The Story Behind the Famous Cymbidium goeringii Cultivar 'Da Fugui'

      Eight fen long and four fen wide,

      Root constricted, shoulders flared, an air of dignity abounds.

      If one day I could own this flower,

      I would seek nothing more in all my life.

      This was an impromptu poem written by a visitor at an orchid gathering 50 years ago. It praises the transcendent, refined elegance of the leaves and flowers of Cymbidium goeringii 'Da Fugui'. Having read it, one naturally thinks of the story about 'Da Fugui' from the first year of the Xuantong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1909).

      Legend has it that in the southern suburbs of Huzhou, a water town in northern Zhejiang, there was an ancient town called Shuanglin, where a wealthy family surnamed Zheng once lived. The head of the household, Mr. Zheng Tongmei, was a scholar who in his lifetime read virtually every book he could get his hands on. Yet despite being full of learning, he was quite indifferent to officialdom and career advancement, and consistently refused to sit the imperial examinations, let alone pursue any fame or rank. Relying on the fields, houses and other generous inheritance left by his ancestors, he had more than enough to live out his days in comfort.

      Ordinarily, Mr. Zheng Tongmei lived frugally and was very circumspect in his words and conduct. He loved to make friends with fellow scholars, and beyond that he enjoyed growing and admiring orchids. In his courtyard he cultivated orchids with his own hands, and whether in variety or quantity, he was a substantial orchid grower, well known throughout the Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou region.

      It is said that not far east of the Zheng household lived a neighbor family surnamed Wang, a household of three: husband, wife and child. The couple often came to help the Zheng family with rough work, and besides giving them financial and material support, the Zheng family also frequently tutored the Wang child in his studies. The boy was clever and quick-witted, especially fond of thinking about and questioning the problems he encountered in society and in books, and he made very rapid progress in his studies, which delighted Mr. Zheng greatly.

      But "fortune is as fickle as the weather"! Just when the Wang boy was about thirteen or fourteen and doing well in his studies, his father suddenly died of a severe illness. Then came misfortune upon misfortune: his mother, worn down by grief over her husband's death and by years of excessive toil, fell ill, and in less than half a year she too passed away, leaving her own son behind.

      The child was still young, yet had become an orphan with no one to depend on. What a tremendous misfortune fate had dealt this boy! Mr. Zheng and his wife felt deep sympathy. After discussing it between themselves, the Zheng family resolutely took up the double burden of educating and raising the Wang child.

      A few days later, Mr. Zheng Tongmei went personally to the Wang home to bring the child back to his own house. Facing his whole family, he solemnly told the boy: "This is your home. They are all your kin." After the Wang child had addressed them one by one as Mama, elder sister, elder brother..., he was then led into the Zheng family study. From then on he studied alongside the Zheng children from morning to night. Zheng Tongmei himself, with tireless dedication, stayed by the children's side, constantly guiding and urging them on, and with an approach that made the profound simple, patiently enlightened and explained the questions the children raised and the principles in their books. Precisely because of Mr. Zheng's skillful guidance, the two foster brothers made very rapid progress in their studies. But comparatively speaking, the Wang child showed even greater diligence and eagerness in studying his lessons, and a more thirsty hunger for learning. Whether in reading and composition or in matching couplets and other subjects, he was clearly even stronger than Mr. Zheng's own child. Faced with this situation of "the best bamboo shoot growing outside the fence", Mr. Zheng felt not the slightest displeasure in his heart; instead he encouraged the Wang child all the more to guard against arrogance and impatience and to keep advancing.

      "Seven parts cultivation, three parts harvest." The Wang child finally passed the xiucai examination at the age of seventeen. In the blink of an eye, after three more years of diligent study, on a day when the frost-touched leaves were just turning red, Zheng Tongmei actually sent the Wang child off to the capital with traveling funds to take part in the palace examination....

      Time flies; in the blink of an eye it was again the season of blooming spring flowers in Jiangnan. During the days when the Wang child was away from home, Mr. Zheng thought of the boy almost every day and every night. At night, several times in succession he dreamed of the Wang child shivering with cold in the examination hall, yet still wielding his brush and writing swiftly, giving the exam his all.

      One night, with a bright moon hanging in the sky and all quiet outside, Mr. Zheng, lying in bed, suddenly dreamed that the Wang child's father, who had been dead for many years, came to the Zheng home. With tears of gratitude he bowed with folded hands and said: "My child, thanks to your upbringing and instruction, has finally grown to manhood. This time his journey to the capital for the examination is likely to succeed. If we speak of bringing glory to the family name, then it should be attributed to none other than you, sir." Then he added: "I know you love orchids as treasures. Today I have come specially to tell you, sir: pay attention these next few days to a lame orchid seller in the street. In his orchid baskets there is a supreme orchid, worth almost a whole city. If you, sir, carefully make your selection, you are sure to pick it out"....

      After a while, Zheng Tongmei woke from the dream. With his eyes closed he recalled what he had just dreamed, and doubt suddenly arose in his mind; but on reflection he felt it was merely a "dream born of daytime thoughts." After turning over several times, he fell soundly asleep again. When the next morning the clock chimed him awake, the scene from the dream had long since been forgotten entirely.

      One morning, the sunlight was warm and the spring scene bright and beautiful. Mr. Zheng was invited to admire orchids at the home of an orchid friend surnamed Feng in Huzhou, and he was walking into a lane. Suddenly his ears caught the cry "Orchids for sale, orchids for sale!" Mr. Zheng stopped and looked ahead, and saw not far off an old man with a stubbly face carrying orchid baskets on a pole, limping toward him. This sight suddenly made Mr. Zheng recall the dream he had had some nights before, and he could not help feeling it was somewhat coincidental, somewhat wondrous. He asked with a smile where the old man was from. The old man said he was from the Anji mountains by the Xitiao Stream, and that at home he had several mouths to feed, big sons and little daughters. It happened to bear out the saying "spring rain is as precious as oil": since the start of spring, the heavens truly had not let fall a single drop of rain, and now the lean season had come again, so he had no choice but to gather some orchids on the mountain to exchange for a little silver to keep his family fed. Seeing Mr. Zheng bending over, his hands constantly rummaging among the orchids in the basket, the old man knew he had met a connoisseur, and said: "Sir, these orchids were just gathered from the mountain. Every plant can be grown alive. Three to five copper coins per clump, very cheap." Zheng Tongmei inquired: "How much if I buy the whole load?" "You really want to buy the whole load, sir?" The old man was somewhat surprised, then quickly added: "If you buy the whole load, I will half give it away and half sell it. Please, sir, just look at the goods and set the price." After a round of polite deferring on both sides, Zheng Tongmei paid five silver dragon dollars, which made the old man grin from ear to ear, saying over and over: "Thank you, thank you!" Having received the money, the old man shouldered the orchid load and followed Mr. Zheng all the way to his home, joyfully handed over the orchids, then picked up his empty baskets and took his leave.

      For several days Mr. Zheng did not step outside. He devoted himself single-mindedly to the great pile of orchids, clump by clump, carefully screening and comparing them by experience.... Sure enough, on the third day he discovered a clump with leaves about six cun long and about four fen wide, curved and slightly twisted in form, dark green and glossy in color, fine and soft in texture, with blunt tips that formed a pouch, and smooth, toothless edges. There were about eight or nine shoots of it. Even more astonishing was its flower bud: thick and short, purple-red like a finger, with a transcendent air; on the bud sheath, deep purplish-red veins ran from the base straight to the tip, and the mossy coloring, like smoke and mist, was exceptionally gorgeous and full of spirit. Mr. Zheng felt this clump of orchids was by no means ordinary, and must be a new supreme variety. Ripples of surprise and joy arose in the pond of his heart.

      Once home, Zheng Tongmei washed the orchid plants, cut away the decayed roots and dried foot leaves, and after they had dried a little, pulled them apart into two sections. He applied some charcoal powder to the wounds on the plants, hung them under the eaves for two days, prepared some good soil, and then planted them in two clay pots. The remaining grasses he had no heart to sort through further, and let the orchid friends who came from near and far take away as they pleased.

      Now, because those two pots of newly selected "wild-collected orchids" had thick roots and strong shoots, and were in an environment of suitable humidity and temperature in the Shuanglin water town, within no more than ten days both bloomed. Their three outer petals were thick and broad, deeply concave and pouched, with petal tips like lotus flowers bearing a small point, tender green and glossy in color, very pretty and dignified; their two inner petals (the "heart") were plump as mussel shells, short and round, tightly clasping the column (the "nose"); a large, extended white "great" lip bore a horseshoe-shaped red blotch at its tip, giving off a clear, rich fragrance; and every flower in the two pots was "double" (two flowers on one scape).

      Zheng Tongmei was overjoyed. He immediately washed the two clay pots clean, set them inside porcelain-glazed pots, and placed them on a display stand in the sitting room to admire. For several days he kept circling these two pots of orchids, thinking all the while: I have grown orchids for most of my life, with no fewer than a hundred or more pots of different varieties; at the homes of orchid friends in Hangzhou, Shanghai, Suzhou and elsewhere I have seen fine flowers in a thousand pots or more, but a "wild-collected orchid" like this I have truly encountered for the first time. He felt fortunate, he felt content.

      Those orchid friends from near and far who came to the Zheng home to admire the orchids all praised the flower as truly novel, unlike anything they had ever seen. Some said: "This flower gives people a feeling of roundness and reunion, an appearance of good fortune." Others said: "The flower is like its owner, with the look of great wealth and high honor."...

      Just as people were chattering away admiring and judging the flower, outside the house suddenly rang out the "bang bang" of firecrackers and the "dong dong qiang qiang" of gongs and drums, and a neat procession came straight toward the Zheng home. It turned out that the Wang child who had gone to the capital for the examination had passed the jinshi examination, and the authorities had brought the good news to the Zheng family. At that moment Mr. Zheng Tongmei felt somewhat flustered and at a loss. At others' prompting, he finally stepped forward, stretched out both hands to receive the bulletin, and just stood there moving his lips slightly, unable to speak for a long while. Fortunately, family members and some orchid friends busied themselves receiving and seeing off the officials.

      "An orchid bloomed and brought forth a jinshi." For a time people spread the tale with vivid embellishment, feeling it quite novel. They told one another, and the content kept gaining extra flourishes according to each person's different feelings. Some local dignitaries also hurried over to offer congratulations: "Truly a scholarly household, with a noble man passing the highest examination!" Someone sent a plaque reading "Double Happiness Arrives at the Door", congratulating the Zheng family on both the precious flower and the jinshi. Some orchid lovers were thus inspired, and based on this new variety's trait of bearing two flowers on one scape, and connecting it with the traditional Chinese auspicious phrase "ronghua fugui" (glory and wealth), they gave this new orchid variety the elegant name "Da Fugui", implying that the twin flowers represented one wealth and one honor (obtaining the rare flower was wealth, passing the jinshi was honor).

      Three years later (1912), in spring, "Da Fugui" first revealed its beauty. An orchid grower from Yuyao, Mr. Wang Shuping, was invited to come to the Zheng home in Shuanglin, Huzhou, to admire the orchids and be a guest. He was deeply attracted by the pure green, broad-petaled color and form of "Da Fugui", and said with great emotion: "Our forebears spoke truly; a lotus-petal orchid is indeed the hardest to find!" For many years Wang Shuping had also searched painstakingly for a lotus-petal orchid, but had never encountered one. In his words he revealed his admiration and yearning for "Da Fugui". Mr. Zheng understood his friend's feelings and cheerfully offered to give him a pot.

      On the way home Wang Shuping was joyful in his heart and beaming with delight. Once home he immediately repotted it, replanting it in the finest Yanzidun orchid soil, and always regarded "Da Fugui" as a treasure, tending it with special care.

      Whenever spring came, "Da Fugui" always smiled before the other flowers in Wang's orchid garden. Its three outer petals formed a large circle, while its two inner petals, closely joined, looked just like a small round ball. Based on the flower's petal features, Wang Shuping gave it the new name "Tuanhe" (Round Lotus). Later, after Zheng Tongmei passed away, Wang Shuping, following the surname of the orchid's original owner Zheng Tongmei, renamed it "Zheng Tonghe", as a way to commemorate his close friend Mr. Zheng Tongmei.

      Because of differences in climate, soil and water, environment and other aspects between Yuyao and Huzhou, the originally same variety "Da Fugui" underwent some different changes over the long years: the "Zheng Tonghe" grown by the Wang family in Yuyao had slightly thinner leaves, a light green flower color tinged with yellow, and a horseshoe-shaped red blotch at the front of the lip; while the "Da Fugui" grown by the Zheng family in Huzhou had slightly broader leaves, a mid-green flower color, side petals showing a slight drooping shoulder, and a red blotch on the large round lip shaped like a yuanbao ingot. They are like full sisters born of the same mother: though at first glance they look alike, on closer inspection there are always some features peculiar to each.

      By rough count, nearly a hundred years have passed since Cymbidium goeringii 'Da Fugui' (Zheng Tonghe) was discovered. In that time people have successively found many lotus-petal varieties, but whether judged by flower form and color or by posture and spirit, it undoubtedly still deserves the title of champion among lotus-petal orchids.

      It is said that in the 1960s, an American female journalist named Anna Louise came to the "Guoxiang Garden" at the Hangzhou Flower Nursery to admire orchids. When she saw the flower of "Da Fugui", she cried out in astonishment: "Ah, a flower beyond compare, a flower beyond compare!" She was captivated by "Da Fugui".

      In his book "Orchid Manual", the Japanese author Eijiro Kogen describes "Da Fugui" as "especially lustrous in its deep green color... reminding one of a swallow emerging from water, and possessing a soft beauty of curves." He praises it as "the most famous noble variety among lotus-petal orchids."

      Yes, through the ages this famous Cymbidium goeringii variety 'Da Fugui' (Zheng Tonghe, Tuanhe) has made people dream of it, and its beautiful flowers and leaves are sure to make one spontaneously feel that "after seeing Mount Wu, no other cloud compares."