifei’s death and Xuanzong’s return, then compares the episode with the last Chen ruler’s capture.
Appreciation
The opening compresses two moments: Yang’s death at Mawei and Xuanzong’s later return.
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Intimacy remembered and a changed political situation sit side by side.
The final question invokes the well at Jingyang Palace to compare rulers’ fates.
The poem’s description of a wise ruler is a judgment, which can be considered alongside other historical views.
About the poet
Zheng Tian, courtesy name Taiwen, was a late Tang official and poet from Xingyang who lived in the ninth century.
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Zheng Tian held office in the late Tang and took part in responding to rebellion. Mawei Slope is one of his poems on historical events; accounts and calculations of his exact dates differ.