◎ Three Friends in Cold Years
[hanyu pinyin ]su chán sānyǒu
Symbolizing lasting friendship, trees are durable plants such as winter pine, bamboo and plum blossom.
[explanation]
(1) refers to pine, bamboo and plum. Pine and bamboo will not wither in winter, but plums will open cold, so they are called "three friends of old cold"
The pines and bamboos are hidden, and thousands of trees are blooming. What a cold friend, more like red and white camellia. -"Zhong Chao CuO" by Bai Yuan Pu
After late autumn, all the flowers withered except pine, bamboo and plum. -Ming anonymous "Yuqiao Gossip" is 60% off.
In Song Dynasty, Lin Jingxi's Ji Shan Ji and Wu She Ji: "I live in Shan Ye, grow hundreds of plums, and make cold friends with Huang."
(2) Cold age: a metaphor for a turbid world. Three Friends: Shanshui, Songzhu and Gin. The three are lofty things in the troubled times.
The so-called "three friends of the old cold" are pine trees, bamboo and plum blossoms.
Pine trees are evergreen all the year round, with tall and straight posture, dense branches and leaves, surrounded by stratus clouds and stacked obliquely, which is worthy of being the pen of Ma Yuan and Liu Songnian. In the bleak winter, pine trees are still lush and full of vitality, symbolizing youth and perseverance. The character of pine trees is what people in China admire most.
Bamboo is a symbol of elegance, purity, humility and restraint. There are few gardens and bamboos in ancient and modern gardens. If there is bamboo at home, it will blow on the window in spring, and the air will be sufficient. The bamboo shadow is swaying and the posture is in the painting. The green leaves don't fade in winter, so they are handsome. Throughout the ages, "one day can't leave this gentleman" has become the preference of many literati.
Plum blossom is one of the top ten traditional famous flowers in China, with excellent color, fragrance and rhyme. Lin Hejing, a poet in the Song Dynasty, once wrote the poem "The shadows are shallow and the fragrance floats at dusk", vividly describing the beauty and charm of plum blossoms. How lovely and precious the unique plum blossom is when it snows all over the sky!
[Other explanations]
Ancient China literati loved to send things to express their feelings, and expressed their ideal character and spiritual pursuit with natural objects. The indomitable pine and cypress, colorful bamboo and winter plum, although belonging to different families and genera, all have noble styles that are not afraid of severe frost. They lived together in the cold of the old days, and they have always been admired by China ancient and modern literati, and they are called "three friends in the cold of the old days", which is a metaphor for loyal friendship.
Three Friends in the Cold Year (Poetry and Painting)
Tao Xingzhi
On Wansongling, pine trees are swaying and surging.
Shake the first peak of Kunlun Mountain.
Thousands of troops are furious; The sea rises from the mountain.
Bamboo green, plum blossom red, moving west to east,
Strive for the last five minutes, let a hundred flowers blossom and smile,
For three winters.