Chinese rose takes root in success story

Praise from poets

Zhang Zuoshuang, president of the Chinese rose branch at the China Flower Association, said cultivation of the roses in the country can be traced back about 2,000 years. Before they were cultivated, the wild roses only bloomed once a year.

As more and more people were attracted by the roses, cultivation started, resulting in the flowers blooming for more than 200 days a year.

Well-known poets during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) produced many works to praise the lengthy flowering period of the Chinese rose.

During the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), specialized flower businesses began appearing in some towns to supply Chinese roses to the imperial palaces. This business spanned 600 years.

In the late 18th century, some Chinese rose seeds were shipped to Europe by the East India Company.

Empress Josephine (1763-1814), the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, loved roses and collected varieties from all over the world. There was widespread enthusiasm in Europe for the flowers, especially as they bloom for most of the year.

Thousands of Chinese roses were shipped to Europe, and in the next 120 years, multiple new hybrid varieties were cultivated throughout the continent.

Zhang said, "Most of the Chinese roses we see today stem from these hybrid varieties that were cultivated in Europe and then brought to China at the start of the 20th century by students and workers."

He added that there are more than 30,000 Chinese rose varieties globally, but only 300 are cultivated in China.

Wu Laixi, a Chinese-Singaporean who studied at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, established the first Chinese rose garden in Beijing in 1920, which covered an area of 2,000 square meters.

After he fell ill, Wu entrusted Jiang Entian, a female horticulturist nicknamed "Lady Chinese Rose", with the responsibility of caring for the roses.

In October 1959, Jiang built a Chinese rose garden outside the Great Hall of the People to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. In the following four years, she set up four other such gardens in the Beijing-Tianjin area, along with a workshop in a room occupying about 12 square meters at the Temple of Heaven in the capital.

By 1966, more than 3,000 Chinese rose varieties had been planted in the Temple of Heaven park.