Painted Flowers

For the past two weeks, I've been absorbed in a book called Chin P'ing Mei, literally meaning "metal vase plum blossom". It is a book of manners, where the writer describes in detail the social rituals and etiquette of births, marriages, ranks and promotions, death, justice, revenge and retribution, and bribery in ancient China. It is also the story of a wealthy merchant and his six wives and their sexual exploits. For that reason, the book was banned in China until the 20th Century. China touts four great works of classical literature. Chin P'ing Mei is often considered the fifth.

The main character, Hsi Men, sleeps regularly with his six wives, four of their maids, and two of their servant's wives. He keeps mistresses in town and visits brothels. In the book, these brothels are referred to as "houses of joy" or "flower gardens". The women who work in them are referred to as "painted flowers".

Last night, The Man brought home a bouquet of flowers for me. He's just like that. The flowers were brilliantly coloured. I have never seen flowers with a yellow centre and orange petals. Of particular interest were two clusters of fuchsia daisies with white stripes through them.

I trimmed the flowers and arranged them in a vase. When I finished, I noticed that my fingertips were fuchsia, the same colour as the unusual daisies. Hah. Real painted flowers.