By Xu Zhuqin

The story of Peach Blossom Island in Zhoushan Archipelago, Zhejiang Province started in very ancient times. As a local legend goes, a Taoist came to the island thousand years ago. He became an immortal on the island after cultivating his vital energy. One day, after a drinking and poem writing spree, the drunken demigod splashed ink on rocks on the island. The ink stains on the rocks never vanished and they took the shape of peach blossoms. Visitors today can still see the petals of peach blossoms on these rocks.

In the vast collection of ancient Chinese poetry, two poems were about the island in the East China Sea. One was by Su Shi, arguably the greatest poet of the Song Dynasty (960-1279). The other was by Zhu Xu, a poet of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The two short poems portray the gorgeous beauty of the island and imagined if it was home to immortals.

In reality, the island remained beyond the touch of modern times. Before 1949, the people on the tiny island lived on fish and in poverty. The life on the island dramatically improved after the founding of the Peoples Republic. When the modernization drive started sweeping across the nation in 1978, the island seemed left behind. Liuheng Island, a nearby island closer to the mainland, became a flourishing island. Modern shipping yards brought fortune to Liuheng and urbanization turned it into a paradise. In sharp contrast, the tiny Peach Blossom remained untouched.

What would the people on Peach Blossom Island do about their future? The islanders wondered and worried. Then they looked around at the natural beauty untouched and kept intact through all these years. They got an idea. Tourism would be the future of the island. Though called Peach Blossom Island for centuries, there were not so many peach trees on the island. The islanders decided to match name with reality. A lot of peach trees were planted. In 1993, the island became a provincial tourism zone.

Though the island remained a little known among tourists, it had long been known among the kongfu novel readers. In Louis Chas famous “The Legend of Condor Heroes”, there is a peach blossom island where a kongfu master lives away from the madding world and studies panaceas and wonder drugs. The island is a pivotal place where romances and tragedies unfold and come to an end.

When Louis Cha was writing the novel, he looked at the map in search of an island of an appropriate size at a proper distance from the mainland. A whole generation read the novel and knew about the island. But readers had the slightest idea that the island actually exists in the real world.

When Zhang Jizhong, a CCTV producer, was looking for a place to make a television version of the kongfu thriller, the people on the island saw their chances. They visited Zhang and told him there was Peach Blossom Island in East China Sea. They told him that it looked exactly what it is described in the novel.

Zhang was hooked. As a matter of fact, he had been in search of a place which would match his imagination of the legendary island. At that time, the producer had produced television versions of some other kongfu novels by Louis Cha and he had considered some previous locations to serve as the island. After learning the existence of the island and receiving an invitation to visit the island, Zhang decided to pay a visit.

The producer was thrilled by what he saw. And the island is only 16 kilometers from Ningbo, a port city in eastern Zhejiang. He decided upon a few sites where settings were to be built for the filming. But he was worried about roads on the island. A truck road was needed so that equipments could be carted around. Could it be done before the deadline, which was six months away?

The islanders said it could be done within two months. It was done. When Zhang Jizhong came back to take a look, he was amazed to find that all the sites had been ready and a truck road connected the sites; two huge sailing ships were also ready for kongfu masters to stage their thrilling stories.

The shooting of the story itself put the island on the map of the nation overnight. After the blockbuster was screened nationwide, excited fans flocked to see the island. In 2003, the first Peach Blossom Island Outdoor Sports Game was held there. Since 2004, the Louis Cha Martial Arts Master Festival has been held on the island three times.

The tourism boom has brought huge wealth to the island. Sea changes have taken place there. In 2007, the islands annual revenue jumped to 822 million. The islanders who couldnt get married because of poverty now are happily married. They live in good houses equipped with a full range of modern electric appliances.

Since 2007, Peach Blossom Island is the national AAAAA tourism zone. It has won wide recognition as a top filming location and a top tourism attraction. In 2008, 901,500 tourists visited the island, paying about a total of 15 million for admission tickets alone.□