How did Du Fu die? Did Du Fu really starve to death?

Du Fu's influence on China's classical poetry is far-reaching, and he is called "the sage of poetry" by later generations, and his poems are called "the history of poetry". Later generations called him Du Shiyi and Du Gongbu, and also called him Du Shaoling and Du Caotang. Born in Dujia, he is a great scholar in the north. Its distant ancestors were Du Zhou, a famous cruel official of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and his grandfather Du. Du Fu lived in the historical period from prosperity to decline in the Tang Dynasty. Du Fu was born in a family of "serving Confucianism and guarding officials" for generations, with profound family knowledge. The early works mainly show the ideal, ambition and expected life path. On the other hand, it shows his political ideal of "respecting the monarch and following it, and then making the vulgar pure". Many works in this period reflected the sufferings of people's livelihood and political turmoil at that time, and exposed the ugly behavior of the rulers. Since then, he has embarked on a life and creative road of worrying about the country and the people. With the increasingly corrupt politics in the later period of Tang Xuanzong, his life became increasingly impoverished and disappointed. In a wandering life.

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Du Fu lived a very poor life and died on a wrecked ship until the day of his death, suffering from hunger before his death. There are different opinions about Du Fu's death in history. So how did Du Fu die?

Statement 1: drowned.

How did Du Fu die? Many people are talking about drowning. It originated from the supplement made by Du Fu in the name of Li Guan in the Tang Dynasty. The book says: I went to Leiyang, and Nie ordered me to be rude. One day, I crossed the river and lived in a restaurant. It was the surging of the Xijiang River. For fear of drifting away, his body did not know where it fell. Tang Xuanzong returned to the south, thinking about the beauty of the child, and asked the world for the child. For this sentence, careful people can see the serious injury at a glance, that is, Tang Xuanzong died in 762 and Du Fu died in 770. How can there be a saying that "the world asks for it"? Du Fu's death was obviously fabricated.

Statement 2: Died of food poisoning

This statement was first put forward by modern scholar Guo Moruo. He thought Du Fu was displaced in his later years. Later, he came to Leiyang County, where the county magistrate named Du Mu Fu brought him beef and white wine. Due to the large quantity, Du Fu couldn't finish it for a while, so he waited until the next meal, but in hot summer weather, beef was easy to go bad. Deteriorated beef was highly toxic, and Du Fu died after eating the poisoned beef. This statement comes entirely from Lao Guo's speculation, and there is no historical data to check, so this statement of Du Fu's death is unconvincing.

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Statement 3: Drowning to death.

How did Du Fu die? This theory originated from the statement that "all three sages belong to one water" in Du Zimei's Tomb written in the name of Han Yu in the Tang Dynasty. As we know, Qu Yuan and Huai Sha drowned themselves, and it is a foregone conclusion that Li Bai fell into the water to catch the moon. Here, in the absence of any base area, the author let Du Fu sink into his own death, which seems ridiculous and incredible!

Statement 4. Sick to death

This statement has always been accepted by many scholars and lovers of literature and history. The most powerful evidence to support this view is the "epitaph" written by Yuan Zhen for Du Fu at the request of his son Du Fu in the Tang Dynasty. The epitaph says that Du Fu died in the boat in his later years because of poverty and illness. This statement is in line with the actual situation of Du Fu in his later years, so it will be approved by many people. But what makes us doubt is the authenticity of the epitaph. Because this epitaph was written by Du Fu's son Tuoba GUI, as a son, will he beautify his father's death? We don't know!

Statement 5. Be killed by wine and rice

This cause of death sounds ridiculous, but it has traditional authority because it is clearly recorded in the official history. According to historical records, Du Fu lived in Leiyang by boat in his later years. When the river overflowed, he was trapped in the river and had no food for ten days. Later, when Jia, the magistrate of Leiyang County, knew about this incident, he took him ashore and offered Du Fu beef and white wine. Du Fu, who had a rare gluttony for a long time, died of indigestion because he didn't eat for a long time and his stomach was overwhelmed.

But the last one is the most talked about in history, probably because later generations saw him wandering all his life and hoped to give him a slightly better ending on the day he died. But this statement does not come out of thin air, but it is still based.

The specific situation described by later generations is that Du Fu left Sichuan, went to Chenzhou to visit relatives along the waterway, and passed through Leiyang Tianyi Fang when he was caught in a flood. Du Fu's boat ran aground on the river, so he couldn't walk. It took 10 days to walk. It's nothing to delay a little time. There's nothing urgent anyway. Most importantly, there is no food. Two meals a day can be tolerated, but how can you stand it if you don't eat for a few days? The situation of Du Fu, who is old and frail, can be imagined.

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Fortunately, God never shuts one door but he opens another, and the unfortunate experience of poets and saints was known by Nie County Magistrate of Leiyang County. Local parents immediately launched a love rescue operation, first rescued Du Fu from the flood, and then sent someone to send him delicious roast beef and an altar of white wine. It is estimated that Nie County magistrate knows something about the poet's dietary preferences, so he can appeal to his preferences-drinking and eating meat is indeed a great hobby of the poet's life.

As the saying goes, you are hungry for food, not to mention facing wine and food. Du Fu, who was hungry and crazy, immediately ate and glutted, and his appetite was satisfied for a long time, but the terrible danger came quietly. Sure enough, his digestive system couldn't bear such a sudden burden, so he fell down that night and never got up again. Killed by wine and meat, it was called "Leiyang" in history. Modern medicine believes that overeating meat can easily lead to acute pancreatitis, which can lead to death in severe cases. It is concluded that Du Fu died of severe pancreatitis.

We can't tell which of the above statements is right or wrong. Which one do you trust most?