I. China Peony City
The selection of "China Peony City" was organized by the Peony and Paeonia Branch of China Flower Association in September 2006, with the aim of promoting and driving the development of the national peony industry, booming the local economy, and carrying forward the peony culture. Six cities, including Luoyang of Henan Province, Heze of Shandong Province, Lanzhou of Gansu Province, Pengzhou of Sichuan Province, Yancheng of Jiangsu Province and Bozhou of Anhui Province, made requests for declaration. It was scheduled that the Peony and Paeonia Branch of China Flower Association would approve the naming of the cities that passed the examination and validation in early 2007, and award the licenses and certificates. However, at the beginning of 2007, the Ministry of Civil Affairs began to rectify all kinds of selection activities, and the selection activity of "China Peony City" was therefore stopped and has not been resumed so far. Therefore, the so-called "Peony City" now refers to cities such as Luoyang, which is the main production area of peonies.
II. Peony City of Luoyang
1. Alias "Peony City"
The peony of Luoyang is a perennial deciduous small shrub, and it is the most suitable flower for the land of Luoyang, and the peony is especially a wonder in the world. Its cultivation began in Sui, flourished in Tang, and became the most popular peony in the world during the Song Dynasty. It is a symbol of the prosperity and good fortune of the Chinese nation. It is a symbol of the prosperity and good fortune of the Chinese nation, with its gracefulness, national colors, and richness. Luoyang peonies have large flowers, many varieties and wonderful colors, including red, white, pink, yellow, purple, blue, green, black and compound colors in 9 color families, 10 flower types and more than 1,000 varieties. During the blooming season, the city of Luoyang is crowded with people competing to see the peonies. "The world's famous gardens weigh heavily in Luoyang" and "Luoyang peonies are the best in the world". Famous gardens have been produced for generations, and they are full of unique and unique interests, and their national colors and fragrances are the most beautiful among all the peonies. From the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty, there were hundreds of gardens in Luoyang, with either phoenix pavilions and dragon towers, which were connected to the sky, or exquisite and beautiful flowers. Throughout the ages, literati and scholars have splashed ink on the ancient temples and waved the brush on the rock walls, adding poetic flavor to the ancient city. The history of peony cultivation in Luoyang is as follows: ①. Sui Dynasty During the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang (605-618 AD) "set up a land of two hundred miles for the Western Garden ...... and showed all birds, animals, grasses and trees in the territory of the world to the capital city (present-day Luoyang, Henan Province) ...... . Yizhou (present-day Yi County, Hebei Province) brought in twenty boxes of peonies. In Sui Zhi Suwen Zhuan, it is said, "The peony of Qingming is in the fifth hour of the day, and the peony of Luoyang is in the fifth hour of the month." This is enough to show that the scale of peony as an ornamental plant in Luoyang was even larger. ②. Tang Dynasty Peony cultivation began to flourish in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). Legend has it that there was a man named Song Shanfu in Luoyang who was good at planting flowers, and at the call of Emperor Li Longji of Tang Xuanzong, he went to Mount Li and planted more than 10,000 peonies with different colors (Longcheng Lu). Li Bai said, "The clouds want to be clothed and the flowers want to look beautiful; the spring breeze brushes the threshold and the dew is thick. If I hadn't seen it at the top of the Jade Mountain, I would have met it under the moon at Yao Tai." The three songs of "Qingping Tune" are about peonies of different colors. "The peony in front of the garden has no character, while the hibiscus on the pond is quiet. Only the peony is a true national color, and it moves the capital when in bloom." (Liu Yuxi: "Appreciating Peonies") "Spring is approaching the end of the imperial city, and there are noisy carriages and horses; when I **** the peonies, I will follow Wu Zetian to appreciate the peonies
Buy the peonies. There is no price for it, but the value of the reward depends on the number of flowers: a hundred of them are red, and over a hundred of them are vegetarian. ...... Every family is used to it, and everyone is not aware of it. ......" (Bai Juyi: "Buying Flowers") From the above poems, it can be seen that the peony cultivation in Chang'an, the imperial capital, was in full swing at that time. At that time, peonies not only had more color varieties, but also appeared some novelty variations and the phenomenon of heavy petals. "There was a peony tree in Xingtang Temple, and 1200 peonies were in bloom in Yuanhe, whose colors were positively haloed, invertedly haloed, light red, light purple, purple-white, white sandalwood, and so on, but there was no deep red, and there were also those who did not have the heart of the flower and leaf, and those who had heavy platforms, whose flower faces were seven or eight inches." (Youyang Miscellaneous Chopsticks) "Emperor Mu Zong planted a thousand-leaf peony in front of his palace, and the flower began to bloom with an overwhelming fragrance, a thousand leaves, large and red." (Du Yang Miscellaneous Chopsticks). This also shows that there were already heavy peonies in China as early as the ninth century AD. Song Shanfu, a native of Luoyang in the Tang Dynasty, was an expert in horticulture, and the peonies he planted had a thousand variations of red and white colors, and he was honored by the people of the time as a master of flowers, and they admired him for his "excellent art in the world of illusions". It is a pity that there is no record of this superb art in the world. In Song Ouyang Xiu's "Luoyang Peony Records and Customs No. 3", it was said that in Song Dynasty, there was a person surnamed Dongmen who was known as "Door Garden", who was a master of peony grafting, and he was invited by rich and powerful people to graft peonies, and he would pay for them in the fall and then pay for them in the coming spring when they saw the flowers. Zhang Bangji's Mozhuang Manglu also recorded that during the Xuanhe period of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, there was a florist surnamed Ou in Luoyang, who used medicinal congestion to cultivate white peonies under the roots, and the next year the flowers blossomed in light turquoise color, which was called "Ou Jia Bi" and was extremely precious, and it was offered as a tribute to the imperial court every year. ③. Song Dynasty During the Song Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.), the center of peony cultivation in China shifted from Chang'an in Tang Dynasty to Luoyang, where there were more varieties of peonies and the cultivation techniques were more systematic and perfect. There were more varieties of peonies and the cultivation techniques became more systematic and perfect. A number of theoretical monographs appeared and the research on peonies was greatly improved. Peony in Luoyang
The writings of this period include Ouyang Xiu's "Record of Peony in Luoyang"; Zhou Shi Hou's "Yinjiang Zhou's Record of Peony in Luoyang" and "Record of Flowers and Trees in Luoyang"; and Zhang Ruyi's "Record of Flowers in Luoyang", etc. These writings describe the cultivation of peony and the cultivation techniques. They described the cultivation and management of peony and summarized a complete set of mature experience. Ouyang Xiu said, "By and large, people in Luoyang have flowers in their homes, but there are few big trees, because they are not well connected. The artificial cultivation of Luoyang peony began in Sui, flourished in Tang, and became famous in the Northern Song Dynasty. After that, with the transfer of the political center and the destruction of the famous garden in Luoyang, the peony in Tianpeng, Sichuan Province succeeded the peony in the Southern Song Dynasty, and there was the flourish of small Luoyang. From the more than 60 varieties listed in Lu You's "Tianpeng Peony Spectrum", most of them were introduced from Luoyang. In the Ming Dynasty, many old varieties of Bozhou peony, which flourished for a while in Anhui Province, were also introduced from Luoyang. In the Qing Dynasty, Caozhou peony replaced Bozhou peony, and Luoyang peony was directly or indirectly related to Caozhou peony to a certain extent, which shows the spread and influence of Luoyang peony. Nowadays, Luoyang peony has spread to Italy, Germany, France, Japan, the United States, the Netherlands, South Africa, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other regions. The influence of Luoyang as a peony city: On September 21, 1982, the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Luoyang City passed a resolution to take peony as the city flower of Luoyang City, and the China Luoyang Peony Cultural Festival is held from April to May every year according to the opening of peonies. Formerly known as Henan Province Luoyang Peony Fair, China Luoyang Peony Cultural Festival, as one of the Four Famous Peony Fairs in China, has been successfully held in Luoyang for 29 consecutive times from 1983 to the present (2011). For more than 20 years, the municipal party committee and the municipal government have insisted on the guiding principle of "using flowers as a medium to make friends, publicize Luoyang and open up", and "Luoyang sets the stage and the whole province sings the opera" to make the Peony Fair a large-scale comprehensive economic and cultural event that integrates flower-viewing and lantern-viewing, tourism and sightseeing, as well as economic and trade cooperation and exchanges, and that is also a major event of economic and cultural cooperation. The Peony Fair has become a large-scale comprehensive economic and cultural event integrating flower and lantern viewing, tourism, economic and trade cooperation and exchanges. The Luoyang Peony Fair has become a major event in the political, economic and cultural life of the people of the city, a grand festival indispensable to the people of Luoyang, a platform for the development of Luoyang's economy and a window for displaying the city's image, a bridge for Luoyang to go to the world, and a business card for the world to understand Luoyang. At the same time, it has also become an excellent platform and stage for enterprises to show their strength, establish image and publicize their fame. Every year, important activities such as the opening ceremony and celebration party of the flower festival are broadcasted continuously on CCTV and other media. The emblem and mascot of Luoyang Peony Flower Festival
Plays, which has produced a great publicity effect. During the festival, Luoyang City extensively invited Chinese and foreign journalists to make in-depth reports on the festival, especially the all-round publicity and coverage of Luoyang and the peony festival by famous Chinese and foreign media, such as Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily Overseas Edition, CCTV International Channel, Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, Phoenix Chinese Channel, Oriental TV Channel of the Americas, etc., which has greatly improved the influence of Luoyang both at home and abroad. Recently, Luoyang city has also seized the opportunity of selecting the national flower to carry out a series of powerful peony publicity activities. The TV art film "Chinese Peony" was shot, and the TV feature film "Peony Love" was elaborately produced and broadcasted on CCTV and other news media, so that people at home and abroad have a better understanding of peony and Luoyang. The increased popularity of peony has played an important role in organizing the Peony Fair, establishing the image of Luoyang and expanding its influence at home and abroad. As the image messenger of the ancient capital, Luoyang peonies have taken root and blossomed in more than 20 countries, such as Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Australia, Holland, Belgium, Singapore, and so on; with flowers as a matchmaker, the ancient capital of Luoyang has successively tied up with some cities in Japan, France, Bulgaria, the United States, South Korea, and other countries as friendly cities. From July 11 to 12, 2010, Liu Yuzhu, the director of the Department of Cultural Industry of the Ministry of Culture, and his entourage came to Luoyang to investigate the development of Luoyang Peony Fair and cultural industry. Liu Yuzhu proposed to strive to upgrade the Luoyang Peony Fair into one of the most internationally influential cultural festivals and cultural brands in China through 5 to 10 years' efforts, so as to make it a platform for displaying the spirit of contemporary Chinese people, a platform for cultural exchanges between China and the world, and a grand cultural festival with sustained international influence. Since 2011, the Luoyang Peony Fair of Henan Province has been officially upgraded to China Luoyang Peony Cultural Festival, which is co-organized by the Ministry of Culture and the People's Government of Henan Province*** and undertaken by the Department of Culture of Henan Province and the People's Government of Luoyang City.
2. City Landmark "Peony City"
Peony City is located in the Peony Square of Luoyang City, from which the name is derived, and is a 28-story building, which is now known as Luoyang Jingan Peony City Hotel. It is located in the core central business district of Luoyang, situated on the bustling Nanchang Road. The modern style business floors, quaint, elegant and fashionable, provide visitors with a comfortable and cozy stay to enjoy. The 25th floor of the famous revolving restaurant overlooking the beautiful scenery of the ancient capital of Luoyang can make visitors forget to come back. With personalized services, business and leisure, the hotel is equipped with a large parking lot, which is an excellent place for visitors to enjoy tourism and leisure and plan business meetings. Jing'an Peony City Hotel has 195 well-equipped guest rooms, which were redesigned and renovated by famous designers in 2006. Especially the business rooms are classical and modern in style, equipped with computers and access to high-speed 100-megabit fiber optic for your free use. For high-class business banquets, you can choose the Chinese-style Golden Scale, Abalone and Shark's Fin Seafood Restaurant and the Western-style Maspero Grill. For family and friends, you can choose Macau Food Street, which gathers snacks from the north and the south, and Mansion Rotary Buffet Restaurant, which overlooks the beautiful scenery of the ancient capital. For business trips and leisure travel, Jing'an Peony City is the best choice for tourists in Luoyang.
Three: Heze Peony City
Heze, known as Caozhou in ancient times, is now the largest peony planting base in Shandong Province. Caozhou, as it was called in ancient times, has been known as "a majestic county" and "a metropolis". The history of this place is endless, and the peony planting in Caozhou has a history of hundreds of years. In the Song Dynasty, peonies were mostly grown in Luoyang, and Ouyang Xiu wrote a poem: "The flowers of Luoyang are the most suitable, and peonies are especially strange in the world." Since the Ming Dynasty, peony cultivation was introduced to Caozhou, i.e. Heze in present-day Shandong Province. Up to now, there are hundreds of varieties of peonies and thousands of acres of peony fields in Heze. Every year before and after the rainy season, the peonies in Caozhou are spectacularly colorful as the steaming sun.
There are now 50,000 mu of peony cultivated in Heze, with more than 600 varieties of peonies in nine color families, which are marketed in more than 100 large and medium-sized cities, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, etc., and exported to more than 20 countries and regions, such as Japan, France, Canada, etc. The peonies in Heze are graceful and elegant. The Heze peony is so elegant, colorful and fragrant that it won 81 awards at the 99' Kunming World Horticultural Expo. Heze peony is also known as Caozhou peony in history. It is also known as Caozhou Peony for its large flowers, colorful, beautiful shape and strong fragrance. The Heze peony is characterized by upright branches, luxuriant leaves and elegant flowers, and is regarded as the best ornamental peony. The scientific research of Heze peony is fruitful. As early as in the First National Flower and Leather Expo, three scientific research achievements of Heze peony, such as selection and breeding of new varieties of peony, research on technology of peony field flower catalyzing, and new varieties of peony, won the National Award for Progress in Science and Technology, which accounted for the first place in the nation in terms of the number of awards won by the scientific research on peony, etc. On January 14th, 1997, scientific research achievements on peony of Heze peony passed the appraisal of the national level for the fourth time. On this occasion alone, seven scientific research results, such as cultivation of new peony varieties, soilless cultivation of desk peony, screening of peony heat-resistant products, grafting ornamental peonies onto live seedlings of Fengyantan for commercial production, research on peony bonsai, screening of paeoniae cut-flower varieties, and selection of new peony varieties, etc., passed the appraisal, which was the largest number of scientific research results on peony. Among them, five of them reached the domestic leading level, marking the breakthrough progress of Heze peony scientific research. This has improved the ornamental value of peony, broadened the scope of peony planting and application, solved the problem of rapid breeding of precious varieties to a certain extent, opened up a new way for peony to enter into thousands of households, and created the conditions for convergence with the international floriculture industry. It was praised by Vice Chairman Chen Muhua. Heze peony has also been awarded prizes in major flower shows at home and abroad, and has gained great reputation at home and abroad. In the first, second, third and fourth National Flower and Plant Expositions, Heze peony won gold, silver and bronze awards, scientific and technological progress awards, and 26 high-quality exhibits; in the three Hong Kong International Flower Expositions, Heze peony caused a sensation, winning one champion award and three first prizes; in the International Flower and Plant Exposition of the City of Bordeaux, France, and the International Invention Exposition of the United States of America in Pittsburgh, Heze peony won the Silver Award of the Total Score of the Competition and Silver Award of the Dried Peony and Paeony Flower respectively. Silver Prize. In the Fourth Flower Expo, Heze peony was the only one to take the lead, winning the only "Special Prize for Attractions" and six individual prizes in one go. Especially in the 99th Kunming World Horticultural Expo, Heze peony won the top prize in one go, and won 81 out of 119 peony individual prizes, accounting for 68% of the total number of prizes. Among them, three grand prizes were won by Heze "Caozhou Peony Garden" and "Qiaozi Red" peonies; 12 gold prizes were won by Heze peonies "Black Flower Kui" and "Caozhou Red" peonies. Caozhou Red" and "Caozhou Red" won 10 gold medals; for 36 silver medals, Heze peony "Hu Hong" and "Lantian Yu" won 26 medals; for 60 bronze medals, Heze peony "Flower Er Qiao" and "Yellow Peony" won 1 medal each. The 60 bronze prizes were awarded to Heze peony "Flower Two Qiao" and "Yellow Flower Kui", etc. 43 prizes were awarded to them. The expert judges unanimously commented, "Heze peony has big flowers, complicated color and full bloom, which is worthy of being a national color." At present, 1,156 varieties of Heze peonies of nine major flower colors, such as black, red and yellow, have been certified by the AQSIQ for the registration of Heze Caozhou Peony Garden
Mark. Peony cultivation in Heze City has a long history, and it was already famous in the Ming Dynasty. Pu Songling in his "Liaozhai Zhiyi" said "Caozhou peony is the best peony in Qilu" and wrote down the mythical story of Geshan Jade Edition. After the liberation, especially since the reform and opening up, the peony of Caozhou, which is rich in history and tradition, has entered a brand-new development period. At present, the planting area of Heze peony has reached more than 50,000 mu, with more than 600 varieties. The peony culture, which has been formed historically, including pharmacology, botany, horticulture, geography, literature and art, drama and music, folklore and other subjects, is an integral part of the Chinese national culture. With the establishment of market economy system, Heze has set up Peony Research Institute, the First Fragrance Society of the World and Research Society to systematically research, develop and utilize peony resources and serve the local economic construction. Since 1992, Heze has held the Heze International Peony Fair with the aim of "using flowers as a medium to make friends, setting up a stage for culture, singing for economy and trade, developing tourism and revitalizing economy", which has been successfully held for eighteen times so far. The peony industry has become one of the most important industries in the economy. Peony industry has become a pillar industry of one side's economy. Flowers follow people's wishes and bloom in all seasons, beautifying and integrating into people's lives, and are exported to more than twenty countries and regions in the world. Peony has become the pride of Heze people and opened up a broad prospect for the economic development of Heze.