The Du Fu River Pavilion (Tianmen Pavilion) stands on the western bank of the Xiang River near the old city centre, marking the site where the Tang dynasty poet Du Fu lived during the last years of his life. Du Fu spent 769 and 770 AD in Changsha, his health failing, writing the remarkable sequence of late poems that conclude his literary output. He died on a boat on the river in 770, heading south. The pavilion built in his memory has been rebuilt and relocated over the centuries; the current structure overlooks the river from a position close to where he lived.
The site is worth visiting for its atmosphere and river views rather than the building itself, which is a modern reconstruction. The riverfront promenade here connects to the old city wall section near Tianxin Pavilion, making a natural walking route. Du Fu's connection to Changsha is less celebrated than his associations with Chengdu and the Yangtze gorges, but the late Changsha poems are among his most concentrated — the "Autumn Meditations" sequence and the tower poems compress an entire life's grief and clarity into a few hundred characters. Entry is free.