Live in the Present or as Your True Self?
Shanghai’s internet‑famous homeless man Shen Wei has blown up; he says he’s so busy now he barely has time to wash his face. He wants to give the “original instigator” — the baker who posted him — a tongue‑lashing for disrupting his life.
As a young man he yielded to his father and chose auditing, a subject he didn’t care for — a lifelong regret. Later, for various reasons, he chose to roam. He says he likes his current state: sorting trash — which he enjoys — while leaving time to read. In the circulating clips, he stays calm on camera, quick‑witted and articulate; perhaps that’s the strength books have given him.
To secure the dynasty and deter military coups, Emperor Zhenzong of Song once penned “On Diligent Study,” intoxicating scholars for a thousand years:
You needn’t buy rich fields — in books lies a thousand measures of grain.
No need to build a tall house — in books lies a house of gold.
Don’t lament lacking followers — in books are carriages and horses aplenty.
Don’t lament lacking a matchmaker — in books is a beauty like jade.
If a man would fulfill his life’s ambition, let him read the Five Classics by the window.
What Mr. Shen seeks in reading is different:
I do not wish the seals of six states; I’d rather till two qing of land.
Reading in the fields, admiring Yao and Shun, I sit and await peace under heaven.
Society is strange: open pursuit of wealth and fame draws no criticism — people chase it feverishly. Yet someone who reads, like Mr. Shen, is suspended from his job and drifted to the streets. Is Mr. Shen at fault, or is it our society?
Fortunately he keeps company with books. As a civil servant he vanished from friends’ and relatives’ circles, only to reappear before the public as the most learned vagabond. I’d rather platforms like Youku or Ximalaya invite him to live sessions so we can all listen carefully to his views — to feel the essence of life, and learn how to live as one’s true self.
Published at: Mar 23, 2019 · Modified at: Dec 11, 2025
