Yueyang Tower stands in present-day Yueyang City, Hunan Province, originally the west gate tower of the old county seat. This three-story structure overlooks the shimmering Dongting Lake below. First built in the early Tang Dynasty, it was later renovated by Teng Zijing during the Northern Song period.
Teng Zijing and Fan Zhongyan were close friends who both passed the imperial examinations in 1015. In 1044, Teng Zijing became the governor of Yuezhou, and the following year he restored Yueyang Tower. He then asked his friend Fan Zhongyan to write an essay commemorating the event. Fan Zhongyan gladly accepted, composing "On Yueyang Tower," a masterpiece celebrated through the ages, which describes the changing scenery and emotions experienced when viewing the tower in different seasons and weather.
The passage describes the scene of ascending Yueyang Tower during a spring day when the breeze is warm and the sunlight is bright, where one feels an expansive heart and a cheerful spirit, forgetting all honor and disgrace, holding a cup of wine in the wind, filled with boundless joy.
Later, people adopted the phrase "xin kuang shen yi" from Fan Zhongyan's essay as an idiom, using it to describe an open mind, cheerful mood, and joyful spirit.
Source: *Collected Works of Fan Zhongyan*, "Record of Yueyang Tower"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "心旷神怡" came to describe an open mind, cheerful mood, and joyful spirit.