人面桃花 vs. daffodil field (idiom)

I read a story on the paper about how the daffodils at Mt. Yang-Ming in Taipei had blossomed these days, which is nothing unusual. What makes the story special is that the administration of the daffodils has set up a sign in search of an old lady who took a taxi and came all the way from Taoyuan four years ago just to watch daffodils in full blossoms. She burst into tears when told that she was too late and had missed the blossoms. “I haven’t seen a tract of daffodils for decades since I left home!” she cried.

Along with other 1949 immigrants, the lady came to Taiwan from China when young and was in her 80s when she visited Mt. Yang-Ming to see the scene of her dream. People invited her to come next year but she had never been seen since then.

Immediately I remember the story of人面桃花(ren2 mian4 tao2 hwa). 崔護(cui hu4), a poet in Tang Dynasty, once had an outing in spring to the suburbs and came to a cottage surrounded by peach blossoms. Out of curiosity he knocked the door asking for a cup of water to see who was living inside. Beyond his expectation, a beautiful girl answered the door and entertained him with hospitality.

The next year when he visited the same place in the same season, to his disappointment the girl had been gone. The regretful poet could do nothing but left a poem on the door, which went as:

去年今日此門中，人面桃花相映紅；

人面不知何處去，桃花依舊笑春風。

Last year today inside the door I saw the rosy face reflecting the bright color of the peach blossoms.

Now the peach blossoms are smiling in the spring wind but the face is nowhere to be found.

So we have the idiom 人面桃花. 人面refers to the beautiful face of the girl; 桃花, peach blossoms. Cui was definitely not alone to have such regret when facing the same old surroundings without the beloved one.

Peach or daffodil blossoms, it really doesn’t matter what the flowers are. I certainly hope that those daffodils will see the lady they’re expecting.