忽逢桃花林

hū féng táohuā lín
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 suddenly he came upon a grove of peach blossoms
  2. 2 stumbling unexpectedly into a utopia or wondrous scene

Examples

HSK 5
Tā zhuǎn guò shānkǒu, hūféngtáohuālín, cái míngbái Táoyuānmíng bǐxià de jǐngxiàng.
Rounding the pass he 'suddenly met a peach-blossom grove' - only then did he understand the scene Tao Yuanming described.
HSK 7-9
Wǒmen túbù dào shāngǔ shēnchù, hūféngtáohuālín, xiàng wù rù le táohuā yuán.
Hiking deep into the valley, 'we suddenly came upon a peach-blossom grove' - as if we'd wandered into Peach Blossom Spring.

Tips

history
From 陶渊明《桃花源记》 ('Record of Peach Blossom Spring,' Eastern Jin, c. 421 CE): 缘溪行,忘路之远近,忽逢桃花林 (Following the stream, he forgot the distance he had gone, when suddenly he came upon a peach-blossom grove). A fisherman stumbles through this grove into a hidden village untouched by war for centuries, the founding text of the Chinese utopia motif (桃花源 / 世外桃源).
usage
Often followed by 夹岸数百步 (on both banks for several hundred paces). Modern usage: any unexpected encounter with beauty, peace, or an ideal place; metaphor for serendipitous discovery.

Stroke Order

féng
táo
huā
lín