Kang
Youwei inclined himself to mountains and rivers in Qingdao in his twilight years and was
absorbed in Changyu wines. In July of the sixth year of the Republic of China
(1917), after failure of Manchu Restoration, Kang Youwei fled from Beijing to Yantai for asylum in US consulate. During his stay in
Yantai, he drank the delicate wine of Changyu for the first time and wrote the
line that “I was deeply intoxicated in Changyu wine and transplanted peony from
Fengtai. I wrote the line during my dodging from scoundrels; drinking Changyu
wine made me forget my confronting of danger and feel divorcing myself from
wrangles for disengagement.” Ten years later (1927), Kang visited Yantai for the
second time before his departure from his life and lodged at Dongshan Vineyard
Villa. He was warmly entertained by principals of Changyu, for which he wrote a
poem echoing to the poem he did ten years ago that “I was slightly intoxicated
in Changyu wine and transplanted peony from Fengtai. I wrote this new poem
after reading Lotus Sutra and I am very pleasant and delighted since where I
visit becomes my home”. This may be his last poem left for us before his
eternal rest.