So starts the winter … Lao Shu asks: ‘Head off for hotpot or head into the hills?’

The Other China

立冬

火鍋或曠野

In this chapter of The Other China, we join the artist Lao Shu to mark 11 November, a relatively new Chinese festive day, and bid farewell to the northern autumn while welcoming the winter season.

First, Lao Shu offers a bouquet to mark 11 November, known in Chinese as 雙十一 shuāng shíyī — that is, ‘double 11’ or 11/11. Because the numeral ‘1’ resembles a solitary stick 光棍 guānggùn, a colloquial term for an unmarried man, 11 November has come to be known as Singles’ Day 光棍節 guānggùn jié. What, decades ago, started out as an unofficial celebration for singletons has over time become yet another excuse for people to shop and consume, be it for material goods or new relationships:

正是秋風滿高樓，
兩個十一又碰頭。

As autumnal winds buffet towers and terraces,
the ‘Two Elevens’ bump into each other once more.

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Double Eleventh is followed by seven paintings by Lao Shu, including four new works, which acknowledge the end of autumn, a season previously addressed in Visiting Tao Yuanming in the Autumn. These are followed by a series of paintings and poems that the artist published on 7 November, the first day of a two-week period in China’s traditional agricultural calendar known as ‘Winter Established’ 立冬 lì dōng, or the Arrival of Winter. Lasting from the 7th to the 22nd of November, these weeks denote the advent of winter.

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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 (a list of titles and links can be found at the end of this chapter). For his latest art work (and merch), see Lao Shu Paintings 老樹畫畫 at NetEase 網易.

— Geremie R. Barmé
Editor, China Heritage
11 November 2025

How Many Years, this Fleeting Life of Ours?

此生倏爾多少年？

Paintings and poems by Lao Shu
translated by Geremie R. Barmé

Autumnal Envoi

花兒已經落去，
果子也會落去，
葉子終將落去，
什麼不會過去？

The flowers are all fallen now, soon
the fruits of the season will follow,
then it’s the turn of autumn leaves.
Isn’t the passage of all things like this?

***

今日北風勁吹，
天氣忽然變冷。
諸位多加衣裳，
取消外出活動。

A harsh wind blows from the north, and
the temperature drops suddenly in its wake.
My advice is: make sure you’re all rugged up,
cancel all appointments and just stay put.

***

Days spent mired in the world,
nights passed curled up in bed.
Turn off the light, get some sleep,
another busy day lies just ahead.

— so it is for all common folk, day after day,
year in year out. Lao Shu, early winter 2015

***

After dinner’s done, I hop into bed:
it’ll be chilly until they turn on the heat.
I think about what I’ve got on tomorrow
while the wind blows up a gale outside.

— Lao Shu, in the depths of autumn, Yisi Year of the Snake

***

少時負氣闖天涯，
半生蹉跎總還家。
四顧蕭然無人跡，
唯有秋風和菊花。

Was pretty full of myself and adventurous in my youth
though over the years, I’ve always ended up back home.
Looking around this desolation, no sign of anyone at all,
just blasts of autumnal wind and this chrysanthemum.

***

一周事情忙罢，
睡前放水泡澡。
猫儿一旁陪伴，
貌似还挺美好。

It had been a hectic week so,
before bed, I drew a bath.
With the companionship of my cat,
things were looking pretty good.

***

Master Bada had this cat,*
and he called it Mr Tedium.
When contemplating the world
that cat did so with a side eye.

— Lao Shu, autumn, Yisi Year of the Snake

* Bada is Zhu Da 朱耷, or Bada Shanren 八大山人, a late-Ming artist known among other things for his cat paintings.

When Winter Arrives

立冬

Head off for hotpot or head into the hills?

不知走向火鍋，還是逃往曠野。

The winter season is upon us
and I’ve gotta admit I’m conflicted:
should I dig in and stay put for hotpot,
or cut loose and head for the hills?

— how I felt on the Arrival of Winter, 2020. Lao Shu

***

Why make an effort to lose weight?
Being too skinny is hardly a good thing.
Gonna stave off the bitter winter cold
and a layer of fat does the job best.

— Lao Shu, on a winter’s day, 2021

***

Keep focussed on working out,
try dropping some kgs if you can.
Gotta make it through this long winter
and be ready for the spring breezes ahead.

— created to encourage me when the Frost Arrived
in [October-November] 2022

***

輕霧新竹千畝，濃蔭茅舍三間。
將身借住山溪邊。
林下枕風臥，夜中聽雨眠。
聲名渾似夢囈，功利恍若浮煙。
此生倏爾多少年？
一點初心在，留連水雲間。

A vast field of new bamboo visible in the mist,
a humble cottage nestling in the dark shadows.
Head on a pillow as forest breezes blow,
sleeping at night to the sound of rain.

Fame, like a somniloquy, fortune, ephemeral too.
How many years this fleeting passage of ours?
Yet my original heart abides,
enamoured still by nature’s beauty.

***

Sources:

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Lao Shu in China Heritage

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