The Problem of Hua Zhongyan's Annotation and a Plausible Interpretation of "Flower Patterns" in Zhang Mi's Liu Zhi

Abstract

Hua Zhongyan's Annotation of Songs Among the Flowers greatly influences Huajian Ji's study. For the annotation of Zhang Mi's Liu Zhi, Hua Zhongyan interprets that the phrase "flower patterns" implies the flowerlike textures sewed on the pillow. I found Hua Zhongyan's interpretation feasible but less correlative to this specific verse because he seems to ignore the criterion of judging a song lyric and how a huajian ci is supposed to achieve in order to make itself unique from palace poetry. We are responsible for seeking a more plausible interpretation of the "flower patterns" to understand better why Chinese literati value the image of "fallen petals" and associate it with the comprehension of the universe and what interest the Huajian Ji refers to palace poetry but has its own improvements. I firstly criticized Hua Zhongyan's inappropriate annotation and provided some pieces of evidence. Then, I stated that Zhang Mi's "flower patterns" represent the "fallen petals" instead of the textures on the pillow.