Social contradictions came to a head when the An Lushan Bebellion broke out, since than the Tang Dynasty was on its decline, productivity was reduced, the living standard of people went down. This was reflected in poetry, colorful and romantic poems that sought ideals became rare, more and more poems were expressing social conflict and lamented over the disastrous life of the people. The poems of Du Fu (杜甫, 712-770) were most expressional of the outlook of social unrest and the feeling of the people in that period.
A Portrait of Du Fu
Du Fu was the grand son of Du Shenyan, an early Tang poet, so he received very good family education at his childhood. When he was 20 years old, he spent ten years travelling in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong. He settled down in Luo Yang at the age of 33 and met with Li Bai who had just left Changan. The two “fell into sleep in drunkenness under the same quilt in autumn, traveled hand in hand during the day.”(醉眠秋共被， 携手日同行。) Du was well known when he was small, because young as he was, he “already read over ten thousand books, was as if aided by god when he puts his pen to paper.”But, much to our regret, there are only less than 20 still in existence among the poems he wrote before he met with Li Bai. Du moved to Changan when he was 35 and lived there for 10 years wishing to seek an official position. To his dismay, he led a poor life there. During these 10 years, he wrote more than 100 poems, among which “丽人行, Li Ren Xing, The Song of the Beauty”and “兵车行, Bing Che Xing, The Song of the Army”voiced his unsatisfaction and worries about state affairs; “自京赴奉先县咏怀五百字，500 Words to Speak My Mind When Going to Fengxian County from the Capital”was more famous. He was going to see his wife at Fengxian after he was finally given the position of a petty official. It was in this poem he wrote such lines that have been on everybody’s lips for more than a thousand years:
朱门酒肉臭， Zhu men jiu rou chou,
路有冻死骨。 Lu you dong si gu.
荣枯咫尺异， Rong ku zhi chi yi,
惆怅难再述。 Chou chang nan zai shu.
Inside the red gate wine and meat went bad,
Out on the road there were bones of those who died of cold.
A foot away from prosperity is exhaustion,
I am too disconsolate to say anything more.
Yet, when he got home, his son had died of hunger. He thought a man like him who was exempted from tax and service in the army was having such a tragic life, the life of ordinary folks would have to be more miserable. Du Fu was in Changan when An Lushan’s army took the capital. He wrote “春望, Chun Wang, Looking Around in Spring”:
A seal script carving of the poem
国破山河在， Guo po shan he zai,
城春草木深。 Cheng chun cao mu shen.
感时花溅泪， Gan shi hua jian lei,
恨别鸟惊心。 Hen bie niao jing xin.
烽火连三月， Feng huo lian san yue,
家书抵万金。 Jia shu di wan jin.
白头搔更短， Bai tou sao geng duan,
浑欲不胜簪。 Hun yu bu sheng zan.
Mountain and rivers still remain even though the state fell,
Spring is in the city while grass and bushes are tall.
Seeing so much misery flowers are shedding tears,
Hearing so many parting words birds are startled.
Flames of battle have been raging till March,
A family letter is worth of ten thousand tales of gold.
I find my white-hair shorter when scratching it,
There is no way to fasten the hairpin on my head.
In August 757, Du went to Luzhou in central Shaanxi to see his wife, he wrote a sister poem of the “500 Words”—“A Trip to the North”which described the miseries he saw on the way, and when he got home he saw his “wife wearing cloths with hundreds of patches”, he sighed,“乾坤含疮痍， 优虞何时毕。 Devastation exists between the sky and earth, when could there be an end to worries!” Early the following year, while he was going to Huazhou from Luoyang, he wrote two groups of immortal poems, which portrayed the sufferings of people and the scenes of war and disorder in depth. One group is referred to as “Three Officials”(The Xinan Official, The Tongguan Official and The Shihao Official) and the other “Three Partings”(Parting of the Newly Wed, Parting with the Old, Parting of the Homeless). Let’s have a look at “The Shihao Official”:
暮投石壕村， Mu tou shi hao cun,
有吏夜捉人。 You li ye zhuo ren.
老翁逾墙走， Lao weng yu qiang zou,
老妇出门看。 Lao fu chu men kan.
吏呼一何怒， Li hu yi he nu,
妇啼一何苦！ Fu ti yi he ku!
听妇前致词： Ting fu qian zhi ci:
“三男鄴城戍， “San nan ye cheng shu,
一男附书至， Yi nan fu shu zhi,
二男新战死； Er nan xin zhan si;
存者且偷生， Cun zhe qie tou sheng,
死者长已矣！ Si zhe chang yi yi!
室中更无人， She zhong geng wu ren,
惟有乳下孙。 Wei you ru xia sun.
有孙母未去， You sun mu wei qu,
出入无完裙。 Chu ru wu wan qun.
老妪力虽衰， Lao yu li sui shuai,
请从吏夜归， Qing cong li ye gui,
急应河阳役， Ji ying he yang yi,
犹得备晨炊。” You de bei chen chui.”
夜久语声绝， Ye jiu yu sheng jue,
如闻泣幽咽！ Ru wen qi you ye!
天明登前途， Tian ming deng qian tu,
独与老翁别！ Du yu lao weng bie!
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