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Li Shang-yin (813–858) was born in Chinyang in Honan province and grew up in Chengchou and Loyang. He was considered one of the best poets of his day, and he is still ranked among the great poets of the T’ang. He was related through marriage and friendship to the two competing factions at court led by Li Te-yu and Niu Seng-ju; unable to resolve the contradictions in his relationships, he eventually incurred the enmity of his friend Ling-hu T’ao (802–879), who held the position of prime minister and who made it impossible for Li to serve in anything but minor posts. Li died without office in Chengchou. Here, he cloaks these factions in the guise of two celestial maidens. After ingesting a magic elixir, Ch’ang O floated up to the moon and has been its resident goddess ever since. Ch’ing Nu, whose name means “Girl from the Blue,” is the Goddess of Frost. According to the Lichi (Book of Rites), “In the first month of fall, the cold cicadas sing. In the second month of fall, the geese fly past. In the third month of fall, the frost begins to fall” (6). Viewed from afar, the moonlit water of Ch’ang O and the frost-filled sky of Ch’ing Nu don’t appear different, their claims notwithstanding. So, too, are the two factions at court equally deserving of praise but also of criticism for their narrow-minded views of one another.

The Frost and the Moon

LI SHANG-YIN

By the time I hear geese the cicadas are gone

from a hundred-foot tower the water is like the sky

Ch’ang O and Ch’ing Nu don’t mind the cold

in the frost and moonlight they contest each other’s charms