The famous line "People are thinner than yellow flowers" comes from "Drunken Flower Yin" by Li Qingzhao, a female poet in the Song Dynasty. Because it was a popular fashion for men to wear flowers in the Song Dynasty, many Song poems used flowers as words in their poems. "People are thinner than yellow flowers" is Li Qingzhao's description of his emotions of missing her husband, using the commonly used Fu Bixing technique. Regarding the yellow flower mentioned in the poem, there are many opinions in history. It is more consistent with the reality at that time that the yellow flower refers to chrysanthemum.

The full text of this famous sentence in "Drunken Flower Yin" is as follows:

The mist is thick and the clouds are full of sorrow, and the day is long, and the auspicious brain disappears the golden beast. It’s the Double Ninth Festival and the Double Ninth Festival. Jade pillows and gauze kitchens make it cool in the middle of the night. After dusk when I drink wine in Dongli, there is a faint fragrance filling my sleeves. There is no way that I am not in ecstasy. The west wind blows behind the curtain, and people are thinner than yellow flowers.

Why is it said that the yellow flower in Li Qingzhao’s poem refers to the chrysanthemum? The main reasons are as follows:

From the perspective of the season

This poem The purpose of the poem was written by Li Qingzhao to her husband Zhao Mingcheng during the Double Ninth Festival. The so-called climbing high to admire chrysanthemums on the Double Ninth Festival is a must-have elegant activity for ancient literati during this festival. As the main flower in autumn, chrysanthemums are naturally a spiritual sustenance for Li Qingzhao to express his feelings of missing her husband through the noble chrysanthemums. Plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum are four plants favored by ancient literati. Li Qingzhao naturally used chrysanthemums as elegant flowers.

Another name for chrysanthemum in ancient times

Ju, originally also called chrysanthemum. In ancient times, chrysanthemum was called the moon of autumn, and ju has yellow flowers. Yellow flower is a popular term for chrysanthemum in ancient times. The ancients were good at using fake characters or references instead of directly describing things and losing interest.

Allusions to Li Qingzhao's diction

In Li Qingzhao's "Drunk Flower Yin", there is a passage about Dongli drinking wine after dusk. She quoted Tao Yuanming's poem "Drinking". This paragraph "Picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, you can see the Nanshan Mountain leisurely." is a famous line about chrysanthemums. After an appointment at dusk, picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence is a description of Li Qingzhao's lonely state of mind. Ancient literati like to quote famous quotes when writing lyrics, and this Dongli is a clear proof that the yellow flower is the chrysanthemum.

On the Double Ninth Festival, when I admire chrysanthemums alone in the dusk, I am accompanied by the fragrance of chrysanthemums, but on the day of reunion when dogwood trees are planted everywhere and one person is missing, my lover cannot be seen. The west wind blows through the beautiful chrysanthemums. Although they are noble and beautiful, the chrysanthemums will wither once the Double Ninth Festival is over. Thinking of the lonely Li Qingzhao, he naturally compared himself to a chrysanthemum, which caused his body to become thin due to longing.

Combining the above three points with the custom of admiring and wearing flowers during the Song Dynasty, chrysanthemums are elegant and noble flowers, and they are the yellow flowers in Li Qingzhao's "People are thinner than yellow flowers". It is undoubtedly referring to Huanghua.