Utopia

During Dong Jin Dynasty, there was an old fisherman in Wu Ling district. One day, he went fishing on a fishing boat. The boat was floating along a stream. The fisherman, unconsciously, lost his way. Suddenly, a beautiful forest of peach trees, with flowers in full bloom, caught his eyes. Curiously, he went on boating to look for the end of the forest. At the end of it stood a mountain with a small cave on the foot. After the fisherman walked through the cave, a whole new world actually displayed in front of him.

People there were leading a peaceful and happy life: they got along with each other harmoniously and did not argue，dispute. The old were having rest quietly and the young playing. It was not like the outer world, it was a world free of turbulence. On seeing the fisherman, people asked him not to tell what he saw there to others.

However, the fisherman told the villagers his experience after returning home. They did not believe him at all and they followed him to see whether it was true. But they cannot find the place anymore.

The idiom is used to describe a secluded and peaceful utopia.

世外桃源

東晉年間，武陵有一個老漁夫。一天，他駕著漁船出去打魚。船兒沿著溪水行駛，老漁夫不知怎麼迷了路。忽然，一片美麗的桃花林出現在他眼前。漁夫覺得很奇怪，繼續往前尋找桃花林的盡頭。樹林的盡頭是一座山，山腳下有個小洞。漁夫穿過了山洞，竟然看到了另外一個世界。

那裡的人們過著幸福安寧的生活，大家和睦相處，沒有紛爭，老人們安靜地休息，兒童愉快地玩耍，沒有外界那樣動盪不安。大家見了老漁夫，囑咐他不要把在那兒看到的一切告訴別人。

漁夫回到了家，把這件事告訴了村莊裡的人。大家都不相信，於是跟著他去看看到底有沒有這個地方。可是，這次去他們再也找不到桃花林盡頭的這個世界了。

這個成語用來形容一個與世隔絕、生活安樂的理想國家。