China's traditional moral means that pine, bamboo and plum are immortal in winter, so it is called "three friends who are cold at the age of three". Loose, full of vitality, evergreen and not old; Bamboo, open-minded, gentleman's way; Mei, as pure as ice and pure as jade, is proud of snow and welcomes frost. Born in adversity, he was honored in the cold of the year, so in the eyes of Chinese people, he has always been a symbol of integrity and has a lofty literary status.
Extended information: Historical allusions of three friends who are old and cold;
Su Shi, in the second year of Yuanfeng in North Song Shenzong (1097), was demoted to Huanggang, and his place name was called "Dongpo", so he was named "Dongpo Jushi". When he first arrived in Huangzhou, Su Dongpo was far away from his relatives and friends, and his life was hard.
He reclaimed a wasteland and planted cash crops such as rice, wheat, mulberry and jujube. Soon, he built a small house by the field and named it "Xuetang". Because the environment is too plain, I planted pine, cypress, plum, bamboo and other flowers and trees in the yard as a decoration.
One day, Xu Junyou, the magistrate of Huangzhou, came to visit him at Xuetang. When he saw that his residence was deserted, he asked him if it was too deserted. Su Dongpo pointed to the flowers and trees outside the window and laughed. "Wind and spring are two kinds of music, and pine and bamboo are three friends." Indeed, as long as you are open-minded, the wind whimpers and the spring water gurgles, which are also two beautiful music; Evergreen pine and cypress, unbending bamboo and proud snowy plum blossoms are all old friends who accompany the severe winter.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Three Friends in Cold Years