Text & image(s) courtesy of  Lee Han Wei

For thousands of years, nomadic tribes in Mongolia faced countless armed conflicts with their surrounding countries including the majority Han Chinese in China mainland.

The boundless Mongolian steppe became the most important frontier defence of the Han Chinese Government. During the Tang and Song Dynasty, more than a thousand years ago, many government officials in the frontier were literature scholars capable of creating great everlasting poems. In their long countless days in the steppe, these Chinese scholars wrote many timeless poems that have had long lasting effects on Chinese literature and also Chinese-Japanese ink wash paintings. The famous Wang Wei (699–759) of Tang dynasty is one of them who wrote poems that described the Mongolian land: “A smoke hangs straight on the desert vast and the sun sits round on the endless river.

While travelling on the ancient exotic route of Mongolia, one should bring along a book of Tang-Song poems. “Boundless sky is so blue, the wilderness seems boundless too. Rippling through the pastures, north winds blow; the grass bends low, cattle and sheep to show.” The poem itself is a collection of light and shadow, a true photography album.

数千年来，蒙古各地的游牧民族和周边国家有过无数次的武装冲突，漠北一望无际的茫茫草原，也成了历来汉族王朝的边防要务。

唐宋时期，当时被发配到北方大漠的汉族官吏，有为数不少才华洋溢的文人。漠北万里风霜，有绮丽雄壮的风景，草原山丘光暗错落， 显隐交杂，在文人笔下更显得气势磅礡。

悠悠岁月里，多愁善感的文人在大漠草原写下了许多流传千古的诗词，后世称之「边塞诗」。信手拈来，如唐代王维（692年-761年）的《使至塞上》「大漠孤烟直，长河落日圆」；李白（701年-762年）《关山月》「明月出天山，苍茫云海间」；鲜卑族的民歌「天苍苍，野茫茫。风吹草低见牛羊」；乃至近代的毛泽东的诗词《沁园春》「北国风光，千里冰封，万里雪飘」。千余年来诗人的边塞吟咏都是别致醉人大漠摄影集。

游走漠北时记得带上一册唐宋诗集，一边走一边读，犹如赴一趟与唐宋诗人分享视觉和心灵的享宴。