Setting out from Chang’an in the dead of night to visit his family, his fingers were so cold that, when his frozen belt string snapped, he could not retie it. At dawn, Du Fu saw the imperial war flag ‘blocking out the pale sun’ as he passed the Huaqing hot springs. The Emperor had arrived with his courtiers and his concubine Lady Yang the week before. While the nation froze and starved, staring into an ever-grimmer winter, the court enjoyed the hot springs and ate the finest food.
