Lao Shu: ‘Giddy-up, Year of the Horse!’

The Other China

快發錢！要過年！！！

On 25 January 2025 China Heritage celebrated the First Day of the First Month of the Year of the Snake in the company of Lao Shu 老樹 (see: Lofty Aspirations & Modest Wishes for the Year of the Snake). Just as the artist previously anticipated the Year of the Dragon in 2024 giving way to the Snake in 2025, here too he is anxious for the Year of the Horse to arrive, preferably at a gallop.

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Lao Shu 老樹, the nom de plume of Liu Shuyong (劉樹勇, 1962-), 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, the site from which the following works are taken.

The Chinese rubric of this chapter in The Other China — 快發錢！要過年！！！, ‘Just hand over my bonus, it’s nearly Spring Festival!’ — features in the first painting in this selection.

— Geremie R. Barmé
Editor, China Heritage
1 February 2026

Got off work already, finally
enough time to do nothing

單位已放假，難得有閒暇。

Lao Shu

translated by Geremie R. Barmé

老陶說：心遠地自偏。
老杜說：隱居欲就廬山遠。
老蘇說：何似在人間？
老樹說：快發錢！要過年！！！

 Tao Yuanming wrote: ‘I am above the fray.’
Du Fu claimed: ‘I find reclusion in distant hills.’ While
Su Dongpo declared: ‘There’s nothing like this life.’
Well, Lao Shu’s got this to say:
‘Just hand over my bonus, it’s nearly Spring Festival!’

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週末躲在家裡，
抱著愛拍漫遊，
以為得了清淨，
裡面喜怒哀愁。

Hiding away on the weekend
absorbed by travelling online:
thought I might be at peace, but it’s
all joy, despair and sorrow in there.

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明年春深時節，
看花無名山中。
四周闃無人跡，
哪來凡塵事功？
風來吹著屁股，
溪水漂走落紅。
不知身在何處，
對花萬慮一空。

Come spring next year it’ll be high time
to enjoy the flowers in Erewhon:
it’ll be still then, no hint of people,
and no troublesome everyday stuff either.
The breeze sends a wind up my way,
fallen petals float away on a stream.
Forgetting where I’ve ended up,
contemplating the flowers all else fades.

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生於大床，眠於大床，
愛在床上，死於大床。
床是一個偉大的地方。

Born, in bed.
Sleeping, in bed.
Loving, in bed.
Dying, in bed.
Greatness starts
and ends in bed.

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Usually so busy even the weekend brings scant relief. Having agreed to meet up with old friends in the foothills since they’re often on my mind. But when the time comes we’re at a loss for words. Nights past were full of dreams, though recently insomnia has taken over. Getting on in years — who’s really there to care? We can’t be bothered discussing current affairs, so we end up lost in reverie.

— Lao Shu

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Source:

Lao Shu in China Heritage

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