Growing Orchids Is Like Cultivating a Gentleman: The Elegant Charm and Sentiment of Orchid Cultivation
The first person to compare the orchid to a "gentleman" was none other than Confucius. According to the Records of Confucius's Family Sayings, when he was surrounded by rebel soldiers between Chen and Cai with no way out and his followers' morale wavering, Confucius pointed to the orchid as an example: "The iris and orchid grow in the deep forest, yet do not cease to be fragrant because no one is there; the gentleman cultivates the Way and establishes virtue, yet does not change his integrity because of hardship and poverty." This left his followers thoroughly ashamed. That said, Confucius, who was posthumously enfeoffed as a "sage" by later generations, was after all a "man" and not quite a "god." He visited the feudal lords far and wide, hoping to take office, but met with rebuffs everywhere and was treated with contempt. So while he was self-confident, self-restrained, and held himself in high regard, he also repeatedly revealed the sorrow of unrecognized talent and lamented being born in an unpropitious time. On his way back to Lu from Wei, he suddenly saw orchids flourishing in a mountain ravine, their delicate fragrance wafting toward him. Recalling his own unfortunate experiences, he sighed: "The orchid should rightfully be the fragrance of kings, yet now it grows alone in the valley, able only to keep company with weeds." Thereupon he jumped down from his carriage, played the qin for the orchid, and performed his self-composed "Lament of the Hidden Orchid," comparing himself to the orchid and sighing endlessly.
Among later scholar-officials, there was no shortage of those who likened themselves to orchids. Qu Yuan took the orchid as a symbol of ideal character: "Abundant are my inner beauties, and I have added to them with cultivated ability." Tao Yuanming used the orchid to metaphorize his own lofty talent and virtue: "The hidden orchid grows in the front courtyard, holding its fragrance while awaiting the clear breeze; when the clear breeze comes drifting by, one sees how it differs from the mugwort among the weeds." Li Bai sighed over the orchid to express his feelings of drift and failure to meet his time: "The lone orchid grows in a secluded garden, lost among the weeds. Though it basks in the spring sunlight, it mourns again the high autumn moon. Flying snow patters early, and its green beauty may soon cease. If no clear breeze blows, for whom will its fragrance be released?" Lu You praised the orchid to show his refusal to flatter worldly ways: "Born into this world in a secluded valley, how could I wish to entertain the world? I have no heart to entrust myself to courtyards and steps; if I stand at the gate, you may hoe me down as you please"...
From the time of Su Shi onward, literati painting of orchids began to flourish, and each generation produced famous masters with outstanding works appearing one after another. When literati painted orchids, they often used sparse flowers and simple leaves, aiming to express emotion. For example, Zheng Sixiao at the turn of the Song and Yuan dynasties painted a long ink-orchid scroll over ten chi in length, with an inscription: "Pure are they as gentlemen, utterly without petty men; deep in the mountains, they take heaven as spring." His cynicism and contempt for the world overflowed in his words. In his life he painted countless orchids, but he gave them only to gentlemen and never to petty men. When a county magistrate brought his runners to force him to paint orchids, he angrily said: "My head you may take, but my orchids you cannot!" The county magistrate had no choice but to leave in vexation.
Orchids are honored as the "national fragrance," and people take great care in protecting them, treating the process of growing them as a process of cultivating body and mind. But in my view, there are several kinds of people who do not deserve to grow orchids and cannot grow them well. The first are the restless and impetuous, who neither appreciate beauty nor understand the "four essentials of orchid care" -- "do not bring them out in spring, do not expose them to sun in summer, do not let them dry out in autumn, do not keep them wet in winter." However fine the orchid, in the hands of such people it will unfortunately perish young. The second are those blinded by greed and desire, who dig and harvest wild orchids recklessly, pass off fakes as genuine, and sell inferior goods as fine ones, exploiting people's deep love for orchids to carry out their fraud. The third are the thick-skinned and black-hearted, who take bribes, pervert the law, and prey upon the common people; the evil wave of "thick face and black heart" they stir up is crashing against the dam of our morality. Though clearly petty men, they put a few pots of orchids in their homes to feign refinement or display wealth and deceive the world and steal a name. This is truly the greatest desecration of the "gentleman among flowers."