Aushang: Do, 2006-10-12 12:53 | Betreff: Famous Poet's Home ...

Located on the bank of the Huanhua Brook in a western suburb of Chengdu,
 the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum is not a cottage in the literal sense.
It is a commemorative museum including a traditional Chinese garden built
at the site where the Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu (712-770), constructed a
thatched cottage for his family in 760.

A native of Gongxian County in Central China's Henan Province, Du moved
to Chengdu in 759 to take refuge from the war. In the following spring, he
built a cottage by the Flower Bathing Brook with the financial assistance
of a friend. There he lived a peaceful life for about four years, writing 240
of his 1,400 poems.

Du's poems are known for sympathetic portrayals of human suffering and
bitterness in the face of injustice and corruption. In 761, the roof of his
cottage was destroyed in a storm. That led him to think of the difficulties
of other poverty-stricken scholars.

The experience led him to write a poem in which he said he would die
content in his leaky cottage if the less fortunate could find shelter.