Hi friends. Today's episode is hosted by the poet and writer Victoria Chang.

Don't worry, I'll be back on April 8th. I'm Victoria Chang and this is the slowdown.

I'm Victoria Chang and this is the slowdown. I was that kind of college student who floated from subject to subject

interested in just about everything. By the time I had graduated from the

University of Michigan I think I had considered at least five majors, from history to philosophy, to literature, to science, to economics, to psychology.

As I've gotten older, I realize that I was and am trapped in a

system that likes us to focus more and more, until we are staring down a tiny pinhole.

If I could have majored in learning, I would have been elated.

One of my favorite subjects was Chinese history,

simply because of how vast it is. History also interests me because I am constantly

in awe of the way that so much has changed, yet so much hasn't changed. Then there's the idea of a continuum,

how we connect to each other through time, and how we are each a part of something much larger than ourselves.

I have always loved imagining how people lived a long time ago,

what they thought about, how they dressed, what they ate. One of the best ways to see how people really lived is

through poems, really old poems.

Du Fu is a poet who really old poems.

Du Fu is a poet who lived during the Tang Dynasty in China from 721 to 770 AD. He was one of the three most prominent poets in the Tang era, along with Wang Wei and Li-Fi.

Du Fu lived during turbulent war times, which feels like every era of history, including our present times.

Du Fu famously wrote about the Anlou Shan rebellion when the general of the same name staged a rebellion in the Tang capital.

Du Fu fled the capital, but in his attempt to return to meet up with his allies, he was captured and imprisoned.

It was during this time that he wrote many powerful and beautiful poems, such as the poem Spring

View, or in Chinese Trin Wang.

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