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Located in the west of Chengdu, Du Fu' s 
Thatched Cottage is well known as the temporary residence of the great poet Du Fu of the Tang Dynasty (618—907) during his stay in Chengdu. As a typical civilian residence in western Sichuan, Du Fu's Thatched Cottage has been expanded to 240 mu (16 hectares) and now has become an architectural complex, which combines Du Fu’s former residence with a memorial hall and traditional gardens.
• It was ratified as a national monument by the State Council in 1961.
• It is an example of the perfect combination of memorial architecture and traditional gardens.
• It is the historical and cultural heritage of Du Fu—the greatest realistic poet in Chinese history.
In the winter of the year of 759, Du Fu and his family fled for Sichuan during the An and Shi Rebellion. With the help of a friend, Du Fu set up a modest cottage on the side of the beautiful Huanhua Brook (Flower-washing Brook) , where he lived for nearly four years and wrote 240 poems. In the time of the Five Dynasties, as the Prime Minister of the pre-Shu Kingdom in Chengdu, poet Wei Zhuang renovated the cottage to commemorate Du Fu’s poetic achievements. During the Yuanfeng period ( 1078—1085 ) of Emperor Shenzong' s reign in the Northern Song Dynasty, the prefect of Chengdu, Lv Dafang refurbished the cottage again and hung a picture of Du Fu on the wall, thus endowing the cottage with memorial significance.
Over the centuries the site has undergone several renovations, the most extensive two being carried out in 1501 during reigning of Emperor Hongzhi of the Ming Dynasty and in 1812 during the reigning of Emperor Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty. From then on, the layout of the Thatched Cottage took on the shape it has today. During the past 1, 000 years, the former residence of Du Fu has become an architectural complex in which people pay their respect to the poet. The main buildings include: the Front Gate, the Daxie, the Hall of Poem History, the Wattle Door and the Gongbu Shrine. They were all built along a center axis with accessory structures symmetrically set on both sides. There is much to see in the Thatched Cottage, including the Flowery Path shaded by leafy bamboos, the Screen Wall decorated with ceramic fragments and the charming plum bloom garden. With a winding stream, small bridges and leafy bamboos, it is noted for its solemnity, tranquility and elegance.
While living in the quiet suburbs of Chengdu, Du Fu led a simple and peaceful life, which inspired him to write poems in a pastoral style, such as The Jiang Village, and Good Rains in the Spring Night, to name just a few. However, full of great nationalistic passion, Du Fu never forgot the fate of the country and its people. Therefore, he wrote quite a few poems expressing his ardent patriotism. The touching and realistic poems like Song of Autumn Winds Destroying My Cottage, On Departure, On the Diseased Orange Tree are good examples. The poems, composed by Du Fu while he stayed in Chengdu, are regarded as literary masterpieces, which is why later generations praised the Thatched Cottage as a sacred place in the history of Chinese literature.
Hanging over the Front Gate is a plaque inscribed with two Chinese characters (Cao Tang) written by Prince Guo, the seventeenth son of Emperor Kangxi and brother of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty. The couplet "to the west of Wanli Bridge and to the north of Baihua Pond" that flanks the gate is taken from a poem by Du Fu. It indicates the location of the Thatched Cottage. Wanli Bridge, the present Nanmen Bridge (Southern Gate Bridge) is where Zhuge Liang, the Prime Minister of the Shu Kingdom, gave a farewell dinner for Fei Yi who went to the Wu Kingdom on a diplomatic mission. At thought of the long journey that Fei Yi would take, Zhuge Liang said with a sigh, "A thousand miles' journey begins with one step." That is the origin of the name of the bridge. Baihua Pond refers to the place now named Longzhua Weir on the upper level of Huanhua Brook.
Entering the Front Gate, you will see a shimmering brook flow by. It is the Huanhua Brook frequently mentioned by Du Fu in his poetry. There is a wonderful tale about the origin of the brook' s name. It is said that in the Tang Dynasty there lived a beautiful and kind-hearted girl by the brook, and her surname was Ren. One day, when she was washing clothes by the brook, an abscessed monk asked the girl to wash his pus-stained kasaya. The girl assented without hesitation and immersed the kasaya into the water. All of a sudden, numerous lotus flowers appeared in the brook. Surprised, people looked around for the monk but he had disappeared. Then people named the brook Huanhua Brook. The brook has fine scenery on each side and used to be a river deep enough for ships to sail on. Du Fu vividly described the scene in the quatrain;
Two yellow orioles chirp amid the green willows,
White herons flutter in the blue sky in a row.
The Snow-capped Xiling Mountain glows over my window,
And the boats from Dongwu anchor outside my abode.
The first building in Du Fu s Thatched Cottage is the Daxie. Because Du Fu once held official posts of Shiyi, an advisor in Gongbu( the Ministry of Works) , people named this building Daxie, just to show their respect to him, for Daxie is the government office in ancient times. In the middle of the hall is a statue of Du Fu, a masterpiece by the famous Chinese sculptor Qian Shaowu. This slim bronze statue, in a kneeling position, is an abstract and exaggerated model, which indicates the poet's hard life and his concern for the nation. Du Fu lived during the reigns of Emperors Xuan Zong (685—762) , Su Zong ( 711—762 ) and Dai Zong ( 726—779 ) , a transition period when the Tang Dynasty declined from prosperity. He expressed all his concern and sympathy through his poetry because he experienced the pains of the lower class, and his hard life enabled him to see clearly the social problems. On each side of the Daxie is a couplet written by Gu Fuchu, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty. The first stanza reads:
We live in different times of China,
May I ask how many gifted poets like us,
Just languish like the reclining dragons and tigers,
And cannot display their talents！
The lines indicate that Du Fu and Gu Fuchu live in different times. May I ask, among the men of letters in our country, who are more talented and ambitious than us! However, we have to act like the reclining dragon and lying tiger and could not fulfill our ideals！The second stanza reads:
You also wandered about in your times,
But you left the cottage as the moment of life.
While the moon shines and the wind blows,
And your cottage stays forever with your renown.
The lines mean that you also roved as I did, but you made a cottage which is an everlasting reminder while I have nothing left to later generations. However, the author could never expect that his name would remain with Du Fu's cottage because of his couplet.
The Hall of Poem History is the central building of the Du Fu's Thatched Cottage. Since Du Fu' s poems truly and insightfully reflect the declining history of the Tang Dynasty, later generations look upon his poems as a historical record in poetic language. Therefore, people refer to Du Fu as "the poet-historian", and also accounts for the name of the hall. In the middle of the hall is Du Fu' S bust, the artistic work of the famous sculptor Liu Kaiqu. On both sides of the statue hangs the couplet written by Zhu De, which reads;
The Thatched Cottage is honored by all generations,
The sage poet's verses enlighten the ages.
The lines indicate that Du Fu and his thatched cottage hold an imperishable position in the heart of Chinese people. In the hall there is another couplet composed by the contemporary historian, poet and calligrapher Guo Moruo. It reads;
The woes of the world and the pains of mankind,
Flowed from the tip of the sage poet’s pen.
He viewed calamities with a keen poet’s eye,
And showed his sympathy over the civilians' sufferings.
The couplet is highly recommended, for Du Fu expresses his concerns about his people and country.
As we leave the Hall, we can see the brook meandering its way through the buildings, and the small zigzagging bridge over the brook. On the left of the bridge is the Water Pavilion built over the brook. The Wattle Door is on the other side of the brook. Both of these structures are mentioned in Du Fu’s poems.
After passing the Wattle Door, you will come to the last courtyard of the cottage compound. In the center stands the Gongbu Shrine. On the west side of it is the Qiashouhang Pavilion while on the east side is the Water Pavilion; both of them derive their names from Du Fu's poems. Du Fu's statue is enshrined in the Gongbu Shrine which is named after Du Fu' s official title, for Du Fu used to be the advisor of Ministry of Works. In front of the Gongbu Shrine you can read this famed couplet written by He Shaoji, the scholar and calligrapher of the Qing Dynasty;
You enjoy the spring breeze over the Brocade River,
I come back to visit your cottage on the seventh day of New Year.
This line implies that Du Fu had distinguished himself with glory and enjoyed great fame in Chengdu, but now is the time that I( He Shaoji)return with glory on the 7th day of the first month of the lunar year.
The Renri (the Day for Mankind) refers to the seventh day of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar. People in ancient Sichuan observed the first seven days of the first lunar month as festivals for animals and mankind respectively, i.e., the first day is the festival for chickens, the second day for dogs, the third day for pigs, the fourth day for sheep, the fifth day for cows, the sixth day for horses and the seventh day for mankind. The custom of visiting Du Fu' s Thatched Cottage on the Renri originated from the couplet written by scholar He Shaoji of the Qing dynasty, which reads;
You enjoy the spring breeze over the Brocade River,
I come back to visit your cottage on the seventh day of New Year.
Du Fu loved socializing with the men of letters. A story in Chinese literary history goes like this; Du Fu and poet Gao Shi traveled around the country together when they were young. They made good friends, drinking wine, composing poems while watching the landscape. Even after they departed, they sent each other poems to convey their concern for each other. On the seventh day of the first month of the lunar calendar in the year of 761 , Gao Shi, prefect of Shuzhou (today's Chongzhou, Sichuan Province) presented Du Fu with a poem entitled To Counselor Du Er on the Seventh Day of New Year, in which he expressed his affection and longing for his friend Du Fu. Several years later, Du Fu, while wandering in Hunan, happened to read this poem again, but Gao Shi had passed away by then. To express his lament over Gao Shi’s death, Du Fu wrote a poem entitled To My old Friend on the Seventh day of New Year. From then on, the story about the two poets who conveyed their friendship by poetry has been perpetuated. Gradually a local custom developed in Chengdu: visiting Du Fu' Thatched Cottage on the seventh day of the first month of the lunar calendar.
On the left side of the Gongbu Shrine is a huge tablet placed in a straw-roofed pavilion. The inscription (Shao Ling Cao Tang) is another example of the calligraphy of Prince Guo. Shaoling is the name of a place in the present Chang' an in Xi'an City, which housed the ruins of the Dubo kingdom in remote antiquity. In the Han Dynasty, Emperor Xuan was buried there and his tomb was entitled Du Tomb. The tomb of Emperor Xuan's empress was also constructed there and was called Minor Tomb due to its smaller scale. It was also the land of Du Fu's ancestors and where Du Fu himself lived for a long time. For this reason he sometimes called himself "man from Duling( Du Tomb) " in some of his poems and people call him Du Shaoling.
In the autumn of the year 761, a storm destroyed the roof of the Cao Tang (Thatched Cottage) , inspiring the writing of one of Du Fu ' s masterpieces, Song of Autumn Winds Destroying My Cottage. In this poem, he commiserates with the plight of other poverty-stricken scholars and expresses his anxiety over the lack of shelter for all the poor. After Du Fu's death, people built a new cottage on the ruins of the original site. The thatched cottage that we see now was reconstructed according to Du Fu's description and the design of the reconstruction of the cottage was in the Ming Dynasty. Here we can see running streams, green trees and bamboo fences, all creating a peaceful, pastoral picture.