The art of Chinese flower arranging originated 1500 years ago. Flower arrangements were used for festivals and as religious offering, place decorations, and expressions of scholarly appreciation. Eventually the art form grew to be so popular that a special day was set aside each year in mid-February as the "Birthday of Flowers" and became the nation's second most celebrated annual holiday.
Flower arranging reached the peak of its popularity in the Song Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.) for by then it was no longer the privilege of the upper class, as it had been during the Tang Dynasty (617-907 A.D.), but was embraced as well by the common people. It subsequently became accepted as one of four essential crafts (along with burning incense, making tea, and appreciating painting) that all cultured people were expected to learn. At the time of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.) it became fully professionalized, complete with text books, trained teachers. During this era, too, the form changed towards a preference for potted plants that could be made into living compositions.
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