Three laughs at Tiger Brook

Three laughs at Tiger Brook (Chinese: 虎溪三笑; pinyin: hǔ xī sān xiào; Gan: fû ki sam siēu) is a Chinese proverb which refers to the image that the three men, Huiyuan, Tao Yuanming and Lu Xiujing laugh together when arriving at Huxi (虎溪, Tiger Brook) of Mount Lu.

[1] The proverb derives from the story of the retired civil servant and Buddhist monk Huiyuan (334–416), who used never to go farther than the Huxi, either for a solitary walk or a friend's visit.

One day, however, on the visit of the Confucian poet Tao Yuanming (365–427), and Taoist Lu Xiujing (406–477), Huiyuan had a congenial talk with them.

Other famous surviving works include the late Ming and early Qing dynasty Chen Hongshou's "Three Smiles in Tiger Stream" in Wuhan Museum.

At first glance, this picture looks like a person, but on closer inspection it is actually a Confucian, a monk and a trio of people looking at each other and laughing together, with an exquisite composition.