During the East Tsin Dynasty, in the county of Wuling in Hunan Province, there lived a fisherman. One day he was floating aimlessly along on the waves of the river, not knowing how far he had gone, when suddenly he noticed that the banks of the river were full with luxuriant peach blossoms. The fisherman was filled with awe at the beautiful scene.
As he continued down the river, he saw ahead of him a small mountain, at the middle of which was the entrance to a cave. He went up through the cave and, passing out of the other side, there appeared before him several rows of tidy little cottages.
The villagers were quite surprised to see this fisherman and treated him as an honored guest. They told the fisherman that their ancestors had originally led their families to take refuge in this secluded spot when escaping the wars of the Ch'in Dynasty over 500 years before. The fisherman then told them of the changes in imperial dynasties which had taken place since that time.
When the fisherman returned to his home he went immediately to report to the local magistrate the story of his strange discovery. The magistrate appointed a man to accompany the fisherman on another trip to search out this wonderful place, but the fisherman had already lost the way and could not find the land of the peach blossoms again.
Later people used the expression "the peach orchard beyond this world" to describe a place cut off from the rest of the world, receiving no interference from the outside, where people pass their days in ease and comfort without worry or care.
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