A rambling discussion of the historical origins and evolution of orchid fragrance
A three-star butterfly Cymbidium goeringii from Guizhou, its flower form is not very stable, and when it opens poorly the petals are pale in color.
Author: Wenxin Diaolan
Part One: The Enigma of the Orchid
In a few more days it will be the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. In our country, the Dragon Boat Festival holds a very high status. During the festival people burn, smolder or hang calamus, mugwort, and Chinese mugwort leaves, and smolder Atractylodes lancea, Angelica dahurica and other aromatic plants to drive away epidemics and ward off evil, and there are legends commemorating Qu Yuan or Wu Zixu. In fact, this great event of the fifth month already had its embryonic form as early as the Xia Dynasty. In the pre-Qin period, the only surviving book on the seasons of the Xia Dynasty, the Xia Xiaozheng, is the oldest calendrical text collected in the Da Dai Liji, and its record concerning the fifth month is "gather orchids -- for bathing." This means that people gathered orchids to bathe in order to remove impurity and seek health. It can be said that this is the primitive form of the Dragon Boat Festival custom. Here I am not trying to verify the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, but am more concerned with this line, "gather orchids -- for bathing." This is the earliest verifiable era in which the "orchid" herb appears -- the Xia Dynasty. Afterward, the Book of Songs also records: "Where the Zhen and Wei flow broad and bright, youths and maidens hold jian in hand. The maiden says, let us go see; the youth says, I have already been. Still, let us go see beyond the Wei. Truly it is wide and joyous. These youths and maidens, they tease each other, and give each other peonies." Lu Ji's commentary says: "Jian is the orchid, an aromatic herb." "Holding jian" or "holding orchid" means holding an orchid herb in the hand. When the ice and snow melted and spring came, as the river waters first rose, the young men and women of the State of Zheng went out for an outing, each with a sprig of orchid in hand, which could ward off evil and also carried fragrance, making others envious. Later there was Qu Yuan's Li Sao, and also the famous legend of Confucius's "fragrance of kings." But regrettably, the State of Wei at that time was in the area of present-day Hua County in northern Henan, while the State of Lu was in Shandong. Hua County in Henan lies north of the Funiu Mountains and belongs to a temperate region. From northern Henan to Shandong it would have been impossible to see luxuriant wild spring orchids or the like.
It was not until the Eastern Han Shennong Bencao Jing that, under the entry for orchid herb, there appears the record: "kills insect poison, wards off the inauspicious." It seems this is the same as what was meant by lan in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, all being plants that could be used for fumigation, killing insects, bathing, and warding off evil. In fact, we need not go to such lengths; we can fully conclude that the lan of that time is not the orchid of today. Just think: if we gathered all eight new and old kinds of flowering spring and cymbidium orchids, and steeped them in water for three days, could we steep out a kingly fragrance that drives away mosquitoes and insects and wards off evil?
The earliest verifiable period of orchid cultivation is the Later Tang, but then a huge question arises: as an aromatic herb endowed with the "fragrance of kings" and favored in every way by the royal house and nobility, as an aromatic herb with the spirit of "orchid fragrance and firm stone" highly esteemed by scholar-officials, why did the "orchid" disappear overnight? Why afterward did "orchid" refer specifically to the orchid flower that has only floral fragrance and a brief blooming period?
If we remain confined forever within the circle of orchids, perhaps we will never find the answer. If at this point we resolutely turn our eyes to humanity's craving for "fragrance," the answer is right before us.
Part Two: Fragrance Is the True King
The Englishman Joseph Rudyard Kipling once said: "Smell is more stirring to the delicate heart of man than sight or hearing." It can be said with certainty that this is not a line of poetry, but a fact. Humanity's craving for and seizure of "fragrance" has reached an unmatched degree.
The earliest aromatics were used to repel mosquitoes and insects, but as humanity progressed and its craving for fragrance grew, aromatics began to be applied in religion, social interaction, sacrifice and other activities, and gradually formed an incense culture led by the nobility. Whenever anything is prompted by religion, its essence becomes attached to holiness and nobility. Imagine that on some deep and quiet night, our forebears lit a bundle of orchid herb, and in that faint, elusive, ethereal smoke, the penetrating fragrance made them begin to feel intoxicated and dizzy. Gazing up at the endless starry sky, they sought the "Way" in their hearts, questioned the "god" in their hearts, and tried to probe the ultimate mystery of humanity: Where do we come from? Where are we going?
Like an invisible spirit, you cannot touch it or see it, yet it can travel from the root of the nose straight to the very depths of body and mind, activating the truest feelings. Like arms thrown open, it can transcend the barriers of language and erase the gaps between races and civilizations; within it, all people can express themselves freely and let the stirrings of the heart race unhindered. This is fragrance. It is one of the most beautiful pages in human history, and the most brilliantly shining light in the long stream of culture." "A fragrant scent can penetrate to the depths of human consciousness and awaken past life experiences; when wave after wave of clear fragrance drifts gently through the air, it leads people step by step toward a spiritual place, little by little opening the fertile field within their own nature that awaits cultivation.
The incense culture led by the nobility and scholar-officials had already reached an extremely high level in the pre-Qin period. Qu Yuan's splendid laments in Li Sao: "I gird on the Jiangli and Bijian, and twist autumn orchids for a girdle"; "In the morning I drink the fallen dew of magnolia, in the evening I eat the fallen petals of autumn chrysanthemums"; "Households fill their waists with mugwort, and say the secluded orchid cannot be worn"; "Why were the fragrant herbs of former days now treated as these desolate mugworts?"; "The pepper is sycophantic and arrogant and slights the rice, and the wood-killer again wants to fill the perfumed pouch." Also, the legend of the fragrance of kings mentioned earlier is recorded in Cai Yong's Qin Cao of the Eastern Han. It is said that when Confucius was returning to Lu from Wei, in a secluded valley he saw a fragrant orchid growing alone in luxuriance, and could not help sighing: "The orchid should be the fragrance of kings, yet now it alone grows in luxuriance, mingling with the common grasses!" Thereupon he stopped his carriage and played the qin, composing the piece "Yi Lan."
It can be said with certainty that nearly all the aromatics of that period were orchid herbs, while the fragrant woods of the south, limited by population distribution, the development of civilization, and blocked transportation, could not make their way north. In my view, the lan of that time should have been similar to the calamus, mugwort, and Chinese mugwort leaves we burn at the Dragon Boat Festival today, and the aromatic plants such as Atractylodes lancea and Angelica dahurica that we smolder, perhaps Agastache rugosa of the Lamiaceae, perhaps Eupatorium japonicum of the Asteraceae. The lan of that time was a general term for aromatic herbaceous plants, and the orchid flower should also be included among them, though because the orchid cannot be used for incense it was greatly neglected.
However, afterward a tremendous event occurred in Chinese history, an event that not only changed our country but also changed the fate of the orchid. It gradually raised the orchid onto the altar and made it the true king of flowers: the introduction of Buddhism at the end of the Han. From the late Han through the Wei, Jin, and Six Dynasties, because of the eastward spread and prevalence of Buddhism, burning incense thus formed a ritual for making offerings to the buddhas; in the Sui and Tang eras, because civil governance and military power were both flourishing, sea routes were convenient, the economy was prosperous, and Buddhism was at its height, from the imperial house and nobility down to common people, the custom of using incense was quite widespread. Carried on into the Song Dynasty, it formed among literati and refined gentlemen a culture of incense appreciation known for its refinement and elegance. The prevalence of incense appreciation at the time can be seen from the fact that incense and medicinal materials accounted for the largest revenue of the Maritime Trade Supervisorate, and among incense materials, the most precious were agarwood and tagara obtained from the South Seas. The most precious aromatic was chenxiang (agarwood); besides being produced in the Lingnan area of our country, it was also produced at that time in Zhenla (present-day Cambodia), Champa (present-day central Vietnam) and other places. Later there were also sandalwood, clove, borneol and other varieties. Since the Wei and Jin, aromatics had become one of the daily necessities in the palaces and the homes of the wealthy. Burning incense and smoldering fragrance thus became an important part of the material and spiritual life of the upper strata of society. Before Cao Cao took power, he once "forbade incense burning within the household" to show simplicity. Incense burning became one of the symbols of traditional Chinese culture. When, in the Tang Dynasty, woody aromatics began to become a plaything pursued by the middle class, the rapid decline of orchid herb had already become inevitable. This also confirms that what our forebears pursued was not the lan itself, but the fragrance of the lan, and "fragrance" -- only "fragrance" -- is the true king.
Yet, as the lan personally proclaimed by the sage Confucius as the "fragrance of kings," as a sacred thing already passed down for more than 3000 years, its supreme status is like a special strand of deoxyribonucleic acid, branded into the genes of our Chinese nation beyond extrication. Recluses compared themselves to the orchid; scholar-officials compared themselves to the orchid; the common people, loving its purity and subtle fragrance, named girls after it; men of different surnames, admiring how its bulbs embrace each other closely, called sworn brothers joined in the golden orchid bond; and others, seeing how it spreads in patches and clumps without end, called the newlywed chamber the orchid room. A bond of like minds is called an orchid friendship; a library or secretariat is called the orchid terrace. Brothers are elegantly called orchid terrace jade trees, treasures of the literary world are called orchid chapters and pearl jade, Wang Xizhi's Orchid Pavilion Preface is recited through the ages... With so many beautiful meanings, how could they possibly vanish with the decline of one aromatic herb? If so, would it not be a subversion of the faith and traditions of the people of Yao and Shun? Would it not require completely overturning and starting over the Chinese script? In fact, we need not doubt the intelligence of our ancestors, and moreover, following Confucius's precedent of subtle wording, the kingly status of the lan was not shaken in the least; instead it gained even deeper significance, except that by then the identity of the lan had smoothly and seamlessly transferred to the orchid flower.
Part Three: Orchid Fragrance Endures Forever
Exactly when, where, and how this exquisite transfer began we cannot know, but men of letters showed a strikingly unified sense of identification; not a single historian or literary figure questioned this enigma of the "lan," except the "biologist" Wu Qijun. Wu Qijun, in his Botanical Names and Verified Illustrations, investigated: "Before the Tang there was no dissenting view; from the Song people, who took the dwarf lilyturf orchid with similar leaves as the lan, the dispute arose, hence there is the theory of stealing the lan." In fact, even from the perspective of modern aesthetics, the orchid itself, in its innate qualities of flower, form, bearing, and fragrance, possesses many precious qualities and is fully worthy of the "title" of lan. The abdication of the name lan to the orchid flower can be said to be of one continuous line, and its subsequent becoming king among the hundred flowers is then not surprising. In the Qunfang Pu there is this record: "When bees gather from the hundred flowers, they all place [the pollen] between their legs, but for the orchid they arch their backs and enter the chamber to present it to the king; even creatures know the orchid is so noble." Even bees know this is the flower of kings! Later, the orchid, together with plum, bamboo, and chrysanthemum, was called one of the "Four Gentlemen," but the status of these four gentlemen cannot be mentioned in the same breath. The Song man Wang Xuegui once said: "Among the upright flowers and plants, bamboo has nodes but lacks flowers, plum has flowers but lacks leaves, pine has leaves but lacks fragrance, only the orchid alone possesses all of them." And what perhaps settled the orchid's kingly status once and for all was Huang Tingjian's formulation in his Shu Youfang Ting: "When the talent and virtue of a scholar cover a whole state, he is called a state scholar; when the beauty of a woman covers a whole state, she is called a state beauty; when the fragrance of the orchid covers a whole state, it is called a state fragrance." Scholars of successive dynasties used the orchid to express their aspirations, to show their integrity, and to lodge their hearts, and so poems, lyrics, songs, rhapsodies, calligraphy, and paintings praising the orchid are as numerous as cattle hauling goods, beyond counting.
Having spoken this far, the mists of the past gradually recede, and a clear thread lies before us: before the Tang -- lan was fragrance and fragrance was lan; lan and fragrance were one, and the forebears' every affection for the lan came from its fragrance; at that time "fragrance" was the true king. After the Tang -- the lan had become the orchid flower, and fragrance was the bond between lan and orchid flower; an orchid without fragrance absolutely cannot be granted the title of "lan"! Fragrance is the soul of the orchid and the cornerstone capable of carrying on the sacred meaning of the lan. That is why our countrymen's demand for orchid fragrance is so intense: no matter how perfect the flower form of an orchid, if it has no fragrance, it can never be a noble variety.