"Du Fu: China's Greatest Poet", a 58-minute film released recently on BBC introduces Du Fu to the Western world for the first time the form of documentary. In the film, Michael Wood, one of BBC's most popular hosts, visited number of Chinese cities to retrace Du's steps. The documentary invited a well-known British actor Ian McKellen, played Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings movies, (read) 15 of Du's poems that have been translated into English.
Born in 712, Du Fu lived through the violent fall of China's brilliant Tang Dynasty. He had the desire to serve his country, but his life (destroy) by the An Lushan Rebellion of 755. Of the many (poem) he wrote, 500 have been preserved over the ages. For generations he (be) the guardian of the moral conscience (良知) of the nation.
The documentary compared Du to Shakespeare to help audiences (well) understand the poet's great achievements in literature. It also highlighted Chinese poetry, noting that its 3000-year-old history makes the oldest poetry in the world.
Even today, people (suffer) under COVID-19 are still inspired by Du Fu's poems.
