山东 here is not Shandong province. In Tang usage it meant the land east of Mount Hua (
华山), where the family of
王维 lived, in today's Shanxi. On the Double Ninth people climbed hills and wore sprigs of dogwood (
茱萸) against bad luck, which is why the poem ends
遥知兄弟登高处,
遍插茱萸少一人 'far away, I know, my brothers have climbed the heights, all wearing dogwood, and one of them is missing'.