RELATED TOPIC:
The Book of Songs and China's Literary Tradition

RELATED TOPIC:
Wang Can and the Poetry of Scholar-Officials during the Han

RELATED TOPIC:
Tao Qian and the Tradition of Retreat

RELATED TOPIC:
Prelude to Tang Poetry: Poetry of the Zhou and Han

Marcia Wagner :: There are many variations on the theme of "poetry of retreat" in the Chinese literary tradition. Some of the Chinese poets who lived in the countryside chose to live there voluntarily.

Some were exiled; some were not allowed to serve in the government. Some somehow were not recognized by the people in power at the time. And they were involuntarily living in nature.