Mudan Legend
01 · Historical Records
Heze was anciently called Caozhou, and Heze peonies are also called Caozhou peonies; their legends are known to every household and current to this day. Xu Maojiang, a founding meritorious official of the Tang, brought peonies from the imperial garden in Chang'an back to his native Caozhou to plant them, and from this the story of Li Ji and the Peony has been handed down through the ages. Thereafter Caozhou peonies were the finest in the world, every village had a garden and every household grew peonies, and many legends successively arose and circulated, such as the roughly two hundred beautiful and moving legends The Kerchief, Rain Grain and the Peony Fairy and The Green Dragon Lies in the Ink Pool collected in the Qing man of letters Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. The Caozhou peony legends are known to every household and current to this day and are an important part of Heze peony culture.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
From the Sui, when the famous Caozhou flower master Qi Luhuan cultivated for Emperor Yang of the Sui a peony taller than a tower, the story of the Towering Peony was widely praised. The main content includes figure legends, place-name legends, variety legends and custom legends. It embodies both the affection of ordinary people in growing, loving, revering and respecting flowers and the anecdotes of grandees and social celebrities in admiring, banqueting with, writing about and loving flowers. With its clear theme of pursuing freedom, honouring love and celebrating the endless renewal of life it deeply moves people's hearts, and with its sharply drawn characters, strange plot and vivid, concise and plain way of telling it is loved by the people. The peony is called by poets the national beauty and heavenly fragrance, and because of its noble character is called the Peony Fairy. For a thousand years the personal charm of the Peony Fairy, kind and upright and unyielding, has influenced and inspired the people of Heze generation after generation to punish evil and praise good and bravely pursue a beautiful life.
Li Ji and the Peony
The legend of Xu Maojiang bringing peonies from the Chang'an imperial garden back to Caozhou to plant.
The Kerchief
A legend connected with Caozhou peonies collected in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.
Rain Grain and the Peony Fairy
A Caozhou peony legend centred on the Peony Fairy.
The Green Dragon Lies in the Ink Pool
One of the Heze peony variety legends.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The peony legend circulates with the Mudan district of Heze city, Shandong, as its centre and is closely bound up with the local flower tradition that Caozhou peonies are the finest in the world; every village has a garden and every household grows peonies, forming a local legend cluster centred on the Peony Fairy. The peony legend is rich in subject, including figure legends, place-name legends, variety legends and custom legends, lodging the people's yearning for a beautiful life and having important folkloric and literary value.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The geography, scenery, folk customs and classical allusions involved have become important elements in the study of peony culture, playing a very beneficial role in promoting national culture, carrying on traditional virtues and studying and developing peony culture.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。