Plum Blossoms Around HNC “梅”好中心

Zijing Liu 刘子菁

In traditional Chinese culture, the plum blossom (Meihua) symbolizes not only perseverance, hope, strength, beauty, purity, and elegance but also virtue. In modern times, the plum blossom has been used as a metaphor to symbolize five blessings (Wufu) for its five petals: happiness, luck, longevity, smoothness, and peace. If we pin the HNC in the center of a map, we will find plum blossoms around the campus. As such, the HNC stands in Nanjing like a flower budding in joy through the earth and breaking into waves of blossoms.

在中国传统文化中，梅花是美好品格的象征，代表着坚韧、希望、美丽、纯洁、优雅……到了现代，梅花被赋予“五福”的意义，五片花瓣分别是快乐、幸运、长寿、顺利、和平。如果我们在地图上以中美中心为原点，会发现中心被梅花簇拥着，一朵朵梅花次第开放，开出一片“香雪海”。

0.2km: Plum Blossom Metro

The closest plum blossoms to campus are by the Nanjing Metro station. You need to walk two hundred meters to the nearest Metro entrance –the Yunnan Road Metro station entrance – and there you will come across a red plum blossom shading the metro entry. Nanjing’s first subway line opened in 2005, and the red plum blossom began springing up all over the city around different stations. The plum blossom is not only the logo of the Nanjing Metro but also the city flower of Nanjing since 1982. More than 1,400 years ago (the Six Dynasties period in Chinese history), the residents of Nanjing deeply appreciated the vibrant beauty of the plum blossoms. This local appreciation continues today, as plum blossoms are a symbol of Nanjing’s rosy spirit and culture. One could even say that plum blossoms are the very essence of life in Nanjing, as the flower’s fragrance fills the city in late winter and early spring.

 0.2公里：“梅花”地铁

离中心最近的梅花是“梅花”地铁——南京地铁云南路站，从中心出门走两百米就能到达，在那里你会看到一朵红梅花在地铁入口绽放。2005年，南京第一条地铁开通，从那时起，红梅花就沿着地铁线铺满南京城。梅花不仅是南京地铁的标志，从1982年起它就成为了南京市的市花。1400多年前，六朝时期的南京人已经开始赏梅花，赏梅传统一直流传至今。梅花是南京城市精神和文化的象征，喜爱梅花的南京人遍植梅花。到了冬末春初梅花盛放的时候，整个南京城的空气中都弥漫着梅花香。

0.4km: Plum Blossom Cake

Plum blossom cake, duck blood, and vermicelli soup are the most famous traditional delicacies in Nanjing. To find such delicious treats,  just turn right after exiting the HNC main entrance and walk down the street lined with phoenix trees. Just after traveling four hundred meters, there is a snack bar that has 4 stars on Dianping.com (Chinese Yelp) — Chu’s Plum Blossom Cake. Plum blossom cake is made in the shape of a plum blossom, so their appearance gives them their name.  The cake is usually made of sticky rice, jam, nuts, and red bean paste, but one can choose different flavors by changing ingredients by replacing the red bean filling with purple sweet potato, sesame, or fruit stuffings. Once you sink your teeth into this cake perfuming the air – hot, soft, sweet, fresh, tasty – you cannot help but experience the depth of autumn. As Camus said, “Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” To me, falling leaves are withering flowers, autumn light is spring glory, sweet cake is ripe cherries, and they sing a chorus that I never get sick of hearing.

0.4公里：梅花糕

来了南京你就知道，最有名的小吃一个是咸口的鸭血粉丝汤，另一个是甜口的梅花糕。从中心出门往右，经过梧桐林荫道，只要走400米你就能发现朱氏梅花糕，这个小店在点评网站上有4颗星。梅花糕模仿梅花的花瓣做成五边形，所以被人叫做“梅花糕”。梅花糕一般是豆沙馅的，用糯米粉、果酱、果仁和豆沙做成，当然我们也可以把豆沙馅换成紫薯馅、芝麻馅或水果馅。咬一口梅花糕，温温热热、软软糯糯、甜甜蜜蜜，在深秋寒风中吃一口这样新鲜出炉的美味，最享受不过了。正如加缪所说，“秋天是第二个春天，每片叶子都是花”，落叶美如落花，秋色胜过春光，糕点甜过樱桃，它们组成一段南京秋天乐章，听不腻、看不腻也吃不腻。

2km: Plum Blossom Poems

“Yesterday the North Lake plum blossomed, but not full of branches.” The poem is said to have been written by Li Bai, a great genius who lived about 1,000 years ago. “North Lake” is now known as Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing, and it is just two kilometers away from HNC. Li Bai was held back by the chill of snowfall and stayed in Nanjing. That is why he went over the snow in search of plums. Today, we can only imagine the scent of the plums Li Bai indulged in at Xuanwu Lake, but luckily we can still appreciate Nanjing’s oldest plum tree there which is six hundred years old. In another poem about Nanjing, Li Bai painted a vivid picture of childhood where a boy on bamboo horseback plucks green plums for a girl. Like most children in China, the very first plum blossom poem I could recite was “A few plum twigs at the corner of the wall/ Blossoming all alone, defying the cold!” The lines were written down in Nanjing’s “Banshanyuan” by Wang Anshi, a statesman and poet of the Song Dynasty.

2公里：梅花诗

 “昨日北湖梅，初开未满枝。”这句诗是天才诗人李白一千多年前写下的。诗中的“北湖”就是现在的南京玄武湖，从中心过去只要两公里。当年，李白因为大雪滞留在南京，他“一生好入名山游”，就趁着大雪去玄武湖踏雪寻梅，寻到了梅花也寻到了梅花诗。可惜现在我们已经无法见到李白当年的梅花了，不过我们还可以欣赏到玄武湖畔有着六百年历史的梅花。李白另一首诗《长干行》写的也是南京，“郎骑竹马来，绕床弄青梅”，用“青梅竹马”描绘了小儿女之间的亲密玩耍。和大多数中国小孩一样，我背的第一首梅花诗是“墙角数枝梅，凌寒独自开”，来自宋代诗人王安石写的《梅花》。你猜，这首诗写的是哪里？对了，就在当时的南京半山园，今天南京还有“半山园”这个地名。

6km: Plum Blossom Mountain

Appreciating plum blossoms in Meihua Mountain (Plum Blossom Mountain) is a popular custom that has been included in the Nanjing Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Accordingly, Nanjing has held the Plum Blossom Festival there each year since 1996. Spring will come out of the snow and say “hi” with a smile when the plums effloresce. Spring, the sweetest season, runs with fervor into the woods of Meihua Mountain, igniting the colorful plum blossoms to bloom like fireworks, floating clouds, and a glowing sunset. It is one of the most beautiful sceneries in Nanjing; the incredible views attract thousands of people to take photos and videos and then share them online. It is six kilometers, about half an hour’s drive from HNC. When the plums blossom, there is no better gift to send to your friends than a juicy spring plum. We indeed cherish the plum blossoms – and our relationship with both nature and each other– even more in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

6公里：梅花山

梅花山前赏梅花一直是南京的传统，1996年起南京每年都在梅花山举办梅花节，梅花山赏梅已经进入南京非物质文化遗产名录。当春天从冬雪中跳出来，笑着和我们打招呼，梅花就开了。春到梅花山，花团锦簇、云蒸霞蔚，梅花开得比烟火灿烂，比云彩绚丽，比霞光辉煌。这是南京城的一大盛事，人们纷纷去梅花山欣赏，拍照、拍视频分享留念。中心距离梅花山只有六公里，如果梅花开了，我们一起去梅花山赏梅，把梅花分享给朋友吧。“江南无所有，聊赠一枝春”，这朵梅花是我们能给朋友最好的春天礼物之一，疫情之后我们更加珍惜人与花、人与人之间的联结。

7km: Plum Blossom Makeup

The most beautiful legend about plum blossoms also happened in Nanjing. 1,400 years ago, a princess was resting under the eaves of a palace near a garden with plum trees. The wind blew plum petals around, and one drifted down on her forehead. The plum blossom was like a talented makeup artist who created a new type of makeup–plum blossom makeup–for the princess. The court ladies were impressed by the creative expression of makeup and started making copies of it.

Today, the palace has disappeared, and only the legend remains. However, we can find more plum blossom stories at the Nanjing Museum, which is seven kilometers from the HNC. Chinese people love plum blossoms and have personified their beauty in works of art for centuries. We can find plum blossoms in the museum’s treasures: paintings, calligraphy, porcelain, jade ware, lacquerware, embroidery, and so on. If these treasures could speak, they would definitely tell us countless plum blossom stories. If you are still not satisfied, you can find plum blossoms in the music of Guqin (Three Stanzas of Plum Blossoms) and Kunqu opera (A Plum Blossom).

7公里：梅花妆

最美丽的梅花故事也发生在南京。1400多年前的一个正月初七，南朝寿阳公主在梅花环绕的含章殿檐下休憩。当时梅花盛开，一朵梅花被微风吹落在公主的额头上，留下了梅花的痕迹。这朵梅花就像一位巧手的化妆师，给公主设计了一个独一无二的妆饰。其他人见了这美丽的妆容，都仿效起来，这种妆饰被称为“梅花妆”。

今天，含章殿早已烟消云散，梅花的传说却依然生生不息。我们走进距离中心7公里的南京博物院，可以看到热爱梅花的中国人几千年来创作的梅花艺术作品。在南京博物院收藏的绘画、书法、瓷器、玉器、漆器、刺绣等艺术珍品上，你都可以找到梅花。如果国宝会说话，它们一定会告诉我们很多梅花故事。除了有形的艺术，在无形的艺术上也能找到梅花。例如，古琴名曲《梅花三弄》，还有昆曲《一枝梅》。

After an aural journey picking plum blossoms in Nanjing, there is only one plum blossom we’re missing upon returning to the HNC. Yes, the HNC is also a plum blossom that is flowering in Nanjing for its coat of arms is a plum blossom. What are the meanings and values of the HNC’s plum blossom? It invites all people involved in the HNC community to search,  define, and advance in the future.

循着梅花足迹游遍南京后，我们回到中心。好像我们错过了一朵梅花？没错，说的就是中心，中心的标志也是一朵梅花。中心这朵梅花，它的故事等待我们去丰满，它的意义等待我们去充实，它的未来等待我们去探索。 

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zijingliu

zliu204@jh.edu