What are the various wonderful uses people made of flowers in Song Dynasty culture?

Song Dynasty culture occupies a unique place in Chinese history, and is quite famous for the ingenuity of its literati aesthetic taste. Song society took various measures to encourage the development and growth of the literati and scholarly class, and they also consciously pursued the development of art and culture, thus promoting the enhancement of the artistic cultivation of the commoner class.

Flowers are the symbol of elegant life in ancient society, and the Song literati carried out all kinds of elegant, daily behavioral activities and cultural exchanges around "flowers", which greatly contributed to the enhancement of artistic aesthetics in the Song Dynasty. In the history of traditional Chinese art, flower is an extremely important aesthetic object, so it is quite common in the history of traditional Chinese literature and painting, and it also shows all kinds of styles, reflecting the aesthetic interests of successive dynasties.

The Song Dynasty was a period of continuous development of the commodity economy, the city presented a prosperous scene, the development of the city under the emergence of the citizen class and began to grow, in this case, the Song Dynasty literature and art gradually tends to be civilized, and the lives of the citizens are also filled with artistic representations. Art began to become commonplace and everyday, thanks to the changes in Song society and social class.

Art originates from daily life, and the daily life of Song citizens took "flowers" as a carrier, showing a variety of life and art, "flowers" widely entered people's daily life, and became a social fashion, interpreting many aesthetic connotations.

I. Fancy Years? Men love to hairpin flowers as a fashion

Song Dynasty hairpin flowers became a social life style, men and women, young and old, all levels of society to hairpin flowers as a fashion, and the Song Dynasty is the only era in history that men generally hairpin flowers. It was the only time in history that men commonly wore hairpins. People wore hairpins in their daily lives or during festivals, and hairpins had a beautiful meaning, symbolizing merit, status and position, and were the lifelong pursuit of some scholars. It can be seen that hairpin has become a kind of social culture and etiquette deep into the life of people in Song Dynasty. People expressed their feelings through hairpins, expressing their sadness.

Whenever a national ceremony was held in the Song Dynasty, the emperor hosted the "Winki Banquet" in the Qionglin Yuan to feast on new graduates and give them flowers to wear, and it was a great honor for them to wear the famous flowers. Hairpins were very common in all parts of Song society, and people used flowers as decorations, inserted and worn on top of the hair to emphasize their appearance. Flowers of different kinds, with the hair style to choose, the Song dynasty pay attention to details, for the shape of the flower, color is extremely concerned about the best effect in the decoration, which has become the most characteristic of the Song dynasty life style of the times, hairpin flowers reflect the Song dynasty on the "flower" love, on the one hand, as a decorative, reflecting the importance of the Song dynasty for the beauty, while the "flower" as an imagery, but also sent the Song dynasty people's emotions.

The love of hairpin flowers reflects the popularity of the Song people, but also shows the aesthetic taste of the Song people and the unique characteristics of the era, which also reflects the open and free psychology of the whole Song society and the connotation of the bright culture.

Two, flower-appreciation excursions? Idle to the streets to enjoy the flowers

Tang Dynasty society, the wind of flower-appreciation has been prevalent, the princes and nobles planted flowers to enjoy the flowers, and the Song Dynasty inherited and developed the Tang Dynasty flower-appreciation wind. Flower-appreciation has become a pleasure in people's daily life, from the upper class to the common people are y love flower-appreciation. China is a vast country with varied terrain and climate, so there is a rich variety of flowers, and along with this activity, many flower-related works of art were born. Literati preferred to enjoy the flowers to meet friends, set up banquets to drink wine and enjoy the flowers, everyone recited poems and gifts, play and enjoy.

"Old Wulin" records: from the plum hall to enjoy the plum, Fangchun Hall to enjoy the apricot, Peach Garden Peach, Charming Kam Hall gold ringo, shine makeup Pavilion Begonia, to the Zhongmei Hall to enjoy the flowers for the most prevalent. Can be seen, flower appreciation is extremely delicate, flower arrangement, set the scene have provisions. And the court of the emperor's officials also enjoy the flowers and travel, between the emperor and the ministers through the flowers and fishing activities to strengthen communication, not only reflects the importance of etiquette, but also better promote understanding between the emperor and the ministers.

Song Emperor Taizong's period, the court began to appreciate the flowers and fishing began to flourish, to Song Emperor Zhenzong's period to become the practice, but also became the main leisure activities in the court. Under the promotion of the flower-appreciation movement by the upper class rulers, a large number of poems praising flowers and paintings depicting flowers appeared along with this activity.

The Song literati wrote a rich and colorful collection of flower recipes, which emphasized the fusion of literature and art, and contained the observations and creations of the Song literati, which left a lot of historical materials for future generations. Song Dynasty civil society also has the custom of flower appreciation, every spring season, men and women tend to enjoy the flowers in company, to appreciate the beauty of spring. The Tokyo Dreaming Book records the number of flower gardens and the blooming of flowers in the Song Dynasty. Of course, the purpose of flower-viewing as an activity was often different: some were for social gatherings, some were to show off political achievements, and some were for the ruling class to sing their praises.

The Song Dynasty literati began to grow their own flowers, contact with flower farmers, and personally learn to master the knowledge of flowers. The world's flower appreciation by their own cultural literacy, for flower appreciation level varies. Song Dynasty Shao Yong "good flower appreciation chant" wrote: people are not good at flower appreciation, only love the appearance of flowers; people or good flower appreciation, only love the flower of the wonderful.

The Song Dynasty flower appreciation pay attention to the psychological level, taste the gradual sublimation process of artistic sentiment, from the sensory aesthetic to the spiritual deepening of the process. Flowers to a certain extent can enhance the cultural literacy of the literati, literati through the appreciation of flowers to leave different forms of literary works, flower appreciation also enriches the spiritual life of the literati. The literati described flowers in concrete images through their brushstrokes and conveyed emotions through flowers as imagery, which contributed to the prosperity of flower culture in the Song Dynasty and made the Song Dynasty occupy an important position in Chinese cultural history.

The literati preferred to paint flowers, mainly plum blossoms, chrysanthemums, lotus, orchids and peonies, to express the quality of purity, wealth and auspiciousness, and to illustrate the pursuit of the painter's ideology and inner spirit. Flower-appreciation activities not only reflected the artistic taste and sentiment of the literati, but also played an important role in political life. Flowers not only as a leisure activity, but also an important link to strengthen the understanding between the government and the ministers, showing the multiple significance of this activity in the Song Dynasty.

Three, flowers to friends: the Song Dynasty literati social fashion

Sending flowers to this kind of social behavior, is not unique to the Song Dynasty, the history of traditional culture, there are a lot of flowers as the medium of social activities. For example, it is written in the Book of Poetry that the Vizier and the woman, Yi whose bantering, gave peonies. And in the Song Dynasty, it was common for literati to use flowers as gifts to convey their feelings. Among the upper classes, monarchs rewarded their ministers with flowers to show their courtesy and honor.

Flower as a very artistic flavor of the goods, became the Song Dynasty literati to pursue the embodiment of elegance, the gift of flowers also shows the Song Dynasty people's artistic flavor and high quality. At the same time, the flower is pure and noble things, is the aura of heaven and earth and all things in the natural convergence, the gift of flowers also reflects the respect and friendship for each other. At the same time, the flower carries the unique meaning of the flower itself, through the gift of flowers can show the heart of the person who gave the gift of the real idea, and implicitly through the gift of flowers to the other side of the bed.

People in the Song Dynasty believed that flowers contained the meaning of auspiciousness and wealth, especially peony flowers, and this beautiful attribute made the world more fanatical. Bai Juyi's "Peony Fang" describes the scene of peony blossoms: the flowers bloomed and fell for twenty days, and the people of a city were all crazy. People in the Song Dynasty loved peonies, and the richness and fullness of the peony flower was given to the world as a symbol of glory and wealth, which made people pursue peonies and often bid for them at high prices to give them to others. In the Song Dynasty, literati and scholars used flowers as gifts to each other to convey their feelings. The Song Dynasty was influenced by the rationality of the Song and Ming dynasties, and flowers were also endowed with human virtues and mapped out the personality, thus giving flowers to friends actually implied various meanings.

Four, flowers into food? Eat all the creek giant victory flowers

Song Dynasty flowers have become a diet, eating flowers has become a way of health, highly respected. Song Dynasty economic development, with the completion of the center of gravity of the economy to the south, the north and south of the diet, diet rich and diverse. Song Dynasty diet began to pay attention to the ingredients, color and flavor, while focusing on the role of health. Therefore, the Song Dynasty flowers have become a hot favorite in the diet, flowers as food, showing the Song Dynasty people poetic life.

The Song Dynasty food cookbook "Mountain Home" recorded many flowers into the food, such as honey plum blossom, lotus room fish buns, purple Ying chrysanthemum soup soup and so on. The addition of flowers to food was able to preserve the residual fragrance of the flowers themselves, either sweet or bitter, preserving the original natural flavor of the food and providing a different kind of cuisine for the world in the Song Dynasty.

Song dynasty people often chrysanthemum, plum blossom, lily, gardenia, osmanthus flowers and other flowers used for cooking, food is often the appearance and taste of both good, while both health effects, loved by the song dynasty people. In addition, flowers are often used to brew tea, Song people like to drink, with flowers made of chrysanthemum wine, plum blossom wine, etc., these in the Song Dynasty city can also be seen everywhere.

The diversity of flower varieties in the Song Dynasty, as well as the North-South fusion of dietary and culinary techniques, made flowers as food into the Song Dynasty people's daily life, flowers as food, although relatively light to eat, but it is interesting, which further contributed to the Song Dynasty flowers as a cultural relationship with the Song Dynasty people. At the same time, the people of the Song Dynasty paid attention to health care, and the connection between flowers and health effects was also greatly developed in the Song Dynasty.

Conclusion:

The Song people loved to plant flowers, pin flowers, enjoy flowers, eat flowers, and give flowers. Through these flower-related activities of the Song people, we can see the diversity and openness of Song culture while observing the fun of Song people's daily life. Because of its uniqueness and extremity, the "flower" culture of the Song Dynasty is unique in the history of ancient Chinese culture.

The literati of the Song Dynasty left many popular poems, lyrics and songs by virtue of flowers, and the world also conveyed their feelings and ideals through flowers, enriching their spiritual life. Under the popularity of "flowers", they gave full play to the role of "flowers" to enhance their own aesthetic concepts. Through "flowers", they made the life of the people in the Song Dynasty more colorful, and also painted a colorful picture in the history of Chinese art and culture.

References: Tokyo Dreaming Records, The Old Story of Wulin, The Clear Offering of the Mountain House, The Good Appreciation of Flowers