The Latest Meaning and Legends of the Morning Glory Explained
The morning glory is also known as qianniu, trumpet flower, jinjiaolazi, large morning glory, and diligent lady, among other names. Its trailing stems are slender and long, and its corolla is trumpet-shaped. The flower colors are bright and beautiful. It grows on mountain slopes and in thickets, along dry river valley roadsides, by garden edges and housesides, and along mountain roads at altitudes of 100 to 1600 m. Its adaptability is very strong. Now let us take a look at the flower meaning and legends of the morning glory!
The Flower Meaning of the Morning Glory
Eternal love. The morning glory has a common name, “diligent lady”, and from the name alone you can tell that it is a very industrious flower. Whenever the rooster has just crowed for the first time, when the hour hand is still pointing around the “four”, the morning glory branches winding around fences and trellises open one trumpet-like morning glory after another. These morning glories let people in the dawn breathe the fresh air while feasting their eyes on the fresh flowers dotted among the green leaves. It really has a special charm, no wonder it is so likable.
The Blooming Period of the Morning Glory
The blooming period of the morning glory is from June to October. It usually begins to bloom slowly at 4 to 5 o'clock in the early morning, and by about noon the flowers have withered. This is because the flowers of the morning glory are both large and thin, and the flowers contain abundant moisture. When the sun shines on them, the moisture in the flowers evaporates dry within a relatively short time. In a cool place, the morning glory wilts more slowly, and sometimes the flowers are even still open in the afternoon.
Morning Glory Legend One
Long ago, in Lizhuang, Jinzhou, Hebei, there was a young man named Li Hu. He was very sturdy and very strong, but for some unknown reason he contracted bloating disease. Although he asked doctors for diagnosis and treatment many times, he never improved. His wife was very anxious, and finally invited an old physician from Luzhou Prefecture, Shanxi, to come and examine Li Hu. After examining him, the old physician wrote a prescription: “Decoct wild trumpet flower seeds in water and take the decoction.”
Li Hu's wife had never heard of this medicine, so she had no choice but to visit again and tell the old physician the situation.
After hearing this, the old physician said: “There is this kind of wild flower right at the gate of my old home in Luzhou Prefecture, Shanxi, and its seeds are this medicine. You can send someone to my home to fetch it.” Li Hu's wife hurried to Shanxi and brought back the wild trumpet flower seeds. She decocted them in water and gave them to Li Hu for several doses, and indeed they worked. In less than a month, Li Hu recovered. To thank the old physician for saving his life, Li Hu led an ox to the old physician's home, thanked him profusely, and wanted to give the ox to the old physician, and asked: “Sir, what kind of medicine was it that you gave me to treat my illness?” The old physician could not answer for a moment.
It turned out that this wild trumpet flower had no name yet. When Li Hu asked, the old physician thought: this flower seed can cure an incurable disease, its power can lead an ox, and today the patient has come leading an ox, so it would be better to call it “qianniuhua” (morning glory)! Having said that, he pointed to the wild trumpet flower at the gate and said: “It is called morning glory. What you were given was morning glory seeds, and it just so happens that you are also leading an ox.” From then on, the wild trumpet flower had the name “morning glory”.
Morning Glory Legend Two
Long ago, no one knew where or when, a mountain suddenly appeared shaped like a crouching ox, so everyone named it “Funiushan” (Crouching Ox Mountain). At the foot of Funiushan there was a small village with few people, and one family in it had twin sisters. The villagers were all very poor and had no money to buy oxen for plowing, so they only used some homemade earthen tools to dig the soil and plow the fields. The twin sisters lived at the foot of the mountain. They reclaimed some wasteland in front of and behind the mountain and relied on their own hands for spring sowing, summer weeding, and autumn harvest, and their days were barely manageable. The two sisters were kindhearted and often helped people even poorer than themselves.
One day, the two sisters were digging the ground when they suddenly hit an especially hard place. The elder and younger sisters brought all their tools, but no matter what, they could not dig up even a bit of soil. After being tired for a long while, the two sisters sat by the hard soil to rest for a bit. Suddenly, that hard soil cracked open by itself. The elder sister quickly opened her eyes wide and looked, and a silvery shining light came from inside. The younger sister ran over and took out an object, which turned out to be a silver trumpet.
While the two sisters were wondering, an old man with white beard and white hair suddenly came over. The old man smiled and said to them: “This mountain was sent down from heaven by the Jade Emperor. It has one hundred green ox spirits pressed beneath it. These green ox spirits had cultivated very well and transformed into human form to do evil in the human world. It was the Jade Emperor who subdued them and pressed them under Funiushan. Up to today, they have been pressed there for exactly nine hundred years. By tomorrow they will all turn into golden oxen and will no longer harm the human world. This silver trumpet is the key to Funiushan. Tonight, when you hear a “hualala” sound in the mountain, soon afterward a place will emit golden light, and that is the mountain eye. All you have to do is insert the silver trumpet into it. But you must also remember the spell: ‘Funiushan, hualala, opening the mountain needs my silver trumpet.’ Recite it three times, and the mountain eye will grow larger. You can go in and carry out a golden ox, and then you will have no worries about food and drink for a lifetime. This key appears once every nine hundred years, and it is only effective for a short while. Once dawn comes, it stops working. Do not get shut inside the mountain, or you will certainly die. Also, this silver trumpet must never be blown, or all one hundred oxen will come to life and rush out of the mountain opening.” Before the two sisters could recover their senses, the old man had already disappeared.
The two sisters knew they had met an immortal, and they were very happy. They hurried home and discussed how to open the mountain and carry out the golden oxen. The elder sister said: “We should move quickly and try to carry out all one hundred golden oxen and distribute them to our poor neighbors, so that everyone no longer has to suffer the landlord's anger and can all live good lives.” The younger sister said: “Although golden oxen are good, they cannot be eaten as food. Bright yellow gold and shining white silver are valuable goods in the eyes of the rich, but in the eyes of the poor they are not even as good as a spoonful of flour. If we blow the silver trumpet and turn all those golden oxen into living oxen to distribute to our neighbors, so that they have oxen to plow the fields, would that not be better?” The elder sister happily agreed with the younger sister's opinion.
So the two sisters split up to notify the neighbors and instruct them to go to the foot of Funiushan at night to lead oxen away. At night, there was no moon in the sky and no stars either. In front of and behind the mountain it was pitch dark, and not a bit of light could be seen. The elder sister pulled the younger sister and went from the front of the mountain around to the back, listening, but there was not the slightest movement. The elder sister said to the younger sister: “Do not give up, let us wait a little longer.” Thus they waited until the fifth watch, when they suddenly heard a “hualala” sound inside the mountain, and a dazzling golden light shone out from the north slope of the mountain.
The two sisters hurriedly ran toward the place giving off light. They saw that the hole was only as thick as a finger. Looking in along the hole, they saw inside a golden square table, and on the square table were neatly arranged rows of golden oxen the size of steamed buns. The younger sister quickly took out the silver trumpet and inserted it into the mountain eye, and the elder sister quickly recited: “Funiushan, hualala, opening the mountain needs my silver trumpet.” After reciting it three times, the mountain eye slowly grew larger, but it was only big enough for one person to squeeze in. The elder sister slipped in, and the younger sister followed her in.
As soon as the elder sister got inside, she blew the silver trumpet. At once the golden oxen on the table all came to life. They stretched their legs, shook their fur, jumped down from the table, and all became big oxen. They rushed out through the mountain eye. When the last ox had just stuck its head out, the east was already slightly reddening, and the mountain eye slowly grew smaller. This urgently alarmed the two sisters, and the two of them together pushed the ox's rear, but they simply could not move it.
As for the neighbors, when they heard the trumpet sound, they ran one after another toward Funiushan, and saw oxen running all over the mountain slope. They ran up, each person led one ox, and they felt very grateful to the two sisters. They all wanted to go thank them, but could not find any trace of them. At this time someone discovered the ox that was stuck. Everyone pulled at the ox's head and pulled at the ox's legs, desperately trying to drag it out, but it simply would not come out. Later someone put a nose ring on the ox's nose, then tied a long rope to the nose ring, and everyone pulled together with one heart. The ox was hurt by the pulling, and in a rush it kicked with all four hooves and came out. The mountain eye immediately closed, and the two sisters were shut inside the mountain.
At this time the sun came out, and the silver trumpet in the mountain eye changed and became a trumpet flower. Some people also say that it was to commemorate those two sisters, and so the trumpet flower is also called morning glory. Others say that the famous Nanyang large yellow oxen of today are the descendants of those golden oxen!