Couplet

Zhou Lianggong Chinese

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You may have your method;
As for me, I love my hut.

This pithy verse by Zhou Lianggong may be taken as a mission statement for the recluse: regardless of what society may wish from you, inner peace is to be found at home, behind a closed gate, in a life of self-cultivation. In his lengthy career of service to the Ming and Qing dynasty governments, Zhou enjoyed great heights of success and suffered terrible depths of persecution, so his understanding of the appeal of withdrawal was well-earned.

Couplet, Zhou Lianggong (Chinese, 1612–1672), Pair of hanging scrolls; ink on paper, China

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