Qing and the Poet’s Spleen

The connection between qing and the “poet’s spleen” can be traced back to a poem by the poet-monk Guanxiu 貫休 (832–913) from the late Tang.

In this poem, the idea of qingqi 清氣, or “qi of purity (qing),” invoked at the beginning refers to a cosmological qi that pervades “heaven and earth” which is transmitted by “sages and worthies.” Out of thousands of people, only a rare few are able to attain it—“one who understands the tone” (zhiyin 知音), as in the allusion to the legendary Zhong Ziqi 鐘子期 in the final line. Guanxiu depicts qingqi here as an acquirable quality for poets, and he even identified the vessel of this qi as the spleens of poets. The reference to the blossom here likely indicates chrysanthemums, since the line “times of blossoming and of leaves falling” suggests an autumnal context. Yet the poem does not state that qingqi is directly related to chrysanthemums, nor does it necessarily pertain to any particular kind of source.

This literary trope is not merely a rhetorical device born of Guanxiu’s imagination. The spleen’s role in receiving qi is extensively elaborated in medical texts. According to the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon (Huangdi neijing 黃帝內經), the spleen transforms consumed food and drink into qi, and “the fragrance [of food] enters the spleen” (xiang ru pi 香入脾). The “fragrance” here can refer to the pleasant aroma of grains, the scent of plants, and even the smell of animal fats.Footnote ⁶ Meanwhile, the Inner Canon also holds that “the spleen stores ideas” (pi cang yi 脾藏意) and “the spleen governs thoughts” (pi zhu si 脾主思).Footnote ⁷ When the spleen fails to effectively metabolize liquids and qi, individuals can fall into an unclear state of mind. This forms the theoretical basis for connecting the spleen with thinking and expression. Interestingly, this has been proven by modern medicine: the spleen undertakes the function of digesting food and absorbing nutrients, while there is a close functional connection between the brain and the digestive tract.Footnote ⁸ So, it is scientifically proven that the functioning of the spleen affects a person’s cognitive activity.

In the Tang dynasty, this is the only surviving example that depicts qingqi entering the “poet’s spleen.” In and shortly after Guanxiu’s time, this literary trope was not widely utilized, possibly due to the lesser attention to the works of poet-monks.Footnote ⁹ By the Song dynasty, although the corpus of such examples was not extensive, this poetic rhetoric had gained greater popularity. For instance, Mei Yaochen 梅堯臣 (1002–1060) clearly alludes to Guanxiu in one of his couplets, “The predecessors once left words, / Like the qi of purity (qing) diffused into one’s spleen” (前輩嘗有言, 清氣散人脾).Footnote ¹⁰ Another Northern Song poet, Mao Pang 毛滂 (1060–?), also frequently used the terms qing and “spleen” together in his poetry, linking them to the capacity for poetic composition.

In this poem, Mao Pang compares Mr. Cao’s poetry to the works of Cao Zhi 曹植 (192–232, courtesy name Zijian) and Di Renjie 狄仁傑 (630–704, courtesy name Huaiying). Mao says his friend’s talent is like a pure (qing) breeze voluntarily entering his spleen, while Mao himself is like a “vile tree,” an image from Guanxiu’s poem, which probably refers to plant with an unpleasant odor. So, in comparison, Mao no longer sees the need for composing poetry himself, which is a form of self-deprecation. It is worth noting that the two figures whom Mao mentions, Cao Zhi and Di Renjie, both experienced mistreatment and exile. This aligns with the sentiment in Guanxiu’s poem that those who inherited the virtues of the sagely predecessors were few and often misunderstood by others.

At the same time, the connotation of qing became increasingly associated with flowers. Here is another poem by Mao Pang.

When the poet was brewing floral tea in the heavy snow, the fragrance purifies his poetic lines and his spleen, which reminds him of soul-summoning (zhaohun 招魂) in Chuci 楚辭. According to Nicholas Morrow Williams, in Chuci, the fragrance of flowers is a metaphorical emblem of inner virtue in gentlemen, and from a religious perspective, fragrant flowers serve a practical function in attracting one’s soul to return to the body.Footnote ¹³ Here, the specific type of flower for brewing tea is not mentioned, but the fragrance evokes memories of spring. It shows that from Guanxiu to Mao Pang, the notion of qingqi increasingly came to denote a floral fragrance that acts upon the spleen—a shift closely related to Song-dynasty medical theory.

During the thirteenth century, the Treatise on the Spleen and Stomach (Piwei lun 脾胃論) by Li Gao 李杲 (1180–1251) lays the foundation for one of the major schools of Chinese medicine and places the spleen at the forefront. According to this text, after food and drink enter the stomach, they are transformed into qi to sustain the body, and the ascending qi is known as qingqi. It moves up to the spleen, and its essence is distributed throughout the lungs, which relate to one’s utterances.Footnote ¹⁴ This new development in medical theory not only linked the spleen more closely with qingqi, but also accorded it a position of profound influence over human thought and emotion.Footnote ¹⁵ As a result, the connections among the spleen, qingqi, ideas, emotions, and words became deeply intertwined. That is to say, certain food can nourish the spleen to distribute qingqi, which in turn transforms into ideas and words.

In addition to medical texts, in intellectual history, Daoxue 道學 (“Learning of the Way”) scholars also used qingqi to represent positive moral and intellectual qualities in human beings. According to Peter Bol, the most important Daoxue scholar Cheng Yi 程頤 (1033–1107) understands qi as what “mediates the relationship between innate values and man’s consciousness.”Footnote ¹⁶ People differ in wisdom and interests because their qi varies, and Cheng associated qingqi with virtue, talent, and sagehood. Another key figure, Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200), promoted qi in Neo-Confucian ideas of self-cultivation. He regarded qi as a kind of endowment that every person and everything possesses, and the different endowment of qi shapes one’s capacity or talent. The purer one’s qi is, the better its manifestation is, which can be improved through self-cultivation practices in daily lives.Footnote ¹⁷ Zhen Dexiu 真德秀 (1178–1235), using Guanxiu’s line, specifically argued that once the qi of purity was internalized, it became an inner virtue that could manifest differently in each person; for example, a skilled poet could express this quality through his poetry.

The convergence of Song-dynasty medical discourse and Neo-Confucian reflections on qi gave rise to a heightened interest in the process of qingqi entering the spleen. Shaped by all these factors, the idea of qingqi and the spleen became bound up with poetic self-cultivation. As a result, the concept of the poet’s spleen became more abstract and conceptualized. In Quan Song shi 全宋詩, the term “poet’s spleen” (shiren pi 詩人脾) only appears four times while “poetic spleen” (shipi 詩脾) appears thirty-two times. This signifies that the “spleen” had shifted from a specific organ and location in the human body to a poetic idea, namely a reference to one’s poetic talent and inspiration. In short, the alignment of the philosophical idea of qing and spleen-centered medical theories fostered its transformation into a literary concept within Song literati culture.

The Plum Blossom Gourmets

Motivated by the belief that qingqi refines poetic composition, the literati were no longer content with the ineffable qi of the cosmos; rather, they endeavored to generate it and consciously inhale it. The practice of ingesting floral fragrance—particularly that of plum blossoms, therefore flourished. As Bickford has observed, plum blossoms were emblematic of qing aesthetics at that time: “literati were drawn to plum blossoms both by sensibility and by situation. The plain elegance, refinement, and aloof sensuality of meihua appealed to their taste. Its radiant purity embodied their ideals.”Footnote ¹⁹ Therefore, the fragrance of plum blossoms became especially cherished in many aspects of literati life. For example, aromatic recipes experienced a “floral turn” in the Song dynasty that emulates the fragrance of flowers, dominated by the aroma of plum blossoms. In Chen Jing’s 陳敬 (?–?) Newly Compiled Incense Catalogue (Xinzuan xiangpu 新纂香譜), thirty-two out of eighty-five floral scent recipes are associated with plum blossoms.Footnote ²⁰ This reveals the transformation of the plum blossom from a cultural signifier into a sensuous, consumable object that intertwines with the human body.

To fully internalize the qing beauty, Song literati also developed the idea of eating the flowers, thereby embodying their aesthetic qualities in a more intimate manner. In existing records, it was first mentioned in poetry from the eleventh century. Wang Gui 王珪 (1019–1085), in his poem “Plum Blossoms,” has a couplet that reads, “The cold fragrance seems to reach the bones, / its jade-like dazzle is almost palatable” (冷香疑到骨, 瓊豔幾堪餐).Footnote ²¹ It states that the beauty of the plum blossom is such that it “almost” seems edible. The critic Fang Hui 方回 (1227–1305) praised this couplet by saying, “Its fragrance ‘reaches the bones’ and its dazzle is ‘palatable.’ The first ten characters of this poem are already not slack.”Footnote ²² Apparently, Fang reads the reference to eating plum blossoms as creative poetic language. The wording here indeed appears to be more of a literary technique, while the following lyric by Su Shi 蘇軾 (1037–1101) describes a scene with more concrete details of eating.

This set of lyrics was written in 1081 in Huangzhou and depicts glimpses of Su Shi’s life during his exile. This particular lyric is the second of five in the series, composed during the banquet. In the second half, Su Shi writes about drinking ale with fresh winter vegetables and fragrant “plum whiskers.” He especially notes the delicate fragrance of the latter, which conveys an atmosphere of refined elegance.

Yang Wanli, the last major poet of the Southern Song, was particularly fond of this topic.Footnote ²⁶ In his first poetic collection, the Collection of Rivers and Lakes (Jianghu ji 江湖集), there is a series titled “Uncle Changying, the Prefect, celebrated New Year. We Wrote on Plum Blossoms in a Bottle. At that time, Nine People at the Gathering Wrote Seven Poems.”Footnote ²⁷ The title suggests that possibly not all the poems in this series were composed by Yang Wanli himself. However, the fourth poem is undoubtedly his, as he provided a self-annotation for this one alone. The second half of this quatrain reads, “What need have we for eating with fire and smoke? / Crushing plum blossoms mixed with honey frost” (吾人何用餐煙火, 揉碎梅花和蜜霜). To these lines is appended the self-annotation, “I took the sugar frost, mixed it with the plum blossoms to eat. Its flavor was like green plums soaked in honey, slightly bitter yet sweet” (予取糖霜, 芼以梅花食之。其香味如蜜漬青梅, 小苦而甘).Footnote ²⁸ Honeyed green plums were a snack available at the time, and Yang substituted plum fruit with plum blossoms. One of Yang’s other poems about eating ginkgo (yinxing 銀杏) has a line that reads, “The highest charm lies in being slightly bitter and subtly sweet” 小苦微甘韻最高.Footnote ²⁹ Yang pursued the subtle harmony between sweetness and bitterness, and the pairing of plum blossoms with sugar embodied this balance.

Another similar dish appears in a poem titled “Plum Blossoms Soaked in Honey” (Mizi meihua 蜜漬梅花) from Yang’s second collection, Collection of Jing Creek (Jingxi ji 荊溪集).

In both poems, Yang contrasted the plum blossom with “qi of smoke and fire” (yanhuo qi 煙火氣). He asserts that eating plum blossoms keeps one’s poetry unsullied by any mundane qi. His last line suggests that such poetry would attain a high literary status, worthy of being considered part of the lineage of Du Fu 杜甫 (712–770). He uses the phrase “ascending the altar of Shaoling” to signify the elevated status of Du Fu’s poetry, thereby conferring a sense of distinction upon the poetic lines composed after consuming plum blossoms.

For Yang Wanli, the impulse to eat plum blossoms also arises from his admiration of their winter blooming. It reflects a reverence for their resilience in the face of cold. In his third collection, the Collection of Returning to the West (Xigui ji 西歸集), he dedicated more poems to consuming plum blossoms in a series named “Uncle Qingchang Invited Me for a Drink. Before Finishing One Cup, the Sound of Snowfall Became Intense. I Sat on the Mat as My Brush Moved to Compose Ten Poems.” The title suggests that this poetic sequence was written with a sense of compulsion and inspired by fleeting moments.Footnote ³¹ This poetic approach is often tied to the form of grouped poems.Footnote ³² Two of the ten poems directly mention consuming plum blossoms.

No.7

No.9

Poem seven describes plum blossoms dipped in white sugar, recreating the poetic imagery of flowers covered with frost. In poem nine, Yang writes about soaking plum blossoms in ale, praising not only their fragrance but also their snow-like beauty. As a matter of fact, all ten of these quatrains center on plum blossoms amid snowy weather. They vividly portray the harsh conditions of winter, such as biting winds strong enough to topple screens and snow so sharp it pierces through curtains. Yet the poet delights in the sight of plum blossoms blown by the wind and covered with snow, and feels regret when the snow melts. He ventures outdoors in the freezing cold to admire the blossoms, carefully plucking them without shaking off the snow clinging to the petals. The beauty of the plum blossom is thus inseparable from its wintry setting—a harmony between fragility and resilience. Notably, two of the poems explicitly invoke the concept of qing (the fourth and eighth poems), highlighting how the blossoms’ purity and their pure seasonal context are central to their allure.

No.4

No.8

Yang’s plum blossom dishes come in other varieties as well. His Collection of Jing Creek also has a poem for making congee with a similar flower, wintersweet (蠟梅 lamei), titled “A Sigh for the Fallen Wintersweet” (Luomei youtan 落梅有歎). Unlike the modern Linnaean system of classification, Chinese exhibits a certain linguistic fungibility when referring to plants with similar morphological features. For example, lamei is also abbreviated as “plum” (mei).Footnote ³⁵ The wintersweet blooms in the last lunar month (layue 臘月 or 蠟月), hence its name. Another reason these flowers are called lamei is because they are yellow in color, similar to “beeswax” (la 蠟). But, despite their botanical differences, literati often did not distinguish between the two in poetry, as both are fragrant and similar in floral shape and petal texture. Moreover, both carry the symbolic significance of blooming amidst adversity, which led them to merge as a single poetic image.

The last line of this poem connects the fallen plum blossoms with incense burning. Given that most incense recipes replicating plum fragrance omitted the blossoms themselves—substituting ingredients such as sandalwood—this line can be read as a subtle valorization of using real petals to evoke plum aroma, particularly in culinary settings.

A search of Quan Song shi reveals that, among extant poetic works, Yang Wanli stands out as the poet who wrote most extensively about eating plum blossoms. Although he never explicitly stated why he consumed them, he implied that doing so was a way to internalize their pure beauty that blooms despite the harsh environment. He even suggested that ingesting them could purge a poem of worldly qi of smoke and fire, allowing the writer to ascend to Du Fu’s poetic altar. Taken together, these examples show that Yang placed equal weight on the aesthetic and symbolic qualities of plum blossoms and on their culinary potentials—two dimensions that, for him, were fused inseparably.

For the Rivers and Lakes poets, eating plum blossoms evolved from fusing its aesthetic and culinary values to enhance one’s poetic talent.Footnote ³⁷ In other words, eating plum blossoms was portrayed almost as a magic elixir for crafting fine poetry. This paragraph from Wei Ju’an’s 韋居安 (fl. 1272–1276) Remarks on Poetry from Plum Brook (Meijian shihua 梅磵詩話) groups together verses on this topic by several of contemporary poets. It is extremely important in this discussion, because it shows how this trope was characteristically employed in the poetry of the period.

This anecdote begins with Zhao Shixiu 趙師秀 (1170–1220), who, when asked about the secret to composing poetry, jokingly suggested eating “several pecks of plum blossoms.” The hyperbolic remark implies that doing so makes one’s heart “exquisite” (linglong), allowing poetry to arise naturally. The word linglong 玲瓏, literally meaning “ingeniously and delicately wrought,” functions here as a vivid metaphor. It evokes an image of the heart as a finely structured object, suggesting a mind of subtlety and refinement.Footnote ⁴⁰ In this context, the exquisite structure of the heart refers less to anatomy or physiology than to the cultivated poetic mind. Zhao’s point, then, is that plum blossoms could open the heart to poetic inspiration—a highly distinctive statement of the flower’s transformative power.

The lines quoted after this statement demonstrate how a group of literati fancied that feeding on plum blossoms could transform the delicate fragrance into poetic beauty. The lines included here, although ostensibly about eating plum blossoms, do not mention their flavor, while their texture can be inferred by Liu Han and Luo Yi’s use of the term jue 嚼 (“nibble”).Footnote ⁴¹ The petals have little texture, and the only parts that could be chewed are likely the calyx and the pistil. The term “nibble” reflects the fact that plum blossoms are not particularly smooth to chew and swallow. The absence of gustatory descriptions indicates that poets eat plum blossoms almost solely for their fragrance, and its symbolic pure beauty. As an edible object, plum blossoms neither appease hunger nor qualify as delicious. Yet, literati chose to eat them precisely because of their cultural resonance and aesthetic appeal. In other words, this eating habit transcends basic human needs, and those who adopt it intend to show off their extraordinary taste and have a steadfast goal of excelling in writing poetry.

For the group of literati cited in Remarks on Poetry from Plum Brook, four of the five poets are Rivers and Lakes poets, excluding Du. As a matter of fact, consuming plum blossoms was often mentioned in Rivers and Lakes poetry. According to Zhang Hongsheng 張宏生, the poetry of the Rivers and Lakes poets is characterized by their abundant use of the word qing, and the love of the plum blossom as a poetic image.Footnote ⁴² For example, another Rivers and Lakes poet Zhao Rusui 趙汝燧 (1172–1246) has a couplet that reads, “When I hold its fragrance in my mouth and chew its pistil, the purity (qing) is overwhelming, / Then they diffuse into my liver and spleen, and all become poetry” (含香嚼蕊清無奈, 散入肝脾盡是詩)Footnote ⁴³. The first line of the couplet portrays chewing plum blossoms as the very process of internalizing qing beauty, whereas the second line, through its allusion to Guanxiu’s poem, specifically describes the fragrance as being transformed into poetry in one’s liver and spleen. We can see that the Rivers and Lakes poets further developed the idea of eating plum blossoms, and they explicitly depict the ingestion of plum blossoms as a means of embracing qing—which, through the spleen, was then turned into poetic lines of pure beauty.

One criticism of this cultural phenomenon was by the scholar-official Fang Mengzhong 方蒙仲 (1214–1261). In his “Matching Liu Houcun’s ‘A Hundred Verses on Plum Blossoms: 48,’” Fang employs a playful tone to satirize the prevailing trend of swallowing plum blossoms as a poetic pursuit.Footnote ⁴⁴

Fang Mengzhong states that even if one swallows the extremely pure (qingjue 清絕) plum blossoms and hopes its quality can enter the spleen, it does not necessarily improve one’s poetic works. Fang regarded such shortcut-seeking—even, one might say, showy—behavior as a profanation of the purity of the plum blossom, and he suggested those mediocre poets should leave the plum blossoms alone. Since those who indulged in eating plum blossoms, the Rivers and Lakes poets, were mostly favor-seekers, Fang may be using this poem to show his disdain for them and their literary productions. This indirectly shows that the trend of eating plum blossoms had captured the attention of literati across various social strata during the Southern Song, and this practice was indeed seen as representative of certain literati and their works.

Plum Blossom Recipes in a Cookbook

The Rivers and Lakes poet Lin Hong brought this taste to an extreme in his cookbook Pure Offerings in the Mountains (Shanjia qinggong 山家清供). In this text that promotes qing aesthetics in gastronomy, among the 104 recipes, twelve of them are about the plum blossom. Given that Pure Offerings rarely features ingredients more than once, plum blossoms receive disproportionate attention.Footnote ⁴⁶ One of these recipes, “Plum Blossoms Soaked in Honey” (Mizi meihua 蜜漬梅花), quotes Yang Wanli’s aforementioned poem with the same title and then shares Lin’s way of making this dish.

In this recipe, Lin Hong begins with Yang Wanli’s poem, but the cooking method described later differs. Yang’s approach is preserving plum blossoms and snow water together in a jar, so that the retrieved plum blossoms appear “dewy,” and then dipping them in honey before eating. Lin Hong’s recipe, on the other hand, is more complicated in the culinary sense. It involves marinating the pulp and flowers of the plum along with snow water in a clay pot overnight, followed by soaking them in honey, and he recommends serving them with alcohol. Adding the pulp of plum fruit provides this dish with more texture. Building on the aesthetic significance of consuming plum blossoms, Lin Hong attempts to make the dish more enjoyable from a culinary perspective. While the recipe’s focus on consumption appears to center on the fruit pulp, Lin still uses the title of Yang’s poem, “Plum Blossoms Soaked in Honey,” thereby drawing attention back to the flowers. In other words, although the culinary value of plum blossoms may not equal that of the fruit, by quoting Yang Wanli, Lin Hong endorsed this method as a means to elevate the quality of one’s poetry. Therefore, although Lin’s recipe is not a poem, it reflects how he, as a Rivers and Lakes poet, subscribes to the aesthetic and literary pursuits of this poetic network.

Lin Hong also claimed to be a recluse and descendant of the famous Northern Song plum blossom recluse-poet Lin Bu 林逋 (967–1028). Therefore, he also sought to enhance this association and to elevate his own status by composing and promoting plum blossom recipes.Footnote ⁴⁸ As a native of Quanzhou in Fujian, Lin Hong records that on Mount Zimao (literally “Mount Purple Hat”), there was a so-called “master”—perhaps a recluse—who once created a dish called “Plum Blossom Noodle Soup” (Meihua tangbing 梅花湯餅) which Lin then associates with Hangzhou.

Here, the use of plum blossoms again centers on their fragrance, while their visual beauty is conveyed through the refined craft of the noodles. The flower-shaped noodles floating in chicken broth evoke the image of plum blossoms drifting upon West Lake. In describing the reclusive master who “even in a single bite, does not forget the plum blossom,” Lin Hong is not only praising the master but also articulating his own pursuit. Through the poem quoted at the end, we see that for literati like Lin Hong, the act of consuming a plum blossom dish had become part of a distinctive aesthetic taste, a cultivated way of life, an expression of self-identity, and a marker of cultural lineage.

Literati held such affection for plum blossoms that they felt tender pity for the fallen ones and turned them into ingredients. Another recipe by Lin Hong, “Plum Petal Congee” (Meizhou 梅粥) quotes Yang Wanli’s “Sighs for the Fallen Wintersweet” that was discussed earlier. Before quoting Yang, Lin summarizes his own recipe in one sentence.

Yang’s poem is part of an important literary motif, with countless poems titled “Plum Blossoms Are Falling” (Meihua luo 梅花落) and “Falling Plum Blossoms” (Luomei 落梅) since the early medieval period, not to mention the numerous poems that contain these phrases. The tradition of fallen plum blossoms can be traced back to Xie Tiao’s 謝朓 (464–499) “Poem on Falling Blossoms” (Yong luomei shi 詠落梅詩). It depicts the plum blossoms picked by a man and placed in the hair of a beauty. However, as evening arrives (symbolizing the beauty’s aging), the plum blossoms scatter, akin to the unattainable favor of the man. It suggests the frustration of a literatus falling out of favor.Footnote ⁵³ This poem also expresses the tension between the fallen plum blossoms and the wind, which is a longstanding literary theme. Yang Wanli once said that his favorite line from a plum blossom poem was the Tang poet Cui Rong’s 崔融 (653–706) “In the fragrance, there lies a distinct charm. / Pure (qing) to the utmost, it knows no cold” (香中別有韻, 淸極不知寒).Footnote ⁵⁴ The poem ends with “If the northern wind understands its intent, / Let it not cause any harm” (朔風如解意, 容易莫摧殘).Footnote ⁵⁵ Apart from the winter’s north wind, the spring’s east wind also signifies the end of the plum blossom’s fate. Plum blossoms and the east wind were generally used in poetry to express the contradictions between the literati and the ruling class.Footnote ⁵⁶ The famous Southern Song poet Lu You in his poem “Falling Plum Blossoms” also captures this theme.

At the end of winter in 1192, Lu You wrote two poems titled “Falling Plum Blossoms,” of which this is the first. In 1188, Lu You entered the court for the last time to take an official position, and the following year he was demoted and expelled for pointing out the ills of the times, retreating to his hometown Shanyin. In the poem, the plum blossoms, despite being in a harsh environment, prefer to drift away in winter rather than beg the Lord of the East, which is the god of spring, for mercy. By the time of his final failure to re-enter officialdom, Lu You was sixty-seven and he likely realized that he no longer had any opportunity to serve. Thus, he regarded the falling of plum blossoms as a symbol of the conclusion of both his career and his life. Its lifespan and morality—ending when the wind scatters its petals—further embodies its quality of qing.

“Falling plum blossoms” is a highly symbolic poetic image more often than it is a culinary reference to ingredients, but it recurs prominently and with emphasis in Pure Offerings. By devoting such extensive space to fallen plum blossoms, Lin Hong transformed his admiration for the moral virtues associated with the flower into dishes. Many plum blossom recipes in Lin Hong’s cookbook draw upon Yang Wanli’s poetry, yet Lin did not simply replicate the methods described in these poems. This approach is consistent with other recipes in his collection inspired by poetry: he used the cookbook as a vehicle for articulating aesthetics and values, emphasizing the ideas conveyed in the poems rather than adhering strictly to their culinary procedures. In this process, literati’s aesthetic and moral pursuits naturally permeated everyday life, transforming the act of eating from a basic human necessity into an expression of refined creativity. The term “pure offerings” in the title of Lin Hong’s cookbook suggests that each dish is conceived as a manifestation of purity in itself. Lin Hong’s recurrent inclusion of plum blossoms—culinarily an uncommon ingredient—highlights his commitment to qing aesthetics in gastronomy.