#fourgentlemen

[nannookajo]

Drawing mums, China's darlings. #drawing #draw #flowers #exotic #china #chinese #chrysanthemum #mums #chrysanths #fourgentlemen #kaifeng #goldenflower #imperial #marker #illustration #nannookajo

[chineseteashop-blog]

Four gentlemen of flowers yixing teapots. #yixing #teasets #fourgentlemen #yixingteapot #shuiping #chineseteapot （在 The Chinese Tea Shop）

[dashielcolarina]

In the Korean drama, ‘Iljimae’, young Geom, the main character of the story describes Plum Blossom as:

“It looks like Cherry Blossom, but not as glamorous; it looks like Jasmine, but not as pitiful.”

In China, it is one of the Four Gentlemen of Chinese art alongside Bamboo, Chrysanthemum, and Orchid. It has since then become an aesthetics of being an artist.

Plum Blossom is a harbinger of spring. With it, comes the era of new sunrises and welcomed hopes that each one of us must harbor.

[blockedonweibo]

四君子 (The Four Gentleman / Sì Jūnzi) refers to four plants: the orchid, the bamboo, the chrysanthemum, and the plum blossom. The term compares them to Confucianist junzi, or "gentlemen". They are most typically depicted in traditional ink and wash painting and they belong to the category of bird-and-flower painting in Chinese art.

Why it is blocked: Clearly, it refers to something sensitive that I am not familiar with. In lieu of an explanation, here's a painting of one of the Four Gentlemen, a plum blossom:

Update: This in from Twitter user @abingor: "四君子 refers to the four arrested villagers during the Protests of Wukan." A Tumblr user provides an alternative explanation: "for me it’s obvious why it’s blocked, because it refers to them: 刘晓波、周舵、高新和侯德健, who were four famous scholars and artists at that time. They appeared together on the square during the 89 protest, and stood on the students’ side. At that time they were called Si Jun Zi." Now, I can remove the why? tag from this entry.