Peony Culture in Peony Garden in Han Dynasty

Peony is an inherent specialty flower in China, with thousands of years of natural growth and more than 2,000 years of artificial cultivation history. Its flowers are large, beautiful, colorful and fragrant, which have been praised by people of all ages and have high ornamental and medicinal value. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica has been scattered in various ancient books with medicinal plants as the carrier. Peony culturology, including botany, horticulture, pharmacology, geography, literature, art, folklore and other disciplines, has been formed. It is an integral part of China culture and folk custom, and a cell of China culture as a whole. Through it, we can gain insight into the overall characteristics of China culture, which is the phenomenon of "cultural holography".

Peony culture is compatible with many sciences and has a very wide composition, including philosophy, religion, literature, art, education, customs, people's feelings and other cultural fields. The cultural information provided by peony culture can reflect the basic picture of national culture and conform to the "holographic law" of the universe. (1) Auspicious and prosperous culture (2) Aesthetic culture (3) Literary culture (4) Horticultural culture (5) Tourism culture (6) Local culture (7) Biological culture (8) Medical culture Peony culture is a part of national culture. Compared with other types of culture, peony culture has its own characteristics:

Peony culture is the product of the combination of spiritual civilization and material civilization. Judging from the development history of peony at home and abroad, it is true. Peony develops in prosperous times, and it is liked in peaceful and prosperous times, and so is peony culture. The use of cultural symbols is a major feature of China traditional culture. In China's language, culture and various art forms, various techniques, such as metaphor, pictogram and homophonic, are often used to express some symbols or implications in people's lives and thoughts, and then to express the ideals, wishes, aspirations and pursuits of the people and the nation.

In the traditional culture of China, the cultural symbolic meaning of flowers is quite rich. There are more than one hundred kinds of sign language patterns composed of flowers, among which peony flowers are the most, because people like peony. As far as peony is concerned, its elegant and dignified flowers cause many associations, from which a series of cultural symbolic meanings associated with it are derived, forming the basic connotation of peony culture.

When Peony was in bloom, it was full of flowers and brilliant. During the prosperous period of the Tang Dynasty, the whole country fell for it, and the Peony Fair became a carnival in the capital Chang 'an. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, peony has become a symbol of auspiciousness, happiness and prosperity. For thousands of years, China people from generation to generation have always believed that they can remain rich in the pursuit of a better life. Peony represents people's expectation and pursuit. In people's eyes, peony is also the embodiment of beauty, a symbol of purity and love. The country is rich and strong, the family is rich and secure, and people like happiness and auspiciousness. These characteristics and significance are all in peony! Peony, as a symbol of wealth, has different meanings when combined with other flowers, birds and rocks. The inherent beauty and quality beauty of peony itself made countless literati fall in love with it, tried their best to describe and eulogize it, and thousands of well-known poems, paintings and works of art with peony as the theme emerged. Many peony poems occupied a place in the history of China literature and constituted the foundation of peony literature. Peony poems left by some literary masters in the Tang and Song Dynasties and later generations are still shining. Peony's poems have a wide range of contents, and poets often use things to recite their ambitions and borrow ancient times to describe the present. Many poems are profound in thought, expressing the poet's persistent spiritual pursuit and unique aesthetic taste, as well as his concern for the fate of the country and the nation and his understanding and perception of life. Therefore, poets, painters and artists all like peony, and poetry and calligraphy with peony as the theme are widely circulated. There are countless peony decorative patterns on products, trademarks and various household appliances named after peony. There have always been the most works of singing peony, painting peony and singing peony. Among the 400 Peony Poems of Past Dynasties edited by Yang Maolan, there are 4 19 poems in Tang and Five Dynasties, 27 poems in Song Dynasty, 27 poems in Jin and Yuan Dynasties, 37 poems in Ming Dynasty and 67 poems in Qing Dynasty, with 203 authors. Its content reflects peony's amorous feelings and hobbies to the society at that time from all aspects.

Among the numerous ancient folk songs and modern songs in China, there are many works with peony as the theme. These peony songs (folk songs) are euphemistic, fresh and beautiful. Listening to their songs makes people glow their love for life and enjoy the beautiful spirit.

In the oldest Book of Songs in China, there is a lyric with peony and peony as keepsakes: "Give peony." This peony means not only peony, but also peony. Because peony was originally nameless, it was collectively called "peony".

Among many modern folk songs, Flowers in Qinghai and Gansu and Flower Basket in Henan are the most popular. "coloratura" is a form of oral singing that spreads among the people. It combines local customs and shows people's love for their hometown and yearning for a better life. And "Flower Basket" vividly shows the joy of a group of peony-picking girls on the mountain through beautiful tunes. Listening to their songs seems to be in a charming countryside.

There are also many songs praising peony in modern times, among which the most popular is the movie Red Peony, an episode of peony. The song praises the character of peony, narrates peony's experience, and gives people a vigorous passion.

As early as the Southern and Northern Dynasties (550-577), there was a record of Yang Zihua painting peonies. In the Tang Dynasty, more painters painted peonies. According to Dong Shou's Postscript of Guang Chuan Hua, the painter of the Tang Dynasty "painted peony with Bian Luan, which was beautiful and moist." During the Southern Tang Dynasty of the Five Dynasties (923-936), the Peony Map drawn by Xu Xi was a masterpiece with exquisite brushwork and vivid interest. In Ming Dynasty, Xu Wei painted peony with splash ink, which was a pioneering work. In the Qing Dynasty, the clouds painted peony, which was graceful and elegant, became a system of its own. Wang Xuetao, a famous painter in modern times, painted a lot of peony paintings, which are full of vitality. The peony paintings painted by Qi Baishi, a master painter, are concise and full of vitality.

Peony's colorful colors, varied patterns, touching fragrance, and silky petals on huge flowers give people a unique natural beauty. The re-creation of poetry, painting and other artistic forms sublimates the natural beauty of peony, thus showing its artistic beauty with richer connotations and leaving its image in people's lives in various artistic forms. The aesthetic characteristics of peony culture need to be further explored and thought in the future, so that it can be further developed. The cultivation, application and development of peony are inseparable from science and technology, which involves biology, breeding, pharmacology, horticulture, horticulture, economics and many other disciplines. Among them, flower gardening is the most abundant.

The earliest application of peony was mainly medicinal. Today, the root bark of peony-"peony bark" still occupies an important position in Chinese herbal medicine. The earliest record of peony as a medicinal plant is Shennong Herbal Classic. The book was written by Qin and Han people in the name of "Shennong", and the specific age is no longer available.

For thousands of years, peony has been famous all over the world in various ways, which is extremely important because it has biological characteristics of easy variation. The basic condition of peony variation is from Shan Ye to countryside and courtyard, from wild to cultivated, which is a qualitative leap in the history of peony development and culture. With the changes of various environmental conditions, the biological characteristics of peony have changed greatly. The flowers have changed from single petals and semi-double petals to double petals, and even Taige flowers have appeared. Color has also developed from several colors to nine color systems; The variety has developed from dozens to thousands. Through the long-term practice of florists and the in-depth summary of gardeners, a set of peony cultivation techniques has gradually formed. Among them, peony root grafting peony flowers and flower dyeing are the creations of working people in China and important contributions to flower gardening.

The Peony Story in Luoyang written by Ouyang Xiu, a writer in the Song Dynasty, not only describes the distribution of peony in China at that time, the reasons why Luoyang peony became famous, and records the fine varieties, but also describes the origin, naming principles, breeding methods, evolution rules, cultivation techniques and folk flower viewing customs of peony. Combining peony cultivation with peony culture is also an important feature of ancient Chinese flag gardening works. This is the crystallization of the wisdom of working people in past dynasties, a valuable cultural heritage, and an important document for studying the history of peony cultivation and culture in China in the future.

Since Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty ordered Song Shan's father to plant 10,000 peonies in Lishan Mountain and establish a peony garden, the activities of introducing and planting peonies, cultivating new varieties and collecting famous products have been going on for a long time, which has made the peasant peony gardens created by ethnic farmers such as Han, Hui and Dongxiang nationalities in central Gansu dotted, forming a beautiful landscape with unique characteristics of Longyuan. Peony in different regions can reflect different local flavors.

Baixiang, Hebei Province, which is known as "the hometown of martial arts in prosperous times and the hometown of peony in Han Dynasty", has seven peony plants in Han Dynasty, which can be called "the living fossil of peony in the world". Every year around Grain Rain, the fragrance pours and floats for miles.

Around the cultural course of peony in Han Dynasty for more than 2,000 years, a large number of beautiful legends and folk stories have been produced: one day at dawn, the monks suddenly felt the aroma attacking people, and in dismay, they saw a pair of boys and girls, dressed in red, drifting into the temple, scrambling to catch up, and then peony and peony came out, causing a sensation in the whole countryside, and people rushed to watch, but the statement that fairies descended into flowers, male peony and female peony was incorrect. When Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, the world was in chaos. The prophet Wang Lang borrowed the name of Liu Ziyu, and Han Dan proclaimed himself emperor. He regarded Liu Xiu as a threat and sent troops to assassinate Liu Xiu many times. Liu Xiu ran around to avoid Wang Lang's pursuit. Once, Wang chased him to the south of the city by himself. He was desperate to hide in the blooming peony flowers of Mituo Temple in Beihao Village and escaped. In order to thank Peony for saving his life, he wrote a poem on the broken wall: "Xiao Wang took refuge in a deserted village, and Jing Temple was not very desolate." There are only a few peony flowers, and loyalty to the king will not change. "Because the peony of the white elephant saved the life of Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty, the name of the peony of Han Dynasty came from this.

Even more amazing is that the emperor died, and China Peony took white flowers as a prophet; The country is rich and the people are safe, while the peony in Han Dynasty is booming. China peony is different from other domestic peonies in five aspects: First, it has a long history. It was recorded in the Han Dynasty more than two thousand years ago. Second, the same plant and different flowers. A China peony can produce flowers of different shapes at the same time. Third, flowers love their homeland and don't live in different places. Fourth, the mystery-the emperor died in vain. Fifth, it is called aura-flowers bloom and flowers wither. "

Peony in Han Dynasty still perceives many important events in China with its color and the number of flowers, and people's appreciation of flowers and politics is still very prosperous. Peony has two periodic changes in its whole life (life). One is the change of life cycle; The other is the change of annual cycle.

The life cycle of peony, like other higher plants, has stages. Life begins with the formation of embryos and ends with the death of plants. It needs to go through embryo (seed germination) stage, juvenile stage, weak stage, mature stage and old age stage. As the saying goes, "Peony seeds are two young, four weak, six strong and eight strong." "Those that are planted separately are weak for one year, strong for two years, loving for eight years, twelve years old and fifteen years old." However, after peony grows and blooms 15 years, it does not mean that the whole life cycle of peony is coming to an end, but its vigorous flowering period is weakened. If florists can carefully cultivate and strengthen management, it is common for peony to grow for forty, fifty or even more than a hundred years. The change of peony cycle can be obviously divided into two different periods according to its activity law, namely, growth and development period (including reproductive period) and relative dormancy period. The growth and development period is from the germination of scale buds to the withering of leaves at the end of 10 every spring; The relative dormancy period is from dead leaves to spring bud germination in the next year. Yonghuan peony

Qing/Wu

There are many tourists in Maonan ancient temple, and peony is well known all over the trees.

The tourists in Maonan Ancient Temple are weak, knowing that the peony blossoms in bloom.

Bloom's flowers fell, and the world became indifferent.

After the peony opens, there are peonies, and when the peony opens, it will be depressed.

The whole world likes peonies. I visited them thirty years ago.

The flowers have been better in recent years than in previous years, and the poor bitch is getting old.

I am willing to plant flowers and touch thousands of families. Every family has its own flowers.

Except for hard work, I know that good flowers are willing to get rid of the world of mortals.

Monks in the temple love to protect flowers, and idle people are not allowed to fold one.

Bloom is mostly in Grain Rain Festival, and those who are red are as white as snow.

Good flowers must be carefully spent, and the beauty of the country cannot be destroyed.