Xie Pei Legend

Xie Pei Legend

Jingjiang famous orchid Xiepei, scape tall and thin, green fragrance, white jade, the reputation of "red hairpin Jasper", its discovery also has a beautiful legend. Legend has it that at the end of the Qing Dynasty, there was a family surnamed Zhang. His host, Mr. Zhang, was very knowledgeable and benevolent, and liked to cultivate orchids. One spring, Mr. Zhang went to the mountains to dig orchids and saw an old woman hiding in the mountains. Mr. Zhang gave her five taels of silver. The old woman took out a handful of cymbidium dug from the mountain as a gift. Soon after Ching Ming Festival, the cymbidium planted by Mr. Zhang opened one after another, and the smell was elegant and fragrant. One day, a friend who knew Huilan came to visit and found that one of the pots was slender and beautiful, with three petals like emerald, with a tight round head, white jade, and bright red spots on Ruyi's tongue. "wonderful!" Wonderful! this is the best of Huilan, and it's priceless! " The news of the excellent Huilan of the Zhang family spread quickly among orchid friends like wings, and there was an endless stream of viewers. One day, a middle-aged man came and asked for a high price. Unexpectedly, Mr. Zhang was not moved by the money and refused. When the man came home, he did not think about tea and dinner. one day he prepared enough gifts and came to the door to beg again, saying very earnestly. Sincere to the stone, Mr. Zhang was finally moved, agreed to transfer a few seedlings, but he stated: refuse to accept gifts to accept silver, or not to give. As soon as Mr. Zhang finished his words, the middle-aged man immediately took off the emerald jade worn on the belt and gave it to Mr. Zhang. Mr. Zhang gladly accepted and casually read the words "Yong Lan" by Li Shen, a poet of the Tang Dynasty: "incense with full sleeves, seems to meet Xie Pei, Jiangxian scattered dust fate." So the Huilan was named "Xiepei" Mei. Later, after a hundred years of vicissitudes, Xiepei suffered a great deal of havoc and became a rare treasure. However, a basin of Xiepei was introduced into Jingjiang in the early years of the Republic of China, and it thrives on this land, and now it has become "the most in the world". "Xie Peimei has the largest number of people in the country" and "Records of Jiangsu Province-Landscape Architecture" has become the glory and pride of Jingjiang Orchid circles. (this article is excerpted from Yu Xiulan Yuan, author of Jingjiang Daily, with slight changes to the text.)