The Development of the Twelve Flora Images in Mid-Qing Dynasty of China

. The traditional Chinese "Twelve Flora" refer to the images of twelve flower gods corresponding to the twelve months of the Chinese lunar calendar. They are usually composed of celebrities in Chinese history and are the subject matter of traditional Chinese paintings, closely related to traditional flower and festival cultures. This paper mainly uses the research methods of iconography, formal analysis and prototype theory to study the images of the Twelve Flora in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. While examining the visual images, it uses the method of mutual verification of texts to sort out how the image of the Twelve Flora of the Qing Dynasty was initially formed and formed a relatively fixed creative mode.


Introduction
The image of the Twelve Flora is the most critical schema in developing traditional Chinese images of Flower Gods. Flower images gradually corresponded to the lunar months by the end of the Ming Dynasty. The image of gods produced by twelve flowers appeared in the Kangxi period. The Twelve Flora's images gradually took shape during the Qing Dynasty's Qianlong period, and corresponding historical figures appeared. The Twelve Flora developed and appeared in many forms in the late Qing Dynasty, such as new compositions.

Chinese traditional Floral worship
The belief in the Flora originates from the concept of "Animism" in traditional Chinese philosophy, which is the product of endowing flowers and trees with souls and personifying them. The Flora belief is a portrayal of the long flower culture tradition of the Chinese nation. The prototype of the Flora that appeared in China can be traced back to the Western Han Dynasty at the earliest, and existed as the "god of spring and summer longevity". In the Song Dynasty, folk worship of the God of Flowers had already taken place, and it was even more popular in the Qing Dynasty. [1]

Current status of academic research
In China's current academic research on "Flora of China", there are many based on the fields of literature [ 2 ] , drama [3] , folklore [4] , and horticulture, but few researchers focus on its images. There are many descriptive studies on its development from ancient times to the present [5] , but few in-depth studies based on individual dynasties. The research on "the image of the Flora" mainly shows the textual research on the identity of the Goddess of Flowers.

Remains of research material
Due to the suitable climate, developed economy, and vital cultural atmosphere, the Jiangnan area has driven the vigorous development of Jiangnan private gardens in the Ming and Qing dynasties. There is an Hangzhou private garden surrounding the West Lake, which is unprecedentedly grand. This area includes many cities in the Yangtze River Delta. The folk flower god culture and flower festival activities are also most active in Jiangsu and Zhejiang [6] . Most images and documents related to the flower god in December are preserved here.
As the capital of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Beijing area has certain relevant materials. The economy flourished after the Shanghai area was opened as a port. In the late Qing Dynasty, newspapers, advertisements and other printed products related to Floar were mainly preserved here. Minorities in Chengdu, Chongqing and Southwest China still have a few records.
This article determines the scope of research in the middle of the Qing Dynasty (mainly the Qianlong period), discusses how the images of the Twelve Flora developed specific corresponding characters in this historical stage, and discusses the schema of the Twelve Flora in this period colours, characters, and subject matter paradigms.

Formation of the Image of the Twelve Flora
During the Qianlong period, the economy developed, urban commerce flourished, and the economic ties between various ethnic groups in different places were further strengthened, forming the "Qianjia Prosperity" in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. Economic development promoted the development of Flora culture. At the same time, to maintain the rule, the Qing rulers paid particular attention to works that served "politics", which made the performance of "Festival Inheritance Opera" in the Qing court very frequent.
With the prosperity of Flora culture in the mid-Qing Dynasty, the belief in Flora gradually broke away from the ranks of "vulgar sacrifices" [ 7 ] . The imperial court officially recognized it, and Flora became an orthodox god.
Before the Qianlong period, the "Twelve Gods of Flowers" mainly appeared in folk sacrificial activities and the play Dui Hua in The Peony Pavilion [8] . At this time, there are many records of the "Festival Inheritance Play" performed by the Qing Palace every year at the Huachao Festival.
This kind of Festival Inheritance Opera is specially compiled for various folk festivals, essential celebrations and other banquet occasions in the court and has a vital ritual and political colour. The Palace Museum has 11 playbooks of the Festival Inheritance Opera of the Huachao Festival. Most of these plays are auspicious, such as "all the flower gods sing and dance for King of them to celebrate birthdays, and a hundred flowers present luck", and later developed into for the members of the Qing royal family Birthday.
The Twelve Flora Clothes of the Qianlong Period in the Forbidden City are the earliest physical evidence of the image of the Flower God. Twelve Flora costumes are unique opera clothes worn by the flower gods in Qing palace festivals. There are twelve pieces in a set representing the costumes of different Flora in the twelve months of the lunar calendar. The "suitcase" system of the opera troupe has enabled these costumes to be passed down from generation to generation. In 1942, Mr Fu Xihua, an opera researcher, conducted textual research on the Peking Opera manuscript Duihua Flora's Name and Wearing he collected in the Qianlong period [ 9 ] . This manuscript details the names of the gods of flowers, their costumes, and their prop in the play Dui Hua in The Peony Pavilion. This article should be the earliest direct description of the image of the Goddess of Flowers in the existing literature. When we compare Duihua Flora's Name and Wearing with the image of the flower god clothes in the Forbidden City, we find that the two match.
The opera image of the Flora recorded in this material fundamentally impacted the image style of the Twelve Flora in subsequent paintings and handicrafts. What is certain is that "the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, flowers, and images of immortals" had formed a clear one-to-one correspondence during the Qianlong period, and the image of the Twelve Flora had taken shape.

Characteristics of the Image of the Twelve Flora
The high-pressure policy of the Qing Dynasty and the ideological clampdown resulted in the silence and suffocation of academic thought. This aspect made textual research flourish in the Qing Dynasty and provided certain materials for studying flower god culture. On the other hand, it also caused Qing Dynasty art to dare not touch reality in the creation and created an opportunity to create flower gods as the theme.
Most images of the Twelve Flora left in the middle of the Qing Dynasty are mainly based on famille rose porcelain, and the figures are primarily group portraits. This has a lot to do with the creative tendency of drama novels as the theme of ceramic decorations that appeared in the Kangxi period. In the mid-Qing Dynasty, many figure painting subjects appeared in porcelain decoration, and these figure paintings also absorbed the creative style of New Year pictures and prints. The image of the Flora in the porcelain has distinctive characters and has a dramatic and secular style.

Character composition
In terms of characters, the image of the goddess of flowers in December of the mid-Qing Dynasty is a group portrait combination, with twelve characters, each with different ages, personalities and identities. There are literati, warriors, older adults, ladies and so on. The pattern of group portraits of flower gods in December Ling continued from the middle of the Qing Dynasty to the period of the Republic of China. The characteristics of its character design are mainly based on the creation of the script, which is highly compatible with the previous test of Duihua Flora's Name and Wearin. The male and female flower gods are divided into half and half, with men in odd-numbered months representing "Yang" and women in even-numbered months representing "Yin". By the late Qing Dynasty, the version in the above table was the most fixed figure set in the images of the Twelve Flora (Table 1.) , and it was also the most widely circulated version of the Twelve Flora in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Color characteristics
In terms of colour, the image of the Twelve Flora, based on pastel porcelain, is a multi-colour image. Colour is an essential criterion for distinguishing the flower gods. The theme of the Twelve Flora has a natural connection with the colour.
The vigorous development of famille rose porcelain in the Yongzheng period and the new look of the product of coloured porcelain in the mid-Qing Dynasty technically promoted the development and dissemination of the image of the Twelve Flora. The colour of its pictures is elegant and soft, full of layering, and the brushwork is delicate and soft. In terms of expression techniques, the changes in colour depth are used to render light and shadow changes with a certain sense of reality.

Garden tour theme
In terms of themes, the theme "Garden Tour" is the most important theme for the creation of the image of the God of Flowers in December.
On the one hand, this theme is closely related to the folk activities of people visiting gardens, appreciating red flowers, and enjoying spring during the Flower Festival.
On the other hand, this theme developed in the late Qing Dynasty, and it mostly appeared in the form of literati paintings, which were the products of elegant collections. Most of its creators were born as literati and painters in the Jiangnan area, capable of poetry and painting, with high cultural accomplishment, and are closely related to the development of garden art in the Jiangnan area. Most of his garden-theme creations are based on the spiritual pursuit of elegance, simplicity and refinement, with a strong literati temperament.
In the early images of the twelve flower gods with the theme of "garden tour", there are trees, flowers, rocks, railings and other background decorations behind them to imply that they are in the garden scene. However, the figures are still used as the picture's main body. The Qing Jiaqing Famous Twelve Flora Picture Bowl collected by the Palace Museum (Fig.2.) is a representative work . The bowl's outer wall is painted with thirteen flower gods arranged one by one according to the time of the lunar month, each holding a flower representing each month (the leap moon flower god is a child holding a ganoderma lucidum). There is a corresponding relationship between the characters' expressions in twos and threes, and the expressions of men, women, old and young are different, which is a group portrait. The characters' background has rocks and trees, making it look like a garden. The composition is ingenious and complete, and the density and density of the characters vary.
This theme developed in the late Qing Dynasty when the twelve flower gods were in a specific scene space, the characters and the environment were integrated into one, and the proportion of the characters in the picture was greatly reduced. Feng Chaoran's painting of flower gods in 1912 and Zhao Shuru and Qian Yihai's paintings of flower gods in 1941 are typical representatives of the theme of "garden tour" in the late stage of the development of flower god images in December.

Birthday celebration theme
The number of artistic creations with the theme of flower gods attending the birthday banquet is less than that of the garden theme. This creation initially originated from the Qing court flower festival drama and then gradually integrated into the painting created with the theme of the twelve Flora.
Most of these images use fairyland as the scene, and auspicious cloud patterns surround the flower gods. In addition to the twelve flower gods who came to the banquet holding flowers each month, there will also be an image of the king of flower gods "wearing a flower god hat, three beards, holding a gold vase, and inserting peony flowers". (Fig. 3.) The theme of "Flower God Goes to the Birthday Banquet" is often combined with "Eight Immortals Celebrating Birthday" in the later period. The flower gods are often on the sea's surface, similar to the "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea" schema, and folks often confuse the two schemas when identifying them. In addition, in some images of this theme, images of fairies are also added to the screen to increase the atmosphere.

Conclusions
All in all, the the Twelve Flora images gradually developed and matured in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, and their creation pattern was determined with "six men and six women holding flowers to visit the garden or celebrate birthdays" as the main feature.
The characters in the images of the Twelve Flora are closely related and inseparable from their opera images. Their images endow the characters with new historical and cultural connotations based on opera costumes and combine them with historical figures, talented scholars, beautiful ladies, and novel characters. Such integration fully embodies the cultural characteristics of integrating Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism in Chinese culture.
The worship of Flora is a belief from the Chinese folk, and its images have strong characteristics of Chinese folk art. Its bright colours, vivid characters, crowds of immortals holding (or wearing) flowers, and "garden tour" and "birthday celebration" as the main themes make it present a lively and extraordinary scene. At the same time, various auspicious patterns such as Ganoderma and auspicious clouds often appear in the picture, and the implication of the image is very auspicious.
The traditional Chinese flower culture has been passed down for thousands of years, and the Chinese nation deeply respects flowers. As a traditional creative image, "Twelve Flora" combines festival culture and flower culture, which embodies the simple time wisdom of the Chinese nation and the life philosophy of animism, and shows the people's optimistic attitude towards life.
With the further prosperity and development of the modern Chinese economy, the flower god culture has once again entered the public's field of vision as traditional culture. The spiritual and cultural needs of the people have prompted the revival of traditional festivals such as the "Flower Festival". As a basic form of cultural expression, the "Twelve Flora Images" can promote people's further understanding and understanding of traditional flower culture and festival culture.