Learn Chinese For Fun | Chinese Reading: Tale of Peach Blossom Spring

Chinese Reading: Tale of Peach Blossom Spring

桃花源记 (táo huā yuán jì)
Author: 陶渊明 (táo yuān míng)
Jin Dynasty, 晋朝 (jìn cháo)

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，仿佛若有光。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，男女衣着，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，欣然规往。未果，寻病终。后遂无问津者。

During the Jin Dynasty's Taiyuan Period, there was a man from Wuling who made his living by fishing, he was traveling along a creek, with no sense of how far away he was from his original path. All of the sudden, he found a peach blossom grove, and on both sides across the creek with a hundred-feet wide land, no other trees but peach grew, the luxuriant grass was fresh and sweet, and petals fell in riotous profusion, the fisherman thought that this was strange. Going on forward, he passed through the whole grove.

Upon reaching the end of the grove, he came upon another mountain. There was a small hole in the mountain, and there seemed to be a light coming from it. So he left his boat, and entered the hole. The opening was so narrow, only one person could squeeze through it. Continuing on for over tens-of-feet distance, he found the view instantly clearing up. The land was spacious, houses were set out in neat order, there were fields, beautiful pools, with mulberry, bamboo and the like. Everywhere was well-connected with crisscrossing footpaths between fields, while chicken and dogs could be faintly heard. All the farmers were plowing, sowing or weeding back and forth, the clothing of men or women were similar to the people outside. The people, old and young, seemed happy and pleased with themselves.

Upon seeing the fisherman, they were terribly surprised, and asked where he came from. The fisherman answered their questions one by one. And then he was invited to visit their houses, feasting on their wine and chicken for dinner. As the news of the stranger in the village spread, all the villagers wanted to inquire about what had happened. The host told the stranger that his ancestors evaded the Qin Dynasty's social disorder amidst the turmoil of war, and brought their wives, children and good neighbors to this place, they never went out again, and were eventually separated from the human beings outside. While asking about which dynasty it was, the host did not know about the Han Dynasty, and knew even less about the Wei Dynasty or the Jin Dynasty. The fisherman told them what had taken place outside, and all of them sighed sadly. Besides the first household, the rest also invited him to visit their own houses respectively, entertaining him with food and drinks. He had stayed cordially for several days, and then he departed. The local people living in the utopia-like cave said to him: "Don't say anything about us to anyone outside. "

He went out, got into his boat, paddled the boat along the waterway, making a mark everywhere. Arriving at Wuling County, the fisherman visited the magistrate, reporting what he had seen. At once the prefecture official sent men to detect the exact cave according to the marks made by the fisherman, but they got confused, and failed to find the exact route.

Liu Ziji from Nanyang Town, who was a respectable scholar, upon hearing about this, eagerly tried to seek the place. But he sought in vain, and died of illness in the end. Afterwards, nobody made inquires about it.