Two Chicks, c.1694 (ink on paper)

Zhu Da, also known as Bada Shanren, often expressed complex ideas using simple images. It is likely that these quickly rendered chicks express the artist's loyalty to the former Ming dynasty, while indicating his contempt for the ruling Manchus. Zhu Da saw himself as being in, but not part of, the society around him. With his imperial lineage eradicated by the conquering Manchus, he was unable to submit to the foreign rulers. Although the chicks are of the same species and face in complementary directions, they do not look at each other. Each isolated chick exists in a separate world. The inscription reads: Painted in the Garden of Yellow Bamboo by Bada Shanren, the nineteenth day of the third lunar month. The nineteenth day of the third lunar month is now known to commemorate the day in 1644 when the last Ming emperor hanged himself as rebel forces approached the capital.