The 'Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove' (
竹林七贤) were a 3rd-century group of Daoist scholars and poets -
嵇康,
阮籍 and friends - who gathered in a bamboo grove to drink, play music, and reject Confucian ritual. The image of a bamboo grove as a refuge for principled recluses runs through later poetry and ink painting.
