...the 'lyrical' or 'romantic' Taoists. The most celebrated of them were the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, led by a scholar, poet, and master lute player named Chi K'ang (223-62). Instead of accepting social responsibilities and government appointments... they persuaded themselves that the way to preserve moral integrity was to evade every duty, flout every convention, and indulge every whim, be it sensual or intellectual. One of the Seven was always attended by a servant carrying a jug of wine and a shovel, so that his master might take a drink whenever he thirsted and might be buried on the spot if he happened to fall dead. Another, having walked a great distance to a friend's house, turned on his heel without even saying hello and returned home; when asked why, he explained with a shrug that he went because he felt like it and came back home because he wanted to. The group regularly gathered in a bamboo grove outside Loyang to admire the beauties of nature, drink, indulge in witty "pure conversation", compose poems, make music, or meditate. Their days commonly ended in a nearby tavern, where they drank themselves into a state of spiritual communion with the Tao. (C. Hucker, China's Imperial Past [1975:202])

For anyone desiring more detail, YouTube offers useful material in the form of a 3+-hour CCTV Journeys in Time on the Seven Sages: part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4 part 5 part 6 part 7