Orchids have been regarded as a symbol of gentlemen since ancient times, and needless to say, it has been one of the most favorite flowers among literati. This enthusiasm for orchids reached its peak during the Ming-Qing period. Many professional books and cultivation manuals on how to grow orchids were published in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, where publishing of such books reached the highest levels in the seventeenth century and the nineteenth century. To meet the demand for orchids in these areas, merchants had transported orchids from Fujian, Anhui, and southern Zhejiang to large cities such as Nanjing, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai where orchids were in great demand. People in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas had always appreciated and preferred the fragrant Fujian orchids; however, it is worth noting that since the end of the eighteenth century merchants and wealthy people had hyped orchids grown in the southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang areas, hoping to draw attention to the unique shapes of the stamens. Therefore, illustrated orchid catalogues that were similar to appreciation guidebooks began to flourish during the same time. Around the end of the eighteenth century, orchid exhibitions had been held in many cities, such as Shanghai and Suzhou. Although there had been ups and downs, the exhibitions were held continuously until the Republic of China was established. Publishing of illustrated orchid catalogues and holding of orchid exhibitions showed that orchid appreciation had become more and more professionalized. Since the eighteenth century, wealthy businessmen and literati had been willing to spend a great amount of money to buy precious orchids. Because of this orchid enthusiasm, prices of orchids had been hyped─a record showed that the purchase price of a pot of orchids was as high as 3,000 taels of silver in the early nineteenth century. In addition, reports on precious orchids being stolen were also very common. Moreover, orchid sellers had used a variety of ways to defraud buyers. Up to the end of the nineteenth century, people were still spending 1,000 taels of silver to buy a pot of precious orchids and ended up getting a fake one.
orchid, hype, appreciation guidebook, orchid show, professionalization
Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.
