#67 Inseparable Trees of Love
Enchanting descriptions of love can be found in Mandarin language that makes it a beautiful language that is worth studying for a foreigner.
𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖑𝖎𝖓𝖊 of an article from 中新网 (Chinanews.com) reads (see above) :
"闽台佳偶武夷山玉女峰下喜结连理" i.e.
"The happy couple from Fujian and Taiwan are blissfully bonded like interlocked branches from two trees under the Jade Maiden Peak of Wuyi Mountains."
What the headline is depicting is that there was a collective wedding held under Jade Maiden Peak 玉女峰 and one couple arrived at the scene on a bamboo raft.
Where are the Wuyi Mountains? They are a mountain range located in the northern Fujian province of China, and I actually wrote in a Substack post about its significance during the Oct meeting btw US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
I translated 喜结连理 literally as "blissfully bonded like interlocked branches from two trees" but it really means "tying the knot." Here 连理 is the abbreviation of 连理枝 i.e. interlocked branches. Of course, the significance of this allusion is the well wishing for a marriage to become eternal for the couple just the tree branches are interlocked and cannot be separated. But one might wonder : is it possible for such a tree to exist?
Some botanists speculate that in windy weather, trees could see its bark being blown off over time. The wind could also blow the branches of two trees to be near each other, and hence the branches' formative layers came into contact together and just like the principle of grafting, the closer they are together, the more likely they are to grow together. So such trees do exist but they are rare.
Indeed, there are such trees in Duxiu Garde, Taihao Mausoleum Scenic Spot, Huaiyang, Henan province of China (河南淮阳太昊陵景区的独秀园) as depicted in the above. The memorial stone in the photo also captures the origin of the word 连理枝 which was in a very famous poem 长恨歌 (The song of everlasting regret) written by well-acclaimed Tang poet Bai Juyi 白居易:
"在天愿作比翼鸟，在地愿为连理枝" " i.e. (my translation)
"In heavenly sky let us be two lovebirds flying ever together, and on earth two trees with branches interlocked forever. "
比翼鸟 is actually a legendary bird that had any eye and a wing, and so it requires a male and female bird to fly together as shown below.
I think such allusion is very beautiful as it paints a picture of a married couple that will never separate from one another come what may. You will also find that #Mandarin language is alluring as the characters themselves easily invoke the right side of the brain to deliver the image.
Below are more blissful pictures from the collective wedding (copyrighted to Chinanews.com)
