Tao Yuanming

Tao Yuanming

Tao Yuanming (c. 365-427) was a renowned poet of the Eastern Jin and Northern and Southern dynasties (317-589). Despite being born into a family of officials, he devoted himself to farming and seclusion and became a leading figure among reclusive poets.

Tao adhered to Confucian ethics in his thoughts, but also had a fondness for the freedom of Taoism. He was the founder of Chinese pastoral poetry, and his works often focus on the themes of seclusion and the brevity of life, depicting pastoral scenery as tranquil, pure, and detached from worldly affairs, with almost every one of his works mentioning wine. Most of his poetry is in the form of five-character verses, characterized by a gentle and distant style. His representative works include Returning to the Fields and Gardens and Drinking Wine. His best-known prose work is the Peach Blossom Spring, which describes the peaceful and prosperous life of men and women, old and young, in a quiet pastoral area. They are kind and friendly to each other, and having been isolated from the outside world for a long time, they live in a state of freedom and ease. Later, the Peach Blossom Spring became a symbol of Chinese utopia.

陶淵明

陶淵明（約365—427），東晉南北朝時期著名詩人。陶淵明出身仕宦之家，卻一心務農隱居，是隱逸詩人的代表。

陶淵明在思想上堅守儒家倫理，又愛好道家自由。他是中國田園詩的開創者，作品往往以隱逸生活和人生苦短為主題，所寫田園風景閑靜和穆、超塵脫俗，幾乎“篇篇有酒”。他的詩歌絕大部分是五言詩，風格平和淡遠，代表作 有《歸園田居》《飲酒》等。他的散文代表作是《桃花源記》， 描寫了在恬靜的田園中，男女老幼生活安寧富足，他們親切善良，長期與外界隔絕，對世事變遷一無所知，生活在自由自在的狀態中。后來，桃花源成為中國式烏托邦的象征。