Abstract:

DU Fu compared himself to Ji and Xie-the ancient sages-in his poems. According to it, people of later generations looked DU Fu as a Confucian or a politician. When we read DU Fu's poems, we should also pay attention to the historical facts. But this paper argues that the importance of DU Fu comparing himself to Ji and Xie was not his attending concrete political matters, but embodying his Confucianism, for Ji and Xie were two sages who thought about people and pursued the happiness of people. The spirit of DU Fu's poems was the same as Ji and Xie's spirit of "self- drowning and self-starvation".

Key words: DU Fu, Ji and Xie, self-drowning and self-starvation