Counterculture

Of the four authors, I enjoyed reading the writings of Ruan Ji, Tao Qian, and Wang Xi Zhi the most. I found Ruan Ji one of the most interesting because of the despair with which he wrote. His poem “Sleepless at Midnight” is depressing. He writes, “A lonely wild goose cries in the wilderness” and writes of a bird that “gazes / At me, alone, imbued with sadness,” reflecting his own loneliness. He shares this gaze with the bird, and he can relate to the bird’s loneliness. He couldn’t find fulfillment and his dissatisfaction doesn’t seem to be understood by anyone but himself. His second poem, “In My Youth,” is equally gloomy. He writes of how he was once fond of singing and dancing, but now realizes he wasted his time. Singing and dancing are signs of joy and happiness, but now he no longer can find happiness, thinking that what he’s done is a waste of time. This strikes me as fascinating that he can feel such loneliness although he was such a respected man. The short passages describing Ruan Ji reveal that he was an honorable man, one who you could trust to not sleep with your wife. His admirable character is shown especially in Xi Kang’s letter to Shan Tao, where Xi Kang considers Ruan Ji a superior person and one whose character he wanted to use as a model. He had the respect and liking of other people yet he could find neither for himself.

            The second author, Tao Qian, I enjoyed reading because of the positive attitude with which he regarded life. He had just resigned from his job, yet he was joyful and excited to go home, repeatedly saying, “Homeward bound I go!” I like the fact that he “shall not fret over the past. [He] shall devote [him]self to the future.” He doesn’t dwell on the events or failures of the past, but rather concerns himself with what he can do with his future and what he can do to make life better, I suppose. He enjoys his simple life at home, and thinks, “Why not take life easy, and why bustle about to wear myself out?” I like this, that he finds no reason to have to stress about whatever silly matters he had to as an official, but can just live content and carefree.

In Wang Xi Zhi’s “Preface to the Orchid Pavillion,” I liked that he felt that all that it took to “broaden our views and liberate our minds” was not intense studying, but just looking up and watching the immensity of the universe and looking down to survey the wide range of the myriad things. Just sitting and observing was a way of learning. This preface was my favorite because of the line, “Well, I know it is a sham to say there is no difference between life and death, and it is nonsense that a long life is no better than an early death. What a pity that we must die!” I found it funny how he pretty much scoffs at the Daoists of China, who claimed that life and death were all different states of existence, and instead thinks that life is worth living and should be lived. It does matter that life is short, and it does matter that people die. There are enjoyable things in life, and Wang Xi Zhi talks about this in that, “Although our inclinations are different…when we find what pleases us, we are all so happy and contented at that moment that we forget that old age is approaching.” He recognizes how temporary human life is, but still wishes that death didn’t have to happen.

I find these Chinese hippies quite different from the youth of the 60’s. Though they did lead a counterculture to what was popular at their time, they were quite different in their reactions and their behaviors. While American hippies revolted, demonstrated in the streets, and tried to make a huge statement by purposely dressing and acting different than generations past, these Chinese rebels did nothing of the like. Rather, they preferred to sit around and do nothing, doing no sort of rioting whatsoever. They couldn’t rebel loudly for fear of consequences and possibly execution. Although the two groups both had experiences with drugs, I found the Chinese quite different because it almost seemed as if they were drinking for the sake of numbing themselves. They couldn’t express any revolt and instead lost themselves in wine. Americans in the 60’s, on the other hand, did drugs for the sake of doing drugs and as a symbol of rebellion.