In April, the Forbidden City has already become a royal garden in full bloom

Source | Backpack Travel

Bathed in a spring breeze

Intoxicated by the scent of flowers

Spring in Beijing

Always arrives quietly and unexpectedly

And the seemingly silent Forbidden City

Has in fact long kept a lively stretch of spring light hidden away

When the mottled palaces

Meet the bright spring light

Even the hardest steel turns soft and yielding

Beauty before the eyes

Intoxication in the heart

Apricot blossom

A stretch of fine spring cannot be hidden

Apricot blossom tips lean out past the pink wall

Light rain on apricot blossoms dampens the thin silk

In spring

Blooming beautifully as if no one else were watching

Between the red walls and glazed tiles

Apricot blossoms are white with a touch of pink

Claiming all the spring color of the city

A touch of gentle grace

Carrying a strand of spring breeze, melodious

A smear of rouge pink

Left behind in the time and space of the glazed tiles

Deep are the palace walls

Cutting off two worlds, inside the wall and out

History feels as if newly arrived

You cross the threshold, turn back, and smile softly

A tree of pink and white

Must have a spell of spring rain as company

Only then does it live up to apricot blossoms blooming to the full

Sparse sunshine and rain play with the slanting sun

Leaning on the railing for a long while

Beyond the wall, the scent of apricot blossoms

Vermilion walls, deep palace, apricot blossoms like snow

A spring outing, apricot blossoms fall all over one's head

Magnolia

Pure as a clean lotus, untouched by dust

Color like white clouds, beauty like an immortal

A branch of magnolia blooms in the early morning

A strand of spring breeze, accompanied by the scent of flowers

If the world has no jade tree

Let this flower take its place

Strolling among the stone railings of the side courtyard

A tree of white flowers reflects the red wall

Magnolia

Thousands of branches and ten thousand buds all bloom at once

Flowers without leaves

Light and lovely in the spring sun

Red walls reflect white flowers

It is just the season for strolling the garden

At first like spring bamboo shoots revealing their charm

Opening like a white-feathered lotus swaying

Whether just opening or in full bloom

The magnolias of the Forbidden City

Are equally fresh, moist and lovely

Magnolia blossoms bloom one after another

Set off against the red walls and yellow tiles

When the spring breeze blows

Drunk together with the flowers

Pear blossom

White brocade without pattern, fragrance overflowing

Jade trees and jewel-like flowers piled like snow

Pear blossoms open, spring brings rain

Pear blossoms fall, spring enters the mud

A tree of pear blossoms, one Chengqian

The pear blossoms of Chengqian Palace

Have quietly bloomed just like this

Pear blossoms pale white, willows deep green

When willow catkins fly, flowers fill the city

Blossoms opening tree after tree

Graceful bloom after bloom

All the charm of the world lies in the fragrant blooms

Willow color tender as gold

Pear blossoms white as snow, fragrant

I only wish you were beneath the tree

Pear blossoms fall like snow

Crabapple

Green and delicate, faintly like lightly traced brows

Red and tender, alluring, like thin makeup on a face

When all the lush flowers have withered

Only the crabapple

Blooms until the last flower of spring is done

A hidden fragrance reaches beyond the wall

In late spring, buds open and give forth fragrance

One tree, a thousand flowers, claiming all the spring light

A crabapple smile intoxicates the flower-viewing guest

Then dances in rainbow garments in the east wind

Crabapple blossoms pink and white, enchanting

Like a graceful young girl secretly dabbing on rouge

Shy yet captivating

Eileen Chang said life has three regrets

The first regret is that crabapple has no fragrance

Then she surely has never seen

The crabapple blossoms of Yongshou Palace

Seek out a Xifu crabapple

Chant a verse of Ming and Qing lyric rhyme

If flowers fall and spring departs

Just remember the crabapple as it always was

Seek a tree in bloom

Find a stretch of fragrance

The spring breeze brushes close to a beauty's face

And the Forbidden City

Has also turned back into a royal garden

Fine spring cannot be hidden

People are intoxicated among a hundred flowers

The most beautiful April days in the world

Why not come to the Forbidden City

Seek a touch of floral fragrance

Only then does it live up to the fine spring light

(Image source: Palace Museum)