Du Fu had been always
touring throughout his life. It is the touring which enables him to attain the honor as the Holy Poet and Historical Poet, and it is poems which record his whole touring life. The tour in
Du Fu's life falls into four kinds:
the official tour in pursuit of his ideal to repay the country and relieve the world, the friendship tour to make acquaintances with well-known talents of the age, the pleasure tour to cultivate taste and personality and satisfy his own curiosity for cultural interests, and the
wandering tour intended to escape from his individual state of living pressed by poverty and hunger and to bring tranquility and comfort against mental sufferings. Among these four, the
Official one is the main form in Du Fu's life because the purpose of friendship and wandering tours are to a great extent official. The wandering tour represents the general condition of his whole life with the characteristics of great depression and bitterness. Du Fu's tour can be compared with that of Qu Yuan's, both differing from Chuang Zhu's
free annd unfettered
Tour in spirit.
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