Using the right flowers and plants was the key to Yu Zheng beating "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace"

Recently, while writing articles in April, I occasionally mention "Story of Yanxi Palace", just to give everyone a laugh~ If you didn't notice, you definitely weren't reading carefully, hmph (￢︿??￢☆)

For the past half month, people have been asking April to write about this hugely popular palace drama every day. I can't resist the enthusiastic calls of the masses. It's about to end, and if I don't hurry up and talk about it, it'll be too late!

April won't jump on the bandwagon of the overhyped Morandi colors. Today April wants to talk about the exquisite costumes and props in the show, and the velvet flowers that the Empress loves most~

The Sound of Snow Falling

 Story of Yanxi Palace OST

Qin Lan 

00:00/05:05

{Peony Girl Vol.855 }

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Story of Yanxi Palace

This summer, I loved many people and hated many people, all because of one person: Niohuru Yu Zheng.

As soon as Yu Zheng's "Story of Yanxi Palace" premiered, it won the affection of countless young girls. As someone who hadn't watched TV dramas for a long time (the last one was "A Thousand and One Nights", click the blue text to read the article), I fell completely.

I don't even want to skip the opening and ending credits

The reason this drama is so popular is not only the ups and downs of the plot that never drags, but the visuals are really so pleasing to the eye!

In terms of color tone, a unified low-saturation filter was added, creating the "Morandi" palette that everyone praises. Rather than a filter, April thinks the set construction and the exquisite costumes and props in the drama are more worth mentioning.

Costumes

Why are there so many palace dramas, yet the costumes in "Story of Yanxi Palace" look especially exquisite? The color tone is only surface; what truly makes it look high-end is the care in every single stitch.

The noble ladies' costumesused traditional handicrafts such as kesi silk weaving, hand-pushed embroidery, and seed embroidery, and the production team even invited an embroiderer who had worked in cultural relic restoration at the Forbidden City to personally sew the clothes.

In the use of flower and plant patterns, plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum were mostly adopted,

and according to the different personalities of the characters, the costumes also all changed.

At the beginning, Consort Xian mostly wore plain-colored costumes paired with bamboo leaf patterns,

while Noble Consort Gao mainly wore dark colors,

with patterns mostly featuring large chrysanthemums and peonies.

Scenes

Throughout the entire drama, whether in large scenes or small scenes, the style of Chinese classical architecture and gardens is reflected, and every frame captures a static harmonious beauty.

The "moon gate" in classical architecture,

paired with plants, is like a circular picture frame.

It frames the refinement of the courtyard within the door frame,

and the winding ancient tree branches appear even more elegant.

In the small indoor scenes,

screens with flower and plant patterns are the most common.

On the desk are often placed jade porcelain or enamel-colored vases,

and the flower arrangements in the vases also carry Chinese charm.

Props

There are many props appearing in the drama - palace lanterns, incense burners, jade dishes... each one is exquisitely beautiful. Among them, the most common are of course the ornaments often worn by the noble ladies and the round fans they often hold and play with.

Hand warmers and scent sachets are both decorated with exquisite patterns

The round fans used by the Empress are mostly painted with the patterns of the Four Gentlemen,

just like her personality, gentle and kind.

Noble Consort Gao is flamboyant and domineering,

and the round fans she holds are bright and intense in color.

The hair ornaments of the palace maids and noble ladies are mainly of two kinds: pearl and jade ornaments, and rice-paper plant velvet flowers.

In the past, pearl and jade ornaments used the kingfisher feather inlay craft,

which required inlaying kingfisher feathers onto jewelry, and was extremely expensive.

It is said that to reproduce the kingfisher feather inlay while also ensuring environmental protection,

the production team bought artificial feathers, dyeing and pasting them one by one,

to achieve an effect as fine as a hair.

Compared with pearl and jade ornaments, rice-paper plant velvet flowers are more plain,

made by hand after processing and dyeing silk.

Next, what April wants to focus on is the rice-paper plant velvet flower.

Rice-paper plant velvet flower is a general term for a type of artificial flower, and "velvet flower" is also a homophone for "glory and splendor".It is said that during the Tang Dynasty under Empress Wu Zetian it was listed as a royal tribute, and by the Kangxi and Qianlong years of the Qing Dynasty, it became a trendy item. Back then Nanjing even had a "flower market", but what was sold was not fresh-cut flowers, but velvet flowers, which shows how much the girls loved them.

According to "Draft History of Qing: Biographies of Empresses and Consorts", "Qianlong's Empress Fuca was usually frugal,adorned with rice-paper plant velvet flowers, did not wear pearl and jade ornaments, and the whole harem followed suit."

The "money tree-shaped velvet flower" worn by Empress Fuca

is the most intricately crafted piece in the entire drama.

From a distance, the overall color tone is clear and natural,

and paired with light-colored clothing, it is very elegant.

Up close, the velvet is as fine as a hair,

with small flowers layered one upon another, beautifully shaped.

Empress Fuca gave up pearl and jade ornaments and chose velvet flowers as her headdress. Besides advocating frugality and setting an example for the six palaces, more importantly, it reflected her detached and calm attitude toward wealth and power.

She saw through material things and wealth, and also saw clearly interpersonal relationships and emotions, treating everything gently and softly, never harsh in voice or expression, never competing or grabbing.

The velvet flowers worn by palace maids and consorts in the Qing palace differed in style according to rank. The velvet flowers worn by noble consorts and empresses had large flowers with many layers and complex shapes, while the styles for ordinary palace maids were relatively simple.

The velvet flowers worn by the palace maids of the embroidery room

were all relatively small, and worn only on one side.

The senior palace maids beside the consorts had a slightly higher rank,

so their styles were somewhat more complex, but not as large as those of their mistresses.

Making a single velvet flower is not simple; it requires brass wire and silk as raw materials, and can only be completed after dozens of steps.

All the velvet flowers in "Story of Yanxi Palace" come from the hands of Zhao Shuxian, inheritor of Nanjing velvet flower as intangible cultural heritage,Making a velvet flower about 10 cm in diameter takes at least two to three days, not including the preliminary work.

Today the velvet flower is no longer a common ornament, but has become an art form, conquering the fashion world with its traditional charm.

Mr. Zhao Shuxian's velvet flower craft

has previously been used in collaborations with major brands such as Hermes and LV.

In the Hermes shop window, a feather lifts a silk scarf,

and this feather, 1.6 m long, was made using the velvet flower craft.

The base of LV's Ermas perfume is precisely a velvet flower.

Yangzhou velvet flower artisan Zheng Shanshan,

the velvet flower headdress she made together with her mother,

once appeared on the cover of "Chinese Heritage" magazine.

In the KFC advertisement shot by Xu Jiao this year,

the headdress also chose a velvet flower made by Zheng Shanshan.

The velvet flower accessories made in collaboration with "Coco Wei"

perfectly blend tradition and fashion.

Before this drama aired, when it came to velvet flowers, the first thing April thought of was the song "Velvet Flower,""There is a beautiful flower in the world / It is youth spitting forth its fragrance / With unyielding bones it blooms / Drop by drop of blood dyes it red."”

From the lyrics we can guess that the velvet flower in this song should be a kind of red flower. The latter part of the lyrics also says it is "fragrant all the way, covering the mountain cliffs", indicating that the velvet flower has a scent, grows high on the mountains, and has a proud and lofty character. So many people guess that the velvet flower might be azalea or kapok.

Azalea is also called yingshanhong,

and legend has it that in ancient times there was a cuckoo bird that cried mournfully day and night until it coughed blood,

dyeing the flowers all over the mountain red, hence the name,

which does correspond to the description in the lyrics,

except that azalea petals are thin and delicate, without the slightest bit of "velvet".

Kapok is also called the hero flower,

its blossoms are brilliantly red, as if a hero's blood had dyed the treetops red.

After the flowers fall, they are replaced by cotton fluff,

which does carry a bit of the meaning of a "velvet" flower.

When April looked up velvet flower in the "Flora of China", I discovered two different flowers,Albizia and rowan (qiu) tree, whose alias is both velvet flower tree.

Calling Albizia a velvet flower is easy to understand,

with fine, long hairs spreading out at the tips of the branches,

and when the wind blows, it is like a pink velvet fan.

As for the rowan tree, many people have not yet seen it,

it blooms small white flowers, and the petals have no fuzz.

Instead, the buds and young branches have white velvet flowers,

or perhaps the protruding stamens are like velvet,

which is why it is called the velvet flower tree.

As for who the name velvet flower should ultimately belong to, April thinks there is no need to be so particular.Like the velvet flower in the song, it is an artistic representation and imagination that comes from life yet rises above life.

Rather than calling it a flower, it is better to call it a temperament.This temperament is elegant and noble, like the chrysanthemum, also like the peony, and also like the orchid, a fusion of the temperaments of traditional Chinese flowers.

At the same time, her low-key steadiness and constant detached attitude are just like Empress Fuca in the drama. Even when the whole world is fighting, only she remains kind throughout, becoming the eternal white moonlight in Qianlong's heart.

Sister Wei's palace intrigue is about to end,

and the Empress has been gone for who knows how many days, I miss her~

About this drama, what else do you all want to say,

On Friday night, let's chat about anything.

Except those who like Erqing

END

Some images in this article are from Weibo @TV Drama Story of Yanxi Palace, @Yu Zheng

Images involving Zheng Shanshan have been authorized by her personally

Image from Visual China Group, copyright purchased