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Tu Fu (712–770) wrote this poem in 758 while attending a banquet in Lantien, southeast of Ch’ang-an at the foot of the Chungnan Mountains. Lantien was named for a nearby mountain known for its jade and was also called Yushan, or Jade Mountain. The banquet was held at a friend’s villa to celebrate the ninth day of the ninth month, the ultimate yang holiday. According to ancient custom, men consumed a decoction of prickly ash (Zanthoxylum ailanthoides) and drank chrysanthemum-infused wine on this day to expel evil influences and to lengthen their lives. A hat was a gentleman’s badge of honor, and to be without one was considered a breach of etiquette. Once, when Chia Meng was at a banquet his hat blew off. Instead of apologizing or being embarrassed he acted as if nothing had happened. Tu Fu shows similar nonchalance by doing the opposite.

At Mister Ts’ui’s Villa in Lantien on the Ninth

TU FU

An old man mourning fall I try to console myself

happy to have shared this day with friends

thinking my hair too short or my headgear insecure

I laughed and asked someone to fix my hat

blue water falls from a thousand distant streams

Jade Mountain is high and its two peaks are cold

this time next year who will still be healthy

let’s find some prickly ash after we get drunk