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After his patron died in 765, Tu Fu left Chengtu and headed down the Yangtze. Here, he stops outside Chunghsien at a shrine to Yu the Great. Yu founded the Hsia dynasty (c. 2200 B.C.) and was credited with taming China’s rivers, not by building dikes but by dredging them. He is also credited with introducing the orange to Szechuan. But here his shrine has been neglected, and the fruit hangs unpicked, much like Tu Fu’s own talents. It was said that Yu adapted himself to every situation: he rode chariots on land, boats on water, sledges on mudflats, and palanquins in the mountains. But Tu Fu has achieved no such mastery. The Land of Pa included the eastern half of Szechuan. It was the Pa (dragon) tribe that first settled this region.

Shrine to Yu the Great

TU FU

A shrine to Yu on a desolate slope

in autumn wind and the sun’s last rays

a tree full of oranges in an overgrown courtyard

a dragon mural in an ancient hall

vapor rising from a rocky cliff

roar of the river scouring the sand

once he mastered the art of riding

he opened up this Land of Pa