In years of war, the sight of the frozen dead by the roadside was tragically common.
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history
Second line of a famous couplet from Du Fu's (杜甫, Tang dynasty) 《自京赴奉先县咏怀五百字》: 朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨 — 'Behind vermilion gates, wine and meat go rotten; by the roadside lie the bones of those frozen to death.' One of the most cited indictments of inequality in Chinese literature.
usage
Almost never quoted alone — pair with its twin 朱门酒肉臭 to get the full rhetorical punch. The two lines together are political shorthand for any situation of extreme wealth alongside extreme misery.
