The 'Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove' (
竹林七贤, Zhúlín Qīxián) were a 3rd-century group of Daoist scholars and poets — Ji Kang (
嵇康), Ruan Ji (
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.
