Du Fu of Tang Dynasty
2 min readDu Fu（712-770AD）was born in Gongxian，Henan Province but his family origin was in Xiangyang，Hubei Province.The son of an official，he was interested in learning when he was young.“I read ten thousand volumes until they were worn out，” he said.At 20 he started his 10-year-long travels from north to south.At 35 he went to Chang’an，where he stayed for ten years without getting any position in the government.His disappointment made him look at reality and see the sharp contrast between the life of the upper classes and that of the ordinary people.He began to write poems about the sufferings of the poor.
After the An Lushan rebellion began，he had a hard time as a refugee，but this brought him closer to the people.His well-known poems describing Three Officials and Three Departures were written during this period.In 759 AD he went to Chengdu ，Sichuan Province.After wandering in Sichuan，Hubei and Hunan for more than ten years，he finally died on board a small boat on his way from Changsha to Yueyang ，two places in Hunan Province.
Deep sympathy for the people is one of the main characteristics of Du Fu’s poems.In this respect he surpassed all earlier poets.
Behind the red doors wine and meat stink，But on the roads lie men frozen to death.
He also expresses his ideals and good wishes in poem：Would that there were a broad mansion with thousands And thousands ofrooms To shelter all the poor scholars ofthe land so that the should Show a happy countenance.
Through his life he was deeply concerned about the fate of the motherland.When it was in danger of foreign invasions“Blossom could invite my tears”.
However，he was wild with joy when he heard the news that the lost land was liberated by his army，“The sun has not set，yet I feel I must drink and sing”.
Li Bai and Du Fu are among the greatest poets that China has produced.Their poems have given the Chinese people boundless inspiration and have been taken as models of poetry.
Han Yu ，also a famous Tang poet，wrote:“The works of Li and Du are there；their brilliant light will shine for ever”.
Some people say that Li Bai is a romantic poet while Du Fu a realist one.
