水陸草木之花，可愛者甚蕃。晉陶淵明獨愛菊。自李唐來，世人盛愛牡丹。予獨愛蓮之出淤泥而不染，濯清漣而不妖，中通外直，不蔓不枝，香遠益清，亭亭凈植，可遠觀而不可褻玩焉。 　　予謂菊，花之隱逸者也；牡丹，花之富貴者也；蓮，花之君子者也。噫！菊之愛，陶后鮮有聞。蓮之愛，同予者何人?牡丹之愛，宜乎眾矣！ Thoughts on the love of the Lotus Flower Of all the flowers on water and land, a great many of them are lovely. Tao Yuanmin(365-427 AD), a poet in the Jin Dynasty, was only fond of the Chrysanthemum, From the Tang Dynasty onwards, people came to love the Peony. As for me, the Lotus is my favorite. Although it rises from the mud it never gets dirty, and although its beauty is spectacular in the pure water it is not showy. Although the stalk is hollow, it is straight and upright. There is neither sprawling nor branching out. It spreads an exquisite fragrance all around, the smell becomes more enjoyable at a distance. It stands quietly but elegantly. One can only appreciate its beauty from a distance and should never profane it by touching. It's my opinion that the Chrysanthemum is the most reclusive of all the flowers, the Peony is the flower of prosperity, whereas the Lotus is the gentleman of them all. Since the time of Tao Yuanming, Chrysanthemum lovers are rare, and I wonder who shares the same passion with me in loving the Lotus? Naturally there are a lot of Peony lovers.