HY2206: China's Imperial Past

Author(s)

A Walk with Guifei

I trail behind you. Not far enough that you could run, but not close enough to touch.

I do not remember how we got to this place. It is about thirty miles west from Chang’an; I heard the other imperial guards lamenting before I drifted off to sleep on a gurgling stomach.^[1] Ma-wei post station. It is the second day of our journey, and the lot of us have already been reduced to scanty meals.^[2] Yesterday, I foolishly saved what I had for you, Lady Yang. You, too, had to eat with your hands coarse, crouched under a desolate tree seeking respite from the hot sun; I had felt terrible about it.^[3] I must have discreetly slipped my plate to you in a silly fit of loyalty, or habit. I remembered you delicately biting into a lychee in the palace garden, a treat delivered from the South specially for your lips, and now, for you to descend into such a state!^[4] What had once been a show of respect was now a show of grace, of mercy. Trudging along the dirt road now, I see that it has been noticed how I treat you too kindly — in fact, it must be why I was ordered by the Emperor to escort you today. Of all the imperial guards in the palace, I had gained Heaven’s favour; Blessed with delivering lychees to your door so frequently, and receiving your pristine smile at the palace gate every evening when you returned from the hot springs.^[5]

It took awhile for you to get ready today, much like all your days in the palace. It was a mutiny in the morning. The soldiers, the fatigued lot of us, had agreed by dawn to revoke our loyalty to the stained and weak Emperor.^[6] While it is gruesome, I must inform you that Yang Guozhong was killed this morning at the Ma-wei post-station. I do not know if you had witnessed it, or were hiding somewhere deep in the station. Truthfully, if I had not been so rattled myself, I would have tried to look for you. Some of the guards had proclaimed his treason with Tibetan emissaries, and I figure that others were merely resentful over his poor rule.^[7] It was a blur for me, who stood cowardly in a corner, until Guard General Yu proclaimed that we would halt our journey until the monarch did something.^[8] Then, Eunuch Gao had left hastily into the pavilion to speak with the Emperor and General Chen.^[9] When he reappeared, your death had been ordered — for you were believed to be the cause for the dynasty’s current troubles, leading to An Lushan’s triumphant rise against your incompetent cousin.^[10] At that moment, my heart did not sink nor did it float; It simply went numb, unmoving, alongside the hand that gripped my clean dagger.

Now, I figure it must have just passed noon. I have regained my bearings, and I can think again. I can feel again. I wonder if it is the same for you, Lady Yang. When Emperor Xuanzong emerged from his pavilion after Eunuch Gao’s verdict, I saw a weary and beaten old man.^[11] The guards who joined us from the garrison might have thought that he appeared this way from the dire state of his men. But I, an inner palace guard – privy to the rumours within its walls – knew better; He looked this way because of you.^[12] He, who could not prevent the death of his lady, reminded me of every frail villager that cried for medicine, every wife that buried her husband clad in war wounds. As for you, I was too ashamed to meet your face, Lady Yang. I tilted my head down as you passed me, lest you think that I laid a hand in your fate. You did not greet me with a smile, I am sure, as you swiftly fell in line behind Eunuch Gao, who would lead us to the shrine.^[13]

I try to match your footsteps, hoping to conceal the reality that you are being followed, and how anxious that might make you. I do not wish to rush you on your final walk. Still assuming your graceful demeanour, I wonder if you are imagining that this is another leisurely walk around the tranquil palace garden. All those times I was assigned to watch over you, watch you gaze at flowers far less beautiful than yourself. You often said no words, and rightfully so, as what I saw was a perfect painting in front of me, and paintings need not speak. But now, the silence holds a different weight. As you tread in front of me, what could you be ruminating on?

Perhaps you are cursing in disbelief at how far you have fallen, how everyone could turn against you so quickly. You were a lady of the palace, one that ordered lychees that grew only in the south, and the imperial couriers would take shifts night and day to deliver them to you on their fastest horses.^[14] A lady that was granted to bathe in the Huaqing hot springs on Mount Li, a privilege that even the Emperor’s closest advisors did not enjoy.^[15] Did you take such gifts with graciousness, thinking you did not deserve them, or did you know they were in return for your beauty? Your beauty, so potent that flowers closed in shame whenever you knelt down to gaze at them.^[16] Your beauty, so moving, that soon every painting of a woman – in aristocrat galleries, in windy street markets – was made in your image, your elegance.^[17] Your beauty, so riveting that my father and brothers would pester me every chance they got to describe your face, as they refused to trust the paintings. Your beauty, so blinding that the Emperor had taken you away from his own son’s marriage, turning you into a precious consort!^[18]

But now, that version of you feels like a lifetime ago. I cannot imagine what the people of Chang’an must think of you, my father and brothers; Do they see you the same as your cousin? After all, when the times are dark, there is but less light to shine on your face, Lady Yang! And these are very dark times. But if it is of any comfort to you, I hope you know that the Emperor truly loved you. If he did not, he would not have ordered to spare you from the blades of these soldiers.^[19] Because of his love, you will meet a different fate from your cousin and sisters. Does this make you grateful, or are you instead resentful? Resentful because it is more honourable for these men to take your life by force, should they so desire it! Instead, they have you walk this path as a show of defeat, a show of admittance.

We reach a rock-strewn slope, and I watch you struggle with sullied sandals, hoping that I can catch you should you lose your balance. Eunuch Gao hurries you, but I do nothing. Watching you in the state that they have put you in, I imagine that you are already dead, Lady Yang, and there is in fact no hurry at all.

I cannot help but wonder — Do you feel responsible for the fate we are in now, Lady Yang?

You must understand how weary the times are, how betrayed we feel by An Lushan and his troops! The minds of the people are heavy, but I try to direct such thoughts away from you. I have never blamed you for the rise of Minister Guozhong; I know far too well the politics in the palace to do so.^[20] The Emperor himself would not have appointed your cousin had he not been educated and eager.^[21] He was frivolous and insolent to other officials, expelling those who did not follow his orders and demanding over forty positions in government!^[22] He did not manage his relationships with other officials well. And so, who could he blame when the Emperor did not believe his accusations of An Lushan, but himself?^[23] He was much different from you, Lady Yang, who gained the favour of all that you crossed. It was not merely your pristine beauty, but your unending charisma. I remember when An Lushan visited the palace in February four years ago, and you had made a large infant wrapping to wrap his obese body in, causing an boisterous uproar amongst the ladies in waiting and eunuchs.^[24] The Emperor was so amused by your attendants’ joke that you were bathing your new infant that he rewarded you both greatly.^[25] Peeking in from the door that I had been guarding, I noticed how An’s face lit up as the Emperor proclaimed his free entrance into the palace whenever he visited the capital.^[26] Not even your beauty could distract me from the glimmer in his eyes, Lady Yang.

I continue to trail behind you, unsure if I am chasing your affection, as I did so many times before, or your demise.

Forgive me Lady Yang, but I cannot help but think that you had a hand in An Lushan’s rebellion. In these last four years, his accumulation of dominant military power in the northeast, his becoming a favourite of the Emperor…were they not all because of you?^[27] The Emperor’s fondness for making you fond was known well throughout the palace, and it was even you who bantered with An Lushan that day, approving of subsequent visits to the palace.^[28] Yang Guozhong may have been his rival, but it was you who adopted him alongside the Emperor; unwary of his access to the palace and its workings, that one day he would be equipped enough to revolt.^[29] How could you be so careless; How could you abuse your power? Such thoughts plague me, Lady Yang, as I watch you treading feebly up the slope. Do they plague you too?

I continue to trail behind you, my breath stale, wondering now if I had been trailing behind a monster or a curse all this while, one that the other guards had warned me of time and time again.

We reach the top of the slope. I can see the head of the shrine awaiting us now, and I wonder, once more, if the woman I wanted to protect is truly no longer. No, it can’t be! How am I to blame you, who possessed the beauty of a delicate flower at the age of fourteen; You who was forced into the palace by one who wanted to covet your painted grace for his own? All your life, you did as you were told, and you were told poorly. No one thought to educate you on the workings of the palace; you were left to be looked at. Desired. An Lushan was smart, and used you to his advantage as well. Much like the rest of the palace, he knew that you were the Emperor’s heart, and sought to curry both your favours with his clever words.^[30] Poor you, beautiful you, who fell victim to these men’s ploys! And now the Emperor deems you a worthy scapegoat in an attempt to regain some control, under the ruse that your lineage has caused us this misfortune.^[31] If the other guards knew these thoughts of mine, they would say I am young and unmarried, that I have lost myself in infatuation over you. But I simply see you, Lady Yang, for who you were made to be. As you take your final steps to the shrine, you have lost the facade of your elegant hezi, of carefully sculpted hair.^[32] In a simple robe, you are more exposed now than you were to the Emperor when he first glanced at you unclothed in the hot springs. You are nothing but a flower; one that has done no wrong in growing, but fated to wither in the most unfavourable weather.

This is what I silently beg of you, Lady Yang. This is why I have not tried to lunge at Eunuch Gao, leaving him unconscious as we run down the other side of the slope and past Ma-wei, as far as we can. Before the other guards have satisfied their stomachs and realise we have been gone for too long. Too cowardly to say it in person, I can only hope that you can feel how much I wish I could.

I beg of you to let go of all expectations and guilt. Harbour nothing towards the way things have turned out, the way that our Emperor has fallen. He has sacrificed his heart today, and if I know him dearly, I know he is sure to pass along with it soon.  Everyone has a destiny, one we can only evade for so long. It is but heaven’s mandate; the rise of An Lushan is not something mortals like us can change or deny.^[33] So sleep forever, Lady Yang, and sleep soundly. The Emperor will ensure a proper burial for his love, so that your po may ascend to the azure sky.^[34] Do not harbour resentment or loneliness, for your hun will stay and roam these lands – never finding the peace that it truly deserves.^[35]

I close my eyes through the rest of it. I do not see what you stand on to reach the tree branch, what you use to tie the noose. I do not hear the fastening of the noose, nor the snapping of your neck; I simply do not hear it.

And before you and I know it, it has been done. It is sunset now, and Eunuch Gao orders me to fetch the rock and bring you down. Still afraid to look, I keep my eyes fixed on your shadow, swaying soothingly in the golden light. Then I am on the rock, and I gently lift your body up until your chin releases itself from the silk rope. And then, after I have laid you down, I see your face for the first time today. In all of its beauty that I remember, I tell myself that you are indeed asleep. And tomorrow, you will wake up somewhere, not here, and you will send for someone to fetch you lychees, and someone will do just that.

Time passes, and the other imperial guards arrive with purple blankets.^[36] It was then that I realised that we had no coffin prepared during the journey, the journey that we were leaving you behind in. The thought of your po being so dishonoured is unbearable, Lady Yang. I will punish myself with many sleepless nights for lying to you. At the very least, the other guards prepared masses of flower fragrances in the blankets; even as they called for your death, it seems that they knew you deserve to be buried as beautifully as you rose every morning. I could not help but imagine that these flowers they had brought once passed you, somewhere along this journey; And after meeting your face for just a moment, they had closed in shame.^[37]

And perhaps, this is the last gift of beauty that you could grant us, Lady Yang. As the most beautiful flower closes, may all of the other flowers in China open up again.

^[1] On July 15 of year 756, The imperial family, along with royal eunuchs and imperial guards, fled toward Jianan from An Lushan’s troops in Chang’an. See Paul W. Kroll, “The Flight from the Capital and the Death of Precious Consort Yang”, Critical readings on Tang China, Brill (Oct 17 2018), p.483.

^[2]On the second day of the journey away from Chang’an, Yang Guifei was ordered by the monarch to her execution. See Ibid.

^[3] By then, “the members of the imperial family in the accompanying retinue are reduced to eating with their hands coarse and scanty meals”; Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 218. Emperor Xuanzong’s imperial train reached Ma-wei station, thirty miles from Chang’an. The imperial guards were not fed and angry at Yang Guozhong. See Ibid.

^[4] Yang Guifei’s favourite fruit was the lychee, grown in modern day South China. See Paul W. Kroll, “Recalling Xuanzong and Lady Yang: A Selection of Mid and Late Tang poems”, Tang Studies, Number 35, 2017, p.13.

^[5] Ibid.

^[6] Officials entrusted with important tasks ran off, depicting Emperor Xuanzong’s weakened authority. See Kroll, “The Flight from the Capital”, p.483.

^[7] Kroll, “Recalling Xuanzong, p.2.

^[8] Kroll, “The Flight from the Capital”, p.483.

^[9] Emperor Xuanzong was immediately advised by his long-time eunuch confidant and advisor Gao Lishi, and General Chen Xuanli after Yang Guozhong’s assassination. See Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 218.

^[10] Kroll, “Recalling Xuanzong”, p.2.

^[11] Kroll, “The Flight from the Capital”, p.483.

^[12] Kroll, “The Flight from the Capital”, p.483.

^[13] Eunuch Gao would escort and supervise Yang Guifei’s death at a Buddhist shrine, and oversee her shallow burial near the station. See Kroll, “Recalling Xuanzong”, p.2.

^[14] Far from the palace, Emperor Xuanzong ensured lychees grown in Southern China were delivered to the palace by special couriers upon Yang Guifei’s frequent request. See Ibid., p.13.

^[15] Mount Li was also known as Blackhorse Mountain. See Kroll, “Recalling Xuanzong”, p.2. .

^[16] The idiom “貴妃羞花” (gui fei xiu hua) was popularised in the Tang dynasty: it referred to flowers closing up in shame upon seeing her face, as they could not compete with her beauty.

^[17] Yang describes “the longevity or continuity of the plump-faced “Tang Beauty” as a pictorial type or “template” in paintings from the eighth century” as a testament to “the Age of Guifei – Xuanzong’s reign”. See Shao-Yun Yang, “Review: Changing Clothes in Chang’an. Reviewed Work(s): Empire of Style: Silk and Fashion in Tang China by BuYun Chen”, China Review International, 2017, Vol. 24, No. 4 (2017), p.260.

^[18]  There was a scandal of Emperor Xuanzong planning for his marriage to his son’s wife, and a palace guard is likely to have encountered such rumours. See Kroll, “Recalling Xuanzong”, p.1.

^[19] Emperor Xuanzong had Eunuch Gao take Yang Guifei to a Buddhist shrine and allow her a ‘forced suicide’, considered a more dignified death than execution. See Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 218.

^[20] Yang Guozhong was said to be given positions of power by Emperor Xuanzong due to his blood relations with Yang Guifei. See Kroll, “Recalling Xuanzong”, p.1.

^[21] Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 216.

^[22] Ibid.

^[23] Ibid.

^[24]  This was a documented exchange in the palace in 751, notably one of Yang Guifei’s early encounters with An Lushan. See Ibid.

^[25] Ibid.

^[26] Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 216.

^[27] Kroll, “Recalling Xuanzong”, p.1.

^[28] Ibid.

^[29] As An Lushan was allowed to enter the palace, he asked that he become an adoptive son of Emperor Xuanzong’s favourite concubine Consort Yang Guifei, and Emperor Xuanzong agreed. See Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 215.

^[30] An Lushan employed various strategies to make Emperor Xuanzong believe he was submissive to him, such as how he bowed to Yang Guifei first, stating that “Barbarians bow to their mothers before their fathers”. See Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 215.

^[31] Kroll, “Recalling Xuanzong”, p.2.

^[32] The hezi (诃子) is an imperial Chinese corset-like garment, associated with Yang Guifei’s palace dressing.

^[33] Heaven’s mandate is a doctrine that has existed in Imperial China since the Shang Dynasty, in which heaven is believed to bestow the title of “Son of Heaven” on a capable contender to rule China. If a ruler was overthrown, much like Emperor Xuanzong, this was interpreted as the ruler’s unworthiness and loss of mandate. See Dingxin Zhao, “The Mandate of Heaven and Performance Legitimation in Historical and Contemporary China”, American Behavioral Scientist, 53 (3) (November 2009), p.416–433.

^[34] Emperor Xuanzong went through Mawei on his way back to Chang’an. He wanted to locate Consort Yang’s body in the initial shallow grave, and rebury her with a proper coffin. See Old Book of Tang, vol.51.

^[35] The Tang dynasty believed that a soul comprised of two parts, the spirit – hun(魂) – and the physical body – po (魄). There was a belief that an unsatisfied spirit hun will continue to roam the land for its proper tomb, unless it makes peace with grievances before death. If this occurs, the hun can cause disaster to the entire community that it roams. See Yi Yang, “Death Ritual in the Tang Dynasty (618–907): A Study of Cultural Standardization and Variation in Medieval China”, UC Berkley, 2019, p.12-13.

^[36] Old Book of Tang, Volume 51.

^[37] When Emperor Xuanzong found Yang Guifei’s decomposed body in the shrine after his abdication, the fragrance bags buried with her were still intact. See Ibid.