Tao Yuanming, also known as Tao Qian, was a great poet of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He once served as an official, including the governor of Pengze County, but grew deeply dissatisfied with the corrupt rule of aristocratic families. At age 41, in 405 AD, he resolutely resigned and returned to his hometown to live a life of seclusion.
As he walked home, he thought to himself, "It would be better to resign from my post and return! Otherwise, to avoid hunger and cold by going against my own heart, letting my conscience be driven by my body—how could that not bring sorrow and grief? Now that I recognize my past mistakes, I must not continue down this wrong path; I should resolutely correct them."
Finally arriving home, he was warmly welcomed by his family. Pouring himself some wine, he drank alone while admiring the lush trees in the courtyard—what a joy that must have been!
After a hearty meal and plenty of wine, he completely forgot the fatigue of the journey and went for a stroll through the fields. The farmers told him, "Spring has arrived—'trees flourish with vigor, and springs begin to trickle.'" This meant that spring had come, the trees and grass were growing lush, and the mountain streams were flowing gently.
Drawing on his emotions during the journey home, his first impressions upon arrival, and his personal passions, Tao Yuanming composed his masterpiece, "Returning to the Country Life."
Later, people simplified the phrase "Woods thrive and flourish" into the idiom "Thriving and Flourishing," using it to describe the vigorous development of undertakings.
Source: *Tao Yuanming's Collected Works*, "Returning to the Countryside"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "欣欣向荣" came to describe how the vigorous development of undertakings.