Friday, January 9, 2009

New Year 2009: Plum Flower


Plum flower has a special meaning for the people in Taiwan.  It is the national flower of Republic of China (R. O. C.), its major territory now is Taiwan.  From 1911 till 1949, Republic of China was the China.  In 1949, Chinese communists took over the mainland and formed the People's Republic of China and ROC retreated to Taiwan.  Plum flower was chosen as national flower because it is the first flowering tree flowers during the year.  It always flowers during the bitter cold in early Spring.  It symbolizes the endurance under harsh condition.  



On Friday, January 2nd, 2009, we went to a plum flower garden by the village of Nanchuang (南庄).  It is an old village about an hour and half drive south of Taipei.  It is in a region traditionally inhibited by Hakka people.  The tourist part of the village consists of one lane passable by two person side by side only.  It is lined with stores selling local delicacies.  We visited the village last Spring during the Tung Blossom Season.  In the Southern Taiwan, they are mountains with thousands of plum flower trees.  We arrived at Nanchuang at about lunch time.  We stopped by a fish farm outside of the village first and had a traditional Hakka meal.  The garden we visited has over 60 different varieties of plum flower trees, but only four trees are in full bloom.  Well, we only need just one branch of perfect flowers to photograph, who need thousands of flowering trees.  Here are more photos from the garden.


2 comments:

Cathy57 said...

I love your photos. I was serching for a plum flower tree on line and your blog caught my attention becausse I am from Taiwan and live at Philadelphia, PA. My family just visit Cape Cod in Spring. I want to plant a plum flower tree in my yard to finish my collection of 3 "friends" for Chinese Scholar: Pine, Plum and bamboo. My husband is an artist and he loves photography and chinese paintings. Your photos of rice paper plant and cranes will be very interested to him. Thanks for sharing.

Cathy57 said...

Your photos are beautiful. I was searching plum flower tree on line and saw your web site. What cuaght my interests is you live in Taiwan now. I am from Taiwan and live at Philadelphia Pa. My family visite Cap Cod in Spring. I want to plant a plum flower in my yard as our collection of 3 "friends" of Chinese scholar: pine, plum and bamboo. By the way, the picture of rice paper plant and crane are quite interesting. My husband is an artist and he does chinese painting.

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