Baidi City
- Poetry of Du Fu
From Baidi’s walls, clouds surge through open gates;
Below its heights, a rain like overturned bowls pours.
Through high gorges, swift torrents thunder as heaven debates;
‘Mid ancient trees, dark vines shroud sun and moon indoors.
The battle-steed knows less peace than the plow-horse at rest;
From a thousand homes, but hundred households still remain.
Widows, drained bare by levy’s unrest,
On autumn plains—which village grieves its pain?
This masterpiece was composed in the autumn of 766 CE, the first year of the Dali era under Emperor Daizong, while Du Fu was residing in Kuizhou (present-day Fengjie, Chongqing). Although the An Lushan Rebellion had been quelled, separatist warlords remained powerful, Tibetan incursions continued, and the region of Shu itself was not free from disturbance. Living in White Emperor City, high atop the mountains at the entrance to the Qutang Gorge, the poet beheld both the perilous majesty of the river landscape shaped by nature and the desolate social spectacle of a people impoverished and subjected to relentless exploitation in the aftermath of war. The violence of the natural world and the cruelty of the human era resonated profoundly within him, transforming into this poem. Here, White Emperor City is not merely a geographical location but the commanding vantage point—the very eye of the storm—from which to observe that fractured age.
白帝城中云出门，白帝城下雨翻盆。
高江急峡雷霆斗，古木苍藤日月昏。
戎马不如归马逸，千家今有百家存。
哀哀寡妇诛求尽，恸哭秋原何处村？
- Why Chinese poems is so special?
- The most distinctive features of Chinese poetry are: concision- many poems are only four lines, and few are much longer than eight; ambiguity- number, tense and parts of speech are often undetermined, creating particularly rich interpretative possibilities; and structure- most poems follow quite strict formal patterns which have beauty in themselves as well as highlighting meaningful contrasts.
- How to read a Chinese poem?
- Like an English poem, but more so. Everything is there for a reason, so try to find that reason. Think about all the possible connotations, and be aware of the different possibilities of number and tense. Look for contrasts: within lines, between the lines of each couplet and between successive couplets. Above all, don't worry about what the poet meant- find your meaning.