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Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum receives donation

By Huang Zhiling (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-07-18 18:30

Yang Ning (2nd, right), chief of the Chengdu Branch of the Bank of Communications, shakes hands with Jia Lan (left), curator of the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum, after signing the agreement to donate 9 million yuan (US$1.3 million) for the latter's post-quake reconstruction. [Huang Zhiling/chinadaily.com.cn]

CHENGDU: The Bank of Communications signed an agreement with the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum in this capital city of Southwest China's Sichuan Province on Friday afternoon to donate 9 million yuan (US$1.3 million) to the latter through Sichuan Charity.

"The money will be spent on the museum's post-quake reconstruction," said Yang Ning, chief of the Chengdu Branch of the Bank of Communications.

Shan Jixiang, head of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, attended the signing ceremony and said this would be the largest amount of donation a single museum has received since the May 12 earthquake.

Sixty-five cultural relics under State protection and 119 under provincial protection in Sichuan have been severely damaged as a result of the earthquake. A total of 1,839 museum relics, 191 of which were regarded as precious, have been ruined in the province, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage said.

Despite Chengdu being 92 km from the epicenter in Wenchuan County, some buildings in the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum with an area of over 5,000 sq m collapsed, resulting in economic losses surpassing 40 million yuan (US$4.7 million).

Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum is dedicated to Du whose poems are included in school textbooks, and any student of Chinese literature should be acquainted with his works.

A native of Gongxian in Central China's Henan Province, Du moved to Chengdu in AD 759 to take refuge from a war fought between two rebelling generals that led to the decline of the lustrous Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907). He lived a peaceful life for about four years in a cottage he built in the western suburbs of the city, writing 240 of his 1,400 poems.

Du's poems are known for sympathetic portrayals of human suffering and bitterness in the face of injustice and corruption.

Today, Du's cottage has become a museum which includes a replica of his thatched cottage built in 1997 according to the description of his poetic works.

The museum has become the sacred land of Chinese literature and visiting it is a must for most first-time visitors to Chengdu.

Strolling leisurely in the museum grounds, visitors can enjoy the aura of ancient culture, as well as tranquility in the bamboo groves, away from the urban jungle.