Abstract: Scholarly opinions remain divided regarding the political affiliation of Tang poet Du Fu (712–770). Traditional scholarship tends to categorize him within the Fang Guan faction, but not without dissenting voices. A reexamination of his social identity and its evolution reveals that he did not belong to any specific political clique; rather, his identity constituted a complex interweaving of three distinct roles: an aristocratic Confucian scholar, a court remonstrance official and a wandering poet. This multidimensional identity profoundly shaped the intellectual depth and artistic expression of his poetry. The poet's profound concern for the fate of the nation and the sufferings of the common people represents the culmination of the deep integration between social identity and literary creation. His stance of independence from political strife not only ensured the sustained and penetrating engagement with reality of his poems but also endowed his lines with a historical resonance that transcends temporal and spatial boundaries. He succeeded, consequently, in forging the distinctive quality of “poetic history” to establish a new aesthetic paradigm for the transitional period from the High Tang to the Middle Tang periods, or early 8th through early 10th centuries.

Key words: Du Fu (712–770), Fang Guan, political clique, social identity, poetic creation