The flower of the world - hollyhock
——Reading "Chinese Hollyhock: The Flower of the Silk Road to the World" has a feeling
Li Houqiang
Hollyhock is the strange flower of the earth, strange in the great adaptability to the natural environment, wherever there are people, there are almost hollyhocks.
Hollyhock is the image of China, accepting all rivers, going to the world very early, and is an explorer, pioneer and linker of the "Belt and Road".
Hollyhock is the pride of Sichuan, from the Himalayas, domesticated and grown in the basin, diverse and inclusive, cherishing peace, broad and narrow.
Hollyhock - Endless dreams and wonders, crisscrossed, may be as precious and ancient as giant pandas, but not many people know!
Chengdu flowers valley hollyhock blooming (Image source: Chengdu Daily)
Edited by Chengdu Botanical Garden and written and provided by Zhou Xiaolin, Liu Xiaoli, He Jian, Chen Xi, Yin Jie and others, the book "Chinese Hollyhock: The Flower of the Silk Road to the World" was recently published by Sichuan Education Press. The book is more than 230 pages, a total of 220,000 words, the famous writer Jiang Lan wrote the preface, divided into four chapters, including a small history of hollyhock, hollyhock in China, hollyhock to the world, and today's hollyhock, describing the past and present life and future of hollyhock. The book is well-designed, beautifully bound, and well-edited, with color classic photographs on almost every page, which has a strong visual impact and spiritual appeal. The text is beautiful and readable, full of poetry and theory, informative, enlightening and documentary, and it is an excellent reading rarely seen in recent years. Thanks to the authors and editors for their hard work in giving us such a good wonderful book that we haven't seen in years.
The publication of "Chinese Hollyhock: The Flower of the Silk Road to the World" is a major, happy and good event in China's publishing industry, and it is also an important event destined to be recorded in history. This book should become an extracurricular reading material for primary and secondary school students, a training material for party and government cadres, and a must-read classic for loving the country and family.
"Chinese Hollyhocks", edited by Chengdu Botanical Garden, published by Sichuan Education Publishing House (Photo courtesy of Li Houqiang)
Surprisingly, there are also hollyhocks from the "Death of Jesus" scene, hollyhocks from the "Garden of Eden" and hollyhocks from Van Gogh's paintings. After reading this book, we will have a feeling that Europe is promoting the Renaissance with the import of Chinese hollyhocks, and hollyhocks can be found in many famous European art works! It can be said that the hollyhock element flooded the flower beds throughout Europe, becoming a pacemaker and power source for painters to inspire, stimulants and dopamine for creation.
Hollyhock is a common ornamental plant in European gardens (Image source: Chengdu Daily)
"Hollyhock in a vase" by Van Gogh (Image source: Chengdu Daily)
Throughout the history of the world, it is not difficult to find that hollyhocks have long been the flower of the world, the flower of the earth, and the flower of mankind. Today, our task is to make hollyhocks shine again, rejuvenate greatly, and beautify the world. It is recommended to establish an international hollyhock lovers association as soon as possible to use flowers as a medium to spread China's goodwill and culture.
1922 Qi Baishi (Image source: West China Metropolis Daily)
Hollyhock is the characterization of the quality, character, taste and appearance of the Sichuan people, the refraction of the temperament, temperament, meteorology and momentum of the Sichuan people, and the integration of science and art, personality and dignity, flowers and spirit, China and the world. I paid attention to hollyhocks for a long time, had a lot of contact with Zhou Xiaolin and Yin Jie, and once put forward the idea that hollyhocks are the flowers of the Silk Road and the messengers of the "Belt and Road", and repeatedly called for hollyhocks to be designated as the provincial flower of Sichuan.
Professor Li Houqiang shares knowledge related to hollyhock (Photo courtesy of author)
The Erya records that Liu Che, the emperor of Han Wu, planted hollyhocks in his garden. Some scholars believe that human beings originated in the Himalayas, the roof of the world. From the drawings of Han bricks and the remains of fossils, we can find that hollyhocks have Himalayan genes and flow with the sap of the snowy plateau. Wild hollyhogbrush may have come from the third pole of the earth, cultivated artificially in the Sichuan Basin, and with the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the spread of Chinese goods, it crossed the ocean and went to the world. Sichuan is the hometown and hometown of hollyhocks. Due to the genes of Mount Everest and the characteristics of the basin, hollyhock is particularly resistant to cold and heat, can adapt to the environment from minus 40 degrees Celsius to minus 40 degrees Celsius, and the temperature difference can reach 80 degrees Celsius. Not afraid of high or low temperatures, not afraid of altitude rise, not afraid of poor soil, not afraid of great changes in longitude and latitude, regardless of east, west, south and north, almost everywhere can survive, this is hollyhock!
"Hollyhock Picture Fan", by Tang Yin (Shanghai Museum Collection)
Hollyhock is a veritable global flower and the flower of the earth, and has become a spiritual symbol of mankind and a cultural symbol of Sichuan people. People around the world love hollyhocks, which is essentially the embodiment of homesickness and motherhood, a longing for their hometown, a longing for their mother, and a nostalgia for the Himalayas.
Hollyhock is the flower of the plateau, the flower of Tianfu, the flower of history, the flower of literature, the flower of art, the flower of openness, the flower of loyalty, the flower of angels, the flower of tolerance, the flower of fraternity, the flower of backbone, the flower of medicine, the flower of wealth, the flower of elegance... Appreciating hollyhocks can expand your mind, increase your knowledge, reduce depression, moisturize your life, and improve your happiness index.
"Hollyhock Jade Hairpin Lake Stone" (Chinese painting) by Huang Binhong (Image source: Guangming Daily)
Therefore, we should vigorously support the research, planting and dissemination of hollyhocks, strengthen and improve the hollyhock industry, and let hollyhocks truly become the flower of the earth, the flower of mankind, the flower of faith, the flower of friendship and the flower of peace.
May 13, 2023
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Please indicate: "Source: Fang Zhi Sichuan (SCSDFZ)"
Source: Sichuan Provincial Local History Work Office
Author: LI Houqiang (Deputy Director of the Decision Advisory Committee of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the People's Government of Sichuan Province, Chairman of the Chengdu Social Science Federation, Second-level Professor of the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, Doctoral Supervisor)
Pictured: Fang Zhi Sichuan