Lao Shu is Knackered

The Other China

吾倦矣

Lao Shu 老樹 is the nom de plume of Liu Shuyong (劉樹勇, 1962-), a Beijing-based artist, writer, critic and professor in communications. His artistic voice is unique and personal, its tenor, whimsy and profundity evoke what for decades we have called The Other China — a cultural noosphere that is as undeniably local as it is universal.

For more work by Lao Shu in China Heritage, see The Other China and Intersecting with Eternity. For his latest art work (and merch), see Lao Shu Paintings 老樹畫畫 online at NetEase 網易.

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In this, the latest addition to a China Heritage series on the northern summer of 2026, we join Lao Shu once more as he offers a selection of paintings and bons mots about being exhausted.

The chapters in this miniseries are:

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The theme of this selection of Lao Shu’s work is summed up in the line 吾倦矣 wú juàn yǐ, ‘I’m knackered’. The colloquial English ‘knackered’ is a nod-and-wink translation of the literary Chinese expression 倦矣.

— Geremie R. Barmé
Editor, China Heritage
16 August 2026

吾倦矣

Paintings and Poems by Lao Shu

Translated by Geremie R. Barmé

 

有時不是身體累了，
是那根弦，
繃得太久，
忘了怎麼鬆。

在尋常日子里，
偷一點空，
午後的一杯茶，
窗台發呆的十分鐘，
其實就夠了。

Sometimes it’s not that you’re physically tired,
it’s more a case of you having been uptight for so long
that you’ve simply forgotten how to unwind.

Most days you can steal a few moments to yourself,
enjoy a cup of tea in the afternoon while staring
out the window blankly for ten minutes or so,
and that’s enough.

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Everything’s simply too complicated now,
it’s like trying to make out flowers in the fog.
Reckon it’s best to shut down entirely
and keep scrolling while nibbling melon.

— Lao Shu, during heavy rain on a summer’s night in the Bingwu Year of the Horse [2026]

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You’ve muddled through for half a century,
run the gamut of emotions from go to whoa.
Like a horse or bull locked down in its stall,
exhausted at day’s end, no respite in sight.
See, birds still flying freely in the sky and
the grand rivers cascade eastward, ever on.
When will you really be able to let it all go
and truly enjoy the feeling of freedom?

— Lao Shu, summer in the Bingwu Year of the Horse [2026]

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近來天氣不大好，持續濕熱頗難熬。
泛舟湖上似風雅，觀荷岸邊真無聊。
烈日曝曬一身汗，肥蚊打賞滿臉包。
倉皇逃離回家去，閉門洗澡吹空調。

The weather has been pretty shocking of late,
all of this humid heat is hard to deal with.
Boating on the lake seemed like a good idea,
but ogling lotus by the shore is just a bore.
In the scorching sun you’re now a sweaty mess,
bloated mosquitoes still wanting to ‘give face’.
In a frenzied state, you decide to flee back home,
shut the door, take a shower and enjoy the AC.

— Lao Shu 老樹

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開始做件事情，總是豪情萬丈。
這個那個折騰，看去有模有樣。
待到事情做完，累得趴在床上。
此時回頭想想，真是扯淡一場。

At the start of some new enterprise
you were brimming with confidence.
Having dealt with this and than
things do seem to have worked out.
Then, after it’s all done and dusted,
knackered, you conk out on the bed.
Finally, there comes a moment to reflect:
what an absolute pile of BS it’s all been.

— Lao Shu 老樹

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魚問：

你看你都成啥樣兒？
天天忙得像頭驢。

我答：

你再自由能去哪兒？
無非一盆水煮魚。

The fish asks:

Are you happy with how you’ve ended up?
Busy all day, working yourself like a dog.

I reply:

And what does your kind of freedom get you?
At most, you’ll end up as a dish of spicy boiled fish.

— Lao Shu 老樹

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飯後刷刷手機屏，來回看看朋友圈。
剛好明天又週末，準備像豬睡一天。

丁酉冬月，老樹造

Scrolling on the phone after dinner,
checking out what everyone is up to.
Tomorrow happens to be the weekend. Me?
I’m just gonna crash, be dead to the world.

— painted by Lao Shu in the winter of the Dingyou Year of the Rooster [2017]

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Source:

  • 老樹，‘歲月蹉跎半世，各種喜怒哀愁。如同牢籠牛馬，困頓不見盡頭。飛鳥天空來去，大江浩蕩東流。何時放下一切，但要一個自由’，《老樹畫畫》，2026年8月14日. Translated by Geremie R. Barmé

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