Literary attraction

The Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum in Chengdu, Sichuan province, is built around the location where the acclaimed ancient poet built his family cottage in AD 760. It also includes traditional structures. [Photo by Ding Hao/China Daily]

Intellectuals and primary school students recite his poems in front of his statue on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year.

Traditional beliefs correlate each of the calendar's first week's days with a different being－namely, the chicken, dog, pig, sheep, cow, horse and human.

Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) scholar He Shaoji wrote: "Du Fu has a nice residence in Chengdu. I come to worship the poet on the day of humans."

Consequently, people honor Du on this occasion.

Du's AD 761 poem Happy Rain on a Spring Night is a required recitation for students on the day.

It reads:

Good rain knows its time right;

It will fall when comes spring.

With wind it steals in night;

Mute, it moistens each thing.

O'er wild lanes a dark cloud spreads;

In a boat, a lantern looms.

Dawn sees saturated reds;

The town is heavy with blooms.