The culture of the Song Dynasty has a unique position in Chinese history. The conscious pursuit of aesthetic life by literati and doctors inspired the common class. Flowers become a symbol of elegant life. This book uses flowers as a medium to explore the "aesthetic" turn in the daily life and social practice of the Song Dynasty people, as well as topics such as the daily life and expansion of traditional Chinese aesthetic culture through the phenomena of flower appreciation, flower chanting, flower cultivation, hairpins, and flower gifting in the aesthetic activities and life practices of literati, officials and civilians, as well as the recording, description, analysis, research, and interpretation of flowers in historical books, poems, notes, and illustrations of the Song Dynasty.
Reader comments
The author's writing style is concise and clear, and the writing style is smooth, making it very comfortable to read. The content is also very rich. Through various phenomena about flowers, it explores the "aesthetic" life of the Song people. It reminds me of "Tokyo Dreams", both of which are detailed descriptions of life in the Song Dynasty. It feels like I have traveled back in time to the Song Dynasty with my friends and experienced the "flower life" of that time.
The author's writing style is concise and clear, and the writing style is smooth, making it very comfortable to read. The content is also very rich. Through various phenomena about flowers, it explores the "aesthetic" life of the Song people. It reminds me of "Tokyo Dreams", both of which are detailed descriptions of life in the Song Dynasty. It feels like I have traveled back in time to the Song Dynasty with my friends and experienced the "flower life" of that time.