“Amid the Taiyuan era of Eastern Jin Dynasty, Wuling people lived on fishing, ascended a stream, forgetful of the distance he traveled, suddenly he came upon a grove of peach trees in blossom...” The Peach Colony, famous poem of Tao Yuanming, depicts the Taohuayuan of Changde, China.
Hello everyone! I'm Wu Caixia, Secretary of the Party committee and director of the Management Committee of Taohuayuan tourism management zone, it's a great honor to introduce the beautiful paradise to you, Taohuayuan of Changde, China.
[Taohuayuan, the prototype of The Peach Colony]
Taohuayuan is located at the foot of Wuling Mountain and by the Dongting Lake. Our ancestors lived in seclusion in the Qin Dynasty to avoid Wars. The natural environment here is wonderful and unique, you can feel the magic of mountain in desperate situation, experience the secret of water maze, see the beauty of mountain and water. Due to Wuling Mountain and Xuefeng mountain are facing each other across the river, Yuanjiang turns a 90 degree bend here, and there appears bailinzhou, which looks like Taiji, this created the ancient wonder of three rivers flowing together, three suns shining together, and paradise.
In the late Eastern Jin Dynasty, when Tao Yuanming served as the assistant of the Jingzhou governor, Taohuayuan is located in Jingzhou. The Southern Qi geologists Ren Anping, Huang Min and others, first approved that the authentic creation of The Peach Colony was in Wuling, which is Changde in Hunan Province today. After thousands of years of testing, the Taohuayuan in Changde is the prototype of The Peach Colony’s origin annotated in Cihai and Ciyuan, which is also the real land of Taohuayuan noted in Chinese Textbooks of middle schools in China.
[Taohuayuan, An Integrated Place of Chinese Culture]
Taohuayuan started from Qin, flourishing in Tang and Song Dynasties, it has a history of more than 1600 years. 15 ancient buildings in Taohuayuan such as Taochuan palace in Jin Dynasty, Taochuan Academy in Tang Dynasty, Chrysanthemum garden in Ming Dynasty, and Searching Hall in Qing Dynasty are awarded by the State Council as national key cultural relics protection units. Poetry culture, ancient architecture culture, farming-reading culture, seclusion culture of Confucianism and Taoism that have been inherited, are the core support of Wuling culture, integration of the essence of Chinese culture.
Since The Peach Colony came out, here has become a Utopia for literati, Meng Haoran, Li Bai, Han Yu, Su Shi and many other literati came here to visit and left many precious poems and calligraphy. 107 couplets, 108 inscription, over 1000 scripts and paintings of emperors,generals and literati, more than 2500 ancient poems and 45 volumes of historical works cast the cultural treasures of Taohuayuan, integrated the rich connotation of Chinese culture.
[Taohuayuan,yearning place for a better life]
Our Taohuayuan people are hardworking, brave, open-minded and cheerful, we take guarding the spiritual home, inheriting the essence of culture as the pursuit, truly reappear the situation of The Peach Colony. Qinxi with fresh and fragrant grass, appreciate fallen petals, Qingu with open land and suddenly enlightened, came out of Tao Yuanming’s pen. The education of Chinese ancient civilization in Taochuan Academy, the intangible cultural heritage experience of Liuyi Workshop, are pursued by countless students. When the night falls, cattle herding, cloth washing, fishing, harvest by the side of Qinxi, the first "river theater" in the whole river basin in China, The Peach Colony, marvels your eyes,shocks your heart. Firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea, zither, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry and wine. Good life in Taohuayuan, is the happy life of back to nature, unity of heaven and man, and loving each other.
In 2010 Shanghai World Expo, the theme of Hunan Pavilion is "In Taohuayuan". In the 2019 Beijing World Horticultural Exposition, Hunan Garden is named after "Xiangyu·Taohuayuan". Taohuayuan has become a world-renowned bright tourist card of Hunan Province. “Nice field and farms, dogs and chickens are heard around old and young, contented ans happy”.
Taohuayuan is a romantic poem, a beautiful painting, a lovely song, a millennium dream, it reposes our unremitting pursuit and yearning for a better life. Dear friends, we are looking forward to meet you at Taohuayuan,the spiritual hometown shared by Chinese all over the world.