日韩精品久久一区二区三区_亚洲色图p_亚洲综合在线最大成人_国产中出在线观看_日韩免费_亚洲综合在线一区

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
Culture
Home / Culture / Books

Tang Dynasty words of beauty still resonate

By ZHAO XU | China Daily Global | Updated: 2025-06-09 07:56
Share
Share - WeChat
A statue of poet Du Fu at Chengdu Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum in Sichuan province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

At dusk, the somber mountains loom afar,

In icy cold, the humble thatched cottage lies bare.

From the wattle gate, a dog's bark rends the air,

A wayfarer comes home under winter's wind-whipped, snow-bit glare.

This was the first poem learned by Zhang Yinan, now a teacher of classical Chinese poetry and a poet working in the traditional style.

"I was leafing through an illustrated poetry book when a drawing caught my eye. I asked the adults to read it to me," recalls Zhang, who was just 2 years old at the time.

The poem was written by Liu Zhangqing (726-789), who lived during China's Tang Dynasty (618-907), an era known not only for its social prosperity and military strength, but also for the extraordinary outpouring of poetry, with more than 50,000 known works created within less than 300 years.

Such was the radiance of Tang's poets that, through the ages, their name alone awakens the spirit of ancient Chinese poetry.

One of them is Du Fu, the subject of a 2020 BBC documentary boldly titled Du Fu: China's Greatest Poet, an accolade few would dispute.

"Du Fu engaged deeply with the metrical structures of classical Chinese poetry, exploring its intricate rhythmic patterns and a formal parallelism between couplets central to the regulated verse. He also possessed a keen sense of color that infused his poetic canvas," Zhang says.

"The mountains he climbed, from where he gazed into the distance, become powerful triggers of nostalgia, inspiring poetry that blends scenic imagery with philosophical depth — a profound expression of both individual sentiment and cultural memory."

Embracing realism in his work, Du Fu's posthumous reputation reached its peak nearly two centuries after his death, during the Song Dynasty (960-1276), and has endured ever since. Zhang believes this lasting legacy is closely tied to Du Fu being seen as the embodiment of the Confucian ideal: a poet of moral integrity who upheld the philosophy of universal love and broad, inclusive empathy.

Touched by the times, flowers draw tears from my eyes; grieving for parting, birds startle my heart with their cries.

Du Fu wrote in one of his most renowned poems, composed after the outbreak of rebellion in 755 and the ensuing civil war, a turning point that shaped both the fate of the Tang Dynasty and the artistic path of its poets.

"An 18th-century Chinese poet once remarked that a nation's misfortune could be a poet's fortune," Zhang says. "What he truly meant was that out of sorrow could emerge lines of rare authenticity and grace — an observation vividly reflected in the legacy of Du Fu and his contemporary poets, whose creative journeys spanned the turmoil of the rebellion.

"Across the sweep of Chinese history, poetry has mirrored the rise and fall of the nation's fortunes, capturing the ebb and flow of peace and turmoil," she continues.

"What's truly remarkable is the vast number of Tang poems that had survived into the 12th century, when woodblock printing became widespread and the preservation of literary works became more feasible," she says. "But for a verse — say, one by Du Fu — to endure that long, it had to weather not only the rebellion that marked his time, but also the decades of chaos following the fall of the Tang in 907, as well as the many conflicts that beset its eventual successor, the Song Dynasty."

Equally notable is that while the Tang Dynasty produced many poets revered then and now, almost none were seen solely as poets. Nearly all were members of the social elite, holding official posts rather than writing poetry as a profession, says Tan Zuowen, a fellow alumnus of Zhang's from Peking University's Department of Chinese Language and Literature.

"On one hand, writing poetry was regarded as a hallmark of the educated elite and a prerequisite for those seeking official rank; on the other, the Tang court provided avenues for talented poets to achieve social advancement," he says.

According to Tan, a professor of ancient Chinese literature, the Tang court not only administered civil service examinations testing subjects like poetry, but also deliberately opened up avenues of social mobility for men of exceptional literary talent. For example, Du Fu once held the position of zuo shiyi — a low-ranking yet influential role responsible for offering frank advice to the emperor and pointing out governmental missteps. The words shiyi literally means "to pick up something that's forgotten", which in the context of ancient officialdom refers to any dereliction or deficiency in decision-making that should be identified.

"These men possessed neither wealth nor real power; their greatest asset was the social esteem granted by the public, which was something they fiercely protected by speaking boldly and candidly before the emperor," Tan says.

Despite its might, the Tang court faced immense challenges in governing its vast territory. These extensive borders required constant defense, relying on conscripted soldiers drawn from a broad cross-section of society. Numerous poets, whether they had personally served on the frontier or not, composed works inspired by these distant outposts, giving rise to a distinct genre known as biansai shi, the frontier poetry.

"If you read these poems closely, it becomes clear that Tang poets overwhelmingly championed peace over war," Zhang says. "They drew deeply from history and wrote with a profound sense of social responsibility."

Zhang began writing poetry at the age of 7, influenced by her mother, who was among the millions of "educated youth" sent to rural areas to endure hardship during the tumultuous years of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

"Many in her generation turned to poetry to cope with inner turmoil. It was my mother who first showed me that poetry could be both an outlet and a form of salvation," says Zhang, who later found herself irresistibly drawn to ancient Chinese verses. "I've developed a deep affinity for the poets of the past likely because I share their philosophical outlook and their meditative approach to life."

In retrospect, Zhang says she feels that it was no mere coincidence that her poetic journey began with an illustration of a Tang poem. In that golden age, poets like Du Fu captured nature in vivid vignettes that later inspired generations of painters, embodying another enduring Chinese cultural belief that painting and poetry flow from the same wellspring.

Tan, who also teaches ancient Chinese literature to primary school children since 2009, says: "Across generations, Chinese poets have read and recited the verses of the past while composing their own. Poetry becomes a vital vessel of cultural inheritance: carrying aesthetics, emotion and moral vision.

"For the ancient Chinese, poetry was a way of being. For me, stepping into that tradition feels like returning home."

Zhang Yinan, National Library of China researcher. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Most Popular
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 久久日本精品在线热 | 99精品国产一区二区青青牛奶 | 男人午夜小视频 | 久久欧美精品1024你懂得 | 国产成人免费 | 久久国产成人 | 国产激情久久久久久熟女老人AV | 久久久久成人精品 | 国产在线日韩在线 | 久草综合在线视频 | 二区三区视频 | 国产成人啪精品视频免费网站软件 | 久久伦理中文字幕 | 懂色中文一区二区三区在线视频 | 日本免费高清一区 | 欧美视频a | 午夜久久 | 日韩中文字幕一区 | 成人精品鲁一区一区二区 | av福利在线观看 | 九九九九九九精品免费 | 夜夜爽99久久国产综合精品女不卡 | 五月天激激婷婷大综合丁香 | 三级特黄视频 | 亚洲国产成人九九综合 | 国产成人+综合亚洲+天堂 | 欧美成人影院在线观看三级 | 色站综合 | 久久精品免视看国产成人2021 | 婷婷在线观看网站 | 亚洲精品久久久久综合中文字幕 | 中文字幕成人乱码在线电影 | 亚州久久| 亚洲国产视频网站 | 青娱乐久草| 亚洲第一成网站 | 国产成人av一区二区三区 | 亚洲精品影院 | a4yy午夜| 国产色在线 | 一区二区三区视频在线观看 |