In the Footsteps of Du Fu

by Michael Wood

A beautifully illustrated travelogue, chronicling the life and work of one of the world greatest poets.

Du Fu (712-70) is one of China’s greatest poets. His career coincided with periods of famine, war and huge upheaval, yet his secular philosophical vision, combined with his empathy for the common folk of his nation, ensured that he soon became revered. Like Shakespeare or Dante, his poetry resonates in a timeless manner that ensures it is always relevant and offers something new to the modern generation.

Now, in this beautifully illustrated book, broadcaster and historian Michael Wood follows in his footsteps to try to understand the places that inspired Du Fu to write some of the most famous and best-loved poetry the world has known. The themes he wrote about – friendship, family, human suffering – are universal and in our troubled times are just as relevant as they were almost 1,300 years ago.

Genres: Poetry, History, China, Travel, Biography, Nonfiction, Audiobook

208 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2024

About the author

Librarian Note: There's more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Michael David Wood is an English historian & broadcaster. He's presented numerous tv documentary series. Library of Congress lists him as Michael Wood.

Wood was born in Moston, Manchester, & educated at Manchester Grammar School & Oriel College, Oxford. His special interest was Anglo-Saxon history. In the 70s Wood worked for the BBC in Manchester. He was 1st a reporter, then an assistant producer on current affairs programmes, before returning to his love of history with his 1981 series In Search of the Dark Ages for BBC2. This explored the lives of leaders of the period, including Boadicea, King Arthur, Offa, Alfred the Great, Athelstan, Eric Bloodaxe & William the Conquerer (& gave rise to his 1st book, based upon the series).

Reviews

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Wood literally followed In the Footsteps of Du Fu during his journey through China in 2019. Du Fu (712-770 CE) was a significant poet of the Tang Dynasty. The narrative alternates between Du Fu's life experiences and Michael Wood's travels to the same locations. Wood visits Du Fu's birthplace in Henan province, follows his path to the capital in Chang'an, and travels through the regions where the poet lived during the An Lushan Rebellion.

Wood portrays Du Fu as a man who struggled with displacement and uncertainty during his lifetime. The book is structured chronologically. It addresses the political upheavals of the era and how Du Fu’s artistic expression changed to reflect them. His poetry captures personal reactions of someone who witnessed these events first-hand. There are plenty of poems included, along with an analysis.

I daresay Du Fu is not widely known to western readers, and I hope this book will help give him more “publicity.” I am familiar with Michaeel Wood through his documentary filmmaking, and he has done an entire series on the history of China (which I highly recommend). He is both scholar and historian, and his enthusiasm for his topic is obvious in his writing style. This book provides a specific example of how great literature emerges. I find it amazing that so much documentation is available on events that happened so long ago. Michael Wood excels at presenting it in a way that makes history relevant to modern readers.

[Isaac McIntyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wonder if Du Fu instantly knew he had an all-timer for the Chinese people for the next 1,500 years on his hands when he wrote the opening line of Gazing at Spring: "The state is destroyed, but the country remains."

[Caleb Fogler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Wood recreates the journey of Du Fu’s life through his travels as he flees a civil war. I knew nothing of Du Fu before this reading, so I cannot speak to the accuracy of this book but I enjoyed the author’s use of translated Du Fu poems and pictures of modern day locations mentioned in the book. I thought the jumping between Du Fu’s experiences and Michael’s as he recreated the journey, was well done and makes me want to visit some of the sites mentioned here.

[Andres Martinez-Rotundo]

A book that takes you through the places lived by one of the most loved Chinese poets, Du Fu. Wonderful written by Michael Wood. A nice book to read with some online access to these places, to complement the read. I quote one of the last paragraphas: "...but culture is global. Many of the things that China thinks are unique to China are not. It is global; it is human. And it is in poetry that you find human nature. For Chinese poetry has always been about the individual, the personal. And Du Fu above all is the Chinese voice that reaches across the barrier of translation and lives with a clarity and power that cannot but astonish us.'"

[Nick Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew nothing about Du Fu and not nearly enough about Tang dynasty China or Chinese history in general. This book follows the thread if DU Fu’s life and his poetry and makes sense of an eighth century life and a literary legacy that still resonates today. Throughout there are reminders of how China has changed, is changing and yet still contains people who find relevance in the work of a poet who died more than 1200 years ago..

[Leanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s only April, and already I can say that this is going to be my favorite nonfiction read of 2024. A British historian and documentary film maker, MichaelWood does a lot of these “in the footsteps” books —and has it down to a real science.

But why Du Fu?

The idea to uncover the life and art of China’s great poet came about as part of his fantastic Story of China documentary series—which I loved. Woods does not have a background in Chinese history or language, and yet somehow he is able to pull off a tour de force book about the poet and his life. Early on in the book, he makes the point that Du Fu was born at the precise moment of lift-off of the glorious Tang, considered to be one of China’s great ages of cultural and literary flowering. While Du Fu began life during the heydays of the Tang, by mid-life he was suffering through the worst of the great chaos following the An Lushan uprising, which saw millions dead with countless more people fleeing for their lives.

But as Du Fu declared: the country might be destroyed, but the mountains and rivers remain 國破山河在

Woods does such a wonderful job in bringing the 10th century poet to life. I feel that I have understood Du Fu for the first time ever—first his relatively privileged upbringing and his surprising failure at the imperial examinations. And then the turning point, when the poet was caught up in the rebellion. During the violence and suffering of those years, Du Fu created poems, like "Spring Scene,"which captured the great pain of the people.

I loved two things in particular about this beautifully published book—which I have in hardcover (for all the gorgeous illustrations), Kindle, and on Audible.

First I loved the sections on the Changsha years and about the singing and recitation of poetry. Woods was superb on this! I also loved how he mentioned the meditative quality of Chinese poetry and what an active and creative endeavor it is not only to write but to read these poems, which require much imagination and interpretation to parse the meaning of things in a parred down language like classical Chinese.

I recommend reading this book with:

David Young’s Du Fu: A Life in Poetry. Young also does not read classical Chinese—and yet his translations are just superb! The translations pop and I love the way he follows the arc of the poet’s life in biographical chapter headings.

David Hawkes’ A Little Primer of Tu Fu. This is an old book which is still very important. Taking around 30 famous poems, Hawkes explains the Chinese characters and then gives an exegesis and basic translation.

For those who want to dive in deeper, I highly recommend chapter 8 of Cai Zong-zi’s How to Read Chinese Poetry: A Guided Anthology (How to Read Chinese Literature).

The Selected Poems of Tu Fu: Expanded and Newly Translated by David Hinton

Eliot Weinberger has a new book that is coming out on the poet any day now.

[Rhonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somewhere in the random nonstop reading part of my life I found reference to the Chinese poet Du Fu and his life story so went in search. This added to the fact I have never Chinese poetry made this little work perfect. It tells his life supported by illustrations appropriate to where he was. It is a chronological journey of a life lived in a particular area of Chinese history, with text broken up by Chinese paintings and photographs of some of the places he and his family lived and travelled through in his almost lifelong journey to escape ongoing wars and protect his family. Big details and themes, and little; humanising the bigger history of China at the time, and little via his and his family' experiences. He was beloved as a poet of the people; one poem describing a scene where family and friends farewell their men leaving for battle, something that was a total break from how war was written elsewhere in China. The poem is short but poweful and reeks of quiet but intense despair and grief. Though writing in the 700s AD Du Fu's poetry - much loved by ordinary people - travelled via song and memory through generations and centuries before finally coming to the attention of the literatii. this is perhaps a little unfair of me as from birth til his early 20s his life was comfortable til war broke out so he did have the benefit of friends in high places on occasion, allowing him access to a society that accepted him and admired his poetry despite his ongoing poverty anf endless faulre to return to his beloved home because of a civil war that constantly shifted boundaries, as wars do. More research needed there by the reader. Another stream throughout is to do with the role of poetry, especially in terms of bearing witness. a beautiful book, not huge, and and an excellent start to finding out more, both the history and his poetry. 5 stars for a very satisfying and instructive read.

[David Cutler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine book from an able and readable historian who has also written a general history of China. I didn't know much about Du Fu and the real point of this book is the universality of an 8th Century Chinese poet who makes us feel his daily life as real and immediate. The book is highly accessible and has the added bonus of being beautifully presented and illustrated.

[Peter Wells · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those books that opens your eyes to this world. Du Fu was an eighth century Chinese poet who is venerated today. His life was lived in two halves, the first a tale of privilage, a well read young man becomes a poet, then as China falls into civil war, he becomes a refugee. His poetry has survived. His life's journey has become a Chinese pilgrimage.

[Catarina · Rating 4 out of 5]

uma viagem pela China clássica, moderna, através de um poeta que é ainda hoje contemporâneo. a tradução portuguesa é bastante rica, principalmente com o cuidado nas notas, levantando o véu para outros poetas chineses.

[Tony Gualtieri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine summation of Du Fu's life and work that occasionally belies its origin as the supporting text of a travel documentary.

[Melissa]

Goodreads review

[Connie Kronlokken]

Lovely book of the variety where the author traces Tu Fu’s wanderings, and reads the audiobook!

[Sam Enright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am currently in the midst of exams – this was a truly excellent and light cleanser of the soul.

[Mindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ha Jin’s biography of Li Bai was better

[Lars · Rating 3 out of 5]

The state is gone, long live the country

[Palorossi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice gentle book that gives you a flavour of current China, and old China, and of course an insight into the Poems

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The market for a book like this must be exceedingly small. The knowledge of Du Fu in the anglosphere is, I am guessing, fairly scant. This book tracks the journey Du Fu took across China during his lifetime, and matches up his words to the landscape and peoples he wrote about. I am glad that this exists.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

The life and travels of China's most revered poet are ably related by the author. Du Fu was a failed civil service entrant whose life was uprooted by war, a development which sent him on an epic and often tragic odyssey in search of security, shelter and food. His work ran the gamut from observations of the everyday to humanity's place in the cosmos. The photographs in the book are excellent, and support the story well.