The peony culture of Dianjiang Peony

Peony is a unique specialty flower in China, with a history of thousands of years of natural growth and more than 2,000 years of artificial cultivation. Its flowers are large, beautiful in shape, bright in color and rich in fragrance. They have been praised by people of all ages and have high ornamental and medicinal values. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, they were recorded as medicinal plants in the "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" and scattered in various ancient books of the past dynasties. There is no shortage of articles. Peony culture has been formed, including botany, horticulture, pharmacology, geography, literature, art, folklore and other disciplines. It is an integral part of Chinese national culture and folklore, and is a complete organism of Chinese national culture. A cell through which one can gain insight into the general characteristics of Chinese national culture. This is the phenomenon of "cultural holography".

The origin of peony culture can be traced back to about 3,000 years ago when peonies entered poetry in the Book of Songs. In the Qin and Han Dynasties, peony was recorded in the "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" as a medicinal plant, and peony has entered pharmacology. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Yang Zihua of the Northern Qi Dynasty painted peonies, and peonies have entered the field of art. According to historical records, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty built the Xiyuan in Luoyang, and ordered the world to buy rare stones and flowers. Twenty boxes of peonies were imported from Yizhou and planted in the Xiyuan. From then on, peonies entered the royal gardens and became involved in horticulture. In the Tang Dynasty, a large number of peony poems emerged. Liu Yuxi's "Only peonies are the true national beauty, and the flowers move the capital when they bloom", which is popular; Li Bai's "Clouds think of clothes, flowers think of faces, spring breeze blows on the threshold and dew thickens", which is an eternal masterpiece. Since the Song Dynasty, in addition to the publication of a large number of peony poems, monographs on peony have appeared, such as Ouyang Xiu's "Luoyang Peony Chronicles", Lu You's "Tianpeng Peony Book", Qiu Jun's "Peony Honors and Disgrace", Zhang Bangji's "Chenzhou Peony Chronicles" ", etc., there were more than a dozen in the Song Dynasty. Yao Sui of Yuan Dynasty had "Preface to Peony", Ming Dynasty Gao Lian had "Peony Flower Pu", Wang Xiangjin had "Qun Fang Pu", Xue Fengxiang had "Bozhou Peony History", Qing Dynasty Wang Hao had "Guang Qun Fang Pu", Su Yumei had "Guang Qun Fang Pu" Cao Nan Peony Book", Yu Peng's "Caozhou Peony Book" and so on. There are peony poems and lyrics scattered in various miscellaneous works and anthologies of the past dynasties, peony legends and stories spread throughout folk flower towns, as well as peony cultural phenomena in sculpture, engraving, painting, music, drama, clothing, daily life, food and other aspects.

After liberation, peony planting developed rapidly, peony culture was gradually valued, and a large number of peony researchers and experts emerged.

Peony culture is compatible with many sciences and its composition is very broad. It includes all cultural fields such as philosophy, religion, literature, art, education, customs, and folk sentiments. The cultural information provided in peony culture can reflect the basic outline of national culture and conform to the "holographic law" of the universe.

Peony culture is a part of national culture. Compared with other types of culture, peony culture has: (1) Stronger biological characteristics (2) Stronger pharmacological characteristics (3) Stronger pharmacological characteristics Strong horticultural characteristics (4) Strong aesthetic characteristics (5) Strong literary characteristics (6) Strong local flavor (7) Strong sense of wealth (8) Strong aftertaste of life (9) Strong life Atmosphere (10) Strong tourist atmosphere and other characteristics.

Peony culture is a product of the combination of spiritual civilization and material civilization. Judging from the history of the development of peonies at home and abroad in ancient and modern times, this is true. Peonies developed in prosperous times, and peonies were favored in peaceful and prosperous times. The same is true for peony culture. "When a country's fortunes are prosperous, its flowers' fortunes are prosperous." History has once again proved this profound philosophy.

Historically, Luoyang, the ancient capital, had the largest and best peonies. There were two traditional famous species, one with yellow flowers named Yao Huang and the other with purple flowers named Wei Zi, which have been passed down to this day. "Luoyang peony is the best in the world". The peony has been designated as the city flower by Luoyang City, and April 15th to 25th every year is designated as the "Luoyang Peony Flower Fair". During the Flower Festival, Chinese and foreign tourists gather to admire the King of Flowers. In addition, peony is also known as the flower of wealth in China.