Niǎo yǔ huā xiāng: The intoxication of a beautiful spring day

Vikingsberg Park, Helsingborg, Sweden ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Niǎo yǔ huā xiāng 鸟语花香 (鳥語花香)

Literally: Birdsong and fragrant flowers (idiom). Figuratively the intoxication of a beautiful spring day. A Chinese phrase to describe the beauty of the garden, the birds are chirping and the flowers are fragrant. 

Chickens, cows, grass and Chinese gardens

2008 Orchard Villas (Jinxiu Huayuan), Chengdu, Sichuan ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

This sign is posted just inside the surrounding wall that protects the western section of Orchard Villas, quite a nice housing complex in one of the more affluent parts of Chengdu. The "green belt" that is mentioned here is that scrabby patch of grass-like spinky stuff in the background. This botanical matter is a kind of ground covering most commonly found in Chinese classical gardens when an appropriate and attractive edging is needed or a space around more important things like trees or rockeries requires filling in. It can also be found potted on its own and I'm sure many a foreign visitor has questioned the purpose of these potted green spikes, wondering when those darn things are going to start shooting up flowers. Why else would you plant grass in a pot?

It is actually a lily (lilyturf) called Liriope and was named after Liriope, the mother of Narcissus (another plant name) by the river-god Cephissus. Its Chinese name is maidong, "winter wheat", as the leaves are evergreen. Western style "grass" was rarely a feature of a classical garden, although it can be seen today in the renovated scholar gardens of eastern China's Jiangnan area and the Imperial gardens of Beijing. Classical garden architects of former days thought that this kind of flat ground covering was boring and uninteresting - as one Chinese visitor snippily commented  upon seeing a big, green, unending British lawn: "Grass is cow fodder , it contains nothing to feed the intellect of an educated man".  

Back to the sign: I can understand the warning against walking dogs (and letting them defecate) in a public area but the poultry mentioned above is another matter all together. Why would there be a need for such a warning in an area as rich as Orchard Villas? And why would the rich people living there necessarily let their chickens peck around (or horrors breed!) in the common "green belt"? If they indeed kept farm animals in the middle of a city and in one of the richest parts of town wouldn't you think that they would let said poultry run around looking for food and fun in their own garden? That would still classify as "free range" wouldn't it? 

The crazy thing is that even people that live at posh addresses in China do keep chickens and roosters. Especially before Chinese New Year when many a foreigner remarks how they would like to ring the neck of the rooster that started crowing at four in the morning near their bedroom window. I hadn't given this phenomenon a thought until the earthquake last year when we camped out at China Gardens (beside Orchard Villas) and witnessed the moneyed crowd sleeping in their garages (or in their Ferraris or BMWs) with the rooster tied up next to them. Over here where I live in the not so rich part of town my neighbors keep their finger-lickin-good friends on the balcony. 

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Yu Garden, Shanghai ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Blessed, damned rain

Hoi'an, Vietnam ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

A Chinese poet, seated by a latticed garden window, might reflect upon the hypnotic quality the sound of raindrops makes upon the surface of a banana leaf, rhythmically transporting him to other worlds. In Laos Buddha statues have been created standing with their arms in a special position named "Calling for Rain". The Buddha's hands are held straight down, tightly pressed flat against his body with fingertips pointing to the ground, beseeching rain to come and help the people grow their food and survive another year. Thus the farmer considers rain a blessed thing, longed for and cherished. But too much of it can also be a curse - when it drowns fields and rots crops like the flooding that caused many problems in northern Vietnam this autumn. The tourist, on the other hand, seldom looks upon rain as anything but a bother. Something they definitely hadn't paid for when they booked their ticket (usually from very rainy countries) and an irritating annoyance put between them and unending leisurely hours in the sun - a precious luxury the tourist has come to expect and demand as his right when arriving at his (as portrayed in the travel catalogue) sunny destination. But where does the water come from that let's you take that wonderful freshwater shower in your hotel room?

Picture: The last days of the seasonal monsoon. November, Hoi'an, Vietnam. 

Photos for sale at CIWC Christmas Bazaar

Ballet class, Shanghai

Corn harvest, Lijiang, Yunnan

Moon Gate, West Slender Lake, Yanghzou, Jiangsu

Red Corridor, Wuhou Temple, Chengdu

Black Dragon Pool, Lijiang, Yunnan

Thailand

Lotus Pond

Tagong, West Sichuan

Women's Feast, Dali, Yunnan

Bamboo, Wuhou Temple, Chengdu

Autumn, Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan

Three Pagodas, Dali, Yunnan

Cormorant fishermen, Li River, Guangxi

Chopsticks

10,000 Buddha Peak, Emei Mountain, Sichuan

Tashilhunpo Monastery, Tibet

Lijiang, Yunnan Province

Lotus seed pod

Tibetan nun, Lhasa

Tibetan monk, Sumtsenling Monastery, Zhongdian

All of the pictures you see here are going to be on sale as prints at the 3rd Annual CIWC Christmas Bazaar at QSI International School (Meizhou Huayuan) on December 6, 2008. All proceeds from the sales of these images will go to two charities that work with earthquake relief projects in the Sichuan area that was devastated by the May 12th, 2008 earthquake : Ecologia and Sichuan Quake Relief. 

Ecologia needs 70,000 RMB to help a village rebuild homes and help families begin a cottage industry where they can earn a living. The remaining money earned will go to Sichuan Quake Relief – working on many projects in the quake area to help relieve the suffering of those living in the area.

More about the charities:
Ecologia http://www.ecologia.org/ 

Sichuan Quake Relief http://sichuan-quake-relief.org/ 

Each print will come mounted with a matt (passpartout) and cost 250 rmb. There will be 20 prints on sale.  If there is a special picture that you like please make a comment here below or send me an email: ingridmorejohn@gmail.com. Additional prints can be ordered and delivered before Christmas. The goal this year for the entire bazaar is to raise 100,000 RMB for charity. Please come and help make this possible!

NOTE! ALL IMAGES ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn