Couplet in clerical-standard script

Off I go to the peaks in front to plant the seeds of pines;
I bring along some springtime wine and seek a bamboo grove.

The creation of matching couplets (duilian) became a literary game during the seventeenth century and has remained popular among Chinese poets and calligraphers to this day. A successful matching couplet complies with all the rules of balanced composition that apply to much of traditional Chinese poetry. Couplets may be original, borrowed from an existing poem, or combine two lines from separate poems.

For the present couplet, Zhang Hairuo selected lines from two poems composed during the Tang dynasty (618-907). He borrowed the first line (right scroll) from a poem by Li Pin (active 840s-870s) titled "Inscribed on the Thatched Hall of Alchemist Gu on Yangshan," which describes the departure of the immortal alchemist into the mountains. The second line (left scroll) comes from a poem by Wang Changling (ca. 690-ca. 756) titled "Rustic Picnic at Longbiao," which describes an excursion taken by the author in his place of exile. In this couplet, pine and bamboo serve as parallel symbols of moral fortitude and integrity, adding nuance and purpose to the ideas of departure and separation.