The Other China
書房對聯
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.
Here we offer a series of poetic couplets 對聯 duìlián from the artist’s studio.
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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.
— Geremie R. Barmé
Editor, China Heritage
11 June 2026
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晝長盡人事
夜靜聽落花
Worldly affairs may fill the passage of days.
In the still of night then listen as the petals fall.
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只跟花兒作伴
不與傻逼為伍
Flowers are the best company of all,
Have no truck with all those fuckwits.
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春風看新綠
細雨思故人
Observing the delicate green in spring winds
Thoughts turn to lost loves in the misty rain.
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門前風掃葉
舍下客講茶
As the wind sweeps up the leaves at my doorstep,
Inside a visitor waxes lyrical on the subject of tea.
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雅去生靜
俗不可醫
Artifice departed all may now be still,
Vulgarity remains yet beyond the pale.
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Source:
- 老樹，書房對聯·捌，《網易》，2026年6月9日
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