The Origin and Detailed Story of Jiepei Legend

Jiepei Legend     Jiepei, a famous orchid of Jingjiang, has tall stems and slender stalks, green color and strong fragrance, with white jade-like petals holding the heart, and enjoys the reputation of "red hairpin and green jade." Its discovery also has a beautiful legendary story.
According to legend, in the late Qing Dynasty, there was a family surnamed Zhang. The head of the household, Mr. Zhang, was full of learning and fond of charity, and loved to cultivateorchids. One spring, Mr. Zhang went into the mountains to dig uporchids, and saw an old woman hiding from debtors in the mountains. Mr. Zhang gave her five liang of silver. The old woman took out a handful ofCymbidium faberishe had dug from the mountain and gave them to him as a gift.
Soon it was Qingming Festival, and the Cymbidium faberi planted by Mr. Zhang bloomed one after another, with a clear, elegant and fragrant scent. One day a friend who knew Cymbidium faberi quite well came to visit, and after careful examination found that one pot had a slender and elegant flower stem, petals colored like jade, with tightly rolled edges and round tips, white jade-like petals holding the heart, and bright red spots on the ru-yi-shaped lip. He could not help but cry out: "Wonderful! Wonderful! This is a supreme grade among Cymbidium faberi, priceless!"
The news that the Zhang family had obtained a supreme-grade Cymbidium faberi spread like wildfire among orchid enthusiasts, and visitors came in an endless stream. One day a middle-aged man came and asked to buy it at a high price, but unexpectedly Mr. Zhang was not moved by money and refused outright. After that man went home, he could not eat or drink. One day he prepared generous gifts and came to ask again, with very earnest words. Sincerity can move even stone, and Mr. Zhang was finally moved and agreed to transfer a few seedlings, but he stated: he refused to accept gifts or silver, otherwise he would not give them. As soon as Mr. Zhang finished speaking, the middle-aged man immediately untied the jade pendant worn on his belt and gave it to Mr. Zhang. Mr. Zhang gladly accepted it, and casually recited the lyric "Ode to Orchid" by the Tang Dynasty poet Li Shen: "Fragrance carried in full sleeves, as if meeting Jiepei, the river immortal scatters worldly ties." So he named this Cymbidium faberi "Jiepei" Mei.
Later, after a hundred years of vicissitudes, Jiepei suffered great calamities and became a rare treasure. However, one pot of Jiepei was introduced to Jingjiang in the early years of the Republic of China, multiplied and flourished on this land, and now has unexpectedly become "the greatest under heaven," with "the ownership quantity of Jiepei Mei ranking first in the country" (Jiangsu Provincial Gazetteer - Landscape and Garden Gazetteer), becoming the glory and pride of the orchid circles of Jingjiang. (This article is excerpted from Jingjiang Daily, author Yuxiu Orchid Garden, text slightly modified)