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Du Fu Thatched Cottage is the former residence of the Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu adjacent to the Blossom-Bathing Brook (also called Huanhua Brook) in Chengdu, where the poet sage lived for almost 4 years and wrote over 240 poems. The Cottage was restored by the poet Wei Zhuang in the late Tang, and then extensively renovated and expanded throughout the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.
Now, the nearly 300-mu(about 200,000m2) Thatched Cottage maintains the architectural layouts shaped in the 13th Year of the Emperor Hongzhi of the Ming Dynasty (1500) and the 16th Year of the Emperor Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty (1811). With its simple and elegant buildings, tranquil and graceful gardens, it has been well-known as a shrine to Chinese Literature. Established as the Chengdu Du Fu Memorial in 1955 and renamed the Chengdu Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum in 1985, the Museum is covered in the first batch of national key cultural relic protection units and national level-1 museums. Its name is also found in the inventories of national key ancient books protection units, and national AAAA scenic spots. The Cottage is the biggest, best preserved, best known, and most distinctive relic pertaining to Du Fu in China, with annual visitors surpassing one million.
At the site core, built along a central axis are the Screen Wall, Front Gate, Grand Lobby, Memorial of the Poet-Historian, Firewood Gate and Gongbu Shrine, flanked by symmetrical cloisters and other accessory structures in a solemn and awe-inspiring, simple and elegant manner. By the east side of the Gongbu Shrine, the Shaoling Tablet Pavilion symbolizes the Cottage and makes a name for itself in Chengdu.
There are many more attractions at the Cottage. There is the rebuilt Thatched Cottage, Du Fu's Former Residence, in 1997, which showcases its stoicism. The Corridor for Du Fu's Wood-carved Poems in the Bonsai Garden, where hundreds of his calligraphy works on wood, with ornamental value, are exhibited and reputed as the “Four Wonders” with his poems, high-quality nanmu and lofty carving workmanship. The Hall of Odes, rebuilt in 2002 in the Mahavira Hall as a part of the original Thatched Cottage Temple, has installed the largest glazed mosaic mural painting in China and 12 sculptures of famous poets, to show us the life of Du Fu along with the development of classical Chinese poetry. Unearthed at the end of 2001, the 420m2 Tang Dynasty Site offers more information about the historical culture of the Cottage and corroborates Du Fu’s description to his living environment and situation in those years. The "Poet Sage" Exhibition won the “Best Creativity” at the 5th "National Top 10 Exhibitions" in 2003. The Pagoda of Buddhas, 30.7m tall, was rebuilt in 2005 into a regular octagon with four eaves, is another landmark piece of architecture at Du Fu Thatched Cottage.
