Bonsai also come in male and female forms. Do you know the difference?

Every spring, the dazzling crabapple blossoms paint the sky red, and tourists flock to enjoy the flowers and view the bonsai, which has already become a major feature of Anlong Town. Whenever bonsai are mentioned, that pair of "Chinese Dragon" ancient ginkgo stumps hidden here stands out as especially dazzling and eye-catching.

Rooted in Anlong: A Male and Female Bonsai Pair Bound by a Thousand-Year Love "The two ancient ginkgo stumps are one male and one female, about 4 m tall, with trunks already split and bark carbonized into a fish-scale pattern. According to the research and identification of multiple experts, this pair of ancient ginkgo stump bonsai is approximately over 1000 years old, with at least over 400 years in pot cultivation, and possesses extremely high collection value." My questions were answered one by one by Leng Yuegang, executive director of the Sichuan Provincial Bonsai Association and cultural station chief of Anlong Town.

It is understood that although this pair of "Chinese Dragon" ancient ginkgo stumps has endured thousands of years of profound changes and historical shifts, what has settled on them from bottom to top is a root base wrapped around "Han bricks" like dragon claws and bark like armor. Nine bends are still clearly visible and obvious at a glance, presenting the unique ancient "Hanwen bend" posture of the Sichuan school of bonsai. Viewed from a distance, it looks like a flying dragon soaring into the sky. The most amazing thing is that the ancient bends of the "Chinese Dragon" ginkgo are also "one male, one female," which exactly matches Daoist philosophy - (yin and yang rooting in each other).

Today, this pair of thousand-year-old "kings of bonsai" is hidden in the Hu family garden in Huijing Community, Anlong Town, still sprouting new buds and telling the outside world its own story about life.

Hu Jiuquan, owner of the Hu family garden, said: "This is the oldest bonsai preserved in the village. Due to various reasons, the bonsai was once damaged to the point that only the trunk remained; but after more than 20 years of hard restoration work, it has now been restored to more than 85% of its original appearance."

One Male, One Female: Because of Anlong's Soil and Water, Even More Devoted When asking about the past identity of this pair of ancient bonsai, I learned more secrets about how Anlong could win the reputation of China's No. 1 town of bonsai art. It is understood that the people of Anlong have revered horticulture since ancient times. On this land with a beautiful environment, fertile soil, and abundant water, the stumps and bonsai they carefully cultivate are quaint and elegant, and the famous flowers and rare grasses are graceful and refined. Hundreds of years ago, this village had already opened the curtain on making Sichuan-school bonsai, becoming a veritable bonsai village.

According to the "Anlong Township Chronicle," in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties Anlong had gardens such as "Fu Family Earth City," and by the Qianlong period of the Qing dynasty it had horticultural and garden sites such as "Xiang Family Garden," "Hu Family Garden," and "Zhou Family Garden." In modern times, Anlong Town produced older-generation Sichuan-school bonsai masters represented by Yang Jie'an, Zhou Haiting, and Zhou Maohe, who once made bonsai for Chairman Zhu De. In the village, quaint, rigorous, twisted, and varied bonsai can be seen everywhere. Planted in pots, grown in fields, each with a distinctive shape, these scenes combining elegance, interest, and beauty form a unique picture with white walls and red tiles.

Nowadays, this pair of ancient ginkgo bends preserved in Anlong Town and shaped more than 400 years ago using the oldest technique, "Hanwen bend," is the best proof of the history of Anlong's bonsai development. This land and water of Anlong also let this male and female bonsai pair grow even more delightfully, becoming ever more devoted.

Setting the Benchmark Value of Sichuan-School Bonsai Art Recently, the news that "a buyer intended to pay more than 30 million yuan for this pair of bonsai but was firmly refused by the garden owner on the grounds of passing on Sichuan-school craftsmanship" attracted people's attention.

As Leng Yuegang introduced: "More than 400 years ago, the Sichuan people at that time had already trained and fixed these two trees, which is why they have the three bends and nine reverse bends of Sichuan-school bonsai shaping. Therefore, these two bonsai are also called the 'ancestor of Sichuan-school bonsai.'"

It is understood that Sichuan-school bonsai originated in the Eastern Han dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties. It uses mountain plants, trees, and stones to form landscapes and express aspirations, and by the late Qing and early Republic it formed its style and school. With its unique technical system and shaping style, it has become one of the five most influential schools in Chinese bonsai art.

Specifically, Sichuan-school bonsai making techniques are often divided into tree-stump bonsai making techniques, mountain-stone bonsai making techniques, and tree-stone combination bonsai making techniques. Tree-stump bonsai making techniques excel at expressing the myriad postures of trees and have exquisite aesthetic value and ornamental effect; they often specialize in traditional training and binding techniques, bending the main trunk and side branches of trees into different shapes from a young age, and emphasizing three-dimensional spatial composition. The tree species used include golden bullet tree, Chaenomeles speciosa, Podocarpus macrophyllus, Serissa japonica, plum, pomegranate, bamboo, and others. The precious jade and gemstone tree-stump bonsai now stored in the "Chuxiu Palace" and "Yangxin Studio" of the Palace Museum in Beijing come from the Sichuan school. "These tree-stump bonsai should all have been birthday tribute gifts sent to the emperor by Sichuan officials at the time."

Today, this pair of ancient bonsai, more in the identity of the ancestor of Sichuan-school bonsai, tells of the profound connotations of the entire art of Sichuan-school bonsai, and also indirectly sets up a value benchmark for Sichuan-school bonsai art.