Understanding the Peony Letter in Heze

HEZE, Shandong Province — In the heart of China’s famed peony-growing region, a symbolic letter has arrived in Heze, carrying both botanical heritage and cultural resonance as part of a nationwide effort to celebrate and preserve the legacy of the牡丹 — the peony — as a living emblem of Chinese civilization.

The letter, referred to locally as the “Peony Letter” (牡丹来信), was delivered to officials and cultural workers in Heze on April 18, 2026, marking a renewed initiative by provincial cultural authorities to deepen public engagement with the flower’s historical, artistic, and ecological significance. Heze, long recognized as the “Capital of Peonies,” has cultivated the flower for over 1,500 years and remains the nation’s largest center for peony breeding, exhibition, and cultural programming.

According to Chu Xiaoliang, a cultural commentator contributing to Xinhua’s “Xinhua Zoubi” series, the letter is not a formal decree but a curated narrative piece designed to invite reflection on how the peony continues to shape regional identity and national cultural confidence. Writing from Heze, Chu described the letter as a “quiet invitation” to citizens, artists, educators, and environmental stewards to reconsider the peony not merely as a ornamental plant, but as a vessel of philosophical ideals — resilience, modesty, and enduring beauty — deeply embedded in Chinese aesthetics and literature.

The initiative coincides with the annual Heze International Peony Festival, which in 2026 opened on April 10 and is scheduled to run through May 10. This year’s festival features over 1,200 varieties of peonies across 600 hectares of display gardens, drawing an estimated 2.1 million visitors in the first two weeks alone, according to preliminary figures from the Heze Bureau of Culture and Tourism.

Local officials emphasized that the Peony Letter is part of a broader strategy to integrate intangible cultural heritage with ecological conservation. In recent years, Heze has expanded its efforts to protect heirloom peony strains through gene banks, supported by the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, while also promoting traditional crafts such as peony petal tea, silk embroidery, and ink painting workshops tied to the flower’s seasonal cycles.

“The peony is more than a flower,” said Zhang Weimin, director of the Heze Peony Culture Research Institute, in a statement to Xinhua on April 15. “It is a historical text written in petals. When we read the Peony Letter, we are not just reading words — we are tracing centuries of poetic expression, imperial patronage, and folk wisdom that have grown alongside these blooms.”

The letter itself, printed on handmade Xuan paper using traditional ink techniques, includes excerpts from classical poets such as Li Bai and Liu Yuxi, alongside contemporary reflections from farmers, artisans, and schoolchildren in Heze. It was circulated initially among cultural institutions in Jinan, Qingdao, and Qufu before arriving in Heze as the symbolic endpoint of a provincial cultural relay.

Shandong Province has designated the peony as a provincial cultural icon since 2018, and Heze’s role in safeguarding its genetic and cultural diversity has been highlighted in multiple national five-year plans for intangible heritage preservation. The 2026 campaign marks the first time a physical, letter-based artifact has been used as a central medium in this effort, blending analog tradition with modern outreach.

As the festival progresses, organizers plan to host public reading sessions of the Peony Letter in community centers, schools, and garden pavilions, encouraging visitors to contribute their own reflections in response. These responses will be compiled into a digital archive to be launched later in 2026, creating a living dialogue between past and present interpretations of the flower’s meaning.

For residents of Heze, the arrival of the Peony Letter is both an honor and a reminder of stewardship. “We grow the peonies,” said Li Hua, a third-generation peony farmer in Cao County, “but the letter reminds us that we are also keeping alive a story much larger than any single garden.”

The Peony Letter remains on display at the Heze Peony Museum through the duration of the festival, after which it will be transferred to the Shandong Provincial Museum for long-term preservation as part of the province’s cultural heritage collection.