1.

The poems from both the Song and Tang periods express opinions about warfare, but the Tang
poems overall appear to be more reluctant towards war while the Song poems are more explicit
in engaging in war. For example, the Tang poem The Ballad of Yu-Chang by Li Bai goes, You
were ever a peaceful scholar / You were not trained to kill or capture! (133). Here, a mother is
telling her son that he is supposed to be a scholar, not a fighter. The exclamation point
demonstrates that his mother firmly believes that he should remain a scholar. Thus, we can see
that she is very reluctant to have her son engage in warfare. On the other hand, the Song poem
Full River Red reads, The indignation I feel as a subject / Has not yet been allayed / Let me
drive off in a chariot / To destroy their base at Helan / My ambition as a warrior (169). The
narrator feels angered that he has been conquered, and states that his anger has not yet subsided.
He says that his ambition as a warrior is to destroy the Jurchen base at Helan. He is very explicit
about his intentions; he wants to see destruction to the Jurchen.
The Song poems more clearly express their feelings of otherness in that many of the
poems wish to drive their invaders out, while the Tang poems seem to not worry about otherness.
The Song poem Prelude to the water melody says, He will bow on entering the barbarians
tent / then hang his head on our streets! (170). The narrator sees his invaders as barbarians and
wants them dead. Furthermore, he wishes to glorify their deaths by displaying their heads in the
streets. The Tang poems, in contrast, do not seem to comment on otherness. For example, Du
Fus From the Journey North: The Homecoming, is about moving away from civilization to a
natural, serene setting. The last stanza is Then I, downhill, spied Fu-chou far off / And rifts and
rocks quickly disappeared / As I ran down to a rivers edge (183). The narrator, who spies FuChou Far off, is getting farther and farther away from him. He distances himself even farther as
the rifts and rocks disappeared and finally arrives at a river.

2. First, it is worth noting that Menggu is a Mongol, but has a Chinese name. Thus, Menggus
name is sinicized to fit in with the Chinese language and culture. In addition, the excerpt is from
an epitaph, which may explain why Menggu is highly regarded in this excerpt. Thus, the excerpt
portrays Menggu as a sound leader who has assimilated into Chinese culture.
From the excerpt, there are multiple occasions in which the conquered revolt against
foreign rule. However, the excerpt portrays Menggu as wise and exercising good judgment in
putting down each resistance. In the second month of 1238, Wangrong, prefect of Huaizhou,
rebelled. The grand prince and preceptor ordered Menggu to put down this rebellion, ordering
him to slaughter everyone. Menggu responded, When the royal army suppresses rebels, those
who were coerced into joining them ought to be pardoned, not to mention those who are entirely
innocent (193). Clearly, there are individuals who resent foreign rule by rebelling. The epitaph
indicates that Menggu is a wise leader, deciding to take the more humane option by pardoning
those who are innocent instead of taking the princes advice. Another rebellion is Zhu Ges: Zhu
Ge, a bandit of Huizhou, organized a group and rebelled. The military officers were planning to
go overboard in their response to this, but Menggu declared, Does it want me to pacify the
bandits or become a bandit myself? There is no need to act recklessly (193). Again, there is
evidence that there are people who revolt against foreign rule and therefore have not accepted it.
Just like the previous passage, this passage depicts Menggu as a humane leader who would rather
pacify the bandits than follow the military officers ideas. Thus, he is illustrated as a sagacious
leader who is able to come up with better solutions than those of his military officers.