
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss two of China’s greatest poets, Li Bai and Du Fu, who wrote in the 8th century in the Tang Era. Li Bai (701-762AD) is known for personal poems, many of them about drinking wine, and for finding the enjoyment in life. Du Fu (712-770AD), a few years younger, is more of an everyman, writing in the upheaval of the An Lushan Rebellion (755-763AD). Together they have been a central part of Chinese culture for over a millennium, reflecting the balance between the individual and the public life, and one sign of their enduring appeal is that there is rarely agreement on which of them is the greater.
The image above is intended to depict Du Fu.
With
Tim Barrett
Tian Yuan Tan
And
Frances Wood
Producer: Simon Tillotson
By BBC Radio 44.5
595595 ratings
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss two of China’s greatest poets, Li Bai and Du Fu, who wrote in the 8th century in the Tang Era. Li Bai (701-762AD) is known for personal poems, many of them about drinking wine, and for finding the enjoyment in life. Du Fu (712-770AD), a few years younger, is more of an everyman, writing in the upheaval of the An Lushan Rebellion (755-763AD). Together they have been a central part of Chinese culture for over a millennium, reflecting the balance between the individual and the public life, and one sign of their enduring appeal is that there is rarely agreement on which of them is the greater.
The image above is intended to depict Du Fu.
With
Tim Barrett
Tian Yuan Tan
And
Frances Wood
Producer: Simon Tillotson

7,913 Listeners

314 Listeners

1,067 Listeners

5,576 Listeners

1,808 Listeners

3,196 Listeners

1,910 Listeners

870 Listeners

743 Listeners

280 Listeners

303 Listeners

1,729 Listeners

1,018 Listeners

488 Listeners

159 Listeners

241 Listeners

181 Listeners

3,245 Listeners

1,024 Listeners

779 Listeners

1,010 Listeners

15,506 Listeners

2,552 Listeners

347 Listeners