忽逢桃花林

hūféngtáohuālín
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 suddenly he came upon a grove of peach blossoms
  2. 2 (fig.) stumbling unexpectedly into a utopia or wondrous scene
  3. 3 (lit.) suddenly encounter peach-flower grove

Examples

Wǒmen túbù dào shāngǔ shēn chù, hū féng táohuā lín, xiàng wù rù le táohuāyuán.
Hiking deep into the valley, 'we suddenly came upon a peach-blossom grove' — as if we'd wandered into Peach Blossom Spring.
Tā zhuǎn guò shānkǒu, hū féng táohuā lín, cái míngbái Táo Yuānmíng bǐ xià de jǐngxiàng.
Rounding the pass he 'suddenly met a peach-blossom grove' — only then did he understand the scene Tao Yuanming described.

Tips

history
From 陶渊明桃花》(Tao Yuanming, 'Record of Peach Blossom Spring,' Eastern Jin, c. 421 CE): 桃花 (Following the stream, he forgot the distance he'd 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 / 世外桃源).
usage
Often followed by 数百 (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