Du Fu (712 - 770),¹ though "one of the great geniuses of world literature,"² was little known until the 11th century. Now a great deal of information about him is generally available. Here, after a brief sketch, this page will focus on his connections to the qin.³

Biographies of Du Fu like to place his poetry into three distinctive periods of his life, not including his childhood. He was born in Henan,⁴ but his cultured family had its roots in Jingzhao, a region which included the Tang capital, Chang-An.⁵ During his first productive period, from about 731 to 745, he traveled, mostly in eastern China, though he also went to capital Chang'an, where he failed the Imperial Examinations. From 745 to 759 he lived in or near the capital, finally passing the Exam in 753. After the rebellion of An Lushan in 755, but during its extension by Shi Siming from 757 to 763, Du Fu moved west, spending his third period, 757 - 770, mostly in Gansu, Sichuan and Hunan provinces. Best-known is the period at his thatched cottage in Chengdu.⁶ He died in Changsha.⁷

Du Fu as a poet was so prolific that, although many of his poems were lost, almost 1,500 survive. At least 20 of these poems mention the qin.⁸ However, the collection of qin poems in Qinshu Daquan seems to have only one these:⁹

琴臺 Qin Terrace Folio 20B, #7 (V. 451)¹⁰

Other relevant poems which have been translated include the following,

1. 絕句漫興 Free Mood (I know well my thatched hut)
2. 夜燕左氏莊 Evening Feast at Zuo's Manor¹¹
3. 絕句漫興九首 Nine Versicles Written on Impulse, #3¹²
4. ________ Watching Fireflies¹³
5. ________ Facing Night¹⁴
6. ________ Thoughts, Sick with Fever on a Boat (excerpt?)¹⁵
7. ________ Wandering Breezes, #4 of Nine Short Songs¹⁶

Du Fu might have some connection with several qin melodies, including

1. Yushu Linfeng¹⁷
2. Ke Zhi¹⁸

Xu Jian, Chapter 6 discusses his lyrics later borrowed by Wen Tianxiang.¹⁹

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1 Style name 子美 Zimei (Return)

2 ICTCL p.813 (Return)

3 Collections of his poems in translation include:

1. David Hawkes, A Little Primer of Tu Fu; Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1967 (bi-lingual)
2. Wu Juntao, Tu Fu - A New Translation; HK, Commercial Press, 1981 (bi-lingual)
3. Li Weijian, Selected Poems of Du Fu; Sichuan, People's Publishing House, 1985 (bi-lingual)
4. David Hinton, The Selected Poems of Tu Fu; NY, New Directions, 1989
5. Arthur Cooper, Li Po and Du Fu; England, Penguin, 1973

Online the translations of Du Fu by L. Cranmer Bing, Lute of Jade, include one called A Night of Song that mentions lute-strings. Perhaps this refers to qin.
(Return)

4 By modern 巩義，康店鎮 Kangdian district of Gongyi, south of the Yellow River between Luoyang and Zhengzhou. (Return)

5 京兆 Jingzhao. His clan was particularly associated with 杜陵 Duling, in the southern part of Jingzhao, and 少陵 Shaoling, within Duling. There is a grave there said to be his, though he died in 潭州 Tanzhou (Changsha), where there is also a grave. (Return)

6 The thatched cottage is now a major tourist site in Chengdu. (Return)

7 Then called 潭州 Tanzhou. There is a grave site north of here in 岳陽市平江縣小田村 Pingjiang, near Yueyang, now being restored. (Return)

8 See Ronald Egan, Music, Sadness and the Qin, HJAS 57, p.53. Compare Bai Juyi, over 160. (Return)

9 See QQJC, Vol V, Folio 18 to 20 (Return)

10 It mentions Feng Qiu Huang (Return)

11 Minford and Lau, p.808
     also: Wu Juntao, op.cit, p.46 (qin translated as "lute") (Return)

12 Wu Juntao, op.cit, p.134.
     Liu and Lo, Sunflower Splendor, Indiana U. Press, 1990 (1975), p.135 (also "lute") (Return)

13 David Hinton, op.cit, p.89 (qin translated as "koto") (Return)

14 David Hinton, op.cit, p.98. (Return)

15 David Hinton, op.cit, p.112. (Return)

16 Arthur Cooper, op.cit, p.199. (qin translated as "lute") (Return)

17 玉樹臨風 Yushu Linfeng
21298.742 Yushu quotes a line from 杜甫，飲中八仙歌 Du Fu, Eight Immortals Drinking: 宗之蕭灑美少年，皎如玉樹臨風前. However, this probably has no connection with the melody Yushu Linfeng. (Return)

18 客至 Ke Zhi (A Guest Arrives)
Wang Di, Qin Songs, p. 26, is a song named Ke Zhi, with lyrics by Du Fu (translation in Minford and Lau, p.791). The tablature is said to be from 1585, but I have not been able to locate it there. (Return)

19 The story concerns Wang Yuanliang and Wen Tianxiang meeting in prison shortly before Wen's execution. (Return)

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