Du Fu

Du Fu

Du Fu (from February 12, 712 to 770) was a famous realist poet in Tang Dynasty. He was named "Li Du" together with Li Bai. He was born in Gongxian County, Henan Province, and his native place is Xiangyang, Hubei Province. In order to distinguish them from the other two poets, Li Shangyin and Du Mu, namely "little Li Du", Du Fu and Li Bai are also called "big Li Du", and Du Fu is often called "old Du".

In his youth, Du Fu traveled to Wuyue and Qizhao successively, during which he went to Luoyang to apply for No. After thirty-five years old, he first took an exam in Chang'an and failed in the exam. Later, he presented a gift to the emperor and to the noble people. The failure of officialdom witnessed the extravagance and social crisis of the upper class of Tang Dynasty. In the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755), the an Shi rebellion broke out, Tongguan fell, and Du Fu went to many places. In the second year of Qianyuan (759), Du Fu abandoned his official post and went to Sichuan. Although he avoided the war and lived a relatively stable life, he was still concerned about the common people and the state affairs. Du Fu created such masterpieces as "climbing high", "spring hope", "Northern Expedition" and "three officials", "three farewell". Although Du Fu is a realistic poet, he also has a wild and uninhibited side. It is not difficult to see Du Fu's heroism from his famous work eight immortals in drinking.

The core of Du Fu's thought is the thought of benevolent government. He has the grand ambition of "to the Emperor Yao and Shun, and then to make the customs pure". Although Du Fu was not famous in his lifetime, his fame spread far and wide, which had a profound impact on Chinese literature and Japanese literature. About 1500 poems of Du Fu have been preserved, most of which are collected in the collection of Du Gongbu.

In the winter of 770, he died at the age of 59. Du Fu's influence on Chinese classical poetry is very far-reaching, and his poetry is called "the sage of poetry" and "the history of poetry". Later generations called him Du Shiyi and Du Gongbu, also called him Du Shaoling and Du Caotang.

Life of the characters

Family background

The distant ancestor of Du Fu was Du Zhou, a famous cruel official in the period of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, and his grandfather was Du Shenyan. Du Fu and Du Mu, another great poet in the Tang Dynasty, who was named "Xiao Li Du", were both scholars and famous generals of Jin Dynasty, but they were far from each other. His ancestral home is Xiangyang (now Hubei), and his great grandfather Du Yiyi was the magistrate of Gong county, so he lived in Gong county (now Henan). Du Fu comes from Du Dan, the second son of Du Yu, while Du Mu comes from Du Yin, the youngest son of Du Yu. Du Fu was born in Gongxian County in 712, the first year of Emperor Xuanzong. His mother, Cui, died when Du Fu was young. Cui family is also a famous family. He met his uncle and cousin many times in his life.

As a teenager, Du Fu lived a stable and rich life because of his superior family environment. He was fond of learning when he was a child. At the age of seven, he was able to write poems. "At the age of seven, he thought that he was strong and spoke of the Phoenix." he was determined to "serve the emperor, Yao and Shun, and then make the customs pure.". When he was young, he was also very naughty. "When I was 15 years old, my heart was still a child, and I was as healthy as a yellow calf. In front of the court, the pear dates are ripe in August, and the trees can be planted thousands of times a day.

Du Fu had a chance to be influenced by all kinds of culture and art in his youth, which had a great influence on his later poetry creation. For example, when he was five or six years old, he saw Gongsun's sword dance in Yancheng, Henan Province; later, he heard Li guinian's song in the house of Li Fan, the king of Qi in shangshanfang, Luoyang, and in front of Cui Ditang, the favorite Minister of Xuanzong in Zunhua; and he enjoyed the five saints' dignified faces and the ranks of thousands of officials painted by Wu Daozi, the painting saint, in the temple of Xuanyuan emperor on the top of Beimang mountain, Luoyang, which are reflected in his later poetry creation. At that time, celebrities Cui Shang and Wei Qixin saw his Ci Fu and praised him for his style of Ban Gu and Yang Xiong. And elders like Li Yong and Wang Han also condescended to visit him.

Young travel

In the 19th year of Kaiyuan (731), Du Fu, 19, went on a trip to Linyi, Shanxi Province. At the age of 20, Du Fu roamed Wu and Yue for several years. In the 23rd year of Kaiyuan (735), Du Fu returned to his hometown to take part in the "rural tribute". In the 24th year of Kaiyuan (736), Du Fu took the Jinshi examination in Luoyang and failed. Du Fu's father was a Sima in Yanzhou at that time, so Du Fu went to Yanzhou to visit his relatives. Together with Su Yuanming and others, he went to the Qi Zhao plain for a second visit. About this time, his father was working as a Sima in Yanzhou. He lived a "happy" life in Qi Zhao area for four or five years, and left some of the earliest poems: "climbing the Yanzhou tower", which was the work of his father when he was in Yanzhou; there were two poems "painted Eagle" and "Fang Bing Cao Hu Ma", which praised the eagle and the horse with the enthusiasm of young people; there was another poem "Wangyue", which was even more popular It is one of the masterpieces. The two sentences at the end of the poem are the famous lines that have been passed down through the ages: "when you will be on the top of the mountain, you can see all the mountains at a glance", which shows the extraordinary ambition of the poet in his youth.

In April of the third year of Tianbao (744), Du Fu met Li Bai, who was granted the gold by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, in Luoyang. They made an appointment to visit Liang and Song Dynasties (now Kaifeng and Shangqiu in Henan Province). I met the poet Gao Shi. This is my third visit. Later, Du Fu went to Qizhou (now Jinan, Shandong Province).

In 745, he met Li Bai again in Qilu. Besides drinking and writing poems, he also discussed alchemy and immortality, and visited fan Yeren, a hermit in the north of Yanzhou. They also presented poems to each other. Du presented Li's poem: "Yu Yidong is a stranger and has pity on the king as a brother. Drunk sleep autumn was, hand in hand with the day Li presented Du's poem: "the autumn falls on the Surabaya, and the sea is bright and bright. Feipeng each far away, and do the cup in hand They never met again.

Trapped in Chang'an

In the sixth year of Tianbao (747), Emperor Xuanzong ordered the world's "skilled artists" to take an examination in Chang'an, and Du Fu also took part in the examination. Because Li Linfu, the Prime Minister of power, wrote and directed a farce of "no one left behind", all the taxis who took the examination failed. Since the road of imperial examination did not work, in order to realize his political ideal, Du Fu had to turn from the door of the powerful to the door of ganye. He lived in Chang'an for ten years. He ran to offer Fu. He was depressed and frustrated in his official career. He lived a poor life.

In the first month of the tenth year of Tianbao (751), Xuanzong held three grand ceremonies to offer sacrifices to Taiqing palace, Taimiao temple and heaven and earth. Du Fu presented three "Da Li Fu" in the winter of the ninth year of Tianbao, which was appreciated by Xuanzong and ordered to stay in Jixian Academy. However, he only got the qualification of "taking part in the selection order" and waited for distribution. Because the main examiner was still Li Linfu, he didn't get the official position.

In the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755), Du Fu was granted a small official like Hexi Wei. But Du Fu was unwilling to take the official post of "not being Hexi Wei, but being miserable and stooping", so the Imperial Court changed it to right guard and leading Cao Canjun (a low-level official, responsible for guarding the armour and weapons of soldiers and managing the key of entrance guard). Du Fu was forty-four years old and had been in Chang'an for more than ten years. In order to make a living, he accepted this useless position. In November, Du Fu went to his home in Fengxian (now Pucheng County, Shaanxi Province). As soon as Du Fu came into his home, he heard the sound of crying. It turned out that his youngest son had starved to death. Based on the experience of ten years in Chang'an and the experience along the way, he wrote the famous "five hundred words of chanting from Beijing to Fengxian County".

War and exile

In November of the 14th year of Tianbao (755), an Shi rebellion broke out. In June of the second year, Tongguan was lost and Xuanzong fled to the West in a panic. In July, Prince Li Heng was located in Lingwu (now Lingwu City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region) and was a suzong. At this time, Du Fu had moved his family to Qiang village of qiangzhou (now Fuxian County, Shaanxi Province) for refuge. When he heard that suzong had ascended the throne, he went north alone in August to join Lingwu. Unfortunately, he was captured by the rebels on his way to Chang'an. Wang Wei, who was captured with him, was under strict supervision. Du Fu was not imprisoned because of his small official position. Despite his personal misfortunes, Du Fu was always concerned about his country and people.

During the Anshi rebellion, he watched the development of the current situation all the time. During this period, he wrote two articles: "the picture of the situation for Guo Shijun in Huazhou to fight against the remnant bandits" and "five pieces of advice for the Jinshi in Huazhou in the first year of Qianyuan Dynasty", which offered suggestions for the suppression of Anshi rebels and considered how to reduce the burden of the people. When Li Siye's soldiers and horses, a powerful force in the campaign against the rebels, passed through Huazhou, he wrote two poems of watching Anxi soldiers go to Guanzhong to stand by, expressing his strong patriotic enthusiasm.

Short term employment

In April of the second year of Zhide (757), Guo Ziyi's army came to the north of Chang'an. Du Fu ventured out of Chang'an from Jinguang gate in the west of the city, crossed the two opposing armies and went to Fengxiang (now Baoji, Shaanxi Province) to join suzong. On May 16, he was awarded the title of Zuo Shiyi by suzong, so he was called "Du Shiyi". However, Du Fu was soon demoted to Huazhou (now Huaxian county) for rescuing Fang Guan and offending suzong. He was in charge of sacrifice, ritual music, school, election, medical divination, examination and so on. After arriving in Huazhou, Du Fu was very depressed and worried. He often visited the pavilion of Zheng county (near Laoguantai in Xinglin town) on the Bank of Xixi River to relieve his worries. In his poems such as tizheng County Pavilion, early autumn hot and bitter pile case still, independence and thin horse walk, he expressed his lament and indignation about the frustration of official career, the coldness of the world and the slander of treachery. Du Fu was released after being rescued by Prime Minister Zhang Haoli. But "emperor is not very provincial", since then, suzong no longer used Du Fu. In September of this year, Chang'an recovered. In November, Du Fu returned to Chang'an and remained as Zuo Shiyi. Although he was loyal to his duty, he was eventually demoted to Huazhou Sigong and joined the army in June of the first year of Qianyuan (758) because of the involvement of Fangguan case.

At the end of the first year of Qianyuan (758), Du Fu left Huazhou temporarily to visit his relatives in Luoyang and Yanshi (both in present-day Henan Province). In March of the next year, a battle broke out between the Tang army and an Shi rebels in Yecheng (now Anyang, Henan Province), and the Tang army was defeated. On his way back to Huazhou from Luoyang, Du Fu saw the endless disaster brought to the people by the war and the patriotic behavior of the people to join the army and take part in the war. He was so moved that he created immortal epics - "San Li" (Xin'an Li), Shi Hao Li and Tong Guan Li) and "San BIE" (newly married farewell, farewell to the old man and farewell without family). After returning to Huazhou, Du Fu wrote them

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