Flowers and plants are the most common ornament in our life. Sad place, you can see "the place where petals flow like tears"; When you are happy, you can watch "Spend a lot of money to close the city"; If the paint is like glue, I remember that "the lights are like day"; When the two places separated, I still remember that year, "flowers are like brocade" ... Since ancient times, flowers are not only the gorgeous scenery of the four seasons, but also bear people's friendship and witness the joys and sorrows of the world. In addition to viewing, ancient flowers have many wonderful uses.

Male poet: In an extroverted society, flowers and plants are symbols of ups and downs of official career and concern for reality.

Poetry is a wonderful work in China's ancient traditional culture, and it is an important way for the elegantly dressed ancients to express their feelings and describe mountains and rivers. Flowers also show their unique style in poetry. Specifically, flowers have their own characteristics and emphases in the works of male and female poets. Under the established fact of the ancient patriarchal society, men demand more realization of social values, so the flowers they write are more based on the ups and downs of personal career, the bright future of the country, the rise and fall of social history and so on.

1. ups and downs of official career: Literati use things as metaphors to express their joys and sorrows in official career.

Poets who are interested in serving the country often describe themselves with flowers, describe people with things, or admire sages. Poems about flowers are generally called "event poems". Plum blossoms written by poets often have the spirit of being fearless of the cold. "It's already a hundred feet of ice cliff, and there are beautiful flowers." Empty valleys and orchids often have a noble and proud integrity. "Unless there are no clouds under your feet, it doesn't matter if you stay."

Sunflowers have the loyalty of "loving the sun alone", while peach blossoms have the enthusiasm of "burning out their flowers", all of which are temporary chic. Just like when a scholar is frustrated, there are Chunlan, Xiahe, Qiuju and Dongmei as companions. When he is proud, he will also write an epigram, telling himself to stick to his heart.

The tradition of ancient literati's vanilla beauty is self-deprecating, and all the scholars who have learned in the past dynasties have followed this tradition, concentrating their helplessness, resentment and dissatisfaction in their official career into poetic expressions. However, just as Qu Yuan became a frustrated politician and a successful poet, later generations of literati also had the pain of frustrated official career and the joy of complacency.

Naturally, not everyone is born to like being an official. Although there are not many such people, we can't ignore such a sage in the wild. As for turning personal obedience into a more meaningful philosophy, although there was time, it was popular after the Song Dynasty.

Qu Yuan

2. Pay attention to reality: Look down and connect Tang Chao and Cao Ye.

Poets often express and record their concern for social reality through flowers and plants. "Wei Yao never boasted, and his daughter did not hesitate to buy wealth. At the end of this year, flowers can be cheaper because they are not appreciated in the palace. " This kind of spending a lot of money can be compared with selling charcoal Weng. Also said that money is spent, Pi Rixiu wrote, "Don't show off your color to the world, I don't know how to help the poor.

Wu Renbi wrote, "Liu Chong is in doubt, and Yin Shan is not allowed to be poor." Although the world is so dark, there is still hope for a wise monarch and a good minister. This is really the poet's unique helplessness and so-called "romanticism". In ancient times, many poets often cared about farmers. However, the connection between intellectuals and farmers increases with the increase of class mobility. It is the emergence of more peasants in the upper rulers and the efforts of the bottom people to break through the shackles of fate that have inspired the literati's awareness of being close to the people.

3. Philosophical thinking and interest: abstract personal experience into meaningful philosophical thinking.

Of course, there are also philosophical thoughts, feelings of time and impermanence of things in flowers. This kind of poem was very popular in the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty. The song dynasty completed the confluence of the three religions, and the formation of Neo-Confucianism made the Confucian philosophy system tend to be perfect. In this way, compared with the bright and beautiful Tang poetry, the Song Dynasty opened up the category of philosophical poetry with the characteristics of the times.

China's poets are always optimistic, not to mention their firm confidence in wise monarchs and ministers. Even sadness is superficial, sad and emotional, so they grow up, no longer care about sadness itself, no longer indulge in sadness and despair, but devote themselves to real life. This is really their unique charm, full of concern for reality.

Poetess: Looking at yourself, flowers of different shapes become reflections of life experiences.

It is also a common phenomenon that flowers enter poetry as images. Male poets also like to compare people with flowers, and female poets are even more adept. There were few female poets in ancient times, and their images were not as grand as those of men. They are more focused on flowers, fallen flowers, flying flowers, looking forward to the monarch and enjoying flowers alone.

1. Five classic flower images become symbols of women's experiences.

In the girlhood, "Mei is jealous of makeup and snow is light", and jade people are angry. "Just teach Langby to watch." Youth is absent, "flowers float with water", and color declines and loves to relax. "Now that you are old and have accomplished nothing, who will be more pity and haggard?" The flowering period is short, and a woman's greatest value is reflected in her appearance. Therefore, the aging of appearance is definitely a major event for women, not only in mood but also in life.

Flying flowers are lonely and helpless, but also have the courage to break free. "Sweet cold colourful good, who is naive. Yu Mei thanked Sun and came, and scattered in the spring with the group. " In ancient times, "a woman without talent is virtue", even if she is brilliant, she can only be trapped in the backyard. Compared with a village woman who knows nothing about the outside world, she is infinitely sad.

Dong Jun is as important to flowers as a man is to his daughter. In short-"bloom flowers fall, always depends on the east wind." At this point, I was lucky to find a strong contrast. Similarly, when Lu You was writing flowers, he also said, "It's out of date, it's a disadvantage, and I feel more sorry for Dong Jun." This is a different way of thinking.

Thinking about women and people is an important theme in ancient poetry, from which the category of "funeral march" is derived. However, it is always in my heart that the poems written by men are always not so authentic. Speaking of forever in my heart, you should also read the poems written by your daughter's family. "When you don't come back, the spring breeze laughs at me!" Watching flowers alone, people who miss them may be passers-by or ungrateful. Ancient women were subservient to men. Therefore, in addition to emotional betrayal, women are also facing a crisis of survival. Under such anxiety, it is no wonder that a homesick woman "tears like spring rain".

2. The mutual reflection of personality and style is always the most prominent theme.

I can't help saying a few words here. Although everyone equates personality with flowers to express their feelings, it is obvious that the specific content and essence of the two sexes on the topic of flowers are completely opposite. Men are extroverted and devoted to exploring the self-realization and social care of the outside world; Women, on the other hand, have to put more emphasis on the single self, take care of themselves, confirm their identity in the patriarchal background and express their simple female consciousness. Even some people who are dissatisfied with the status quo are just caged birds. Of course, this is the limitation of the times. If we ignore the limitations of the development of productive forces and strict class barriers and only oppose the two sexes, it will be too narrow.

The similarity lies in that, in any case, China's ancient poems always insist on taking people as the center and gestating everything. With reference to the cultural and political traditions of China, it is not worth mentioning. Based on the forest of the world, they can show their preciousness. To put it bluntly, this may be an important part of China's ethnic composition.

peony

Flowers in social life: Flowers can be sold as food and medicine on the material level.

If the appreciation makes use of the natural attributes of flowers, the aesthetic value of flowers in the cultural context of China will be further extended. However, this does not mean that flowers are just companions of literati or pets of the privileged class, and have nothing to do with traffickers and pawns. In the rich social life in ancient times, flowers also had their own place.

1. Economy: The flower economy meets the needs of different classes.

As mentioned earlier, in the Song Dynasty, "flowers can be cheap at the end of this year because no one in the palace appreciates them." Poetry, regardless of sympathy for the bottom people, objectively speaking, is an example of flower planting and flower trading in the Song Dynasty.

In the Tang Dynasty, there was a description of "* * * peony, and I bought flowers with it", indicating that there was already a flower trade at that time, and then there were people who lived on flowers. According to Qu Dajun's "Guangdong New Language", "Zhupu people feed on pearls; Huatian people take flowers as their clothes. " This is similar to the saying that "relying on mountains to eat mountains", but the scenery is obviously different.

Of course, for flower farmers, I'm afraid there isn't much poetry, just for food. Besides flowers, how can women's powder and fragrance be without the help of flowers? If you carefully study the history of flower trading in a place, you may find more interesting discoveries, so I won't go into details here.

2. Medicinal materials: Flowers have been used as medicine, trying to promote famous flowers.

People can make a living from flowers in addition to their economy. The rhizome of iris tectorum can be used as medicine to promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis, dispel wind and promote diuresis, and detoxify and eliminate food stagnation; The root of Paeonia lactiflora is used as medicine to treat blood stasis, cool blood and relieve pain. Lily has the effects of clearing fire, moistening lung and calming nerves, and lotus is more useful. ...

Flowers are ornamental herbs. Therefore, herbs and flowers are an organic whole. Since Shennong tasted a hundred herbs, China has been actively exploring the medicinal value of flowers. A flower can only be ornamental, and can't have medicinal and edible values. At least in China, not far away. We are familiar with the flowers listed above, and most people have hardly thought about their medicinal value. There are many beautiful flowers that can be used as medicine. The list here is just to provide you with some different perspectives and discoveries.

3. Drinking tea and alcohol: Huapin participated in the elegant activities of the scholar girl.

Nevertheless, flowers are an elegant thing after all. Who is not "a cup of poetry wine has been on the book since ancient times"? Scented tea, also known as scented tea, is a unique reprocessed tea in China.

Cai Xiang's "Tea Record" said: "Those who pay tribute to tea with real fragrance must use borneol to help smell ..." This is the first sound of flowers entering tea. In the Ming dynasty, the production of scented tea was more elaborate. According to the tea spectrum, osmanthus fragrans, jasmine, rose, rose, orchid, orange blossom, gardenia, banksia rose and plum blossom can all be used as tea. Since then, scented tea has become a trend, developing more and more from Ming and Qing dynasties to modern times.

As for wine, osmanthus wine and pear white may be familiar varieties of flower wine. In fact, flowers have a long history in ancient times. Qu Yuan's "Yao Hui Steamed Xi Lan Chicken, Diangui Wine Xi Jiaojiang" gave us a bold idea to push the history of flower wine to the pre-Qin period. Later generations of literati poetry and wine took advantage of the situation, and Bai Juyi "advanced wine on an empty stomach and reloaded osmanthus cloth with cold knees." Can be used as historical evidence.

In fact, drinking chrysanthemum wine is the custom of Chongyang. As early as the Han Dynasty, there was a custom of "eating dogwood, eating lotus bait and drinking chrysanthemum wine" in the Chung Yeung Festival Palace. "Herbal Shennongjing" says that "chrysanthemum clothes are light and strong" and it is rich in medicinal value, which may be an important reason for chrysanthemum wine's enduring popularity.

4. Sweets: Flower products are accepted by more people.

In addition to powder and aromatherapy, the derivatives of flowers are more closely related to the public, that is, various desserts. Now we are familiar with "Flower Cake", and Osmanthus Jelly and other desserts have existed since ancient times. There is a famous point in the remains of sea tea, which is called "Dan Osmanthus Jelly": "Dan osmanthus picks flowers, sprinkles licorice water and rice flour to make cakes, and the fragrance is full of cheeks." This is a boutique.

Since it is mentioned above that Qu Yuan drinks Huasan wine, I can't help but think of his interest in "drinking Mulan in the morning and having Qiuju in the evening". Now that the flower has been used as medicine, can't the ancestors study its edible value? After the Song Dynasty, with the development of commodity economy and the enrichment of people's lives, more edible flower products appeared in recipes, which are often related to health preservation. This involves medicinal diet, far from it, and not according to its origin.

Flowers cake

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According to agricultural books, flowers are mostly flashy, so they always occupy a secondary position in planting. However, human survival is inevitably accompanied by the development and utilization of various natural resources. The primary reason why flowers and plants can continue, multiply and even appear in various varieties is that they must have practical functions. Among our common flowers, there are only ornamental and poetic values, but they are inedible, medicinal and commercial. I'm afraid they are unique.

In ancient times, viewing was the privilege of wealthy families and leisure classes, while using it was the business of the whole society, just like emperors and generals watching flowers and trees, so the profession of flower farmers appeared, which allowed people to make a living in a richer way. Flowers are affectionate, leaving us rich varieties to watch and use, and the ancients endowed flowers with different spiritual connotations. No matter from the material or spiritual point of view, Chinese flowers are a rich wealth, which needs us to inherit and carry forward from ancient times to the present for the benefit of future generations.

References:

1. On the identity orientation of ancient women in six flower images

2. Interesting talk about the four beauties and flowers in ancient China

3. "Flowers and shadows are enchanting, each taking the spring-appreciation of the ancient flower exhibition sentence of Wing Chun"

4. "Talking about ancient flowers in China"

5. On the ideological implication of ancient flower poems