The Poet-Sage – Du Fu

Du Fu (712-770), polite name Zimei, was a native of Duling, Jingzao (present-day southwest of Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province). He came from a scholarly family and his grandfather Du Shenyan was the famous poet in the Early Tang Period. In his youth days Du Fu and ever traveled north and south of the country and had led a frivolous, romantic life. Like many other poets of the High Tang Period, he also cherished his lofty aspiration of making an official career through the imperial examination and built his fame and career upon his assistance of the sovereign in ruling the country. However, his road to the official post was full of twists and turns and his sincere wish was time and again thwarted too. He failed the imperial examination, which he took in the capital of Chang’an (present-day Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province) for the sinister Prime Minister Li Linfu brought the royal court under his control and judged the candidates himself. He also behaved himself against his will by frequently presenting his pomes to those influential and powerful for their recommendations but to no avail. He stayed at Chang’an for the whole ten years and lived a very poor, precarious life by “standing humbly at the doors of the rich at dawn and stumping along in the rising dust raised by fat horses, and eating cold leftovers from feast tables in the silence of grief and bitterness.” (To Minister Wei Ji) Chinese Folklores & Festivals Website

In the year 755 (the fourteenth year of Tianbao) when Du Fu managed to become a petty official in charge of weaponry and the keys to the depots – Youwei shuaifu bingcao canjun (a functionary in the official mansion of right chief commander), the An Lushan Rebellion broke out and took Chang’an. Escaping the rebels along the way, he was captured and marched back to Chang’an again. Later on Du Fu managed to run away from the capital even in rags to Fengxiang, where the newly enthroned Emperor Tang Suzong appointed him to the post of Zuoshiyi (one of the two consultants of the emperor). However, he soon provoked Emperor Suzong to anger and was banished to Huazhou (present-day Hua County, Shaanxi Province) as a low official in charge of culture and education. On his trip there he saw the sufferings and miseries the war had inflicted upon the countrymen and composed the famous series like Three Conscripting Officers (The Conscripting Officer at Xi’an, The Conscripting Officers at Tongguan and the Conscripting Officer at Shihao) and “Three Partings” (Parting after Nuptials, Parting during Declining Years and Parting sans a Home). These series, which are charged with the post’s grief and sympathy, reflect the people’s sufferings and hardships during the An Lushan Rebellion from different perspectives.  wish.1155815.com

中华民俗节庆网