"The Story of the Peach Blossom Spring" is an article that we are very familiar with, and the world described in the text is a place that almost everyone yearns for. But in the era when Tao Yuanming lived, there was no so-called Peach Blossom Land in Wuling, so how did he create such a magical residence?
Tao Yuanming is a very individual person, five times in his life, five times in retirement, at the age of forty-one years as the commander of Pengze County, after 83 days of officials, he issued a declaration of "not bending his waist for five buckets of rice", and then resigned, went home to be a farmer, "picking chrysanthemums under the east fence, leisurely see Nanshan".
Tao Yuanming's love for nature is not accidental, but has a strong historical background.
His family background is not low, his great-grandfather Tao Kan was the founding father of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, in charge of the military of eight states, and was named the Duke of Changsha County, and the official was the Great Sima. Although his grandfather and father are not as famous as Tao Kan, they have also been too guarded.
However, by the time Tao Yuanming's generation arrived, the family declined. Great-grandfather Tao Kan had more than a dozen sons, and his descendants were not filial, and the family infighting continued. By the time Tao Yuanming's father Tao Yi was in his generation, the family background was far from being comparable to before.
Although Tao Yi has an official position, his ability is average, and he is frail and sickly, and his father died when Tao Yuanming was eight years old. After that, Tao's mother and son, who had nothing to rely on, had no choice but to take refuge in their maternal grandfather Meng Jia in Xunyang.
Meng Jia has a lot of books, Tao Yuanming read a lot of books, benefited a lot, in the era of the pursuit of Lao Zhuang at that time, Tao Yuanming learned a lot of Confucian knowledge, thus establishing the ideal of "great help for the common people".
When he was looking for the sun, he made a living from farming and lived an idyllic life in himself. As a declining scholar, it was not easy to find a job, and during his unemployment, he was accompanied by wine, poetry and nature, and wrote a short biography for himself, "The Biography of Mr. Wuliu".
At the age of 27, he made his first appearance and made Jiangzhou sacrificial wine, and after a long time, he resigned and returned home for the first time because he was not in harmony with Wang Ningzhi, the second son of the famous calligrapher Wang Xizhi.
After farming at home for six years, he threw himself into the door of Huan Xuan, the son of Huan Wen, and found that Huan Xuan had a bad heart and was a rebel, and handed over a letter of resignation, Huan Xuan not only did not approve, but also put him under "house arrest" for three years, and later Tao Yuanming's mother passed away, so he used this excuse to escape from the tiger's mouth, which was also his second resignation.
Later, when Liu Yu rose, he took refuge in Liu Yu and joined the army, when Tao Yuanming was 38 years old. Liu Yu frequently launched wars, and in Tao Yuanming's eyes, he was also a thief, and he chose to resign for the third time.
On the fourth occasion, he defected to Liu Jingxuan, the assassin of Jiangzhou, and served in the army. Tao Yuanming's ideal is to support the Jin room, but the situation changes frequently, and his ideal ambition is no longer possible, so in addition to being disappointed, he chose to resign.
The fifth time he went out was for the livelihood of his family, and at the recommendation of his uncle, he served as the county magistrate of Pengze County. As mentioned at the beginning, he resigned after only 83 days, and thus issued a declaration not to "bend his waist for five buckets of rice".
Five times out of the office, five times to retire, Tao Yuanming, who is over the age of not confused, will never be able to do, "The Story of the Peach Blossom Spring" was written when he was out of office for the third time.
From Tao Yuanming's works, it is not difficult to find that his main feature is that he mainly depicts natural scenery and rural life, so this natural pastoral life itself is a life scene that he is very familiar with.
After witnessing the darkness of officialdom and the strife of the current situation, Tao Yuanming yearned for an ideal world even more, and the Peach Blossom Garden was the world he imagined in his heart.
As we all know, Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring" has a special meaning, but his articles also have documentary elements, so where is the prototype of the Peach Blossom Spring?
Tao Yuanming once wrote a book "Postscript to Sou Shen", in which there are two stories that are similar to "The Story of the Peach Blossom Spring", in which it is written that he got lost, and then found a new place.
Therefore, later generations believed that the Peach Blossom Land was actually a fairy land, with a strong Taoist color, and there happened to be a fairy land with Taoist culture in Wuling. As a result, people believed that the prototype of the Peach Blossom Spring was in Wuling, but this statement was later overturned by Chen Yinke.
In 1936, Chen Yinke published an article "Circumstantial Evidence of the Peach Blossom Spring", in which he believed that the real Peach Blossom Source was not in the south, but in the upper reaches of Hongnong and Luoshui in the north.
The earliest peach blossom source recorded in history is called the ancient peach forest, and its geographical location is in the upper reaches of Hongnong or Luoshui in the north, and it is said that King Wu of Zhou raised cattle here.
In the "Classic of Mountains and Seas, Zhongshan Classic", there is a record of "peach forest", and Guo Pu also mentioned it in his annotation, saying that it is "in the south valley of Ruxiang Township, Hongnonghu County".
In the west of Lingbao County to the area of Tongguan, there is a place called "Taoyuan" near Huangtianyuan, which has a large area, and there is a dock fort built in this area.
Dock fort is a kind of civil defense building, in the years of famine, social turmoil, the general wealthy families in order to protect themselves, have built dock forts. There are generally two conditions that must be met to build a dock fort:
First, it is better to be a hilltop plain;
Second, it is better to be a place where the water source of the valley is;
Third, the geographical location is dangerous, inaccessible, can block Huma's surprise incursion, can also prevent thieves from sneak attacks, but also to ensure the most basic daily life.
Chen Yinke's logic is this: people built a dock fort for refuge, and the dock fort was built near the Huangtianyuan in the valley water source, and this area is also called "Taoyuan", so he believes that this place is consistent with the record in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", so it also proves that Tao Yuanming's peach blossom source prototype is in the Hongnong area in the north, not Wuling in the south.
So, is Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring" reality prototype in Wuling or Hongnong in the north? We may find the answer from Tao Yuanming's poems.
Among his poems, there is a group of poems that are as conspicuous as drinking poems, that is, the thirteen poems of "Reading the Classic of Mountains and Seas", which shows that Tao Yuanming is very familiar with the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", and because of his familiarity, he has many feelings, so he wrote poems.
In the ninth part of "Reading the Classic of Mountains and Seas", Tao Yuanming wrote the story of Kuafu's chasing the sun, and he had a positive attitude towards Kuafu, believing that Kuafu's ideal was very great and a lofty ideal that transcended the world.
"The Classic of Mountains and Seas" records that Kuafu "died of thirst, abandoned his staff, and turned into Deng Lin", in which "Deng Lin" refers to the peach forest, after the death of Kuafu, his cane turned into a peach forest, in Chinese culture, "peach" has a special meaning, symbolizing the spirit of brave pursuit and death.
Tao Yuanming believes that Kua's father pinned his will and spirit in the peach forest to benefit future generations, which is a great dedication.
From Tao Yuanming's group of poems "Reading the Classic of Mountains and Seas", it can also be seen that he recognizes the spirit of Kuafu, and also has different feelings for Taolin.
Therefore, the original source of the Peach Blossom Source mentioned by Chen Yinke is the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", and it is deduced that the actual prototype of the Peach Blossom Source is in the Hongnong Luoshui area, which is reasonable.