The Old crabapple orchard in Wenhua dian ( Hall of Literary Brilliance) by Matthew Hu 

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Last week, just before the all the snows melted I happened to be on the grounds of the Imperial palace. Matthew Hu is an historian on Imperial History and we took a spontaneous walk in Wenhua Dian.

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Matthew’s words:

From this piece of  stone you can see four Chinese Characters

They were written in the seal script.

“海棠依旧” “Hǎitáng yījiù”

so it means Crabapple Tree just like the old days

We are infront of  Wenhuadian ,

Wenhuadian has the most beautiful crabapple forest

In March/April it will become a beautiful area in Beijing

especially for photographs with crabapple flowers

As we walk towards Wenhuadian we see about a dozen  very old ones

I was told by my freinds at the Palace Museum

but you can also tell it from the thickness of the trunk

that they are really old , some of them could be over 300 years old

So possibly planted by Emperor Qianlong

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Note: …..Haitangyijiu “海棠依旧” is from a poem of Song Dynasty,

it means Crab apple tree is as usual.

The meaning is quite simple, however, by reading out these words some may recall the poem 如梦令

and story of the female poet Li Qingzhao李清照.

Matthew Hu (胡新宇) is founder of the Courtyard Institute.