This poem was written in the autumn of the second year of Emperor Dali of the Tang Dynasty (767). At that time, the Anshi Rebellion had been over for four years, but local warlords took advantage of the situation to rise again and compete with each other for territory. Du Fu originally entered the Yanwu shogunate and relied on Yan Wu. Unfortunately, Yan Wu died of illness soon, leaving him without support. He had to leave the Chengdu thatched cottage that he had been running for five or six years and bought a boat to go south. He wanted to go directly to Kuimen, but he was seriously ill and ended up in the south. Yun'an stayed for several months before arriving in Kuizhou. If it weren't for the care of the local governor, he wouldn't have been able to live here for three years. In these three years, his life was still very difficult and his health was very poor.
This poem was written by the fifty-six-year-old poet in this extremely difficult situation. That day, he climbed up to the high platform outside Baidi City in Kuizhou alone. He climbed up and looked at it with mixed feelings. What he saw aroused what he felt; the bleak scenery of the Autumn River aroused his emotion of his wandering life, and infiltrated his sorrow of old age, illness, and loneliness. As a result, this masterpiece was born, which is known as "the first seven-character rhyme in ancient and modern times".