You ask me why I dwell in the green mountain;
I smile and make no reply for my heart is free of care
As the peach-blossom flows down stream and is gone into the unknown,
I have a world apart that is not among men.
~Li Bai
The poem tells of Li Bai reclining somewhere in the green mountains, with someone (the reader or viewer), questioning him for it. He is happy and free of worry and refuses to answer (maybe with a hint of smugness). Li Bai clearly states that he lives in a world that is not among men. This correlates with the picture above, for it has no people, except a bridge surrounded by mountains. These pieces of art and literature, respectively, shows the reclusiveness and withdrawn ways of Classical and Post-Classical China. Confucianism was one of the major religions used in China, and it rejects contact from foreigners, hence China being very intuned with nature, as you can see in the painting and the hints in the poem.
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