Based on my visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I decided to go to the Asian Art section.  As I was discovering all the paintings in the wing, the painting “Drunken immortal beneath an old tree” by Chen Zihe caught my attention.  This painting’s texture consists of a hanging scroll and ink on silk.  It occurred during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), early 16^th century.  Working in Fujian province, Chen produced this painting for the local market and travelers.  This painting expresses the feelings that the main focus is the drunken man, who is in a deep sleep.  The detail of the brush shows that the trees and robes treat the man’s face; most importantly, he painted the drunken man’s face in a fine way to express humanity in the whole setting.  I can see that this painting has a connection to Li Bo’s Drinking Alone with the Moon.  This poem shows Li Bo’s imagination of friendship with the moon.  Although the moon is an object and his shadow is separate from him, Li believes “He and my shadow and I make three./ But I’ll make merry with them both.”  This shows his humanity towards things; he respects the nature around him by having the willingness to reinforce the idea of the three companions including him.  Even though the moment of realization finally comes to Li, he would want to go “beyond human ties” to create his friendship with the moon.  The Silver River, a specific location, shows that he is making humane efforts.  Though Li remained sober the whole time, the main point is that there are signs of humanity from a drunken person and sober man.  Humanity is a positive symbol in a painting and a scene of a text.          

Known to have a strange personality and alcohol problems, Li Bo writes interesting poems and seeks for freedom from the social convention and reality limits.  An example is shown through “South of the Walls We Fought.”  He mentions about the hardships of the warriors’ deaths as well as criticize the warfare in the north and northwest parts of China against the Tibetans.  He says “Beacon fires blaze without ceasing,/ the marching and battle never end./ They died in fighting on the steppes,/ their vanquished horses neigh,/ mourning to the sky./ Kites and ravens peck men’s guts,/ fly with them dangling from their beaks/ and hang them high/ on boughs of barren trees.” (lines 14-22).  He describes the gruesomeness of the battle through the example of the birds picking the soldiers’ guts.  The detail about dragging the guts and hanging them on the tree enhances the cruelty of the birds.  They probably keep the guts for extra food, but overall the after effect of the battle is very violent.  The description of the horses is an addition to the horrible deaths of the men.  The author displays the brutality of the continuous battle.  He mentions about his opinion of weapons: “Now I truly see that weapons/ are evil’s tools:/ the Sage will use them only/ when he cannot do otherwise.” (25-28). I find an ambiguous part in that the author just realized that the weapons inflict harm to people.  Weren’t weapons in battle always having a meaning of death in the first place? And if the Sage has no other choices in a situation except using a weapon as self-defense, then shouldn’t this action be seen as good rather than evil?

Du Fu, another great Chinese poet, has an interesting poem “Spending the Night in a Tower by the River.”  It seems like the author has many thoughts: “No sleep for me. I worry over battles./ I have no strength to right the universe.” (7-8). Perhaps he is looking for peace not war.  How can a single man impact the world? Shouldn’t there be a larger group of people to accomplish the goal?