Editing Du Fu (section)

=== Early years ===
Most of what is known of Du Fu's life comes from his poems. His paternal grandfather was [[Du Shenyan]], a noted politician and poet during the reign of Empress [[Wu Zetian]] (r. 690–705). Du Fu was born in 712; the exact birthplace is unknown, except that it was near [[Luoyang]], Henan<!-- DO NOT LINK, see [[MOS:GEOLINK]] for further guidance --> province ([[Gongyi|Gong county]] is a favourite candidate). In later life, he considered himself to belong to the capital city of [[Chang'an]], ancestral hometown of the Du family.{{Sfn|Hung|1952|p=19}}

Du Fu's mother died shortly after he was born, and he was partially raised by his aunt. He had an elder brother, who died young. He also had three [[Sibling|half brothers]] and one [[Sibling|half sister]], to whom he frequently refers in his poems, although he never mentions his stepmother.{{Sfn|Hung|1952|p=19}}

The son of a minor scholar-official, his youth was spent on the standard education of a future civil servant: study and memorisation of the [[Chinese classic texts|Confucian classics]] of [[philosophy]], history and poetry. He later claimed to have produced creditable poems by his early teens, but these have been lost.{{Sfn|Hung|1952|p=21}}

[[File:Dufuschina.jpg|thumb|left|250px|alt=Map of eastern interior Chinese cities of Luoyang, Chang'an, Qinzhou, Chengdu, [[Kuizhou]], and [[Tanzhou (in modern Hunan)|Tanzhou]]|Du Fu's China]]

In the early 730s, he travelled in the [[Jiangsu]] and [[Zhejiang]] area; his earliest surviving poem, describing a poetry contest, is thought to date from the end of this period, around 735.{{Sfn|Hung|1952|p=24}} In that year, he took the [[Imperial examination]], likely in [[Chang'an]]. He failed, to his surprise and that of centuries of later critics. Hung concludes that he probably failed because his [[prose]] style at the time was too dense and obscure, while Chou suggests his failure to cultivate connections in the capital may have been to blame. After this failure, he went back to travelling, this time around [[Shandong]] and [[Hebei]].{{Sfn|Hsieh|1994|p=2}}{{Sfn|Hung|1952|p=25–28}}

His father died around 740. Du Fu would have been allowed to enter the civil service because of his father's rank, but he is thought to have given up the privilege in favour of one of his half brothers.{{Sfn|Hung|1952|p=33}} He spent the next four years living in the Luoyang area, fulfilling his duties in domestic affairs.{{Sfn|Chou|1995|p=9}}

In the autumn of 744, he met [[Li Bai]] (Li Po) for the first time, and the two poets formed a friendship. David Young describes this as "the most significant formative element in Du Fu's artistic development" because it gave him a living example of the reclusive poet-scholar life to which he was attracted after his failure in the civil service exam.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Du Fu: A Life in Poetry|publisher=Random House|year=2008|isbn=978-0-375-71160-2|location=New York|translator-last=Young|translator-first=David|pages=2}}</ref> The relationship was somewhat one-sided, however. Du Fu was by some years the younger, while Li Bai was already a poetic star. We have twelve poems to or about Li Bai from the younger poet, but only one in the other direction. They met again only once, in 745.{{Sfn|Davis|1971|p=146}}

In 746, he moved to the capital in an attempt to resurrect his official career. He took the civil service exam a second time during the following year, but all the candidates were failed by the [[prime minister]] (apparently in order to prevent the emergence of possible rivals). He never again attempted the examinations, instead petitioning the emperor directly in 751, 754 and probably again in 755. He married around 752, and by 757 the couple had had five children—three sons and two daughters—but one of the sons died in infancy in 755. From 754 he began to have lung problems (probably [[asthma]]), the first of a series of ailments which dogged him for the rest of his life. It was in that year that Du Fu was forced to move his family due to the turmoil of a famine brought about by massive floods in the region.<ref name="ebrey2006"/>

In 755, he received an appointment as Registrar of the Right Commandant's office of the Crown Prince's Palace.{{Sfn|Hung|1952|p=86}} Although this was a minor post, in normal times it would have been at least the start of an official career. Even before he had begun work, however, the position was swept away by events.

[[File:DuFuStatue2.jpg|right|thumb|The statue in his [[Du Fu Thatched Cottage|Thatched Cottage]], Chengdu<!-- DO NOT LINK, see [[MOS:GEOLINK]] for further guidance -->, China]]