Flower language and legend of Bauhinia

The Flower Language of Bauhinia

Bauhinia represents family affection and has the beautiful meaning of family reunion and brotherly harmony.

The Story of Bauhinia

Bauhinia is the city flower of Hong Kong. There is a story about Bauhinia in the history of Hong Kong.

More than a hundred years ago, Hong Kong residents fought bravely against the British invasion, and countless martyrs died heroically. After the disaster, people built a large tomb on Guijiao Mountain to bury those heroes who died heroically.

Later, a tree with purple-red flowers that people had never seen before grew on Mount Guijiao, and soon the flowers bloomed all over Hong Kong. The flowers bloom particularly well around the Qingming Festival, and people named them Bauhinia to commemorate the martyrs who died.

Legend of Bauhinia

The redbud tree has taken root deeply in the courtyards of ordinary people and has always been a symbolic plant of family harmony and deep affection. It also represents brotherly harmony, and there is a little legend behind it.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Jingzhao Yin Tian Zhen and his brothers Tian Qing and Tian Guang divided their property. After all the properties were distributed, they only had one remaining Bauhinia tree, which they wanted to divide into three parts.

At dawn, when the brothers came to cut down the tree, they found that the tree had withered and the petals were all over the ground. Tian Zhen couldn't help but sigh to the sky: "Humans are not as good as trees!" From then on, the three brothers no longer separated and lived in harmony. The bauhinia tree also gained vitality, with lush flowers and leaves.

Because of this story, Bauhinia has become a confidant of those who miss their loved ones in poems about sibling love. Lu Ji wrote a poem about it: "Three brooms are happy on the same tree, four birds are sad in different forests." Li Bai sighed: "Tian's family was separated in a hurry, and the broom was destroyed in broad daylight." Wei Yingwu, a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote in his poem "Seeing the Bauhinia Wheel": "Many flowers have accumulated, and the fragrance is still there in late spring. It's like the tree in my old garden, and I suddenly miss the people in my old garden."