扬州琼花佳话

扬州在春天是那样神秘，那样诱人，届时各地游子携妻呼伴拥到扬州，争相观看令人神往的琼花。

琼花是扬州的象征，扬州琼花天下独有，你若要看正宗琼花非要到扬州不可，扬州人以琼花自豪！

琼花芳容

琼花是落叶小乔木聚八仙的一个优良变种，质地纯洁，性格高雅，它既喜爱阳光又耐得阴寒，几十根枝条从琼树根部生出来直冲向上，顶着犹如巨伞一般的树冠，每年四五月间（农历三月）开花，花形奇特，像玉盘又像圆月，花朵洁白晶莹，犹如瑞雪冰凌，香气纯正淡雅，沁人心脾。它们一簇一簇依偎在一起，温柔妩媚，姿态舒展，流光溢彩，璀璨晶莹，一阵春风吹来时，花瓣轻轻扇动，犹如洁白的蝴蝶展翅欲飞。

琼花不像牡丹那样富贵浓丽，也不像秋菊那样色彩斑斓，它以超凡脱俗的气质傲视群芳。有人说这是仙子下凡，有人说这是少女出浴，也有人说此乃九五之尊，帝王之象。

琼花由来

扬州早就有聚八仙生长。所谓聚八仙是指一簇花蕊围着八朵琼花。北宋初年，扬州后土祠一株古聚八仙树发生优良变异，花蕊四周长出九朵琼花来，色泽比往常更浸润，香味比往常更馨馥，于是整个扬州城轰动起来，老百姓纷纷前去观赏。时任扬州知府的王禹也闻讯前去看个究竟，这一看当即被琼花的仙姿异香所倾倒，他作了《后土庙琼花诗二首》，盛赞这株琼花如“二月之轻冰”、“八月之重霜”。诗前还有小序记载发现琼花的经过：“扬州后土庙有花一株，洁白可爱，其树大而花繁，不知实何木也。俗谓之琼花，因赋诗以云其状云。”这是我们所见有关木本琼花的最早记载。

王禹离任后，政治家韩琦接任扬州知府（后来官至宰相），他作《琼花》诗盛赞：“维扬一枝花，四海无同类。”再过三年大文豪欧阳修任扬州知府，处理公事之暇又来到亭中欣赏琼花，后来他干脆在琼花台旁建筑一座六角飞檐花亭，取名“无双亭”，用以比喻扬州琼花天下无双。他所作的《琼花》诗把琼花称为“九朵仙葩”、“天上仙女”，从此扬州人称后土祠为琼花观，宋徽宗也御赐石额，题“蕃厘观”（意为多福之观），不过老百姓仍喜欢称后土祠为琼花观。

琼花的传说

民间称帝王为“九五之尊”，这株琼花每簇有九朵，每朵有五个花瓣，于是人们就常常把它同帝王之事联系起来，创造了许多传说，其中流传最广的莫过于隋炀帝与琼花的故事了。故事说有一位叫“蕃”的仙人来到扬州，和人们谈论着仙家花木的奇异美丽，世人不信，他便拿出一块白玉种在地下，顷刻间便长出一棵树来，树上白花婀娜玉润。由于是种玉而生，人们便称之为琼花。后来乡亲们便在这里建了蕃观，守护这株仙花。隋炀帝听说这件事后兴致大发，不惜花费巨大人力物力开凿一条运河通到扬州，运河完工后他便带着妃嫔们沿河而下看琼花。不过当他进入蕃观刚要走近细看之时，只见一阵狂风袭来，顿时飞沙走石，让人们睁不开眼。狂风过后地上雪白一片，此刻琼枝上早已花朵全无。隋炀帝气急败坏，当即拔剑将琼枝全部砍去，但此乃亡国征兆，不久他便身死国灭。

琼花通人性

扬州琼花特别留恋故土，它似乎通人性。

北宋庆历年间仁宗皇帝听说扬州琼花美丽多姿，便派人将琼花移植到开封皇宫的御花园里，不想琼花马上枝叶低垂，渐趋枯萎，花也不开了。仁宗动了恻隐之心，不忍见如此可爱的琼花从此凋零，第二年就将琼花送回扬州重新栽入后土祠；南宋淳熙年间（1174―1189）宋孝宗又思念起扬州的琼花。他派人到扬州挖取琼花的部分根、枝移植到临安（今杭州）的皇宫内，可是它仍然不服水土，逐渐憔悴，不再开花，只得又送还扬州。

北宋末年，金兵铁骑南下占领扬州，金太宗完颜亮妒忌扬州人民有如此高贵的琼花，就将琼花连根挖去，扬州人民为之饮泣。战乱之后，琼花观道士唐大宁回到观里，检到完颜亮漏下的一个琼花根块埋到琼花树原处，又筑一个八角形琼花台，对琼花残根精心浇灌和护理，工夫不负有心人，数月以后残根长出新枝，数年后新枝又长成大树，开出琼花仍然光洁如初，这就是琼花历史上的“还魂复茂”。

宾朋寻芳踪

1963年4月，谢觉哉过80岁生日到扬州避寿，正逢琼花盛开。他欣喜异常，赋诗一首：“今年生日在扬州，十里扬州景物稠。寺里琼花繁若锦，湖中西子瘦于秋。”1988年初，扬州市政府决定每隔二年举行一次琼花节，首届琼花节因准备不及，未能在琼花开放之时召开，便改在这年10月举办。当四海宾朋聚集扬州为只见树叶不见树花而遗憾的时候，瓜洲古渡的琼花突然反季节开放，这真是“天遂人意”，大家一时都兴奋异常。

如今，扬州已将琼花节扩为“烟花三月旅游节”，每年都在4月18日（农历三月）琼花盛开之时开节。届时瘦西湖边、古运河岸、街道两侧、校园内外随处可见琼花的身影，盛开的琼花把扬州打扮得分外美丽妖娆。每年4月专程赶赴扬州观赏琼花的海内外宾朋流连忘返，如饮香茗，如品美酒，无不被扬州琼花所倾倒。

Jade Flower

in Yangzhou

By Huang Dazhao

Yangzhou, a river town in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, used to be renowned for its fortune and fast life for hundreds of years. The legendary affluence and fast life are gone today, but the ancient Wild Chinese Viburnum, academically known as viburnum macrocephalum f. ketkleeri and locally known as jade flower, has outlived the river town’s past and still blooms fantastically year in year out in Yangzhou. The local residents boast that the city’s proud blossom is quite unique and you need to come to Yangzhou to see the flora.

The first discovery of the wild Chinese Viburnum in Yangzhou dates back to the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). Something mysterious had happened to the plant behind a temple and nine jade-white flowers came out around a pistil and sent out an odor so fragrant that, on hearing the news, the residents flocked there to take a look. The sensational news reached the governor. He hastened to the blooming scene and was so inspired that he wrote a poem. The preface to the poem recorded the event. As the flower looked like jade in color, it was named jade flower.

Succeeding governors in Yangzhou also wrote poems to laud the floral beauty. Ouyang Xiu, a great historian and poet in the Northern Song Dynasty, had a hexagonal-roof pavilion constructed near the plant and renamed the nearby temple as jade flower viewing temple.

As spectacular things always beget legends, the jade flower in Yangzhou gave rise to a few legends that try to romanticize the flower genesis. The most popular legend has it that an immortal visited Yangzhou and chatted with locals about the incredible flowers in the divine land. To prove the truth, the god planted a white jade into the soil. The jade instantly grew up and bloomed. That was how the river town got the famed flower in the first place. A temple was established to guard it. When the Yang Emperor of the Sui Dynasty heard of the flower, he had a grand canal built to reach the city. He came to see the flower, followed by his huge entourage and concubines. Upon his arrival at the temple, a storm blew out of nowhere all of a sudden and the plant was stripped of all the flowers and leaves. The enraged emperor chopped down the plant with his sword, totally unaware that the plant acted as a guardian for his dynasty. With the guardian gone, his dynasty soon fell apart.

There are folk stories about how the plant has a stubborn heart for its home soil in Yangzhou. The Renzong Emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty heard of the flower in Yangzhou so much that he asked the royal gardeners to remove the plant by the temple to his garden in the capital. The jade flower soon withered and refused to bloom. The emperor had sympathy for the displaced plant and sent it back to its home garden in Yangzhou. In the closing years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the emperor of the Jin Dynasty heard of the jade flower in Yangzhou and removed it. After the war ended, a Taoist came back to the temple. He found a root of the plant that had been left over. He replanted the jade flower and built an octagonal pavilion to protect it. Miraculously, the root came back to life and grew up into a tree again in a few years. In the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), another emperor transplanted part of the plant to the capital in the south. But the plant refused to acclimate itself to the royal garden and withered. The disappointed emperor ordered the plant to be transplanted back home.

In the early 1988, the Yangzhou Municipal Government decided to hold a jade flower festival every two years. As pressed for time, the first festival was postponed to be held in October that year. When guests and local residents gathered to celebrate the river town symbol flower, the blooming season in spring was long past. To their delight and surprise, however, jade flowers planted near an ancient river port bloomed in the wrong season as if to cater to the occasion. All the people were greatly pleased.

Today, the festival is held on April 18th every year in Yangzhou. The jade flower is widely planted everywhere in scenic spots across the city.

(Translated by David)