Utopia in China: The Peach Blossom Land

桃花源记

陶渊明

晋太元中，武陵人捕鱼为业，缘溪行，忘路之远近，忽逢桃花林。夹岸数百步，中无杂树，芳草鲜美，落英缤纷。渔人甚异之。复前行，欲穷其林。林尽水源，便得一山。山有小口，彷佛若有光。便舍船从口入。初极狭，才通人；复行数十步，豁然开朗。土地平旷，屋舍俨然。有良田美池桑竹之属，阡陌交通，鸡犬相闻。其中往来种作，男女衣著，悉如外人；黄发垂髫，并怡然自乐。

见渔人，乃大惊，问所从来，具答之。便要还家，设酒杀鸡作食。村中闻有此人，咸来问讯。自云先世避秦时乱，率妻子邑人，来此绝境，不复出焉；遂与外人间隔。问今是何世，乃不知有汉，无论魏晋。此人一一为具言，所闻皆叹惋。余人各复延至其家，皆出酒食。停数日，辞去。此中人语云：“不足为外人道也。”

既出，得其船，便扶向路，处处志之。及郡下，诣太守，说如此。太守即遣人随其往，寻向所志，遂迷，不复得路。南阳刘子骥，高尚士也。闻之，欣然亲往。未果，寻病终。后遂无问津者。

Depiction of the tale on a painting from the Long Corridor, Summer Palace, Beijing

© BY-SA 3.0

The Peach Blossom Land

Tao Yuanming

During the Tai-yuan years of the dynasty Jin, a fisherman from the county of Wu ling strolled on the bank of a stream, forgetting the distance of his track, into a grove of blossoming peach trees all at once. For several hundred steps along the bank side, there were no other trees; the sward was freshly green and fallen petals of the peach blooms were scattered on the grass verdure. The fisherman, surprised by the sight, walked on to see where the grove would end. It ended at the source of the stream, where there was a mountain. An aperture opened on the mount, from which light seemed to be emitted.

The man abandoned his boat and entered the opening. It was narrow at first, just enough to pass through. After several tens of steps, the way led to vast spaciousness. The land was level and expanded, houses were spread out in good order; goodly farms, fair ponds and mulberry and bamboo thickets were tobe seen everywhere. The ways and cross roads were stretched out far and wide.Cocks’ crew and dogs’ barking were heard here and there. The men and women coming and going in their tilling and handicraft work were dressed all like people outside. The aged with hair of light beige and children with cut hair fringing their foreheads all looked gay and contented. Seeing the fisherman,people were greatly surprised, asking him whence he came from and being replied to. They then invited him to their homes, offering wine and killing chickens for entertainment. When it was generally known in the village that there was this man, more people came to see and ask questions of him. They all said that their forefathers, fleeing from turmoils during the Qin Dynasty, led their families and villagers hither to this isolated district to stay, and so being separated from the outside world. They asked what time it was then, knowing not there was any dynasty Han, to say nothing of those of Wei andJin. The man answered them all in details, whereon they heaved sighs and exclamations. All the others also invited him severally to their homes for hospitality. After many a day, he made his departure. They told him not to publicize his sojourn there.

When out, he sought out his boat and noted closely the way leading to the aperture of the mount. After his return to the chief town of the county,he went to the alderman and made are port of his outlandish excursion. The county official dispatched a man to follow him whereto he would lead. But he could not find the spots he had noted on his way back and so lost the whereabouts of the grove of blossoming peach trees. Liu Ziji of Nanyang, a scholar of high repute, hearing of the story sought to find out the place. He fell sick and died, before his attempted trial. Thereafter, no one ever ventured the visionary deed.