The ideal life for ancient Chinese writers

On the bus to my teaching place, I was thinking a lot. Looking at the scenery passing by, the images of traditional ancient chinese poets and writers came into my mind. In ancient China,many of them wanted to live in a beautiful and quiet place where no people would disturb them. Their ideal environment was a place surrounded by trees and flowers where you could immerse themselves in nature. All they would hear was the sounds of the universe.They pursued a natural and simple life.

But it's interesting that most of these writers pursued a simple life after they failed to achieve success in politics.Ancient Chinese writers aimed to be successful in politics and wanted to be officers in the government. It seems that the best career for them was being an officer. But many of them couldn’t realise their dreams. After that failure, they turned to seeking a simple life close to nature. I think many of them understood that the meaning of life was not just to be officers. we can be content if we learn to accept "a simpler life".