Text By Tian Jiwei

Photos Provided by the Flower Arrangment Museum of China Translation by Shi Yu

A BlT OF CHlNESE ART OF FLOWER

一幕花道

Text By Tian Jiwei

Photos Provided by the Flower Arrangment Museum of China Translation by Shi Yu

本文參考自黃永川的《中國插花史研究》

The word “fl ower” was defi ned by Xu Shen, a Chinese philologist in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD), in his ShuowenJiezi, the fi rst Chinese dictionary with character analysis, as being numerou and grand. Ancient Chinese tended to use words as information carriers. Therefore, only by starting from the beginning and following the time line can we get the right idea of hua, i.e. flower.

The Northern Wei Dynasty (386-557 AD) agriculturist JiaSixie wrote in QiminYaoshu, literally: “essential techniques for the welfare of the people”, that“flower and grass are just for the pleasure of the eye. Blooming, yet fruitless. But if so, then what is the meaning of them?” JiaSixie was convinced that flowers were too useless to be listed in the book of agriculture.

Since then, flowers and grass were excluded from agricultural literatures. They were catergorised into encyclopedias along with other flora and fauna, or instruments. Belittled, the science of the flower was not systemically concluded or illustrated, leaving tons of diffi culties for Chinese descendants to learn or study. The research of fl wers and grasses thus remained vague for a long time.

With no choice at hand, people who were interested in this subject could only graft their experience and feelings of flower appreciation onto "social science", and let it be known. Accordingly, a man-made standard had been brought up for the appreciation, and this is where the Chinese art of flower originated.

When it came to the Song Dynasty (690-1279), Chinese art of flower reached its peak. Given stable political situation and well-off civil life, people with refi ned tastes developed a number of recreational activities, including Chahua, i.e. flower arranging in vases. As a good way to decorate, Chahua prevailed. From the palace to ordinary residences, from temples to casinos, it could be seen everywhere.

Ouyang Xiu, famous statesman, essayist and poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote in an essay that in the City of Luoyang, people, rich or poor, noble or vulgar, would gather a massive number of flowers in spring just for decoration. In 1104, a scholar named Liu Meng listed 163 kinds of chrysanthemum in a book, from which we can see how various kinds of flowers were in the Song Dynasty.

Lu You, legendary poet in the Southern Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), often got fresh flowers from a farmer on his way back home everyday. In return, Lu You paid tribute to the farmer by composing poems for him, creating many fl ower-themed poems that kept shining for thousands of years.

Besides poems, among those Song Dynasty pottery tomb fi gures unearthed in Henan Province, there were also many unearthedfemale fi gures holding vases with flowers in, which reveals how prevailing flower arranging was in Central China at the time. There was a kind of performance in the palace where a giant vase was set in the middle of the stage, and the dancers were supposed to pick flowers out of the vase.

A Confucian school of idealist philosophy was widely adopted in the Song Dynasty. To ease the pressure from society, some people started to resort to Buddhism and Taoism, longing for detachment from the mainstream. They bonded their feelings to the flowers and secluded themselves into the woods, as a way to express their respect to the heaven, the earth, and all walks of life within the Universe.

Painting techniques and styles also left great infl uence on the art of flower arrangement in the Song Dynasty. The idea of fl ower arrangement has gone from realistic arranging to freehand arranging centering on spatial and spiritual expression. This change has given the art of flower a brand new value. Literati had been particularly fond of this kind of spiritual expression conveyed by flowers. For example, it was once a fashion for the people to write essays about lotuses, which were attached with an image of rectitude and purity, as they observed that the lotuses rise up from the mud without being stained.

Literati in the Song Dynasty created four forms of arts, namely, incense burning, tea making, painting hanging and flower arranging. Even the government had set specialiseddepartments for these four art forms. The one responsible for flower arranging is called PanbanJu, meaning the Department of Decoration. Since the four forms of arts had become offi cial, they had been gradually accepted by society as a new norm of fashion. Frankly speaking, a man without the ability to perform any of the four forms of arts could not fi nd his place in society back then.

Flowers were personified by literati in the Song Dynasty. People put personal preferences, even some rather subjective ideas, into their idea of what different kinds of flowers stood for.

Plum blossom, orchids, bamboo and chrysanthemum were described as the "four gentlemen", and other plants such as narcissusesand pines also had their own "personalities". For instance, plum blossoms are deemed to be proud; bamboos are modest and morally upright; chrysanthemums are clear and clean; and orchids are thought to be open-minded. In other words, flowers become carriers of what literati longed for.

However, there are also some other people who fancy a certain type of abnormal arrangement of flowers. Some used a single bud held by a withered rod to express loneliness; some used a cluster of red flowers with one green leaf in the middle to create a beauty of pain. The unique taste of those literati upgraded the appreciation level of the time. Although some tastes may seem unacceptable, the idea of spiritual expression thrived. With such an idea, the Song Dynasty had left us a sea of phenomenal heritage.

"Flower utensils" were made just for flower arrangement. Made in several major kilns in the Song Dynasty, they are simply and plainly patterned in order to highlight the beauty of the flowers in them.

For better arrangement, the Song people even developed a kind of "multi-hole vase". There were vases with 7 holes, 9 holes, 16 holes and 31 holes respectively. Additionally, in order to prevent the flowers from the cold air in winter, people added tin inner containers or tubes into the utensils for flower arrangement.

Ancient Chinese has accumulated profound knowledge and experience in terms of flower cutting, nurturing, arranging and appreciating. They were all incredible skills. Even the Japanese art of flower arrangement, ikebana, absorbed ideas and experience from China. We can undoubtedly feel the joys the Song people had by seeing how much the Japanese love chrysanthemums and plum blossom.

東漢（公元25—220年）許慎的《說文解字》是這么定義“花”的：“華”即是“花”，有繁多盛大的意思。中國古代以文字作為信息的載體。

加之，北魏時期（公元386—557年）的農學家賈思勰在《齊民要術》中記載道：“花草之流，可以悅目。徒有春花，而無秋實。匹諸浮偽，蓋不足存。”他認為，花卉知識不入流，花不能溫飽，要它何用？自那以后，歷代農學家不再把花草之流納入農學專著中，而是將其和動植物、器物等統(tǒng)歸至“譜錄”之中。因此，在當時這種貶低意識的作用下，花卉及其涉及的自然科學沒能得到系統(tǒng)的歸納論述，這不免導致后人難以系統(tǒng)地學習研究。

宋代時期（690—1279年），中國花道迎來了它的鼎盛巔峰。當時國家政局穩(wěn)定，百姓生活安康，文人雅士發(fā)明了很多的生活情趣，而插花就是其一。不管是廣宮廷、官府、佛寺、道觀，還是茶寮、酒樓、賭坊、人家，插花都隨處可見。

文人歐陽修在《洛陽牡丹記》中記錄道，洛陽城中無論貴賤貧富，都會在春季使用大量的裝飾花。1104年，學者劉蒙在《菊譜》中錄菊163個品種，可見宋代花類繁多。

除了流傳下來的詩歌以外，河南出土的宋代陶俑中，也發(fā)現了眾多女性手捧花瓶的俑像——這揭示了中原地區(qū)插花活動的盛行。

但說宋代理學大行其道，唯官尚儒。因此，為了緩解社會壓力帶來的不適，人們開始向佛、道求解，向往世外的解脫，寄情花草，隱居山林，以此來表達對道德天地和花草乾坤的崇尚。

由于宋代流行寫意山水畫，工筆花鳥畫的藝術成就也轉而影響了插花藝術。當代創(chuàng)作范疇由寫實技法慢慢演變至對寫意空間的勾勒。這種技法賦予了花道一種獨有的價值觀。文人對于這種“準則”評價出來的花情有獨鐘。譬如《愛蓮說》中對蓮花給予了“清廉”的期許：“予獨愛蓮之出淤泥而不染，濯清漣而不妖，中通外直，不蔓不枝，香遠益清，亭亭凈植，可遠觀而不可褻玩焉。”

宋代文人首創(chuàng)“焚香、點茶、掛畫、插花”四藝。宮廷重視首設立“四司六局”專營四類項目。其中“排辦局”專管插花項目。上行下效“四藝”成為官家的排場后，逐漸被民間所接受并成為時尚的標準。

宋人沒有“彼岸花”，只有“理念花”，即人們熟知的“梅、蘭、竹、菊”四君子，除此之外還有“松、柏、山茶、水仙”等。素雅清凈，作為創(chuàng)作插花的依托和歸宿，宋人以梅凌風傲雪；竹虛心有節(jié)；菊玉潔冰清；蘭之虛懷若谷為最。

除了對于花本體認識之外融入了當時的文人喜好，甚至是小我的乖張，是宋人的一大特色。

比如，插花塑型本身并不自然，有一種偏狹的“變態(tài)”。有人用“枯枝單花”營造出個人品味的獨感；還有用紅花遍枝卻“獨留一葉”創(chuàng)制出無言的痛感，這種文人審美境界的變遷使得那個時代的美被升華了，被人為地向上托舉，就像青春期被誤解的少年，看似完全不可接受，但卻充滿著張力。恰恰這種張力，才使得很多的宋代的遺物，被我們后世譽為“天人之作”。

“花器”在宋代各大窯口（汝、哥、官、均、定、龍泉等）都出專用的花器，花紋簡單，技巧平素，崇尚內斂。這樣的花器才不會喧賓奪主，反倒可以“增色生香”。

為了讓花枝能更好地塑型、構圖和造型，宋人甚至發(fā)明了“多孔插花器”，七孔、九孔、十六孔、三十一孔的花器。同樣，為了防止冬季凍傷花枝，很多的插花器中還設有用錫制作的內膽或管子。

古人對于摧花、培花、插花、賞花有著很深的認識和實際操作的經驗。這些“神技”足以使人們高山仰止。至于中華的“活水”怎樣滋養(yǎng)了日本的“清渠”又大有學問。但就插花的流派，看看日本對于菊花和梅花的熱愛，就能大致體味到宋人的情趣了。