BBC Radio 4 LW

china

China: As History Is My Witness

China: As History Is My Witness: Episode 4: Du Fu and Li Bai - The Poets

Documentaries

Factual: Life Stories

Factual: History

Du Fu and Li Bai - The Poets

Episode 4

Episode 4: Du Fu and Li Bai - The Poets

BBC Radio 4 - China: As History Is My Witness, Du Fu and Li Bai - The Poets

Carrie Gracie explores why China's children still quote two drunkards from the 8th century

Carrie Gracie explores the lives of Du Fu and Li Bai, two men whose poetry remains as vivid in the Chinese imagination as Shakespeare is in our own.

China's two favourite poets were born 1,300 years ago, at the beginning of the 8th Century. The language has changed so little that they remain easy for modern Chinese people to read, and their themes are still relevant today - from friendship, love and landscape to the stench of political corruption.

Kaiser Kuo, a founder of China's first heavy-metal band, is probably one of the very few rock musicians, in any country, who draws inspiration from a poet born in 701AD.

"He was quite a drunkard... and writing some of his best poetry apparently, while completely inebriated. You know, he's wild and associated with a kind of unbridled revelry, and yeah that's part of why I love him," says Kuo. 

He is talking about Li Bai, a poet born in Central Asia, who became a wandering superstar poet in China, known as "the fallen immortal" or "the immortal of wine".

Li Bai was a huge celebrity, showered with honours because of his genius. Du Fu, on the other hand, aspired to a career as a civil servant, but he failed the exam and was too prickly to network his way into a good post. In his later years, Du Fu was so poor that one of his children died of starvation. 

Today, every Chinese person learns poems by Li Bai, and the country's other favourite poet, Du Fu, from childhood and their work is considered as important in Chinese literary history as Shakespeare is to people in Britain.

Presenter: Carrie Gracie
Producer: Neal Razzell.

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Carrie Gracie presents a series exploring ten great lives from Chinese history

Carrie Gracie presents a series exploring what ten great lives from Chinese history reveal about China today

Accessibility links

Programme Index

China: As History Is My Witness

Episode 4: Du Fu and Li Bai - The Poets

Genres

Formats

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4