Gentlemanly pursuits

For my second Shanghai day, I checked out the newly open Shanghai Museum East, a home for their impressive collection of Chinese art.

Too much to take in in one visit! But here's a taste, Yuan dynasty master 倪瓒 Zi Nan's "六君子图轴 (Six Gentlemen)." Yes, the gentlemen, in seclusion from the turmoil of politics and foreign occupation, are trees - and remarkably ungnarled compared to most trees in the paintings gallery... Surrounded by the seals and poems of centuries of other gentlemen, they've surged into the cameras and smart phones of countless thousands more, including mine!