What are the flower language and symbolic meaning of orchids?
The ancients often used “orchid heart and thoroughwort nature” to describe a person's virtuous and elegant character. The I Ching also says, “Words of one heart have a fragrance like 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 at the flower language and symbolic meaning of orchids!
What is the flower language of orchids?
In our country, the flower language of orchids is beauty, nobility, and virtue; abroad, the flower language of orchids is passion, friendship, confidence, and pride.
The symbolic meaning of orchids
1. Symbol of brotherhood: For example, orchid and osmanthus blooming together (orchid, osmanthus) symbolizes virtue and grace lasting long and never fading, that is, leaving kindness to descendants, and it is also used to praise others' descendants for prosperity. Later, multiple layers of meaning were extended from it, such as fine writing being called “orchid composition,” a complimentary term for another person's children being called “orchid jade,” and sworn brotherhood formed by close friendship being called “the bond of golden orchids,” etc.
2. Symbol of nobility: Since ancient times, people have regarded orchids as a symbol of purity, elegance, patriotism, and unwavering loyalty, symbolizing nobility. Orchids have a plain and elegant posture, a dignified flower appearance, and a quiet, far-reaching fragrance, and have always served as a symbol of noble character. The poet Qu Yuan loved orchids deeply. In his immortal work Li Sao, there appear in many places fine lines praising orchids, such as “The secluded orchid grows in the front courtyard, holding its fragrance awaiting the clear breeze,” etc.
3. Symbol of the Chinese people's deep-rooted national sentiment and identity of character: Orchids are hailed as the “gentleman among flowers” and “the fragrance of kings.” For Chinese people, orchids also carry a profound national meaning. Among the traditional Four Gentlemen of China, plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum, unlike the plum's solitary purity, the chrysanthemum's frost, and the bamboo's integrity, the orchid symbolizes the temperament of an intellectual and the reserved elegance of a nation. Therefore, for orchids, Chinese people can be said to have a deep-rooted national sentiment and identity of character.
The story and legend of orchids
During the reign of King Huai of Chu, Qu Yuan was framed by treacherous officials and was dismissed from office. He returned to his hometown Guizhou, which is present-day Zigui County, Hubei Province, and lived on the south bank of the Niugan Mafei Gorge. By the Nine Wan Stream at the foot of Xiannv Mountain, he set up a school and personally taught his disciples. It is said that the line in Li Sao, “I had already cultivated orchids for nine wan,” came from this place.
It is said that one day, the Orchid Goddess of Xiannv Mountain went out traveling and passed by this place. She found the lean Qu Yuan lecturing, so she descended from the clouds, stood to one side outside the window, and listened quietly. Qu Yuan waved both hands and spoke with impassioned eloquence about the principles of revitalizing Chu. That unswerving patriotic spirit moved even the Orchid Goddess. She knew well that Qu Yuan usually loved orchids, so when leaving, she deliberately cast a spell and transformed the three orchids planted beneath the window into spirits.
Orchids are noble in character, blooming with pale green or light yellow flowers. Qu Yuan taught with tireless zeal, devoting himself selflessly to imparting knowledge and teaching. Once during a break between classes, he lectured despite illness about treacherous officials holding power in the state and the suffering of the common people. Because he was overly agitated and filled with righteous indignation, a mouthful of fresh blood shot from his mouth and happened to splash onto the roots of the orchids outside the window. When the disciples saw their teacher working diligently and selflessly to teach and educate people, they were heartbroken and tears streamed down their faces! Those three orchids, nourished by Great Officer Qu's heart's blood, unexpectedly 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 condition improved greatly. Everyone was overjoyed and all set to work dividing and transplanting the orchids onto the open ground around the school. Strange to say, those orchids took root the first day they were planted in the soil, sprouted and sent up shoots the second day, stretched out branches and spread leaves the third day, and burst into bud and bloom the fourth day. By the fifth day, each plant had sent up large clumps of new shoots again.
Qu Yuan led the students in busily transplanting them by the stream and on the mountain, and thus the orchids spread and extended. An old farmer in the mountains said delightedly, “Here, twelve mu make one wan. The orchids planted by Great Officer Qu must amount to three wan! Our mountain village here 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 at the foot of Xiannv Mountain was called Nine Wan Stream. The orchids by Nine Wan Stream flourished more each year, and their intoxicating fragrance overflowed the entire Xiling Gorge, drifted through all of Guizhou, and even scented half of the Chu sky!
In the end, aboard a small boat, carrying the fragrance of flowers throughout the stream, Qu Yuan still left the mountains.
But in May of that year, the lush orchids by Nine Wan Stream and in Zhilan Township suddenly all withered and died, leaving only waves of subtle fragrance. The villagers sensed that some ominous event was about to happen and felt uneasy at heart. A few days later, sad news indeed arrived: on the very day the orchids withered, Great Officer Qu had drowned himself in the Miluo River with his grievances unredressed. People were deeply grieved, and the Orchid Goddess on Xiannv Mountain cried until her eyes were swollen.
Later, Great Officer Qu's school was converted into Zhilan Temple, and orchids were widely planted there, by which later generations expressed their permanent remembrance.