The family at the center of Peach Blossom Spring carries a handscroll with them as they flee their home in the Hunan Province of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The scroll illustrates a fable, the significance of which grows and changes for main character Renshu over the course of his life. The handscroll has been a form of art and narrative storytelling in China since the Spring and Autumn period (770-481 BCE). They were initially made with bamboo or wood, but during and after the Eastern Han period (25-220 CE), silk and paper became the predominant materials used. Earlier handscrolls feature ink drawings and writing, but during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE), watercolors became the primary medium. Over the years, Chinese handscrolls went from being used primarily for documentation, i.e., a medium for writing down and sharing religious texts, to an art form with aesthetic, cultural and ceremonial significance.

The type of handscroll described in Peach Blossom ...