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Han Yu (768–824) was one of the most famous literati of the T’ang and an ardent Confucian. When Emperor Hsien-tsung (r. 805–820) welcomed the Buddha’s finger-bone to the palace in 819, the ceremonies were too much for Han, and he submitted a memorial criticizing such worship, suggesting it would shorten the emperor’s life span. For his temerity Han was banished to the southeast coast, from which many officials never returned. Here, he finds himself southeast of the capital, stuck at Lankuan Pass in the Chinling/Chungnan Mountains. While he was waiting for the snow to melt, his nephew, Han Hsiang, heard of his plight and paid him a visit. Han Hsiang later took up residence in a cave not far to the west of Lankuan Pass and was eventually ranked among Taoism’s Eight Immortals.

For My Nephew, Hsiang, on My Demotion and Arrival at Lankuan Pass

HAN YU

I submitted a memorial to the palace at dawn

by dusk I was bound for Chaoyang two thousand miles away

I hoped to rid the court of evil ways

but dared in my senility to begrudge a few more years

Chinling clouds now bar me from my home

Lankuan snows still block the path ahead

there must be a reason you’ve traveled this far

no doubt to collect my bones from some infested river