15 Facts About Du Mu

Du Mu was a Chinese calligrapher, poet, and politician who lived during the late Tang dynasty.

Du Mu is best known for his lyrical and romantic quatrains.

Du Mu was born in the Tang capital Chang'an into an elite family, the Jingzhao Du clan, whose fortunes were declining.

Du Mu's grandfather was Du You, a minister at the Tang court and the compiler of the Tang Dynasty encyclopedia Tongdian.

Du Mu passed the jinshi level of the imperial civil service examination in 828 at the age of 25, and began his career as a bureaucrat holding a series of minor posts, first as an editor of at the Institute for the Advancement of Literature.

Du Mu held many official positions in various locales through the years, but he never achieved a high rank, perhaps due to enemies made in the factional dispute at the imperial court in 835.

Du Mu began to feel his career was a failure and he expressed his dissatisfaction in his poems.

In 848 Du Mu returned to Chang'an after being appointed Vice Director of Merit Titles and was awarded his old post in the History Office.

Du Mu was transferred to the post of the Vice Director of the Ministry of Personnel in 849, then was appointed governor of Huzhou in 850 at his own request.

Du Mu was recalled to Chang'an in 851 to the post of Director of the Bureau of Evaluation and Drafter, and was appointed to the office of Secretariat and Drafter in 852.

Du Mu fell ill that winter and died before the next lunar year.

Du Mu was skilled in shi, fu and ancient Chinese prose.

Du Mu is best known as the writer of sensual, lyrical quatrains featuring historical sites or romantic situations, and often on themes of separation, decadence, or impermanence.

Du Mu enjoyed traveling in the misty mountains of southeast China, especially Xuanzhou, and remembering the fallen Southern dynasties, as exemplified by his poem "Written on the Kaiyuan Temple at Xuanzhou" :.

Du Mu wrote a commentary on The Art of War and many letters of advice to high officials.