This essay, the first instalment of a series on shanshui in Chinese poetry, traces how the expression shanshui, “mountains and waters”, emerged in the Lower Yangzi region in the third century to denote the emotional resonance between a cultivated scholar and a chosen place. Citing Wang Fuzhi’s view that only poetry of the highest inspiration can grasp the feeling (qing) born of an encounter with a scene (jing), the author follows early occurrences of the term in the Jinshu, in Zuo Si’s Invitation to the Recluse and in Sun Chuo’s Rhapsody on the Excursion to Mount Tiantai, which gave shanshui a spiritual dimension. The Orchid Pavilion gathering of 353, hosted by Wang Xizhi at the foot of Mount Guiji, is presented as a founding moment and illustrated with excerpts from its poems. The second part turns to Xie Lingyun (385–433), regarded as the originator of shanshui poetry. Reconstructing his aristocratic background, political misfortunes and exile to Yongjia, the author shows how the rupture of exile turned his verse into a dialogue between a man and nature, offering him an intimation of the Dao, until his execution in 433.