Du Fu (Chinese: 杜甫; pinyin: Dù Fǔ; Wade–Giles: Tu Fu (712–770), is considered primus inter pares of the three greatest poets in the Tang dynasty.
These three poets, though living in the same era, called the High Tang period, have different personalities and beliefs.
The High Tang period is the period ending approximately with the death of Du Fu [770] or the end of the An Lushan Rebellion [late 750s] which devastated the Tang dynasty. [see p 8 The End of the Chinese Middle Ages- Essays in Mid -Tang Literary Culture by Stephen Owen, 1996].
The standard trichotomy is Wang Wei as a Buddhist recluse, Li Bai as a Taoist Immortal and Du Fu as a Confucian sage. [see p xvi Three Chinese Poets by Vikram Seth, 1992]
Vikram Seth studied in China and is fluent in Chinese.
