Bathing Feet in a Mountain Landscape

Xie Shichen

c. 1560

Ink and colors on silk

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A poetic passage of prose entitled <I>Yufu</I> or The Fisherman, (c. 100-200 CE) tells a story of a fisherman who tried to convince Qu Yuan, an exiled scholar-official of the state of Chu in the late 300sand early 200s BCE, to give up his stubborn political ambitions and withdraw from social affairs. He said, “When the Canglang’s waters are clear, I can wash my hat-strings in them; When the Canglang’s waters are muddy, I can wash my feet in them.” The fisherman meant that a wise man should seek an official career in good times under a sage king, but withdraw gracefully when times are troubled and the ruler turns immoral. As opposed