In both 2006 and 2007 I visited my friend Mingxing who is studying in Chengdu, and on both occasions I took a lot of photographs. In this file I merely present photographs accompanied by a sign at Du Fu Thatched Cottage park, and a sample of Du Fu's poems. I hope you enjoy this presentation. At the end are some links to other articles and photographic files at Magic City and KingsCalendar. I shall very soon present the stories and photographs from my Summer Trip to LeShan and Mt. Emei in Chengdu.
 |
| Du Fu - painted centuries later. |
 |
| One view of Du Fu's Cottage. |
The Relic Exhibition Hall of the Thatched Cottage
The Relic Exhibition Hall is the most important Part of Du Fu Thatched Cottage. It is located on the site of Du Fu's former Residence. In the late winter of 759, Du Fu went to Chengdu to avoid the disasters caused by An Lushan Shi Rebellion. In the next year, he built a thatched cottage on the bank of the beautiful Huanhua Brook, where he lived for four years and wrote more than 240 poems.
 |
| Furniture from Du Fu's Thatched Cottage |
 |
| Spartan living conditions in ancient and modern Chengdu |
Du Fu has been honoured as 'Sage of Poetry' and his former residence in Chengdu regarded as a holy land in literary history of China. In the Former Shu period of the Five Dynasties (907-960), a poet named Wei Zhuang found the ruins of the cottage and rebuilt a new one on the ruins. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the cottage was reconstructed and expanded and Du Fu's portrait was painted on its wall so that a memorial temple began to take shape. Since then, renovations and expansions have been done more than ten times and the present scale has formed.
 |
| Not much has changed has it? |
Du Fu Selected Poems
translated by Rewi Alley
Foreign Language Press 2001
- Snow
- Over the battlefields
There are many new ghosts
Who weep; and I, an old man,
Sit alone, bitterly looking
Out on the wild clouds
That dull the sky, and
At the snowflakes that dance
In the whirling wind;
The gourd ladle lies beside
An empty wine pot; I can
But imagine that the stove
Gives heat; no news from
Many districts: I sit in
Despeeration; really, this
Is all too impossible!
 |
| Kitchen in the Cottage. |
 |
| Thatched cottage |
The present day exhibition hall has kept the construction layout of the renovations of 1500 and 1811. Its main buildings include the simple and elgant lobby, Poetic History Hall and Shrine of Gongbu built on the central axis and Waterside Pavilion, Wooden Gate and Shaoling thatched pavilion rich in poetic flavour.
 |
| Excavation over which a museum was built. |
 |
| Ancient Dress |
In the exhibition hall there are horizontal inscribed boards, couplets and tablets with Du Fu's poems carved by famous historical personages as well as exhibition 'Sage of Poetry well known Throughout the Ages' is in the first and second exhibition rooms.
 |
| Archaeological display in the museum - a well. |
In the rooms, visitors will know Du Fu's misirable life, his masterpieces which have handed down from generations to generations as well as the praises and memories to him by the later generations. In the boat-shaped exhibition room named Qianhouhangxuan, the various editions of Du Fu's poems housed in the museum are displayed.
 |
| Well in an archaeological excavation. |
 |
| Slate engraving |
Behind the Shrine of Gongbu, Du Fu's former residence with an area of 0.5 hectare is built. In the exhibition hall, Corridors, verandas, pavilions, bamboo groves, streams and lotus ponds add radiance to each other. In it, visitors can not only enjoy the beautiful enviroment described in Du Fu's poems, but also be greatly influenced by excellent traditional Chinese culture.
More photographic articles on Chengdu
R.P.Bendedek
Email: rpbendedek@hotmail.com
_______________________________________________________
R.P.BenDedek is the pseudonym of the Author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' (www.kingscalendar.com), and is a guest columnist at Magic City Morning Star News. An Australian, he currently teaches Conversational English in China.
Photographic Stories From China
"The King's Calendar" is a chronological study of the historical books of the Bible (Kings and Chronicles), Josephus, Seder Olam Rabbah, and the (Essene) Damascus Document of The Dead Sea Scrolls.
