Symbolization of flowers
In weddings, parties, chaos, funerals, cemeteries, etc. we encounter flowers. We encounter them so often that sometimes we just regard them as part of decoration and forget what they originally mean. As values and ideologies vary among cultures, flowers are assigned distinct symbolizations. In China, the chrysanthemum symbolizes death and funerals, while the gardenia wishes happiness and love.
Alora and I came out of Changshu Road metro station in a drizzling early March afternoon. The sky was foggy and gray as we set out to explore. I had explored the neighborhood many times with high school friends, but Alora, from Arizona, had never been.
We quickly abandoned the assigned idea of an “algorithmic walk” that our writing professor had assigned and headed to the intersection of Anfu Lu and Wulumuqi Lu. Because it was the crossing where the anti-Covid lockdown protests had happened and many Shanghai residents gathered that night with white flowers to pay tribute to victims of a recent deadly fire in Xinjiang. I wondered what it looked like after that. Surprisingly, despite some faint marks on the ground, everything seemed as normal as before. (I did not know whether I should be happy or sad seeing this view.)
The ancient and chic elements along Middle Wulumuqi Road
Blossoms in an old tricycle
In the past, the bluish-grey scene filled with plane trees and houses built in the mid-20th century always fascinated me. Now, it still did. In Shanghai’s former French Concession, one of several formerly foreign colonial zones, so many chic stores were just on the side of old variety stores. This comparison would strike you more when you visit there.
As we were walking, a clump of bright colors across the street suddenly caught my eye among all the noisy traffic and people. When I got closer, the view became clearer and so delightful — there was an old tricycle full of colorful flowers behind a mottled gate.
A clump of colors behind the gate
To our surprise, the florist wasn’t even trying to sell his flower, instead, he was sitting in the corner behind the iron gate and relaxing. That was so unusual. Distinct from thousands of hundreds of flower shops with detailed marketing plans, he waited for regulars and luck. Both Alora and I bought a bunch of ranunculus asiaticus. In the front basket of his tricycle were some common tools for decorating flowers. Contrary to the general big, clean tables in most flower stores, the ground was his countertop. He was skilled in decorating flowers, and the way he wrapped up the flowers was fast and concise. However, his casual working attitude let us concerned about his income and living in this metropolis.
When I asked him how many customers on average every day, he said “Well, that’s hard to say”. Considering the strong sense of festival rituals, the business would probably be better on Valentine’s Day. The response was still “Hard to say.” “We are nothing like flower stores except we all sell flowers, everything is uncertain for us,” he said with a little bitterness, “my income mainly comes from those old customers who prefer the relatively lower prices.”
Old Shanghai Memory
His answer reminded me of a piece of memory about the last generation of flower grandmas in Shanghai. Though flower grandmas aren’t typically the same as florists with tricycles, both groups are fading away in this rapidly developing flower industry. In old Shanghai, many flower girls grouped near shopping malls, metro stations, and other crowded areas. The air around them was sweet with the fragrance of their hand-made gardenia bracelets and brooches. The stories of their life have been reported as miserable — most of them were trying to support their life by selling flowers day and night without ceasing. Nonetheless, they would usually say, “selling flowers in this life, you will be pretty after death (jinsheng mai hua, laishi piaoling 今生卖花，来世漂亮)”. How positive, poetic, and sad!
In the past, florists and flower grandmas might sit just alongside those ancient variety stores, working hard to earn their living. However, after no longer than 10 years, things have changed completely —- modernization in urban planning has driven away so many peddlers without a settled place from streets and alleyways. Till nowadays, only a fraction of florists and old variety stores managed to keep their business, while unfortunately, flower grandmas had been left in the memory forever. We can only keep the smell of gardenia, the words they said, and their image in our hearts.
Looking at a small bunch of gardenia in the tricycle, I was wondering whether this kind of destiny would also happen to the florists on tricycles in the near future, just like flower grandmas in Shanghai.
Flowers are not and should not be simply part of the decoration. In Shanghai, the flowers in protesters’ hands were a strong expressive tool to convey their emotions. The flowers in florists’ tricycles and grandmas’ baskets were the commodities they earn their life with. Flowers have so many diverse meanings and symbolizations, nonetheless, the most concrete, profound, and essential meaning of flowers is always related to their owners’ behavioral choices.