Du Fu, renowned for his lyrical poetry expressing the misery ofthe people of his time, died of disease in 768 and was buried in Xiaotian Village of Pingjiang County in central China's Hunan Province.

Tong Shengping, director of the Construction Office of the Du Fu Tomb in Pingjiang, said that the "comprehensive" restoration is scheduled to begin soon. He declined to name the source of the funding.

According to Tong, a two-year construction program is about to begin during which a number of structures destroyed both by nature and man are scheduled to be repaired.

Tong added that, since the Tang Dynasty, the tomb has been expanded to include a mausoleum, an ancestral hall of the Du family, a residence for monks, and sacrificial halls.

The ruins left standing were built mainly during the Qing Dynasty, the era of Emperor Guangxu (1875 - 1908), Tong said.

Apart from restoring the structures to their original form, the project also entails the widening of a five-kilometer blacktop road linking the spot to a national highway.

The tomb was designated a major scenic spot under state preservation in 1988. Many tourists from Japan, the Republic of Korea and other southeast Asian countries have visited the tomb to pay their respects.

(Xinhua News Agency November 12, 2002)