Du Fu Thatched Cottage
Du Fu's Thatched Cottage, Chengdu Sichuan ToursDufu Thatched Cottage or Dufu Caotang, is an idyllic 24-acre (97,000 square meters) park and museum in honour of Dufu, a prestigious Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty. It sits at the western outskirts of Chengdu, adjacent to the Huanhua Xi, (Flower Rinsing Creek). In 1961, the Chinese government established Dufu Thatched Cottage as a National Heritage site. As a symbol, a bronze sculpture of Du Fu stands in front of the Hall of the thatched Cottage.
After Turmoil of Anshi in Tang Dynasty (about in 759), Du Fu moved to Chengdu, built a thatched hut near the Flower Rinsing Creek and lived there for four years. Du Fu wrote two hundred and forty poems and reach the peak of his creativity during the 'thatched hut' period.
Du Fu's Thatched Cottage, Chengdu Sichuan ToursThe original thatched hut built by Du Fu was destroyed. The key buildings in the Du Fu Cao Tang Park were constructed in the early 16th century during the Ming dynasty and extensively renovated in 1811 during the Qing dynasty.
The current Dufu Cao Tang consists of three main areas. The most important part is Du Gong Bu memorial Hall (Du Gongbu ci) where the life and work, the published library works of Du Fu, as well as some rare Song dynasty wood carving editions are diplayed. There the foreign language section displays a large number of foreign language books of Du Fu's works.
The Thatched Cottage of Du Fu is a reconstructed thatched hut partitioned into a study, a bedroom and kitchen, which is returning the living and working environment to the Dufu's acient time.
Du Fu's Thatched Cottage, Chengdu Sichuan ToursThe Hall of great poets (Da Ya Tang) is a modern exhibition hall where a 16 long by 4 meter tall mural painting portraying scenes from Du Fu's poems. That is 'My Thatched Hut Wrecked by the Autumn Wind' and 'A Song of War Chariots'. There are also statues of twelve prominent Chinese poets (including Qu Yuan, Tao Qian, Li Bai, Wang Wei, Su Shi, Li Qingzhao, Lu You) on display.
The gardening cottage, surrounded by enormous trunks, a forest of bamboo, enchanting brooks, bridges and pavilions, with different versions of DuFu's poems and paintings stored in GungBu Hall, is now a popular tourist spot for Du Fu enthusiasts around the world to pay tribute to the great poet.
