Du Fu Thatched Cottage and Kuanzhai Alley ~ Interesting places to visit when you are in Chengdu, China!
When we visited Chengdu China, we heard a lot about the
famous Chinese Poet, Du Fu and his Thatched Cottage park and museum. Du Fu is known as one of the greatest of all
Chinese poets and he lived from 712 AD to 770 AD during the Tang Dynasty. The
Thatched Cottage park and museum is on a 24-acre site located on the western
parts of Chengdu City in the Sichuan Province of China. This famous poet was truly honored in 1961 when
the Chinese government made this park a National Heritage site.
I am an avid collector of worldwide postage stamps, and I
have a number of stamps depicting the image of this famous poet. Du Fu was raised and trained at an early age
to become a civil servant and follow his father’s footsteps, his greatest life
ambition. But with the deadly Lushan Rebellion of 755 AD, he fled for safety
and eventually headed to Chengdu in December 759 AD. It was at this time in his
life that he began to develop his talent for poems and also wrote poems as a
means to make money and survive.
We fell in love with this serene place to visit and was
pleased to learn about the life of this Chinese literature master. The park has one of the most beautiful
gardens in China with gorgeous ponds bamboo trees, pagodas, and so much
more. China built many fine pathways with stone
landscapes taking you on a journey through the park. This was
a great place to take pictures and to enjoy the beauty of this park.
Du Fu wrote about 250 different poems in his life time and
one of his most well-known poems describing the scenery he enjoyed while living
in this area is called “ A Quatrain”. He
wrote the poem at his tiny cottage in 764 AD.
A Quatrain (by DuFu
courtesy of Wikipedia)
A pair of golden
orioles sings in green willows
a column of snowy
egrets flies off in blue sky
my window contains
peaks with a thousand years of ice
my gate harbors boats
from ten thousand miles downriver
Thatched Cottage of
Du Fu 杜甫草堂
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/sichuan/chengdu/dufu.htm
The thatched Cottage that Du Fu originally lived was
destroyed but has been rebuilt and reconstructed to show how modest he lived
while he wrote his many classic poems. The museum in the park has many of his poems, images of DuFu and there are a host of statues and sculptures in the museum and park.
After our visit to the Thatched Cottage Park, we wanted to
do some local shopping in an old section of Chengdu known as Kuanzhai Alley 宽窄巷子, built/established during the Qing
Dynasty. This area consists primarily of
Kuan Alley (Wide Alley), Zhai Alley
(Narrow Alley), and Jing Alley.
The architecture in this area of downtown Chengdu, shows
ancient Chinese lifestyles of the powerful military and the wealthy that
originally inhabited Kuanzhai Alley. I found it thoroughly enjoyable admiring the variety
of architecture in the buildings, the many inviting courtyards, open style
restaurants, and the energy of all the people living in and visiting this area.
We spent an entire afternoon wandering and shopping and
wished we could spend more time here. We
will definitely visit again on our next trip to Chengdu and our plan is to explore
and enjoy Chengdu’s nightlife at Kuanzhai Alley.
Kuanzhai Alley 宽窄巷子
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/sichuan/chengdu/wide-narrow-alley.htm
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