What stories are there between orchids and famous people?

Confucius Sings of the Orchid

Confucius loved orchids and said the orchid has "the fragrance of a king." Confucius once composed the qin piece "Youlan Cao" (The Solitary Orchid), praising the beautiful orchid. Confucius placed special emphasis on the cultivation of personal moral character, and he invested deep feelings in the orchid.

Confucius once used a series of metaphors to explain the influence of friends and environment on a person's character. He said: "Zixia loves to be with people more worthy than himself, so his moral cultivation will improve day by day; Zigong likes to associate with people whose talents are inferior to his own, so his moral cultivation will decline day by day. If you do not understand the child, look at the child's father and you will know the child's future situation; if you do not understand the person himself, look at the friends around him and that will do; if you do not understand the master, look at the envoys he sends and that will do; if you do not understand the local conditions, look at the local plants and trees and that will do. Therefore, to be often with people of noble character is like bathing in a room planted with zhi and lan orchids and filled with fragrance: after a long time you no longer smell the scent, but you yourself are already full of fragrance; to be with people of inferior character is like going to a place where abalone is sold: after a long time you no longer smell the stench, because you have merged into the environment; a place where cinnabar is stored turns red after a long time, and a place where lacquer is stored turns black after a long time, also because of the influence of the environment! Therefore a true gentleman must carefully choose the environment in which he places himself." From then on, "the room of zhi and lan" became a byword for a good environment, and became an idiom praising and beautifying the orchid.

Qu Yuan Wears the Orchid

Qu Yuan was broadly learned and strong of memory, understood the principles of order and disorder, and was skilled in speech, but his political views met with fierce opposition from the old bureaucratic aristocracy, and the King Huai of Chu, on whom he relied, was muddleheaded and incompetent, unable to distinguish loyalty from treachery, and gave credence to slander and turned his anger on him. By the time of King Xiang of Chu, Qu Yuan had been exiled for a long time in the Yuan and Xiang region. Though Qu Yuan suffered hardship, his resolve did not change and his conduct became all the more upright. He expressed this loyalty to his ruler and love for his country, and this desire to set the times right and bring order to the world, through many fragrant flowers and rare herbs, stirring emotion through things and entrusting his aspirations to things, and he further developed this technique of comparison and evocation, thus fusing object and self, feeling and scene into one furnace, greatly expanding the expressive power of poetry.

In his selection of fragrant flowers and rare herbs, Qu Yuan especially chose the orchid. In many poems such as "Li Sao," "Nine Songs" and "Nine Chapters," he wrote of how he cultivated orchids, wore orchids, strung orchids, gathered orchids and cut orchids. He placed boundless hope in the orchid; he took the orchid as his friend, wore the orchid as an ornament, to express his own noble and self-purifying sentiment: "I wear Jiangli and Pizhi, and string autumn orchids to wear as a pendant."

Goujian Plants Orchids

The place where Goujian planted orchids, Lanzhu Mountain, is 25 li from Shaoxing city, with a small hill to the south, the ancient Jian Lake to the east, and Kuaiji Mountain behind it to the west; it truly is a fine place for growing orchids. From the pottery unearthed from the Hemudu cultural layer in Yuyao, it can be determined that the awareness and technique of potted plants already existed at that time. Because Goujian planted orchids on Zhushan, later generations named Zhushan Lanzhu Mountain, named the market below Lanzhu Mountain Flower Street, and named the post pavilion below Lanzhu Mountain Lan Pavilion.

 

Xizhi Copies the Orchid

The Sage of Calligraphy Wang Xizhi attached great importance to calligraphy theory. His father Wang Kuang carefully guided him from childhood to study "Bi Lun," and he was good at embodying the theories in "Bi Lun" in his own calligraphy practice. Moreover, he learned from many teachers and meticulously studied all the script forms. More importantly, he also created the flowing running script.

Wang Xizhi's creation of running script and cursive script was greatly related to his hobbies. Wang Xizhi first loved orchids, and second loved geese. The story of his love of geese originates from how he once wrote the "Huangting Jing" for a Daoist priest at Shanyin and "returned with geese in a cage," and how he also wrote out the character "goose," making him a household name. But the more charming love of orchids has been overlooked in its circulation. On the third day of the third month in the ninth year of Yonghe, Wang Xizhi invited friends for a spring purification rite and chose the Lan Pavilion as the site, not only because "this place has high mountains and steep ridges, dense forests and tall bamboo, and also clear rushing streams, reflecting and winding around on both sides," but also because this place was full of blooming solitary orchids, with fragrance assailing the nose. The famous scholars who went with him thus left famous orchid-praising lines such as "Bending down we stir the white waves, looking up we pluck the fragrant orchid," "Faint music selects and sings, its fragrance is like orchid," and "Swimming on our backs we scoop the lingering fragrance, rejoicing the spirit and savoring the deep abyss."

When Wang Xizhi was meticulously studying the forms and momentum of calligraphy, he benefited from raising geese, and even more from loving orchids. The goose with its curved neck singing loudly and red feet paddling the water brought Wang Xizhi inspiration; from then on he stretched out his arm and wielded the brush even more freely. And those orchid leaves fluttering in the wind and graceful in many postures inspired him even more to create a new calligraphic style that was flowing, elegant and forceful. The orchid leaves were verdant as if about to drip, plain and neat, well spaced and proper, flowing and elegant. Wang Xizhi applied the various postures of orchid leaves to his calligraphy, bringing the techniques of his calligraphy's structure, brushwork and composition to a highly refined level. His calligraphy, with orchid painting setting off the plain ground, had continuous spirit and vein, beautiful forms, and natural irregularity, and because the characters generated posture, the posture generated beauty, the beauty generated momentum, and the momentum guided the whole, he reached the highest realm of vivid spirit and following his heart's desire.

The story of Wang Xizhi's love of orchids has been widely recited in history. A rare famous blue-and-white plum vase with the Four Loves design from the Yuan dynasty of our country has four pictures: "Wang Xizhi Loves Orchids," "Zhou Maoshu Loves Lotus," "Meng Haoran Loves Plum," and "Lin Hejing Loves Crane," showing how profound the influence of Wang Xizhi's love of orchids has been.

 

Xu Wei Paints Orchids

Xu Wei was unsurpassed in poetry, calligraphy, prose and painting. His paintings, once the brush touched them, were free and unrestrained and uniquely natural. Especially his flower-and-bird paintings, with their vertical and horizontal brushwork, unconstrained by rules, thoroughly expressive, and bold in momentum, opened a new style of freehand ink flower-and-bird painting in the mid-Ming dynasty.

Xu Wei painted many pictures pairing orchids with narcissus. The poem "Inscribed on Narcissus and Orchid" says: "The narcissus blooms late in the garden, why does it accompany the orchid stem? It is also like the old man Mojie, painting plantains in the snow." Inscribing "Narcissus, Orchid and Bamboo" he says: "Narcissus, clustered bamboo and orchid blossoms, are always the three beauties of the Xiang. Do not let Chang'e know of these, or she will surely cast the bright moon down to the river ford." On the "Orchid and Bamboo Picture" he matched the poem: "Orchid and bamboo stand side by side, not because their natures are the same. Their dense fragrance does not travel far, but is taken as pure breeze." In the poem "Painting Orchids" he says: "Drunkenly smeared, soberly daubed, it is always spring, on the branches of a hundred flowers adornment of spirit. Since I painted the Xiang orchid, I no longer idly inscribe for vulgar people." In addition, Xu Wei also wrote many orchid poems. In "Orchid Valley Song" he wrote: "Goujian planted orchids and surely chose the place, and now Lanzhu is exactly that spot. A thousand years later there was still the Yonghe affair, the Right Army's ink and elegance flowing through the purification rite... The orchid records of our Yue are originally like this..." There are also lines such as "The Lan Pavilion once planted the King of Yue's orchids, whose green waves and red fragrance are told throughout the world," and "Do not be surprised that spring light does not belong to me; one fragrance is already enough to press down a thousand reds." Xu Wei gave a painting to his friend Xianhua and inscribed the poem: "Immortal flowers and Du's poems, their words are clumsy yet ancient. Like my painting of orchid and bamboo, without flattery but with clear bitterness." "Without flattery" and "clear bitterness" describe the orchid, and are also Xu Wei's own portrait.

 

Lu Xun Gathers Orchids

Several generations of Lu Xun's family loved orchids. Lu Xun said in his letter "To Yamamoto Hatsue": "My great-grandfather once cultivated many orchids and even built three rooms especially for this." Lu Xun's grandfather and father also kept orchids. Lu Xun loved flowers, insects, fish and birds from childhood, and after reading he would follow his father in planting flowers and grasses throughout the courtyard and the Hundred Plants Garden. Based on his own experience, he once corrected certain errors in "Hua Jing." When he was a little older, he often invited his second brother Zuoren and third brother Jianren to gather orchids at Fushan and Tashan in the city. Every year in February and March, when the orchids bloomed, the three brothers often went to Kuaiji Mountain, Lanzhu Mountain and Ruo Mountain for spring outings and to gather orchids. In March 1911, Lu Xun, Zhou Jianren and Wang Hezhao went to visit the Mausoleum of Great Yu at the foot of Kuaiji Mountain. Before setting out, Lu Xun especially brought along tools prepared in advance so that they could gather orchids on Kuaiji Mountain.

About that orchid-gathering trip on Kuaiji Mountain, Zhou Jianren often mentioned it in his later years: "After the eldest (Lu Xun) gathered the 'one-leaf orchid,' he was terribly excited and said to me: 'Third brother, our trip was truly not in vain!' Back home, we carefully potted the orchids. Later, the eldest, at the invitation of Mr. Cai Yuanpei, went to Beijing to take up a post. At first he wanted to take the orchids with him, but in the end he did not take them because the journey was so far. Before leaving, he especially instructed me to plant these pots of orchids well. Not long after, I too was invited to teach at a school, and usually seldom went home. Later, the 'one-leaf orchid' finally died. In order not to pain the eldest, I never told him this news."

Commander-in-Chief Zhu Loves Orchids

Comrade Zhu De was an orchid enthusiast. He was born in Yilong, Sichuan, and the land of central Sichuan has many orchids. After the Nanchang Uprising, when Commander-in-Chief Zhu was fighting his way through northern Guangdong and Hunan all the way to Jinggangshan, he led his troops through deep mountains and old forests, keeping company with orchids. In the 1960s, he could still say on which mountain in northern Guangdong and Hunan there were orchids. In the 1950s and 1960s, he grew orchids at his residence in Chengdu. He gave the "Jinggang Orchid" to the Shanghai Longhua Flower Garden and the "Wuyi Orchid" to the Wuhan East Lake Garden. He also gave his own famous orchids "Lüyun Dianzhu" and "Yinbian Dagong" to the Chengdu Caotang Orchid Garden, the Guangzhou Orchid Garden, the Hangzhou Flower Garden and the Suzhou Humble Administrator's Garden flower nursery. He also wrote the four large characters "Tong Shang Qing Fang" on the horizontal plaque of the Hangzhou Flower Garden.

In the film "Woman Basketball Player No. 5," shot in Shanghai in the 1950s by the famous director Xie Jin, according to the plot, two pots of orchids were placed in the study of the male and female leads. Of these two pots of orchids, one was called "Song Mei" and one was called "Xishen," famous varieties among Chinese spring orchids, provided by the Zhang Family Garden of Shanghai.         

When Commander-in-Chief Zhu learned that the two pots of Chinese spring orchids in the film "Woman Basketball Player No. 5" were the famous Jiang orchids "Song Mei" and "Xishen," he was deeply captivated by the unique charm of Jiangsu and Zhejiang orchids, and several times, without revealing his identity, he went to the Zhang Family flower nursery to admire orchids. When he learned that Zhu Zhangfu came from Shaoxing, the hometown of Chinese spring orchids, and was an expert orchid grower, he immediately revealed his identity and hoped that Zhu Zhangfu could move southern flowers north and relocate Jiangsu and Zhejiang orchids to the capital to settle. Commander-in-Chief Zhu asked Zhu Zhangfu to collect varieties on his behalf, and told Zhu Zhangfu's son-in-law Ye Zhiqing to serve as assistant, and to go with him to Beijing. Zhu Zhangfu was then nearly sixty years old, and was not accustomed to life in Beijing, but when he saw how deeply Commander-in-Chief Zhu loved orchids, he gladly agreed.

After arriving in Beijing, Zhu Zhangfu chose Zhongshan Park as the orchid nursery. Besides personally arranging for the Beijing garden department to build orchid rooms and set up orchid racks and other preparatory work, Commander-in-Chief Zhu also personally wrote the plaque "Orchid Room" for the orchid house. From then on, Jiangsu and Zhejiang orchids had a home in Beijing.

In the spring of 1959, Beijing's first orchid exhibition in history was held in Zhongshan Park. Several hundred pots of Jiangnan spring orchids, shaking like jade and overflowing with green, smiled in welcome to guests from all directions. Commander-in-Chief Zhu also brought the Sichuan orchids he grew into the orchid exhibition, sharing the joy with the people. At the opening ceremony, Comrades Zhu De, Song Qingling, Chen Yi, Kang Keqing and others all came, foreign friends came, and Beijing citizens came. From then on, Jiangsu and Zhejiang orchids settled in Beijing, breaking the forbidden zone that southern flowers could not bloom in the north. In this way, the Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and founding meritorious statesman of the People's Republic of China formed a deep friendship with an ordinary flower farmer from Shaoxing, Zhejiang. On every holiday, Commander-in-Chief Zhu and Sister Kang would always come to the orchid garden to sit and chat and ask about their well-being. Zhu Zhangfu also went many times to Zhongnanhai to inquire after Commander-in-Chief Zhu.

The Premier Gives an Orchid

In 1962, Premier Zhou cordially met in Hangzhou by the shore of West Lake with the China-Japan friendship figure Matsumura Kenzo, who had come to China on a visit. At that time, diplomatic relations between China and Japan had not yet been restored. As a social activist, Matsumura Kenzo was devoted to China-Japan friendship activities and visited China many times, becoming a good friend of Premier Zhou. Matsumura Kenzo loved Chinese orchids very much and had collected quite a few varieties. The Premier well knew Matsumura Kenzo's hobby, and taking advantage of the opportunity to meet in Hangzhou, instructed his attendants to go to the Hangzhou nursery and choose a famous orchid to give to Matsumura Kenzo. The comrades at the nursery specially chose a pot of orchid called "Huanqiu Heding"; this flower had been dug up 40 years earlier by a Shaoxing orchid farmer in the mountains of Dashébu in Shangyu, and was truly the finest among orchids. When Matsumura Kenzo received this pot of orchid from the Premier's hands, he was so moved he could not speak. He knew the preciousness of "Huanqiu Heding," and he knew even more the Premier's beautiful sentiment. The "orchid" symbolizes beauty, and also symbolizes friendship. The Premier hoped that China-Japan friendship would be as evergreen as the "orchid" and as fragrant as the "orchid."

Matsumura Kenzo carried "Huanqiu Heding" back to Japan, and in his later years devoted himself to the cause of China-Japan friendship. When he was on the verge of death, he called his sons to his bedside and earnestly instructed them to carry on his cause of China-Japan friendship and to raise well the orchid given by the Premier.

His son Matsumura Masanao firmly remembered his father's teachings, made many orchid friends, and devoted himself to study. A few years later, his orchid skills improved greatly, and from a layman in orchid growing he became an expert orchid grower in Japanese orchid circles. He gave "Huanqiu Heding" to orchid friends, causing "Huanqiu Heding" to spread its fragrance throughout Japan.

In 1978, despite his advanced age of 79, Matsumura Masanao contacted orchid friends, and a group of six traveled dusty and weary to Shaoxing, visited the Shaoxing Orchid Garden, called on orchid friends and colleagues, and presented to the Shaoxing Orchid Association descendants of the "Huanqiu Heding" that Premier Zhou had given to his father. After decades of wind and rain, the Shaoxing orchid that had traveled far to Japan, carrying the friendly sentiments of the Chinese and Japanese peoples, went from China to Japan, took root and bloomed in Japan, and then returned from Japan to its natal home Shaoxing.

The Young Marshal's Orchid Passion

After the "Xi'an Incident," Zhang Xueliang was placed under house arrest. In 1946 he was secretly taken to Taiwan, beginning a half-century of secluded imprisonment.

During his confinement, apart from reading, General Zhang cultivated orchids. He once calmly said: "I love my wife first, and orchids second." He also said, "Writing poetry can express one's aspirations, and growing orchids can lodge one's feelings." He merged his love for the motherland into his love for Chinese orchids.

General Zhang cultivated more than 200 pots of orchids at home, personally planting and managing them for fifty years. He not only grew a large number of traditional Chinese spring orchid famous varieties, such as Lüyun, Song Mei and Dafugui, but also cultivated many types of orchids such as Guangdong Baosui, Fujian Jianlan and Sichuan Chuanjian.

In the early 1990s, the ban was lifted and his "degree of freedom" increased. Every year when spring warmed and flowers bloomed, he often went to Taipei city and nearby orchid gardens to admire and buy orchids, and often exchanged with orchid friends of the Taiwan World Orchid Exchange Association, discussing orchid art, and gladly served as the association's honorary president.

On April 25, 1993, the Third China Flower Expo was held at the Beijing Agricultural Exhibition Center. In the third exhibition area, fifth exhibition hall, a cross-strait orchid exchange meeting was held. At about nine o'clock that evening, Party and state leaders ***, Chen Muhua, Chi Haotian, Song Ping and others walked into the orchid exhibition hall. When Huang Xiuqiu, president of the Taiwan World Orchid Exchange Association, on behalf of Zhang Xueliang, presented an orchid named "Patriotism" to the state *****, Comrade *** said to Huang Xiuqiu: "Please convey my thanks to Mr. Zhang Xueliang, and wish Mr. Zhang good health."

Before the meeting, General Zhang Xueliang personally wrote a congratulatory letter, the full text as follows:

"The orchid in Chinese history is a famous flower of lofty character. From the Spring and Autumn period, when Confucius went from Wei to Lu and composed the Yi Lan, it was praised as 'the fragrance of a king.' Thereafter literati and refined scholars of successive dynasties sang of it without cease. Zuo did not omit the omen of dreaming of orchids, Qu Yuan longing for his ruler strung orchids as a pendant, and the Zhou Yi even says: 'When two people are of one mind, their sharpness can cut through metal; words of one mind are as fragrant as orchids,' which is to compare the gentleman's virtue to the orchid, and not to compare the orchid's virtue to the gentleman.

 General Zhang Xueliang once wrote the poem "Ode to the Orchid," saying: "Its fair name is known throughout the four seas, it settles in every home. Its leaves stand embodying upright spirit, its fair blossoms are not ostentatious. Evergreen, it defies severe cold, smiling through high summer. A true gentleman among flowers, its grace embodies elegance."