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Luoyang mudan ji 洛陽牡丹記

Nov 11, 2010 © Ulrich Theobald

Luoyang mudan ji 洛陽牡丹記 "Peonies of Luoyang" is a treatise on peonies written by during early Song period 宋 (960-1279) by the famous scholar Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 (1007-1072). It is the earliest Chinese description of garden flowers at all. In older treatises on medical herbs, like Shen Nong bencao jing 神農本草經, peonies are still treated as medical, and not as decorative plants. It is documented that Emperor Yang 隋煬帝 (r. 604-617) of the Sui dynasty 隋 (581-618) had his gardens decorated with different kinds of peonies. The capitals Chang'an 長安 (modern Xi'an 西安, Shaanxi) and Luoyang 洛陽 (modern Luoyang, Henan) thereafter became important centres of peony cultivation.

Table 1. Ancient Chinese books on peonies
越中牡丹花品(牡丹花品,花品,花品記)一卷 Yuezhong mudan huapin (Song) 僧仲林 Monk Zhonglin
范尚書牡丹譜 一卷 Fan Shangshu mudan pu (Song) 范尚書
洛陽牡丹記 一卷 Luoyang mudan ji (Song) 歐陽修 Ouyang Xiu
(鄞江周氏)洛陽牡丹記 一卷 (Yinjiang Zhoushi) Luoyang mudan ji (Song) 周師厚 Zhou Shihou
陳州牡丹記 一卷 Chenzhou mudan ji (Song) 張邦基
天彭牡丹譜 一卷 (存目) Tianpeng mudan pu (Song) 陸遊 Lu You
牡丹榮辱志 一卷 Mudan rongru zhi (Song) 丘道源 Qiu Daoyuan (丘濬 Qiu Jun)
誠齋牡丹譜並百詠 一卷 Chengzhai mudan pu bing baiyong (Ming) 夏之臣 Xia Zhichen
評亳州牡丹 一卷 Ping Bozhou mudan (Ming) 朱有燉 Zhu Youdun
亳州牡丹志 一卷 (存目) Bozhou mudan zhi (Ming) NN
亳州牡丹史 四卷 (續修) Bozhou mudan shi (Ming) 薛鳳翔 Xue Fengxiang
牡丹志 一卷 Mudanzhi (Ming) 朱統{金(尤/旨)} Zhu Tongji
叢桂牡丹譜 一卷 Conggui mudan pu (Ming) 朱安{氵侃} Zhu Ankan
曹南牡丹譜 一卷 Caonan mudan pu (Qing) 蘇毓眉 Su Yumei
種牡丹譜 一卷 Zhong mudan pu (Qing) 郭如儀 Guo Ruyi
亳州牡丹述 一卷 Bozhou mudan shu (Qing) 鈕琇 Niu Xiu
曹州牡丹譜 一卷 (續修) Caozhou mudan pu (Qing) 余彭年 Yu Pengnian
牡丹譜 一卷 Mudanzhi (Qing) 計楠 Ji Nan
牡丹芍藥花品 七卷 Mudan shaoyao huapin (Qing) NN

Ouyang Xiu occupied high positions in the central government and was a renowned historian, writer and poet. His great interest for birds and plants is reflected in many of his poems. The book Luoyang mudan ji is relatively short and divided into three chapters. The first chapter (Hua pinxu 花品敘) explains the places where 24 types of peonies grow and why the peonies of Luoyang were of extraordinary quality, in contrast to those of other places. The second chapter (Hua shiming 花釋名) provides details about all types of peonies, explains their names, colours and individual features. The last chapter (Fengsu ji 風俗記) says that in Luoyang all persons of high and low standing use to cultivate and admire this plant. It explains how flowers were, after cutting, preserved and sent to friends and colleagues as presents and gives advice how to propagate and cultivate the peony plant, how to irrigate and to nourish it in order to produce most admirable flowers. The last section describes how certain parts of the plant could be used as medicine.

Peonies were originally wild plants (shanmudan 山牡丹 "mountain peonies") originating in China's barren northwestern region of Shaanxi. The appearance of these wild plants is also described by Ouyang Xiu. Wild peonies looked totally different from the later known garden plants.

The language of Ouyang Xiu's Luoyang mudan ji is very poetic and of high quality. It therefore attracted the attention of later scholars who expanded the description, like Zhou Shihou 周師厚 (1031-1087), who finished a book with the same title in 1082 (to discern it from Ouyang's book it was called (Yinjiang Zhoushi) Luoyang mudan ji (鄞江周氏)洛陽牡丹記 "The peonies of Luoyang by Master Zhou from Yinjiang"). Similar books were written by Zhang Bangji 張邦基 (fl. 1131, Chenzhou mudan ji 陳州牡丹記), Lu You 陸游 (1125-1210, Tianpeng mudan ji 天彭牡丹記), Qiu Daoyuan 丘道源 (jinshi degree 1127, Mudan rongru zhi 牡丹榮辱志) from the Song period, as well as Xia Zhichen 夏之臣 (jinshi degree 1583, Ping Bozhou mudan 評亳州牡丹), Xue Fengxiang 薛鳳翔 (fl. 1600, Bozhou mudan shi 亳州牡丹史) from the Ming period 明 (1368-1644), and Niu Xiu 鈕琇 (1644-1704, Bozhou mudan shu 亳州牡丹述) and Yu Pengnian 余彭年 (fl. 1792, Caozhou mudan pu 曹州牡丹譜) from the Qing period 清 (1644-1911).

The Luoyang mudan ji is included in the collected works of Ouyang Xiu, Ouyang Wenzhong gong quanji 歐陽文忠公全集. The most important facsimile prints are to be found in the series Baichuan xuehai 百川學海, Shuofu 說郛, Mohai jinhu 墨海金壺, Zhucong bielu 珠叢別錄, Shanju zazhi 山居雜志, Biyu conglu 筆餘叢錄, Yunzizaikan congshu 雲自在龕叢書, Yipu souqi 藝圃搜奇, Qunfang qingwan 羣芳清玩, Xiangyan congshu 香艷叢書, and many others. It is included in the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書 and the Congshu jicheng 叢書集成.

Sources:
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蜀漢 (221-263)