Four-Line Poem on Rural Life in Semicursive Script

In this satirical poem Chen Jiru, a Ming-period scholar and an influential theorist, uses parables employing Tao Yuanming’s peach blossom village to allude to the state of the educational system of his time. He criticizes the rigors of traditional education, believing it tormented children with its dogmatic focus on memorizing texts.

In my mountain abode encircled by cypress and pine
Only growing peach blossoms, not fishing
How many children have I seen to adulthood
Through their tears, they read all the unburned classics

Chen, like Tao Yuanming, retired at a young age from official life and began to live in the mountains, moving from one to another. Calling himself “man of the hills,” Chen continued to reject invitations to serve the Ming court for the rest of his life.