Persimmons and Lao Shu’s Existential Autumn

The Other China

向前看

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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This is the fifth chapter in a miniseries devoted to Lao Shu’s autumn. See also:

For ‘Lao Shu’s Summer’, see the list of at the end of this chapter.

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The rubric of this chapter — 向前看 xiàng qián kàn — ‘look ahead’, alternatively, ‘look to the future’, was a popular exhortation in the post-Mao era, which began sixty years ago following Mao Zedong’s death (see The Ninth of September 1976 and the Birth of Mythopoetic Mao). Lao Shu’s art and poetry suggests that one can look in more than one direction.

We start with Lao Shu’s persimmons 柿子 shìzi. In popular culture the fruit symbolises felicity and good fortune, something reflected in the expression 柿柿如意 shì shì rú yì, a homophone for 事事如意 shì shì rú yì, ‘may everything go as you wish’. However, as it turns out, things can be quite problematic.

Lao Shu published the following works in the lead up to the National Day holidays starting on the 1st of October 2026.

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

山中老柿子，滋味久未嘗。
中午別吃飯，啃倆怎麼樣？

Ages since I tasted the persimmons
from that old tree in the hills.
Forget about having lunch today,
I’m gonna hoe into a couple now.

— 老樹，宜吃口柿子，《老樹日曆》，2026年9月27日

[Note: ‘Hoe into’ (also ‘ho into’) is an Australian expression meaning ‘to attack something with enthusiasm’.]

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Look to the Future, but Whither?

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Cycling through the gamut of emotions
at any turn your sentiments can change.
When yellowing leaves appear like flowers,
autumn winds become delightful as spring.

— Lao Shu, Mid Autumn, Bingwu Year of the Horse [2026]

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Ensnared though I am in this Dusty World,
my heart yearns for the soaring wild swan.
Still, these are my myriad of attachments,
now, as in the past, and here, as everywhere.

The challenge lies in striking a balance between what you imagine and hope for and the complex realities of everyday life. One can measure success by the distance between knotty reality and your state of inner freedom.

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

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人生常遇困境，感覺走到盡頭。
其實礙於執著，放下即是自由。

老樹

In life one often confronts difficult situations,
each time you feel like you’ve reached the end.
Actually, obsessiveness is the root cause of it all,
so, let go, relax, and set yourself free instantly.

— Lao Shu

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What’s all this striving really for —
how much ends up in real success?
Let it go and look up overhead:
see the vast vault of stars above.

— a painting made by Lao Shu, inspired by the sudden arrival
of autumnal winds in the Jihai Year of the Pig [2019]

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但看新月，不計舊嫌。
人生苦短，你得向前。

老樹

Focus on the new moon and forget past grievances.
Our time is painfully short, best if you just look ahead.

— Lao Shu

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你想人之來去，看看花的四季。
平靜活過此生，不扯什麼意義。

老樹

Just think about our comings and goings,
appreciate the flowers in all four seasons.
Live your life in undisturbed quiescence,
free of all that nonsense about meaning.

— Lao Shu

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Source:

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Lao Shu’s Holiday Plan

Travelling during the holidays can be a real pain,
and getting back home is often just as irksome.
You might as well stay put and read for pleasure
and enjoy glimpses of autumn leaves fluttering.

— 老樹，帶些吃的喝的，放假遁入空山，2026年9月30日

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Lao Shu’s Summer

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