{"id":575,"date":"2021-01-01T16:03:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-01T08:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/?p=575"},"modified":"2025-09-10T16:17:01","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T08:17:01","slug":"caigao_2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/2021\/01\/01\/caigao_2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Inher\u00adit\u00ading the Peach Blos\u00adsom Spring in the best way"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Sto\u00adry of Peach Blos\u00adsom Spring (2021 Edi\u00adtion)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I first read \u201cThe Sto\u00adry of Peach Blos\u00adsom Spring\u201d in 2009, and was imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly struck by its over\u00adwhelm\u00ading beau\u00adty. Although the text was a mod\u00adern retelling by Mr. Mat\u00adsui Nao, see\u00ading Mr. Cai Gao\u2019s paint\u00adings brought back Tao Yuan\u00adming\u2019s time\u00adless mas\u00adter\u00adpiece. \u201cDur\u00ading the Taiyuan peri\u00adod of the Jin Dynasty, a man from Wul\u00ading made a liv\u00ading by fish\u00ading.\u201d (The first folio of the text) \u2014 turn\u00ading to the next page, \u201cWalk\u00ading along the stream, I for\u00adgot how far I had gone.\u201d \u2014 turn\u00ading anoth\u00ader page, \u201cSud\u00adden\u00adly I came upon a for\u00adest of peach blos\u00adsoms, stretch\u00ading for hun\u00addreds of feet along the banks, with no oth\u00ader trees in sight. The grass was fresh and fra\u00adgrant, and the fall\u00aden petals were scat\u00adtered pro\u00adfuse\u00adly\u2026\u201d As I chant\u00aded the beau\u00adti\u00adful \u201cfalling petals pro\u00adfuse\u00adly\u201d and gazed upon the vibrant blos\u00adsoms, I felt a lit\u00adtle reluc\u00adtant to turn the page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cSud\u00adden\u00adly I came across a peach blos\u00adsom for\u00adest, stretch\u00ading for sev\u00ader\u00adal hun\u00addred feet along the banks. There were no oth\u00ader trees in the for\u00adest, the grass was fresh and fra\u00adgrant, and the fall\u00aden petals were col\u00ador\u00adful\u2026\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Because I\u2019ve loved this ancient Chi\u00adnese text since child\u00adhood, I\u2019ve always been able to recite it. I know it\u2019s actu\u00adal\u00adly the pref\u00adace to the Peach Blos\u00adsom Spring, but I can\u2019t mem\u00ado\u00adrize the five-char\u00adac\u00adter poem itself. This pref\u00adace, how\u00adev\u00ader, remains deeply etched in my mind. I\u2019ve seri\u00adous\u00adly con\u00adsid\u00adered why \u201cPeach Blos\u00adsom Spring\u201d appeals to chil\u00addren. First, it\u2019s a beau\u00adti\u00adful and mag\u00adi\u00adcal sto\u00adry. The sense of won\u00adder it evokes in a lost won\u00adder\u00adland cap\u00adtures a child\u2019s curios\u00adi\u00adty and leaves a last\u00ading impres\u00adsion. Sec\u00adond, it\u2019s the sound and rhythm. Although the 321 char\u00adac\u00adters are writ\u00adten in prose, the sen\u00adtences are typ\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly com\u00adposed of three, four, or five char\u00adac\u00adters, cre\u00adat\u00ading a rhyth\u00admic flow, like free verse uncon\u00adstrained by meter. If you under\u00adstand the sto\u00adry and recite it repeat\u00aded\u00adly in a rhyth\u00admic man\u00adner, you\u2019ll like\u00adly find your\u00adself danc\u00ading and enchant\u00aded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a pic\u00adture book for con\u00adtem\u00adpo\u00adrary young read\u00aders, it was cru\u00adcial for Japan\u00adese pub\u00adlish\u00ader Nao\u00adki Mat\u00adsui to adapt the sto\u00adry into a mod\u00adern lan\u00adguage. Thanks to his child-friend\u00adly retelling, com\u00adple\u00adment\u00aded by Cai Gao\u2019s stun\u00adning illus\u00adtra\u00adtions, the sto\u00adry was includ\u00aded in Japan\u00adese ele\u00admen\u00adtary school text\u00adbooks. This ful\u00adfilled a dream of Nao\u00adki Mat\u00adsui\u2019s. Influ\u00adenced by his father from a young age, he deeply loved the sto\u00adry of Peach Blos\u00adsom Spring. After a long jour\u00adney, he final\u00adly had the oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty, through inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal col\u00adlab\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtion, to bring Peach Blos\u00adsom Spring to the hearts of even more Japan\u00adese chil\u00addren. I believe that hav\u00ading an adult read the text aloud to chil\u00addren while they look at the accom\u00adpa\u00adny\u00ading illus\u00adtra\u00adtions is the best way to begin enjoy\u00ading the Peach Blos\u00adsom Spring sto\u00adry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\u00adev\u00ader, I have even greater expec\u00adta\u00adtions for young Chi\u00adnese read\u00aders. I believe that after becom\u00ading ful\u00adly famil\u00adiar with the sto\u00adry, recit\u00ading the orig\u00adi\u00adnal clas\u00adsi\u00adcal text direct\u00adly while observ\u00ading the illus\u00adtra\u00adtions will be even more enjoy\u00adable. The sto\u00adry told in the illus\u00adtra\u00adtions alone per\u00adfect\u00adly aligns with the mean\u00ading and rhythm of the orig\u00adi\u00adnal text, demon\u00adstrat\u00ading the artist\u2019s pro\u00adfound lit\u00ader\u00adary mas\u00adtery. In the orig\u00adi\u00adnal sto\u00adry, upon return\u00ading home, the fish\u00ader\u00adman \u201cwent to the pre\u00adfec\u00adture and report\u00aded the inci\u00addent,\u201d imply\u00ading that the fish\u00ader\u00adman had proac\u00adtive\u00adly report\u00aded the inci\u00addent. The adapt\u00aded ver\u00adsion is more tol\u00ader\u00adant of human nature, with the pre\u00adfect ques\u00adtion\u00ading the fish\u00ader\u00adman after hear\u00ading the rumor. The added details of the spread of infor\u00adma\u00adtion in the illus\u00adtra\u00adtions make this process more nat\u00adur\u00adal. The adapt\u00aded orig\u00adi\u00adnal sto\u00adry omit\u00adted the fol\u00adlow\u00ading tid\u00adbit: \u201cNanyang Liu Ziji, a noble man, upon hear\u00ading the news, hap\u00adpi\u00adly set out to vis\u00adit\u2026\u201d How\u00adev\u00ader, the artist\u2019s final folio could also be inter\u00adpret\u00aded as con\u00advey\u00ading this mes\u00adsage. The fig\u00adure furi\u00adous\u00adly writ\u00ading on the boat could be either Tao Yuan\u00adming or Liu Ziji. There\u00adfore, turn\u00ading to the last page and see\u00ading the lone\u00adly boat per\u00adfect\u00adly embod\u00adies the sen\u00adti\u00adment of \u201cno one has since come to vis\u00adit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve read this book direct\u00adly from Tao Yuan\u00adming\u2019s orig\u00adi\u00adnal text in many read\u00ading activ\u00adi\u00adties with chil\u00addren. The most mem\u00ado\u00adrable one was at the Bei\u00adjing Con\u00adcert Hall. Accom\u00adpa\u00adnied by a per\u00adformer\u2019s impromp\u00adtu music, we immersed our\u00adselves in a beau\u00adti\u00adful imag\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtive world cre\u00adat\u00aded by the efforts of ancient and mod\u00adern peo\u00adple, Chi\u00adnese and Japan\u00adese. We knew it was a sto\u00adry, but it was more than just a sto\u00adry; it was a beau\u00adti\u00adful wish, worth pass\u00ading down from gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion to gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion in the best pos\u00adsi\u00adble way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cai Gao\u2019s expe\u00adri\u00adence of hav\u00ading to teach in remote vil\u00adlages for many years dur\u00ading a spe\u00adcial peri\u00adod has nour\u00adished her brush with a strong rur\u00adal fla\u00advor. The folk cus\u00adtoms in the book are real and tan\u00adgi\u00adble. Even the four words \u201call come out of wine and food\u201d in ancient texts are reflect\u00aded in the pic\u00adture as fra\u00adgrant farm meals in west\u00adern Hunan. Read\u00aders of all ages will have a bet\u00adter under\u00adstand\u00ading and love of life through such read\u00ading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\u00adev\u00ader, thanks to a col\u00adlab\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtion with Nao\u00adki Mat\u00adsui, known as the \u201cFather of Japan\u00adese Pic\u00adture Books,\u201d this book also ful\u00adly incor\u00adpo\u00adrates the nar\u00adra\u00adtive lan\u00adguage of mod\u00adern pic\u00adture books. The edges of the images are blurred through\u00adout the sto\u00adry, giv\u00ading this beau\u00adti\u00adful tale a con\u00adstant air of mys\u00adtery. Water is present almost every\u00adwhere in the sto\u00adry, yet the artist rarely depicts it direct\u00adly. The blank space left in tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal paint\u00adings often becomes the read\u00ader\u2019s imag\u00adi\u00adnary water, and some\u00adtimes serves as a blank space for text. There\u2019s also the direc\u00adtion: the fish\u00ader\u00adman enters the Peach Blos\u00adsom Spring from left to right, but leaves from right to left\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s an inter\u00adest\u00ading detail. Since child\u00adhood, I\u2019ve won\u00addered how the fish\u00ader\u00adman, upon leav\u00ading, marked the path to Peach Blos\u00adsom Spring, hop\u00ading to return. Why then, despite search\u00ading for the path he had marked, did he still get lost? Where did his ear\u00adli\u00ader mark\u00adings go? This book sur\u00adpris\u00ading\u00adly pro\u00advides the answer! Of course, this is a sub\u00adtle play on details the artist left in the paint\u00ading. I believe young read\u00aders will enjoy dis\u00adcov\u00ader\u00ading it for them\u00adselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writ\u00adten in Bei\u00adjing on Jan\u00adu\u00adary 1, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review of Cai Gao\u2019s \u201cThe Sto\u00adry of Peach Blos\u00adsom Spring\u201d (2021 Edi\u00adtion)<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":578,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,12,1],"tags":[8,5,10,6],"class_list":["post-575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-ajia-review","category-thoughts","tag-8","tag-5","tag-10","tag-6"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\u6843\u82b1\u6e90\u7684\u6545\u4e8b\u5185\u987502b-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":580,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575\/revisions\/580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}