The great Eastern Jin poet Tao Yuanming once wrote a famous work, *The Story of Peach Blossom Spring*, which tells us a tale of a utopian paradise:
During the Taiyuan era of the Jin Dynasty, a fisherman from Wuling set out along a stream in his boat, rowing until he lost track of distance. Suddenly, he came upon a dense peach blossom forest lining both banks, with no other trees mixed in—the tender grass gave off a fresh fragrance, and fallen petals lay scattered everywhere. Stretching for several hundred paces, the sight astonished him, and he thought, "Why have I never seen this place before?"
As he pondered, he continued rowing forward, intending to find the end of this peach blossom forest.
He rowed and rowed until he reached the stream's source, where a mountain stood with a cave at its base. A faint light glowed from within. Tying his boat to a tree, the fisherman squeezed through the narrow entrance, barely wide enough for one person. After a few dozen steps, the passage suddenly opened into a vast, bright expanse.
He rubbed his eyes, stung by the light, and saw a hidden world inside the cave: stretches of flat, wide fields, rows of neat houses, fertile farmland, beautiful ponds, green mulberry trees and bamboo—everything so vivid and real.
Looking further, crisscrossing paths wove through the fields, and even the sounds of chickens and dogs could be heard clearly. Some people worked in the fields, while others walked along the roads, but their clothing—whether men or women, old or young—was entirely different from that of the Jin Dynasty. Both the white-haired elders and the young children all wore expressions of pure joy.
When the cave dwellers saw the stranger, they were astonished and gathered around, asking where he came from. The fisherman answered truthfully. They warmly invited him to their homes. At one house, the family hurried to kill a chicken, set out wine, and prepare a meal. Soon, many villagers arrived, peppering him with questions. When the fisherman asked how they came to this place, they told him the whole story.
Long ago, during the chaos of the Qin Dynasty, their ancestors had fled together as a whole village to this secluded place, never venturing out again, and thus became completely cut off from the outside world.
The fisherman, astonished by their account, asked, "Do you know what dynasty it is now?"
They only knew that their ancestors had fled into seclusion during the Qin Dynasty, and had no knowledge of the Han Dynasty that followed, let alone the Wei or Jin dynasties. When the fisherman recounted the events of the outside world and the rise and fall of dynasties, they listened with utter fascination.
The fisherman had eaten at this house, and other families also vied to invite him. Each household offered him fine wine and food. After many days, the fisherman was ready to return, and the people of Peach Blossom Spring instructed him, "Please don't tell anyone outside about this place."
The fisherman took his leave and, as he retraced his steps, made several marks along the path to remember the way.
The fisherman returned to Wuling and immediately rushed to the county office, where he reported his incredible discovery in detail to the magistrate. The magistrate sent men to follow him back to the peach blossom grove, and they traced the stream to its source, searching for the markers the fisherman had left along the way. But they lost their path, never found the old markers, and could no longer locate that beautiful paradise beyond the world.
Later, the idiom "Shangri-La" came to describe a paradise beyond the world, also referring to a place of seclusion.
Source: *The Peach Blossom Spring*
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "世外桃源" came to describe a paradise beyond the world, also referring to a place of seclusion.