City of Flowers

　　Blooming Flowers, Splendid Chengdu

　　Chengdu is a city of flowers.

　　Ⅰ. City of Lotus

　　Chengdu is also called the "City of Lotus." That's because in the Late Shu period, the flower was introduced to the city on a large scale, and all other flowers became secondary, even those which had been praised by famous poets like Yang Xiong, Zuo Si, Li Shangyin, and Du Fu.

　　Meng Chang, an emperor of the Late Shu, had a favorite concubine named Lady Pistil, and it was said that even flowers were not enough to "represent her beauty. Her talents included singing, dancing, and writing articles and verses, some of which are included in the poetry of the time. One breezy autumn morning, she was strolling outdoors and observed the falling leaves and wilting flowers and grass, and mentioned the lotus flower. Later, the emperor had the government plant the flower all over the city. Private citizens also began planting the flower in their yards and eventually the city became famous for its lotus plants.

　　Lotus blooms white or pink in the morning and turns crimson later in the day, before becoming a purplish-red color. Because the flower transitions through three colors over the course of one day, it's known as "San Zui lotus," which means, "three-times intoxicating lotus."

　　Thanks to a landscaping project, Chengdu is now encircled by a belt of lotus, with an 85-mile perimeter around the city.

　　Ⅱ. Peach Flower in the East: A Poetic Village

　　When spring approaches Chengdu, the first hint of flowers comes from the east. Longquan Yi, north of Chengdu, is known as "the world's peach garden." A wide variety of peach trees grow in the area, which is the largest in the world to enjoy the blossoms, at more than 170,000 acres. The area is named the "County of Chinese Juicy Peach."