Youyang Peach Blossom Spring

The Peach Blossom Spring in Youyang stands in the northern corner of the county, a valley of peach trees, a rock opening and a village, and it is a national 5A scenic area. The place takes its name from Tao Yuanming's account, written in the Eastern Jin between 317 and 420, of a fisherman who found a hidden village whose people had never heard of the Han. There is more than one Peach Blossom Spring in China, and Youyang's is one of the recognised ones. What makes it worth the visit is not the grotto but the ordinary life the fable describes: fields, a path, a stream and a village of Tujia houses.