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Tu Fu (712–770) wrote this poem in 762 when he was living in his cottage on the Huanhua River just outside the West Gate of Chengtu, the capital of Szechuan province. A kilometer or two to the south, his reclusive friend Chu Hsi-chen lived on the Chin River. Wearing some sort of hat or head covering was so universal among men in ancient China that even recluses wore something, usually a simple bandanna that they knotted on either side of the head and that looked like a pair of horns. The chestnuts here are water chestnuts. Tu Fu likens his friend to one of the Four Worthies of the Chungnan Mountains who was known as Mister Chiao Village.

For Hermit Chu, My Neighbor to the South

TU FU

Mister Chin Village with his blackhorned bandanna

grows taro and chestnuts and can’t be called poor

his children are glad to see a guest arrive

and birds aren’t afraid to eat food on his steps

the river in autumn isn’t five feet deep

and the ferry holds maybe three people

in the sand and bamboo and the river-village dusk

he sees me to his gate when the moon is new