It is either a peony or a plum blossom, or it may be the "double national flower".

Sixty-two academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Engineering, headed by my country's famous flower expert Chen Junyu, jointly signed the initiative, calling for the peony and plum blossom to be designated as my country's "double national flowers" as soon as possible. In addition, online voting showed that 38% of netizens supported the peony as the national flower, and 35% of the netizens supported the plum blossom as the national flower ("Market News" first page on September 21, 2005). Although there were votes, there was no majority in favor! There are only a few days left in 2008. If the peony has been confirmed as the national flower, various media should have a decent publicity and action, but so far we have not seen it.