102. The last line probably means that Chinese civilization had not crossed the boundary.
103. Wang Wêi is not only one of China's great poets, but one of her great painters. Su Tung-po of the Sung Dynasty said of him: "In his poems we find his paintings, in his paintings his poems."
104. This song is still popular as a song of farewell, and to this day the expression is often used, "Since we picked willow branches," meaning: "Since we parted."
105. In the original the girls who paid tribute were specified as the Han girls, and the quarrelling farmers as Pa people.
Wên-wêng was a Han Dynasty official, famous as being the first to civilize what is now Sze-chuan Province.
106. From the time of the Han Dynasty, palace guards wore red caps before dawn. The guard of the inner gate would announce dawn, and the others would echo his call till all the gates were opened.
The Jade Cloud Furs, the Pearl Crown, and the Dragon Robe were accoutrements of the Emperor.
During the Han Dynasty there stood in the palace courtyard great bronze giants, holding up their hollowed palms to catch the dew of heaven.
The last line refers to the promulgation of the imperial edict from a five-coloured silken scroll by a procession of officials, one of whom was Chia Chih.
273
