My FF Fraternity’s Chinese name is LAN SHI meaning: ” A GATHERING OF ORCHIDS ” “Why are orchids considered so precious in Chinese Culture? Please give some historic background or significant stories we all should know about orchids.” – Billy Lee  June 15, 2025

CHATGPT : Orchids are deeply revered in Chinese culture, not only for their delicate beauty and fragrance but also for the profound symbolic meanings they have carried for over two millennia. They are one of the “Four Gentlemen” (四君子) in Chinese art and philosophy—alongside bamboo, chrysanthemum, and plum blossom—each representing noble virtues admired in scholars and moral individuals.


🌸 Why Orchids Are So Precious in Chinese Culture:

1. Symbol of Virtue and Integrity

  • Orchids symbolize purity, humility, and elegance. They often grow in secluded valleys and emit fragrance even when no one is around to admire them, representing people of high moral character who do good without seeking recognition.

2. Confucius’ Praise

  • Confucius (孔子), the great philosopher, is one of the earliest known admirers of orchids. He famously said:

“The orchid grows in the solitude of the forest and does not lose its fragrance. The virtuous person maintains his integrity even in difficult times.”
(“兰生于深林,不以无人而不芳。”)

  • He used orchids to describe noble friendship and virtue. To Confucius, being with good people was like walking into a room full of orchids—quiet, refined, and morally uplifting.

3. Taoist and Poetic Reverence

  • In Taoist thought, orchids represent natural harmony, simplicity, and spiritual growth.
  • Many ancient poets like Tao Yuanming (陶渊明) and Qu Yuan (屈原) praised orchids in their verses. Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet from the Warring States Period, often used the orchid as a metaphor for loyalty and unwavering principles in the face of political corruption.

📜 Historic Stories and Associations

1. Qu Yuan and the Orchid

  • In his poem Li Sao (离骚), Qu Yuan repeatedly mentions orchids:

“I wore fragrant orchids to show my innocence.”

  • This use of the orchid became a powerful metaphor for moral resistance and inner purity, especially under unjust governments.

2. The Orchid Pavilion Gathering (兰亭集会)

  • In 353 AD, a famous literary event occurred at the Orchid Pavilion (Lanting), organized by Wang Xizhi, the master calligrapher. He and his scholar friends gathered to drink wine and compose poetry. His masterpiece, the Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion (兰亭序), is one of the greatest works in Chinese calligraphy.
  • The gathering symbolized harmony with nature, friendship, the fleetingness of life, and cultured elegance—all associated with the orchid.

🖌 In Chinese Painting and Calligraphy

  • Orchids are a favorite subject of ink brush painting, especially in literati art. Their graceful leaves and blossoms are challenging to paint, requiring sensitivity and control.
  • Painting orchids became a practice in self-cultivation, reflecting the painter’s spirit and ethical temperament.

🎎 Cultural Symbolism

Symbolic MeaningExplanation
Nobility & MoralityReflects upright character, like a noble person in seclusion.
FriendshipGentle, unselfish, sincere—often used in poetry about ideal companions.
Modesty & BeautyNot flamboyant, but quietly beautiful and enduring.
LoyaltyEspecially when facing adversity, as shown in Qu Yuan’s poetry.

🌿 Summary

The orchid in Chinese culture is much more than a flower—it is a moral and aesthetic ideal. It represents a person who is refined, loyal, modest, and virtuous, even when unrecognized or isolated. From Confucius to calligraphers, from ancient poets to modern admirers, orchids have remained a timeless symbol of inner strength and quiet beauty.


🌸 “The Orchid and the Empty Valley”

A Story of Quiet Strength and True Character

Once upon a time in ancient China,

in the misty folds of the southern mountains, there was a deep, hidden valley. The valley was quiet and untouched, far from the noise of kingdoms and courts. In this lonely place, a single orchid bloomed.

It was not large or brightly colored. No passerby ever came to admire it. Yet every morning, it released a delicate fragrance into the cool mountain air, as if the forest itself were being blessed by its presence.

In a nearby town, a proud young scholar named Liang was preparing for the imperial exams. He dressed finely, spoke loudly, and made sure everyone saw how hard he worked and how clever he was. “Greatness must be seen to be known,” he would often boast.

One day, Liang passed through the forest on his way to a temple to pray for success. As he climbed the mountain path, he caught the faint scent of something unusual—soft and sweet. Curious, he followed the trail until he came upon the orchid blooming quietly between two rocks.

He frowned. “Such beauty, and no one here to witness it? What a waste.”

An old hermit, who had been watching from nearby, stepped out of the trees.

“Why do you think beauty must be seen to be real?” the hermit asked.

Liang replied, “Because what is not seen or praised might as well not exist.”

The hermit smiled and said, “Then you have not yet understood the orchid.”

He sat down beside it and continued:

“This flower blooms for no reward. Its fragrance fills the air whether a thousand admire it or no one at all. It is like the noble person, who remains kind and true even in loneliness. That is the strength of real character.”

The scholar was quiet for a moment.

He returned to town, and over the next months, his pride softened. He began helping others with their studies, even those who might do better than him. He stopped boasting and began reflecting. His words became fewer—but truer.

When the day of the imperial exam came, he passed with high honors. Yet when asked how he had achieved such success, Liang simply smiled and said:

“I once met a flower that bloomed in an empty valley and taught me the value of unseen goodness.”


🌱 Moral:

True character doesn’t need applause.
Like the orchid in the mountains, goodness is real—even in silence.


🌿 “The Gathering of Orchids”

A Story of Solitude, Fellowship, and Inner Light

Long ago in the Kingdom of Chu, there lived two orchids—one grew alone high in the cliffs, the other in a grove with many others near a quiet stream.

The Lone Orchid, known as Lan, was proud of her solitude.

“I bloom in silence, untouched by weeds or shallow praise,” she whispered to the wind.
“I do not need others to shine. My fragrance rises on the mountain air.”

Down in the valley, the Orchid Grove swayed together in the breeze. They laughed in the sunlight, caught morning dew together, and shared the shade of a willow tree.

One day, a great drought came. The mountains dried up. Streams vanished. Lan, the lone orchid, held on as long as she could. But the rocky cliffs offered no water, no cover from the heat, and no one to lean on.

In the valley below, the orchid grove suffered too—but they protected one another. The outer flowers shielded the younger ones from the sun. The roots tangled together underground, sharing moisture and strength. When rain finally came, most of the grove survived.

A few days later, a poet named Ziqi came to the mountain. He found the withered stem of Lan and a single petal still fragrant. He placed it in his scroll and sighed.

“How noble she was… but how lonely.”

Then he walked down to the valley and sat beside the living orchid grove. As the breeze carried their sweet scent, he began to write:

“One orchid may inspire,
But many orchids bring peace.
Alone, they show character.
Together, they create a garden of grace.”


🧠 Cultural Reflection:

Individual OrchidOrchid Grove
Symbol of personal virtueSymbol of community and harmony
Like the noble recluse (隐士) or upright official who resists corruptionLike the ideal Confucian society where good people support one another
Represents strength in solitudeRepresents strength in unity
Praised by poets like Qu Yuan for integrity under pressureCelebrated by Confucians for shared moral cultivation

🌸 Message for Teens:

  • It’s good to be strong and true on your own, like the orchid that blooms even in silence.
  • But don’t be afraid to join a community of others who also seek goodness.
  • Real strength is not just standing tall—but standing with others.
  • _______________________________________________________________________
  •  
    • PHOTOS OF DIFFERENT KINDS OFORCHIDS

FRIENDSHIP & COMMUNITY by

劉可強 Prof. John KC Liu  – June  15, 2025 – Taiwan, ROC

Re. This assignment 😜

Friendship and Community

A real, live and healthy community is most often not always harmonious and peaceful. There are fights and differences as in any family, competition for scarce resources such as bickering over funding for school lunches vs. elderly meals, spatial disputes among neighbors over parking spots and garbage disposal, presence of strangers and troublemakers requiring official intervention, etc. All these are normal aspects of a community. So, what is the role of friendship in a community? Resolving disputes requires mutual trust, arbitrating over limited resources requires reciprocity, mediating among different characters requires empathy.

Story:

An empty neighborhood site surrounded by various groups of residents with different cultural backgrounds became a garbage dump since the community was unable to agree on a plan for a neighborhood park. Something had gone wrong, and this community had become stagnant and unhealthy. 

The source of the problem was that different factions of the community were not speaking to each other. Older people, because they came from different cultural backgrounds, were set in their ways and reluctant to engage other people in the community. Young people, while they do make friends with fellow classmates of different backgrounds, most often they keep to their own cultural circle away from school. The issue is how to transcend cultural boundaries and encourage interaction and friendship among both adults and young people in order to jointly face the problem with the garbage dump site.

A neighborhood participatory design workshop was conducted wherein young people of the community played a key role in bringing different factions of the community together. Two particular activities are notable.  The first is to find common values about the environment. When people of different backgrounds were asked about what they liked and what they disliked about the neighborhood, most of them pretty much agreed on what’s good and what’s not so good. By presenting the results of this survey back to them, they were surprised by how much they have in common. That is, about the environment, they shared the same values. This was an important first step in engaging the different factions in speaking to each other and to appreciating each other’s values. This was the beginning of friendship among neighbors who had not talked to each other before.

The second activity was to engage young people in planning a new park for the site. Design teams composed of young people from different backgrounds came up with designs for the park and one was chosen by all those who participated to be implemented. For the first time young people of this community felt they could come together and collaborated on a common project and see it through to completion. In the process they formed strong bonds with each other. This helped enormously with the community self-management of the park, including resolving disputes, mediating conflicts, organizing maintenance, etc… in short, through bonding and the friendships that were developed over the course of jointly facing the issue of the garbage site, the community has reversed its stagnancy and began to return to a healthy and vibrant neighborhood.

This is a story of a concrete example of how friendship building is central to making healthy communities,

John

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MR. YIHUA XU’s RESPONSE TO  STERLING HARWOOD”S ‘The DARK SIDE OF FRIENDSAHIP’– June 11. 2025

I’ve finished reading the latest post for several times to make sure I grasped the idea.

It is indeed a much darker piece, and I see the different “layers” or “aspects” of “friendship” it conveys. And I agree with Harwood’s statement:

“Relying on mere friendship to get us out of this mess is, as a piece of friendly advice from me to you, naïvely and overly optimistic in a way that brings us right back to the critical thinking of Voltaire’s Candide. “

I’m an engineer and engineers have this habit of looking at or analyzing things in a more “cold blooded” scientific or “data driven” way.

Thus I look at this humanly term “friendship” in a way that — it is just a mutual emotional “deposit” and “withdrawal” interactions and dynamics between two human beings (or animals). It is part of the evolution to ensure the bigger goal of the entire species — whichever species evolve to have the least selfish or destructive behavior; it is more likely to survive long on earth.

Whenever we show kindness or help someone, it is a gesture of “depositing” something good into that person’s mind; whenever we do something bad to someone, it is also a gesture of “depositing” something bad into that person’s mind.

Humans (or more broadly, animals) are “mirrors” to each other — when someone did something good to me, I feel the need to pay him back; when someone did something bad to me, I want him pay too.

This comes (or evolved) no surprise, because this mirroring “Tit-for-tat” (or “deposit/withdraw”) behavior is actually the best strategy according to the Game Theory:

With this mental model set, we could now easily explain all the possible combinations or dynamics between all these layers or aspects or interactions in “friendship” — with some simple idea also brought from banking/economy:

Imagine there are A & B,

A continuously deposits lots of good things (love, money, education) into B;

Imagine B is the “bank” of A; Could A _not_ expect any return from B but just pure “investment”?

And if A _is_ in the end expecting some return, what is his expected “interest rate” or “ROI / Return On Investment”?

Is this expected “return” from A aligned with B’s or B’s capability to *deliver* that level of return?


Should B return less (lower interest rates) or pause returning when he is in more difficult situations — is that reasonable?

Should B return more when he is more capable, and in another tit-for-tac, A should also invest more? How much is “more”?

If B somehow not returning (or simply not able to return) “enough” according to A, was A exploited? Or Should A feel exploited?…

We could easy ask tons of questions and quickly they would just cover all the “aspects” or “layers” of “friendship”.

Just like the central bank raising or lowering “interest rates” — As Warren Buffet once said: “interest rates are like gravity”, during this mutual deposit-withdrawal, tit-for-tac interactions between human beings, the “interest rates” and the expected vs. actual acts like gravity curves the spacetime between A & B, this determined whether this “relationship” or “friendship” is a healthy one like the moon orbiting the earth, planets orbiting the sun; or collide and collapsed into a black hole.

On the other hand, with regards to the topic of God and time — I’m not religious despite my parents believe in Buddha 🙂 — I’m long fascinated by Einstein’s theory of relativity, which suggests that time is not a linear progression but rather a dimension of spacetime, implying that the past, present, and future exist simultaneously.

For example: when right here right now we stare deep into the night sky, we are actually seeing the “past” of many stars, their dying lights are just able to reach into our eyes after so long a journey in the universe or spacetime. And there are all the fancy phenomena about time dilation when objects speed up…

Hope all these fun thinking brings some amusement to you. Have a nice day!

Best,

Yihua ( From Beijing – June 11, 2025 )

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BILLY’s RESPONSE to YIHUA’s LETTER:

To me, YIHUA, you have been, most caring, kind, helpful, and “TOTALLY WARM BLOODED “

Cheers  with warm affection always,

Billy – June 11, 2025

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The Dark Side of Friendship© 2025 by Sterling Harwood, J.D., Ph.D.

“The wicked have only accomplices, the voluptuous have only companions in debauchery; self-seekers have only associates; politicians have only their factions; the generality of idle men has only connections; princes have only courtiers; virtuous men alone possess friends.” ~ Voltaire, The Philosophical Dictionary , last visited May 26, 2025. Voltaire certainly makes several good distinctions above, and he makes friendship sound so virtuous, how could I reasonably disagree with the likes of Voltaire? One of the nicer features of Philosophy, however, is its insistence that even the best philosophers – or philosophes, if you prefer that label for Voltaire – can and do make mistakes. Voltaire himself rightly poked fun at the great philosopher Leibniz by using the character Dr. Pangloss, who glossed over all the world’s ills with the motto and implication of his philosophy of religion that we live in the best of all possible worlds. After all, in traditional Western thought of Leibniz’s day and beyond, God is the perfect father who created the world and God is omniscient, omnipotent, and morally perfect – a loving God. Millions proclaim: “Jesus, he’s my friend” and “You’ve got a friend in Jesus.”


What could possibly go wrong with this sunny picture? First up is Butch Hancock, who said: ““Life in Lubbock, Texas taught me two things: One is that God loves you and you’re going to burn in hell. The other is that sex is the most awful, filthy thing on earth, and you should save it for someone you love.” https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/508980-life-in-lubbock-texas-taught-me-two-things-one-is, last visited May 26, 2025.


Millions or even billions fear God and even point to their fear as a source of pride: “I’m a God-fearing Christian.” I ask: “Is it consistent to fear the perfect man?” Why wouldn’t you trust the perfect man, who is your friend, to be at least fair and in all likelihood merciful and forgiving. Allowing or even causing the teeming billions of the Lord’s creations and friends to burn in hell forever surely seems strictly out of bounds.


This is a version of the so-called problem of evil. Theodicy is the field devoted to explaining away the problem of evil. One way is to say we are just in a test and those who pass the test get to go to heaven instead of roasting forever in hell. Why an omniscient being like God needs a test to get results is left unexplained? Some suggest free will is involved, specifically, that God loves us so much that he gave us a fair opportunity to earn a ticket to hell, and without warning us in the clearest of terms possible for an omnipotent being that such a fate awaits many or even almost all of us.


But let’s bring things back to earth. Next up in our list of witnesses is Jennifer Willoughby. She describes her experience, which I find eminently believable. Believe the women, some urge. So, let us at least try to do so. Here’s her story in a moving nutshell, the nub of her gist.


“[H]e could be kind and sensitive. And so I stayed. He cried and apologized. And so I stayed. He offered to get help and even went to a few counseling sessions and therapy groups. And so I stayed. He belittled my intelligence and destroyed my confidence. And so I stayed. I felt ashamed and trapped. And so I stayed. Friends and clergy didn’t believe me. And so I stayed. I was pregnant. And so I stayed. I lost the pregnancy and became depressed. And so I stayed.” ~ Jennifer Willoughby, speaking of her allegedly abusive husband Rob Porter (Republican, Mormon, Harvard University, B.A., J.D., New College, Oxford: Oxford University, M.Phil.), appearance on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, MSNBC, February 8, 2018.


Friendships often end badly or become exploitative. To exploit someone is to take unfair advantage of their predicament, to give a rough and ready, short and snappy, down and dirty first approximation of a definition of exploitation. Consult your experience and ask yourself, seriously ask yourself as Philosophy demands, if Willoughby’s experience resonates with you as believable, and if her experience has parallels or analogies with some friendships you have experienced. Talk amongst yourselves while I move on, since I’m scarcely done.


One might object to my damn, fool questions and examples by insisting that friendship involves loyalty and what could possibly be wrong with that, especially in the world we live in now chock full of porn websites and dating websites urging us to explore alternatives rather than loyally hang around with the person who happens to be your romantic friend at the moment. As Stephen Stills sang, “If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one your with.” And websites make it push-button easy to get together. It’s just lunch? But is the service arranging lunch with someone of your designated range of ages, interests, locations, etc. really just lunch or is it a portal to another friendship or at least to an experiment in friendship or trying to make friends.


Dale Carnegie earned some wealth showing us in a book how to win friends and influence people. Well, surely any prize you win in the great capitalist countries of the world at least must be worthwhile. So, friendship must be worthwhile, especially since it involves a good measure of loyalty.


But the above is a procedural argument. We’re following capitalist procedures to win friends and spawn loyalty. We are allowed, however, to look at results rather than just have tunnel vision about procedure. We need simply ask a few pointed questions about loyalty to see that loyalty is not all it is cracked up to be. Millions were loyal to Hitler. Hundreds or even thousands were and are loyal to the worst gangsters. Hundreds of millions are loyal to questionable, to say the least, politicians such as LBJ, Nixon, or Trump. Is such loyalty and friendship really so good that it is beyond serious question? Very well, what about the loyalty and friendships in religious cults? Consider Jim Jones’ Jonestown, David Koresh’s Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas (have you noticed that we keep coming back to Texas?), Marshall Applewhite’s Heaven’s Gate cult in the suburbs of San Diego. OK, we keep coming back to California, too. The problem of overestimating the value of friendship, as if it is scarcely a double-edged sword, is bi-coastal, and bipartisan, since we find it in red and blue states alike.


And then there step forward the enablers. Many friends, out of friendship or even love, enable their closest friends or relatives to stay addicted to dangerous substances, all too often leading to death. Suicide among the young is at an all-time high in America. Guns are the leading cause of death among children. Relying on mere friendship to get us out of this mess is, as a piece of friendly advice from me to you, naïvely and overly optimistic in a way that brings us right back to the critical thinking of Voltaire’s Candide. Discuss all this with your friends.

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