Author: CHUNG Yoon-Ngan
Date: 12-17-03 09:12
The Tang poet - Du Fu (杜甫 712AD to 770AD)
Du Fu, a renowned poet, was born in Gong Xian (鞏縣) in Henan province (河南省) during the Tang Dynasty (唐朝 618AD to 907AD). His father was a low ranking official. At the age of 14 or 15 he began to write poetry and at 20 he left home and went touring. In 735AD he sat for the Palace Examination and he failed. The following year he left home the second and went touring the present day province of Hebei (河北省). After 5 years of roaming the North he return home to Luoyang (洛陽) in 741AD. He met Li Bo (李白), another poet, in about 744AD and they went touring together in the area south of Changjiang (長江). In 746AD he bade farewell to Li Bai and went to the capital Chang An (長安 present day Xi An 西安 in Shaanxi province 陜西省).
Du Fu's intention of going to Chang An was to become an official. At that time, the Tang Court was very corrupted and the adiministration was controlled by Yang Guo Zhong (楊國忠), the first cousin older brother of Yang Gui Fei (楊貴妃) who was the Emperor Xuan Zong Li Long Ji's (玄宗皇帝李隆基 713AD to 755AD) favourite concubine. The Emperor had no time for the official because Yang Gui Fei took up almost all his time and attention. Althogh Du Fu applied for a position he was not accepted.
At that time, it was the fashion of the learned men to write poetry to the officials, particularly the members of the Imperial Academy (翰林學士), hoping that the officials could pay attention to their poetry and to recommend them to Government jobs. Du Fu was of no exception. He began to write poems and presented them to the high officials. He even presented his poems twice to Emperor Xuan Zong, but without any respond from the Emperor.
In 752AD, Yang Guo Zhong became the Prime Minister. He was very corrupted and had amassed a great fortune. He was not only the Prime Minister but also held more than forty other porfolios. The Emperor's excesses and obsessions with his beloved concubine, Yang Gui Fei, brought about the gross neglect of affairs to the country.
Finally, in 755AD the Government offered Du Fu a job as a junior officer in He Xi (河西 in the present day province of Gansu 甘肅省). Knowing that this job was to wring every ounce of sweat and blood out of the people in He Xi, Du Fu turned down the offer and asked for a better job. The Government then gave him a junior position as an officer in the Weaponry Department. Although the job was a very low position, 8th grade, he considered that it was better than a juinor officer to He Xi to oppress people.
Before Du Fu took up the position as a junior official there was turmoil in the country. An Lu Shan (安祿山), the non-Han Chinese commander-in-chief and Governor of Fan Yang (范陽 present day Beijing 北京 city in Hebei province 河北省), rebelled against the Tang Government. With 170,000 troops under his command An Lu Shan marched west to the Tang capital Chang An. It seemed that An Lu Shan and his troops were unstopped. They crossed the Yellow River, overran Luoyang (洛陽 in Henan province 河南省) and turned west marching towards the capital. Under such an environment it was very hard for Du Fu as he was without a job and had a family to support. He lived like a begger asking friends for assistance. He was so poor that he had no money to buy food for his family. Due to this factor his youngest son died of starvation.
The Tang Court was in panic. Emperor Xuan Zong ordered a mass evacuation. In the fourth Month in 755AD An Lu Shan occupied the capital and razed it to the ground. Du Fu and his family managed to escape to Feng Xiang (鳳翔) in Shaanxi province.
Emperor Xuan Zong and his Court together with thousands of residents from the capital, fled southwest towards Cheng Du (成都 in the present day of Sichuan province 四川省). Arriving at a place called Ma Wei Po (馬嵬坡 present day Xing Ping county 興平縣 in Shaanxi province) about 100 kilometers from the capital, the retreating army and the mass of people stopped and refused to go any further. They demanded the death of the Emperor's concubine, Yang Gui Fei, and her elder cousin brother Yang Guo Zhong, the Prime Minister. Under such extreme circumstances Emperor Xuan Zong had no alternative but to issue an order to have them executed. Yang Guo Zhong was put to death by beheading and Yang Gui Fei was by hanging from a tree.
While the Tang Court took refuge in Cheng Du the lovelorn Emperor was pining away. Eventually Emperor Xuan Zong abdicated the throne and his third son, Li Heng (李亨) was installed as Emperor Su Zong (肅宗). In 757AD An Lu Shan was killed by his own son, An Qing Xu (安慶緒). The rebellions started by An Lu Shan was crushed and the Tang Court returned to the capital, Chang an.
Having returned to the capital, Emperor Su Zong reorganized the Tang Administration. At the end of 757AD Du Fu was appointed as 左拾遺 or an adviser to the Emperor. Finally, Du Fu had a good job and he was very happy. However, being a poet he sometime criticized the Government in his poems and Emperor Su Zong could not tolerate his criticism. Eventually he was demoted and sent to work in the Department of Defence in Hua Zhou (華州), near his hometown Luoyang, in the present day Henan province. He continued to write poetry profusely.
In the 7th Month of 759AD Du Fu resigned his Government job and went to Cheng Du to see his friend, Yan Wu (嚴武), who was the Governor of Cheng Du city. He worked as an adviser to his friend. When Yan Wu died Du Fu left Cheng Du and went touring. He toured Jia Zhou (嘉州), Yu Zhou (渝州), Zhong Zhou (忠州), Jiang Ling (江陵) and other places. In 770AD he arrived at Tan Zhou (潭州). From there he took a boat to Yue Yang (岳陽). Unfortunately, Du Fu died on the boat.
In his book titled "雲山雜記 Yun Shan Za Ji", Feng Zhi (馮贄) wrote about Du Fu:
"鵝冠童子告曰:
'汝本文星典史, 天使汝下謫, 為唐世文章海.
九雲浩已降, 可于豆壟下取.'
甫依其言,果得一石, 金字曰:
'詩王本在徐芳國, 九夜捫麟篆熟, 聲振扶桑享天福.'"
CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
All rights reserved 17122003
Yoon-Ngan
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