What are the flower meanings and symbolic significance of orchids?

The ancients often used “orchid heart and thoroughwort nature” to describe a person's virtuous and elegant temperament. The I Ching also says, “Words of one heart are as fragrant as orchids.” Among friends, sworn brotherhood is called “sworn bond of golden orchids.” Qu Yuan used orchids as a metaphor for a gentleman in his poetry, so later generations also understood orchids as a symbol of a gentleman's noble purity and virtuous grace. Now let us take a look together at the flower meanings and symbolic significance of orchids!

What is the flower meaning of orchids

In our country, the flower meaning of orchids is beauty, noble purity, and virtue; abroad, the flower meaning of orchids is passion, friendship, confidence, and pride.

The symbolic significance of orchids

1. Symbol of brotherly affection: For example, orchid and osmanthus blooming together (orchid, osmanthus) symbolizes lasting virtue that endures without decline, meaning leaving kindness to later generations; it is also used to praise the flourishing descendants of others. Later, multiple layers of meaning were extended from it, such as fine writing being called “orchid composition,” a laudatory name for another person's children being called “orchid jade,” and sworn brothers whose friendship is in harmony being called “the bond of golden orchids,” etc.

2. Symbol of nobility: Since ancient times, people have regarded orchids as a symbol of noble purity, elegance, patriotism, and unwavering loyalty, symbolizing nobility. Orchids have a plain and elegant posture, dignified blossoms, and a delicate fragrance that carries far, and have always served as a symbol of noble character. The poet Qu Yuan loved orchids deeply, and in his immortal work Li Sao, many fine lines praising orchids appear, such as “The secluded orchid grows in the front courtyard, holding its fragrance waiting for the clear breeze,” etc.

3. Symbol of the deep-rooted ethnic feelings and character identity of the Chinese people: Orchids are praised as “the gentleman among flowers” and “the fragrance of kings.” For Chinese people, orchids also carry profound ethnic significance. Among the traditional Chinese Four Gentlemen, plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum, unlike the solitary aloofness of plum, the frost of chrysanthemum, and the integrity of bamboo, orchids symbolize the temperament of an intellectual as well as the reserved elegance of a nation. Therefore, regarding orchids, Chinese people can be said to have deep-rooted ethnic feelings and character identity.

Stories and legends of orchids

During the reign of King Huai of Chu, Qu Yuan was framed by treacherous ministers and was removed from office and dismissed from his post. He returned to his hometown of Guizhou, present-day Zigui County, Hubei Province, and lived on the south bank of the Niugan Mafei Gorge. By the JiUwan Stream below Xiannu Mountain, he set up a school and personally taught his disciples. It is said that the line in Li Sao, “I planted orchids over nine wan,” came from this.

It is said that one day, the Orchid Goddess of Xiannu Mountain was traveling and passed by this place. She found the lean Qu Yuan lecturing, so she descended from the clouds and stood by the window listening quietly. Qu Yuan waved his hands and passionately set forth the principles of revitalizing Chu. That unwavering patriotic spirit moved the Orchid Goddess as well. She knew well that Qu Yuan usually loved orchids, so when leaving, she deliberately used her magic to transform the three orchid plants he had planted below the window into spirits.

The orchids had noble character and bloomed with pale green or light yellow flowers. Qu Yuan taught tirelessly, devoting himself selflessly to transmitting the way and teaching. During one break between classes, he lectured while ill about treacherous ministers holding power in the state and the people suffering. Because he was overly agitated and filled with righteous indignation, a mouthful of fresh blood sprayed from his mouth and happened to fall on the roots of the orchids outside the window. When the disciples saw their teacher teaching and nurturing people with all his heart and blood, they were so heartbroken that tears streamed down their faces! Those three orchids, nourished by the heart's blood of Doctor Qu, grew into a large clump overnight. The students counted them, and there were fully several dozen plants.

Qu Yuan smelled the rich fragrance, and his illness also improved greatly. Everyone was overjoyed and all set to work dividing and transplanting the orchids onto the open ground around the school. Strangely enough, on the first day the orchids entered the soil, they took root; on the second day, they sent up clumps and sprouted; on the third day, they spread branches and leaves; on the fourth day, they burst into bud and bloomed; and by the fifth day, each plant again produced large new clumps.

Qu Yuan led the students in busily transplanting them by the stream and on the mountain, and thus the orchids spread and multiplied. An old farmer in the mountains said joyfully: “Here, twelve mu make one wan. The orchids planted by Doctor Qu are probably already three wan! This mountain village of ours really ought to be renamed Zhilan Township.”

Afterward, the orchids spread from three wan to six wan, and then gradually expanded from six wan to nine wan. From then on, this clear stream below Xiannu Mountain was called Jiuwan Stream. The orchids by Jiuwan Stream flourished more each year, and their intoxicating fragrance overflowed the entire Xiling Gorge, drifted through all of Guizhou, and even scented half of Chu!

Finally, in a small boat, carrying the fragrance of the whole stream, Qu Yuan still left the mountains.

However, in May of that year, the lush orchids beside Jiuwan Stream and in Zhilan Township suddenly all withered and died, leaving only waves of lingering fragrance. The villagers sensed that something ominous was about to happen and felt uneasy. A few days later, the terrible news indeed came: on the very day the orchids withered, Doctor Qu had already drowned himself in the Miluo River with his grievance unredressed. People were grief-stricken beyond measure, and the Orchid Goddess on Xiannu Mountain also cried her eyes swollen.

Later, Doctor Qu's school was converted into Zhilan Temple, and orchids were planted widely there, by which later generations expressed their everlasting remembrance.