Lao Shu Lets the Weeks Go By

The Other China

週而復始

 

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 the work week and tedium as summer gives way to autumn.

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The rubric of this selection of Lao Shu’s work is summed up in the line 週而復始 zhōu ér fù shǐ, an expression akin to ‘wash, rinse, repeat’ in colloquial English. The title of this chapter in The Other China — ‘Lao Shu Lets the Weeks Go By’ — is a reference to the chorus of Once in a Lifetime, a song by David Byrne which he first performed with Talking Heads in 1980. The chorus goes:

Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by
Water flowing underground
Into the blue again
After the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime
Water flowing underground

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Lao Shu published his rumination on weekly tedium along with an announcement that a newly created Weekly Diary 老樹週曆, a companion to Lao Shu’s 2027 Calendar 老樹日曆, was available for purchase. The artist told his readers that:

倏忽秋風來，早鳥預售，如約而至。說是預售，其實，更像是一場和老朋友們的提前約定。日曆是一年的長卷，周歷是手邊的短笛，一長一短，一深一淺，都是老樹給大家備下的心意。

Like a sudden gust of autumn wind, there’s this early bird sale. It’s actually more like a get together agreed among old friends. The Diary is a scroll that will accompany you through the year while the Weekly provides more of a short burst of melody. The long and the other short, one more profound than the other that skims on the surface. Both are a heartfelt message that I’ve prepared for you.

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周/週 zhōu means ‘to circle’, ‘circumference’, ‘all around’, as well as ‘week’.

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

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Chapters in Lao Shu’s Summer 2026

Travelling Around the Seasons of the Year
At Every Turn Time Itself Inspires Poetry

周遊四季 歲月成詩

— Lao Shu’s Weekly
老樹週歷

時間最好的模樣，是張弛有度的流轉，是不疾不徐的前行。
一週，是最常見的生活節奏。不長不短的光陰跨度，
剛好適配我們的奔波與停歇、耕耘與安放。

The best kind of time is when there’s a productive tension between work and relaxation. It allows you to press on at a measured pace. The week is the most common unit of a working life — it’s neither too long nor too short, a perfect measure that both allows for rushing around and provides time for necessary breaks.

During the week we can alternate between labouring in the fields and enjoying a smoko.

Note: ‘Smoko’ is an Australian and New Zealand term for a short break taken during the work day. Originally used by labourers and meaning a cigarette break, ‘smoko’ now refers to a pause that filled with coffee, tea, perhaps something to eat and conversation.

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It’s Monday, so off to work:

Morning by the river, dew still fresh on the ground.
The rushes grow sparse there, lotus leaves poking up.
The swath of blue sky overhead, a vast promise of life.
After wolfing down two buns you launch into the day.

— Lao Shu, summer, Gengzi Year of the Rat [2020]

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週一又上班，一刻不得閒。

忙過一陣子，陽台抽支煙。
晨起翻開新的一頁，
是一周嶄新序章的悄然開啓。

空白的紙面乾淨澄澈，
容得下細碎的期許、
腳踏實地的努力。

新的一周，
不必急於求成，
不必焦慮茫然，
認真生活，
慢慢沈澱。

Monday and it’s back to work, not a moment of rest.

After a burst of effort, you head out for a smoke.
The week has started. It’s another chapter,
the quiet introduction to five days of work.

A blank sheet of paper lying there — so pristine —
it’s a space that holds a myriad of promises,
one made for practical and doable efforts.

The first day of a new week:
no need to rush to get things done,
no need to feel lost or anxious yet;
treat it with earnest application
settle in and let life accumulate.

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Rare to have a weekend to myself,
to relax alone out on the balcony.
That chunky cat is still snoozing
as a cloud passes breezily overhead.

— Lao Shu, during the intense heat of Summer’s Arrival
in the Guimao Year of the Rabbit [June 2023]

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世事越想越無奈，
不知何時好起來。
週末朋友聚一處，
扯扯淡，吹吹風，打打牌。
將要翻過這頁時，
一周的奔波暫且落幕，
所有的忙碌與奔波，
都在此刻歸於安穩。
好好休憩，好好放空。

Feeling helpless in the face of it all,
no clue as to when things might improve?
Best hang out with friends on the weekend
— chat, gossip, play cards.

The business end of the week is over,
high time to turn the page on it all.
All that rushing about and stressing,
now, at this moment, you can settle down.
Really: rest up, just let go.

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做完紅塵事，棲身水雲間。
無得亦無失，一年又一年。

紅塵事哪裡做得完呢？

不過是學會了，
在趕路的間隙，
給自己煮一壺茶，
看一會兒雲，
發一會兒呆。

Done with worldly affairs, nestling free twixt heaven and earth,
no thought for gain or fame, the years cascade one after another.

Is there ever an end to the things demanding your attention?

At least you have learned that, in the
stolen moments amidst the bustle,
you can simply brew a pot of tea,
marvel at the clouds above
and space out for a while.

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