Peach Blossom Spring

Tao Yuanming’s ancient Taoist legend of Peach Blossom Spring.

My Gift to Wanglun,
As, I, Li Bai was about to leave
by boat.
Alas, I heard singing on the shore
Though a thousand feet deep,
Peach Blossom lake maybe.
It compares not to Wang’s
kinship to me
-Li Bai

According to the records, one day Liu Chen went to Tiantai Moutain to gather medicine. He followed a river until he forgot how far he had gone. What he discovered was a grove of blossoming peach trees. It lined both banks for several hundred paces and included not a single other kind of tree. Petals of the dazzling and fragrant blossoms were falling everywhere in profusion. Thinking this place highly unusual, Liu advanced once again in wanting to see how far it went.

The peach trees diverted to a stream, which he followed to the source, a mountain with a small opening through which he could see light. He decided he must follow the peach trees at any cost. Liu entered the small opening even though it was so narrow that he could barely pass, but it suddenly opened up to reveal a broad flat area. By mistake he had entered the Grotto of Peach Blossom Spring. For two or three li there were no households and only peach blossoms. Continuing forward and following the stream, Liu encountered a female. Surprised, she took Liu to her village to show them this strange new visitor.

It was only a short walk further until they reached a community with imposing houses, good fields, beautiful ponds, mulberry trees, bamboos and many things pleasing to the eye. The paths to and from the village extended across the field in all directions, and Liu could hear the sounds of chickens and dogs. Men and women working in the field all wore clothing that looked like that of foreign lands. The elderly and children all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The villagers were amazed to see Liu and asked him where he had come from. He told them in detail, and the people threw a great feast in celebration. They set out wine, butchered chicken, prepared mountain fruit and dried mountain goat, and all other types of special delicacies. Other villagers came to ask Liu all types of questions. Then the villagers told him, “To avoid the chaos of war during the Qin dynasty, our ancestors brought their families and villagers to this isolated place and never left it, so we’ve had no contact with the outside world.” They asked Liu what the present reign was. They were not even aware of the Han Dynasty, let alone the Wei, and Jin.

Liu suddenly had a great realization. In his clueless wandering he had stumbled across the Valley of Immortals. His parents had told him countless times the tale of how the Taoist Immortals had settled in Peach Blossom Spring.

He excused himself to get some fresh air and ran across the first woman—the first Immortal he had seen. The Immortal was taken by Liu and his strange ways so she proposed marriage. Liu accepted the proposal and the feast turned into a wedding ceremony.

After fifteen days, Lie excused himself to the Immortal saying that he must return home to bring back his parents. For you see, they were the source of his good luck and the reason that he found this place. The Immortal answered “You have spent seven generations in this idyllic marriage, attaining an Immortal as a mate, and now you want to leave because your original relation is not yet broken. But once you have gone, how can you come back?” But Liu, insisted because of his strong sense of filial piety.

Liu bid the other Immortals farewell and that he would see them again soon. Some of the Immortals told him that “It’s not worth telling people on the outside about us, let alone bringing them here.”

Liu exited through the opening and retraced his route while leaving markers to find the place again. When Liu returned home he found that seven generations of children and grandchildren had passed. They no longer recognized him though there was a village tale of a man who had gone to Tiantai Mountain to pick medicine but never returned. Liu tried to return to Peach Blossom Spring but could no longer find the Immortal Woman. His story attracted local attention and the village Prefecture sent men to follow Liu and look for the trail markers, but they too got lost and never found the way.

As a result of this, someone wrote a poem.

Lines of Peach Blossoms show the way.
There’s no needs for the medicine of Immortality.
Liu didn’t understand this; mistakenly he went home
So he missed out on seven generations of life.