In the Field of My Heart

The Other China

心田

It is because he is free from striving that no one in the world can strive against him’ — this line from Tao Te Ching encapsulates the spirit of the following selection of works by Lao Shu 老樹, the nom de plume of Liu Shuyong (劉樹勇, 1962-).

Liu is a Beijing-based artist, writer and critic whose works are featured in The Other China. For his latest art work (and merch), see Lao Shu Paintings 老樹畫畫 at NetEase 網易, a site from which the following work is taken.

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The Chinese rubric of this chapter in The Other China — 心田 xīn tián, ‘heart-field’, a Buddhist term from the Sanskrit word citta चित्त, is inspired by the quatrain that Lao Shu composed for his painting.

— Geremie R. Barmé
Editor, China Heritage
26 March 2026

There’s a vegetable patch in my heart;
there, no need to rush about or to fuss.
Radishes grow crazy fast in my field
while overhead clouds go scudding by.

心中有塊菜地，
你就不用著急。
地下蘿蔔瘋長，
天上雲彩狂移。

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