Confucian Prophet: Political Thought In Du Fu’s Poetry (752–757) ...

Taking such an approach, Davis concludes that Du Fu was a patriot who believed in the superiority of Chinese civilization over the surrounding peoples and tribes, whom he viewed with derision and disgust. Davis qualifies this as a patriotism that saw the peace and order of the Tang threatened by outsiders: “Feeling very deeply that the civilization and order that he knew were under serious challenge, he attacked the threat with the terms traditional in a literature which had recorded many encounters with external invaders.”³⁵ Davis argues that Du’s concern for the common people, though overemphasized by some scholars and critics, is present in Du’s mentality and derives from his “general humanity and sympathy with distress.” He further held the conviction that that distress was the result of disorder, particularly that caused by war.³⁶ Davis does not see Du Fu as a consistent antiwar poet. Rather he sees his ideas concerning war as contingent upon the events of the times. Before the war Du was, indeed, antiwar. But after the onset of the rebellion, he favored a full victory and provided advice on military affairs and strategy. When Tibetan invasions followed the suppression of the An Lushan forces, Du lamented the inability of the Tang military finally to provide security. War and Chinese relations with the outside world are indeed crucial concerns in the poems studied here. Davis’s characterization of Du’s views of foreign tribes and Du’s concern for the common people rings true. Left unstudied, however, is the relationship between Du and the textual tradition he says preceded Du and the implications for political thought that relationship might imply. Davis also suggests a thematic approach. He discusses Du Fu’s poems on travel and friendship. But he sees nothing relevant to political thought in them. This study will argue just the opposite: that travel provides an occasion for some of Du’s most profound political thinking. Travel emerges as one of the most intimate connections between Du’s poetry and the textual tradition of political philosophy on which he bases his imagery and ideas. The same may be said of friendship, which for Du becomes one of the foundations of his ideal domestic political order.