Doodles shoot ancient poet to web stardom
By Xu Chi |
March 26, 2012, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A CHINESE poet dubbed the "Poet Sage" of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) has become an Internet superstar 1,300 years after his birth.
However, this fame is not based on the literary achievements of Du Fu, but on a craze for doodling on his portrait in a school textbook.
Thousands of web users have uploaded images of their take on Du, turning the poet into different characters ranging from a marksman to a young woman holding a doll.
But the doodle frenzy, that has the caption "It is said that Du Fu is a little bit busy these days," has divided opinion online, and a museum devoted to Du in Chengdu City in Sichuan Province has called on doodlers to show respect.
To illustrate how busy Du is, netizens "masterpieces" depict Du riding a scooter, lugging a water barrel, in silhouette listening to an iPod, holding a young woman in his arms, transformed into Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean," basketball star Jeremy Lin and even monsters in online games.
It all began last week when a student uploaded a doodled picture of Du from his Chinese language textbook to express his anger at a boring class and a school assignment to recite poetry.
The portrait is instantly recognizable to students past and present and the doodle went viral - inspiring others.
Officials with the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum in Chengdu City said that the portrait is one of the most treasured cultural relics in the museum.
A museum official said it is good that people in the modern age are paying attention to the poet on this 1,300th anniversary of his birth.
But she asked web users to respect the literary icon, as some doodles appeared "indecent."
Pictures depicting Du having sex with women and men have been branded "pornographic" and disrespectful to traditional culture by some web users.
"People shouldn't go too far when joking about China's most prominent poet," said one netizen. "If Du were around today, he would sue."
But some web users who submitted doodles insisted they meant no harm and that it was just nostalgia.
"I simply wanted to recall the old school days, when we doodled on almost all the portraits of famous people for fun," said one.
Du Fu lived from 712 until 770, writing almost 1,500 poems. Later, he became greatly influential literary figure.
Chinese schoolchildren are required to recite his famous works.
However, this fame is not based on the literary achievements of Du Fu, but on a craze for doodling on his portrait in a school textbook.
Thousands of web users have uploaded images of their take on Du, turning the poet into different characters ranging from a marksman to a young woman holding a doll.
But the doodle frenzy, that has the caption "It is said that Du Fu is a little bit busy these days," has divided opinion online, and a museum devoted to Du in Chengdu City in Sichuan Province has called on doodlers to show respect.
To illustrate how busy Du is, netizens "masterpieces" depict Du riding a scooter, lugging a water barrel, in silhouette listening to an iPod, holding a young woman in his arms, transformed into Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean," basketball star Jeremy Lin and even monsters in online games.
It all began last week when a student uploaded a doodled picture of Du from his Chinese language textbook to express his anger at a boring class and a school assignment to recite poetry.
The portrait is instantly recognizable to students past and present and the doodle went viral - inspiring others.
Officials with the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum in Chengdu City said that the portrait is one of the most treasured cultural relics in the museum.
A museum official said it is good that people in the modern age are paying attention to the poet on this 1,300th anniversary of his birth.
But she asked web users to respect the literary icon, as some doodles appeared "indecent."
Pictures depicting Du having sex with women and men have been branded "pornographic" and disrespectful to traditional culture by some web users.
"People shouldn't go too far when joking about China's most prominent poet," said one netizen. "If Du were around today, he would sue."
But some web users who submitted doodles insisted they meant no harm and that it was just nostalgia.
"I simply wanted to recall the old school days, when we doodled on almost all the portraits of famous people for fun," said one.
Du Fu lived from 712 until 770, writing almost 1,500 poems. Later, he became greatly influential literary figure.
Chinese schoolchildren are required to recite his famous works.
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