Spatial Imaginaries in Mid-Tang China: Geography, Cartography, an ...

land and the cultures of Jiangzhou and Tongzhou exemplify the affinity between local geography and local writing, as well as the unique aesthetic texture that such affinity creates. Finally, deep inside the empire’s less developed southern frontiers, the two poets did not poeticize the space as merely a metaphorical expression of their banishment, but rather enlivened their respective locations and their friendship through parallel spatial imaginaries boosted by bold formal experiments. Bai and Yuan’s lifelong friendship and poetic correspondence amid their constant travel across the Tang territory offer potent examples of the interaction and mutual transformation of geographic advancements and poetic creativity.