Chengdu skyline 2001

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Retired Emperor Xuanzong Tours Chengdu

Li Bo 699-762 You passed through Ninth Heaven to reach Chengdu! Myriad people and homes, a striking picture. Grass..trees..clouds..mountains one matchless brocade How can Changan possibly compare to Chengdu?!?

Shanghuáng Xī Zún Nánjīng Gē Shíshǒu Zhīyī

Jiǔ tiān kāichū yī Chéngdū, Wàn hù qīan mén rùhuà tú. Cǎo shù yún shān rú jǐnxiù, Qínchuān de jí cǐjiān wú.

Translator:

Dongbo 東波

Notes: In the 6th month of 756 the rebel commander An Lushan broke through the 潼關 Tóngguān, Tong Pass, between Henan and Shaanxi, and Tang emperor 玄宗 Xuánzōng, fled from the Tang capital of 長安 Chángān to 成都 Chéngdū in 四川 Sìchuán. Just west of Chángān his soldiers mutinied and refused to go futher unless he allowed his beloved concubine Yang Guifei to be murdered. Xuánzōng went into exile in Chengdu until the Tang army recaptured Changan in 757. Xuanzong returned to Changan in the 12th month of 757, but had been forced to relinguish the throne to his son and go into retirement. In 758 he returned to Chendu and Li Bo commemorates his return with this poem, and as you can see he was a master at flattery!

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