I’ve had the opportunity to meet quite a few poets — it’s the advantage of getting a master’s degree in writing & poetics. But before I headed on that long bus ride to Jiuzhaigou, I had the chance to see the sights of Chengdu, and that included my first encounter with Chinese poetry.
After a little research, I found that I had to visit Du Fu’s thatched cottage, which is an oasis in the major city of Chengdu.
It was one of the few times I’ve bought something at a museum gift shop, but I had to purchase a translated book of Du Fu’s poetry, which was far more interesting than the Tang Dynasty poetry I read. Those poems provided me with some distraction on the bus ride filled with chain smokers.
