CULTURE: The Peony - A love-hate relationship in ancient China

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Chobunsai Eishi (Japanese). The Chinese Beauty Yang Guifei. 1795-1818. Hanging scroll, ink, colour and gold on silk. 43.90 x 60.30 cm. The British Museum, London © The Trustees of the British Museum.

During the Dutch tulipomania in the early 1600s, just before the flower market crash, the bulb of an unusual variety of tulip was sold for the cost of a mansion. What made it so valuable was its streaked crimson white pattern, which it was later discovered was caused by a virus.

The unhappy ending of the obsession with an abnormality, even a beautiful one, was predicted several hundred years earlier in an essay 'Account of the Tree Peonies of Luoyang'by a major literary figure of the Northern Song, Ouyang Xiu (欧阳修, 1007-1072). The danger Ouyang was warning against was peonies. What was wrong with the flower?

Read on to find out! 

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Unidentified artist. Peony Flower and Leaves. Song (960–1279). Album leaf, ink and color on silk. 23.8 x 19.1 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Recognized for the healing qualities of its root, the peony as an object of contemplation was neglected until Empress Wu of the Tang (684-705) started cultivating it in Luoyang, then capital of the empire, from where it spread to other places. First an extravagance of aristocracy, peonies gradually won the hearts of ordinary people. In spring, Luoyang citizens, regardless of class, 'would ride out madly on their horses and carriages' to view blooming peonies, set up markets, and hurry to buy bunches of flowers sometimes at a price of 'the taxes of ten ordinary households.' In other words, peony mania.

The peony's reputation in the poetic world was no better. 'The king of one hundred flowers' during the Tang, by the Song it had transformed into 'the crafty show-off of the floral kingdom.' With its sumptuous blossoms conveying feminine sensuality, it was associated with imperial concubines and particularly Yang Guifei, a notorious beauty and favorite of the Tang emperor Xuanzong (685-762). A passing pleasure like wine and music, the peony didn't deserve poets' deeper interest because of the risk of challenging their moral values (as measured against Confucian and Buddhist standards). 

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Cemetery of Ouyang Xiu’s family, Ouyangsi Village, Xindian Town, Xinzheng City, Henan Province, photo by Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D.

Despite all this, Ouyang's essay on peonies is full of admiration. In it, Ouyang Xiu, an intellectual and official, turns into a caring gardener, telling us how to grow a peony from a seed, prevent its early aging and ward off frost and insects, and other tips to cultivate unsurpassable blossoms ('the blossoms' as they were called by Luoyang people as they thought that the peony was 'the only true blossom in the world.' Was the peony the perfect flower?

For a Neo-Confucian, which Ouyang turned out to be, it was the opposite. The excessive beauty of the peony is unharmonious because of its qi, a vital energy that enlivens the flower and other things in the universe.  Initially, the peony's nature, designed according to cosmic laws, is good, but once over-endowed with beauty, its qi becomes unbalanced, bringing disorder to its surroundings. Similarly, people, be it the sage kings Yao and Shun or commoners, are good by nature, but those with pure qi are wise and those with murky qi are overpowered by their desires, greedy and selfish - although through learning they can correct themselves.  What about the peony? Ouyang Xiu reassures us it is not dangerous, just a harmless freak, admired by people, but then criticizes it for not being ordinary.

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Unidentified artist. King of the Flowers. Song (960–1279). Scroll painting. 117.2x72.3. National Palace Museum.

This love-hate attitude to the peony is not the only example of the tension between the bizarre and the mundane in Ouyang's oeuvre. In his poetic celebration of simple natural scenes, he learns to be happy like a disciple of Confucius 'with a bowl of rice and a gourd of water,' cultivating inner peace and indifference to the external circumstances, achieved by a wonderer from his verse who 'doesn't know if the stream's source is near or far, only that it flows out from among mountain flowers.’ Despite these endeavors, he couldn't resist indulging in writing about the extraordinary – a rock with which a goddess patched 'the crack in the azure sky,' a fabulous bird, ancient tripods and other curiosities.  Just as he couldn't resist writing about the peony, coming up with the first treatise on flower cultivation in the history of China. Causing a fuss among his contemporaries, it made its author no less unusual than the subjects of his verse.

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The 40th China Luoyang Peony Cultural Festival will be held in Luoyang, Henan Province, from April 8th to 23rd 2023. The peony viewing period lasts from April 1st until May 5th. In Beijing, see peonies during the last two weeks in April and early May at the Beijing Botanical Garden, Jingshan Park and Zhongshan Park. 

Do you like peonies? Where's your favourite place to enjoy peony season? Let us know in the comments section on our website (click the read more button below), or on our social media pages on Facebook (@CulturalKeysChina) or Instagram (@CulturalKeys). We always love hearing from you!

Click 'read more' below for a full list of references. 

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Photo Credits

- Cultural Keys

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