I am used to living in the city, and under the influence of technology, everything is done at a fast pace. Only holidays such as the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival remind me of the changes of seasons. The abundance of materials and the pursuit of efficiency have disassociated life from the land and interpersonal relationships. According to the ancient agricultural wisdom, every five days is a pentad, and every fifteen days is a solar term. Via the observation of the pentads, we can recognize the solar term. The solar terms are the secret clues nature gave us: seed in spring, grow in summer, harvest in autumn, and store in winter. This not only is the rule of time but it, in correspondence with nature, also consists of the philosophy of life.

If the Internet era emphasizes “pictures don’t lie,” then the Passerby of Hundred Generations is a sketch of time in accordance with the twenty-four solar terms that condenses the changes of time into a series of affairs of life. While flipping through the pages, the passage of time is given faces. At first glance, it reminds me of illustrated handbooks of divine beasts, such as the Shan Hai Jing (The Classic of Mountains and Seas). Upon closer inspection, each image of the creatures contains rich mythological stories, historical content, or literary essence. For instance, the 9th solar term Grain in Ear is drawn in the shape of a praying mantis. Its sickle-like cerci are life-like, but looking closely at the details, they contain the poetic aesthetics of women in the Daguanyuan participating in the event where they bid farewell to the flower god, which was depicted in one of the four masterpieces, Dream of the Red Chamber. Each painting presents the solar terms with corresponding animals and their habits. The shapes of the beasts portray the aesthetics of the life of the common people. The seasonal sceneries and down-to-earth creativity are full of cultural heritage.

In addition to the meticulous drawing, the binding and layout of Passerby of Hundred Generations are ingenious. The painting is drawn on white paper with black ink. The black and white and the picture and text overlap each other. You can read the text to explore the rich connotations, or you can delightfully appreciate it as a picture book. Each drawing is a combination of many stories, and the entire book is the accumulation of myths, history, literature, and customs. Drifting between reality and imagination is perfect for modern people, who are constantly keyed up, to decompress. Wandering around and thinking about the customs of the previous generation, I seem to foresee the white pages gradually turning yellow. In the next two to three decades, the readers in the next generation will pick up the book, and, as if the magic has never disappeared, it will continue to tell the children the story of life.

Three pentads of each solar term bring about changes to hundreds of cities

Tainan contains a profound cultural heritage, and inspirations can be found everywhere in the city. The natural landscape and humanistic customs created by the changes of the four seasons have also become the creative source of the literati.

Passerby of Hundred Generations is from an excerpt of poet Li Bai’s poem Preface to the Feast in Peach and Plum Garden on a Spring Evening, “The universe is a lodging house for the myriad things. Time is a transient guest of hundred generations. And life is like a dream. How much happiness could there be?” The author named the book after this for a reason. In the book, the author conveys that although it is regrettable that life is limited and time flies, only through such leisure creation, we could capture the folklife intertwined with the myths, history, literature, and customs of the twenty-four solar terms.

“The universe is a lodging house for the myriad things. Time is a transient guest of hundred generations.” In the Preface to the Feast in Peach and Plum Garden on a Spring Evening, Poet Li Bai expressed how mortals are insignificant compared to time and how one must seize the day to become true to oneself in a mere hundred words. Although time, as the transient guest of the generations, may seem ruthless, it left people with precious treasures. Accumulated through thousands of winters and summers, the essence of culture since time immemorial is already merged with our blood. It has become a collection of popular customs and created the extraordinary daily life we know.

The author expressed his emotions with pen and ink, constructed the details of life and connotation of the intersection of seasons, and explored the warmth contained in traditions. He wrote to deliver distant thoughts, and, with vivid imagery, he depicted the entirety of secular life within a few inches on paper. The book has flesh and blood as well as you and me. It is full of warmth and sincerity. It is the author’s deepest love letter to the world.

“The universe is a lodging house for the myriad things. Time is a transient guest of hundred generations.” In the Preface to the Feast in Peach and Plum Garden on a Spring Evening, Poet Li Bai expressed how mortals are insignificant compared to time and how one must seize the day to become true to oneself in a mere hundred words. Although time, as the transient guest of the generations, may seem ruthless, it left people with precious treasures. Accumulated through thousands of winters and summers, the essence of culture since time immemorial is already merged with our blood. It has become a collection of popular customs and created the extraordinary daily life we know.

The author expressed his emotions with pen and ink, constructed the details of life and connotation of the intersection of seasons, and explored the warmth contained in traditions. He wrote to deliver distant thoughts, and, with vivid imagery, he depicted the entirety of secular life within a few inches on paper. The book has flesh and blood as well as you and me. It is full of warmth and sincerity. It is the author’s deepest love letter to the world.