Entering the ‘cottage’ of Du Fu in Chengdu, Szechuan province, China is to embark on a layered poetic encounter. As our minibus draws up to the extensive car parks it is clear that we are approaching a complex of inter-locking buildings which will take us through a carefully structured tourist experience. Some of us have minor difficulties adjusting our ear-pieces before our guide’s commentary and the tour can properly begin. One of the first buildings in the ancient traditional pagoda style that we visit – The Hall of the Great Poets – houses, as expected, statues of a number of revered poets, including Du Fu himself and his older friend Li Bai, both of whom lived during the Tang dynasty. There is also a fine statue of Li Qingzhao, a woman who lived during the later Song dynasty and whose work is revered for its musicality.

We move on and out into the gardens which are a major feature of the site. Our route takes us past extensive stands of bamboo and mature trees at various stages of coming into leaf and flower on this bright April morning. Light-vented bulbuls and laughing thrushes abound and make their presences heard above the human hubbub. A magpie robin stands defiantly for a moment on the busy pathway. Despite the crowds making their way round this citadel of poetic celebration, there is a vivid sense of pastoral retreat as we amble over the quaint bridges and enjoy vistas down the waterways to these conjured scenes of eighth-century rural China in which a contemplative ...