On April 6th, 2020, BBC released the latest documentary Du Fu: China's greatest poet, with a single episode of 58 minutes, which attracted worldwide attention. In the film, Du Fu was named "the greatest poet in China" and was introduced to the western world in detail in the form of documentary for the first time. Michael Wood, a historian and one of the most popular hosts of the BBC, visited China to follow Du Fu's footsteps. The BBC also invited Sir Ian McKellen, a British national treasure actor who played Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, to recite 15 translations of Du Fu's poems in English, such as Zhuang You and Watching Gong Sundaniang Disciples Dance Sword. Yuwen Suoan, a sinologist at Harvard University, Zeng, a professor at Renmin University of China, and Dr. Liu from Oxford University were also invited to make professional interpretations from various angles.
"Although it claims to have the oldest extant poetic tradition in the world, the history of China literature is often ignored." From the introduction of this documentary in The Guardian, it can be seen that the ordinary British audience is not familiar with Du Fu. But BBC's interest in Du Fu can be traced back to 20 12. At that time, the BBC correspondent in Beijing reported on "Li Bai and Du Fu: China's" Drunken "Superstar Poets", which said that China people were generally not interested in modern poetry, but they could all recite Du Li's poems.
In Du Fu: The Greatest Poet in China, the BBC gave great recognition to China's long poetic tradition, saying that China's poetic tradition was earlier than Homer's epic, and that China under Tang Xuanzong was in "the most glorious era of culture and the greatest era of poetry", and "at that time, no civilization in the world was as elegant and literate as China". The film also uses "the greatest" to describe Du Fu, not only to China, but also to compare him with Dante and Shakespeare, pointing out that there is no such figure as Du Fu in the west, and the moral sentiments of the whole civilization are expressed through words.
The film explains why Du Fu is eager to be an official and always cares about the country and people with Confucian "loyalty to the monarch and patriotism". In less than an hour, I not only introduced the great poet from China to the west, but also tried to find the connection between Du Fu and our present life through a visit to modern China. For more than 1000 years, Du Fu's poems have been discussed by people in China. For China people, Du Fu is "not only a poet, but also a guardian of the country's conscience". As the poem says: "The article is eternal, and the gains and losses are well known."
The host and screenwriter of this film is Michael Wood, a history professor at Manchester University and the chairman of the China-UK Understanding Association. He has produced more than 65,438+020 historical documentaries. This is not the first time he has set foot in a documentary about the history of China. The Story of China, which was produced on 20 16, won favorable comments from China and Britain. At that time, Xinhua News Agency called the film "beyond the boundaries of race and belief". In the documentary Du Fu: The Greatest Poet in China, Wood not only traces the turbulent life of this "poet saint", but also follows in his footsteps and retraces his steps-Xi 'an (Chang 'an), Chengdu, Changsha ... Wood tries to find "Du Fu" from the perspective of an Englishman with his doubts in the ever-changing China. In Du Fu's hometown, which has become a popular scenic spot, travelers can still find the value of China's ancient culture in contemporary China. "
Sir Ian McKellen, a British national treasure actor familiar to the audience in China, recited Du Fu's poems in a deep and rich English voice, which was evaluated by the Daily Telegraph as: "Sir McClane recited Du Fu's poems in a calm and eloquent style, which made us feel their beauty."