Speaking of "protecting the city with hibiscus", Meng Changjun, the king of Shu, ordered hibiscus to be planted everywhere in Tucheng, Chengdu, in order to protect the city wall. Whenever the hibiscus blooms in September, it looks like embroidery from a distance, and the city is full of splendor, so it is called Furong City. The most accepted and widely circulated version is this one. Why did Meng Changjun, the king of Houshu, let people plant hibiscus trees on the wall to protect it? There is a legend that since the Tang Dynasty, Chengdu has held a grand flower market every February in the lunar calendar. According to legend, February 15th of the lunar calendar is the birthday of Baihua, which is called "Flower Dynasty". Chengdu Flower Market is conveniently held around the Flower Dynasty, which is the positive period of the flower market. Every February, Chengdu becomes an ocean of flowers. Hundreds of flowers gather in the flower city, competing to open up and compete for beauty, making the whole ancient capital enchanting and gorgeous.
Such a beauty contest is really dazzling. At this time, five generations later, Mrs. Hua Rui, the princess of Shu, turned back from the flowers and found hibiscus in it. Lotus is rolling in the sky like a colorful cloud, which surprises Mrs. Hua Rui. She likes this beautiful flower, which makes her feel very happy. However, flowers are always short-lived, and beauty will soon die. In the humid weather in Chengdu, Mrs. Hua Rui is often depressed. Autumn is coming, and Mrs. Huarui takes her entourage to have an outing to relieve loneliness. Walking to the front yard of the farmhouse, she was surprised to find that in this autumn in first frost, even the determined chrysanthemums have withered, but there are still such clusters of flowers blooming. She remembered that this was the hibiscus she saw in the flower dynasty, and Mrs. Huarui's face was rippling with joy that she had never seen before. The entourage around him saw all this and reported it to Meng Changjun, the king of Shu. Meng Changjun was overjoyed and ordered the people to plant hibiscus trees in the gardens of the whole city. So when the flowers bloom next year, Chengdu will be a 40-mile hibiscus, and from then on it will have the reputation of Furong City.
Later, after the demise of Shu, Mrs. Huarui was swept into the harem by Song Taizong Zhao Guoyin. Mrs. Hua Rui often misses Meng Chang and secretly treasures his portrait to show her miss. After Zhao Guoyin knew it, he forced her to hand over the portrait. However, Mrs. Hua Rui refused, and Zhao Guoyin killed her in a rage. Later generations admired Mrs. Hua Rui's loyalty to love, regarded her as the Lotus God and called her "the flower of love".
Chengdu people's love for hibiscus flowers is related to this ancient legend. They reject the saying that "the tortoise painted the hibiscus" and "the hibiscus protected the city", but they relished the legend of Mrs. Hua Rui, which fully explained the romantic feelings of Chengdu people in pursuit of loyal love.