Du Fu:a narrator of a city's past with poetry

偉大的唐朝詩人杜甫留下了數(shù)不清的千古名篇。單就在成都避難的四年期間，就寫下了240余首膾炙人口的詩篇，其中多篇上榜中小學教材。如今，他成了成都的歷史代言人。

S ixteen foreign families read poems written by Du Fu，a poet in the Tang Dynasty(618～907),when visiting his former residence in Qingyang District in Chengdu.

Du lived for four years in the city to avoid the war in northern China,where he wrote more than 240 poems,some of which are now seen in the textbooks for Chinese students commonly.

During the one-day trip atDu Fu'sformer residence,families from the United States,the United Kingdom,Australiaand South Koreatook abus decorated with pandas,another symbol of Chengdu,to learn about Du's experience and the stories behind the poetry.

Du'residence,a thatched(茅草屋頂?shù)?house,has been rebuilt into a memorial temple for the great poet,based on its original appearance and surrounded by a classical garden.The residence and the neighboring Huanhuaxi Park have been famous tourist destinations in Chengdu for their cultural significance.

“Such activities are very interesting,” said Matthew Jonathan Vegh,who founded an IT company in Chengdu.The Canadian took his son Michael to visit Du's residence.

He said he had great interest in the local culture and even wrote a screenplay about the Sanxingdui Museum and Jinsha Ruins,two historical relic sites(遺址)around Chengdu in his spare time.His 9-year-old son Michael Vegh bought a fan with one of Du's poems and related images on it.He volunteered to read the poem in front of other attendees.

As part of the cultural events bridging poems with the city's history,a number of foreign parents and children were brought to the historical spots and touched the memory of the ancient men of letters in Chengdu.

Sam Agyemang,one of the visitors from the United States,graduated as a postgraduate student from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in Chengdu,where he married a local woman and gave birth to a girl.

He said his daughter,a 7-year-old student can recite five traditional Chinese poems now,including two by Du Fu.

“Chengdu is suitable to live in and has very delicious food.I love the city,which I think is the most attractive city in China,”he said.

Chengdu released several policies in 2016 to make foreigners feel at home in the city,including easy access to civil affairs information,activities about Chinese culture,language training and rich comm-unity activities.

Robin Roy,an English teacher from Scotland,played the role of tour guide during the trip.

He said the spicy(辛辣的)food and slow and relaxing lifestyle of Chengdu inspired him to stay when he came five years ago.

“I have visited many Chinese cities,but Chengdu is still my favorite,”he said.