When it comes to the beauty of orchids, we often say that they are "clear, clear, clear, and clear", and "fragrant, flower, and leaf" are all beautiful, and orchids are also regarded as "ideal beauty, the magic of all things" because of this unique charm, and have been entrusted with rich cultural connotations and spiritual symbols throughout the ages.
"Eternal chastity is this flower, don't seek to smell only smoke." The traditional Chinese orchid culture not only embodies the value pursuit and aesthetic taste of the literati, but also vividly interprets the unique aesthetic methods and spiritual purposes of the Chinese, and vividly shows the cultural characteristics of the Chinese nation. In the depictions of orchids by generations of literati and artists, those spiritual pursuits for a better realm have also been passed down to this day.
As the former residence of the poet Du Fu, Chengdu Du Fu Thatched Cottage is not only a holy place in the history of Chinese literature, but also has a long history of orchid planting and profound orchid culture.
As the cultivation base of Du Fu's thatched cottage orchid, the Caotang Orchid Garden is rich in varieties and is a grand spectacle. At the beginning of the establishment of the museum in the 50s, Chairman Zhu De presented orchids to Du Fu's thatched cottage three times, and the thatched cottage orchids enjoyed a good reputation in the industry. In 1965, under the advocacy of Comrade Zhu De, the first National Orchid Work Conference was held in Du Fu Thatched Cottage, and the Orchid Garden of Chengdu Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum was selected as the Southwest Orchid Center of China.
In recent years, with the care and support of provincial and municipal leaders, and under the guidance of the Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, the Municipal Park and City Construction Administration, and the Municipal Finance Bureau, the first Du Fu Thatched Cottage Orchid Exhibition was successfully held in 2023. It has created four "most" records for the Chinese Orchid Exhibition: that is, the longest exhibition time, the most complete exhibits, the largest number of visitors, and the largest number of research students.
In February this year, the 2nd Du Fu Thatched Cottage Orchid Exhibition was successfully opened, with the theme of "Caotang Orchid Fragrance Welcoming the World Garden, Thousands of Weather Full of Rongcheng", and cooperated with the exhibition of famous orchid culture calligraphy and painting, which received continuous and extensive attention from all walks of life. According to the different flowering periods of different orchid species, it is divided into two exhibition periods: the Spring Orchid Exhibition (February 2024) and the Summer Orchid Exhibition (August 2024).
At ten o'clock in the morning of August 13th, the opening ceremony of the 5-day second Du Fu Thatched Cottage Orchid Exhibition "Summer Exhibition" was held in the Orchid Garden.
Liu Hong, Director of Chengdu Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum, Ren Shibo, Secretary of the Party Group and Director of the Standing Committee of the Pengzhou Municipal People's Congress, Liu Meng, Deputy Director of the Museum Division of Chengdu Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau, Lan Feng, member of the Party Group of the Park City Construction and Urban Renewal Bureau of Qingyang District, Chengdu and Director of the District Forest Garden Center, and Jiang Beibei, Deputy Dean of the College of Landscape Architecture of Sichuan Agricultural University, took the stage to jointly water the orchids.
Finally, Liu Hong, director of the Chengdu Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum, announced the official opening of the exhibition.
The concentrated exhibition will last until August 17, mainly exhibiting more than 300 pots of seasonal orchid varieties such as Jianlan and Huilan, and nearly 20 varieties of Jianlan alone, such as Mobao, Emei Chenguang, Junhe, Gaimei, Changhong, Qingshan Yuquan, etc.
In the bamboo fence of the orchid garden, between the pavilions and flowing water, more than 300 pots of fine orchids are scattered high and low, with the pen and ink orchids in the art exhibition area, the audience will enjoy the mutual contrast between the Xishu garden and the orchid, and deeply feel the poetic resonance of the spiritual core of traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting and the national orchid culture.
In addition, on the morning of the 13th, the "Guanluxuan" in the Huanyuan Garden Forest Area of Du Fu Thatched Cottage also held a special orchid market in Lichun Town, Pengzhou. At the event site, Lijing Orchid, Rongcheng Orchid and other local orchid merchants in Lichun brought high-quality orchids to the show, and occasionally added color to the life elements of "Pengpai" such as Pengzhou pear phoenix, nine-foot plate duck, and Juntun pot helmet. This event not only showed the cultural and economic picture of Lichun Town, Pengzhou in three dimensions, but also was the first time that Du Fu Thatched Cottage tried to combine orchid aesthetics with rural industrial products, taking "orchid" culture as the soul and integrating into the rural industry, providing a new display form for helping rural revitalization.
In this scorching summer, Chengdu Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum welcomes the audience to come to the museum to meet friends with orchids, one-stop orchid appreciation, orchid painting, exchange orchid maintenance experience, and taste orchid cultural and creative coffee, so that the national orchid culture can enter daily life, and let the beauty of orchids accompany the poetic life.