If you want to ask which kind of flowers and trees in Chinese history are the most loved by people, it is probably plum. Now people choose the national flower, and the highest demand is still the plum blossom. It can be said that mei has become a natural embodiment of the character of the Chinese nation.
Plum is a fruit tree native to China, and the fruit has certain practical value. But in the history of cultivation for 4,000 years, the plum has mainly focused on its ornamental value. In addition to its birthplace in Sichuan, Luofu Mountain in Dayuling, Guangdong, Lonely Mountain in Hangzhou's West Lake, Deng Wei Mountain in Suzhou, Plum Garden in Wuxi, and Meiling in Wuchang East Lake are all plum viewing resorts in China.
Plums have a high ornamental value, ancient and modern literati and scholars, and even the general public, Taoist Buddhist temples, like to plant, or as bonsai, or as garden trees, garden trees. "Flower Mirror" said: "Plum is a special thing in the world, no matter whether it is wise or foolish, whether it is wise or foolish, it is not admired for its fragrance and called it qinggao." The ancient garden name brakes take the horizontal oblique thin and old dry plants, thinking that it is embellished.
In the Song Dynasty alone, there were two literati who loved Mei like crazy. Song Boren, a painter, has two volumes of "Plum Blossom Joy Divine Spectrum", a total of one hundred pictures of plum blossoms, different looks, all have titles, and are accompanied by five words and one poem. The Song Dynasty poet Lin Kui never married, and where he lived, he planted plums and raised cranes, "wife plum cranes", thus writing Yongmei's ancient song "Mountain Garden Xiaomei", in which "the shadow is shallow and shallow, and the dark incense floats in the moon at dusk" is referred to as the most plum blossom charm.
The ancients appreciated plums, paying attention to this kind of "horizontal oblique thinness" and "grid". In the old days, people had strange habits, thinking that things had "four nobles": "expensive and rare is not expensive, expensive and old is not expensive, thin and fat, expensive is not expensive", that is, sparse, old, energetic, and containing plums are the most appreciative value. "Flower Mirror" calls Mei "a special thing in the world", and also says that Mei Qiong muscles and five bones, beautiful people outside things, and leaders of Qunfang" Therefore, it is often compared to beauty, or is more associated with women.
Yuan Ze miscellaneous dramas and novels use "Mei Xiang" as the common name for maids, and most of these "Mei Xiang" are beautiful maidens, just like the things with buds; And those old and thin plum blossoms are like beautiful people with vicissitudes and charm. The auspicious motif is "Bamboo Plum Double Happiness", which is a pattern of bamboo, plum and two magpies, bamboo Yu Guan, Mei Yu wife, used to congratulate the new marriage.
Plums bloom at the turn of winter and spring, "and there is primrose because of this."
One winter, Song Shenhua was called. According to legend, Zong asked Ye Tao, who was highly learned, "How about Mu Gong Mu Mu?" Ye Tao replied, "Mu Zhengyi is proud of his age, and Mu Mu is containing spring." Here the wooden gong and the wooden mother are all broken words, the former refers to pine, the latter refers to plum. At the same time, the cold plum primrose spring also has the significance of auspicious and festive, so the spring league often writes about plums, such as: "Spring, summer, autumn, winter, and spring are the first, and plums, plums, peaches, apricots, and plums take precedence." Another example: "The old pine is greener, and the cold plum of the new spring is redder."
The pattern of magpies singing on the plum branches is called "Good News Early Spring" and "Happy News Spring First". These patterns are widely used. Regarding Mei's character, in the old days, there was also the saying of "four virtues": "Plum has four virtues, the first birth is the yuan, the blossom is like a heng, the knot is profitable, and the maturity is virginity." Here Mei is combined with the "Yuan Henry Zhen" of the "I Ching Qiangua" to show its beauty. It is said that the plum blossom has five petals, symbolizing the five blessings. In the old days, the Spring Festival Union had "Plum Blossom Five Blessings, Bamboo Newspaper Three More". All these add auspicious meanings to Mei.