When flowers bloom, they move beyond the Great Wall: The peony that has been a bridal accompaniment for over 300 years

At the beginning of the 17th century, Lin Dan Khan succeeded to the throne and was eager to change the declining situation of the Mongol Khan's power, but he failed to use his political influence and wisdom as a legitimate member of the Golden Family to unite his fellow tribes against outsiders. Instead, he waged brutal wars of annexation against the various tribes of Eastern Mongolia, leading to fratricidal strife and bloodshed among his own people. During Lin Dan Khan's several suppressions, the powerful Khalkha tribe, originally under the jurisdiction of Tumen Khan, disintegrated, and the population owned by the Golden Family's Taiji was almost wiped out in the wars, with only the descendants of Genghis Khan's meritorious minister Zerem and the Uladha people's tribes preserved, whose leader Subudi replaced the Golden Family as the new lord of the Khalkha tribe. In 1635, Subudi and his brother Wandan Wei Zheng were conferred titles in the Khalkha Right Wing Banner, and soon after, Subudi's son Gulusiqibu inherited the title of Zasak of the Khalkha Right Wing Banner and was ennobled as a county king. Subudi's uncle Seleng was also ennobled as a Duke of the State in 1648, and his tribes were placed in the Khalkha Left Wing Banner. Wandan Wei Zheng, despite his outstanding achievements, did not become a Zasak of a banner until his death, perhaps to appease his son Erenchen, who was orphaned and dependent on others. The 'Imperially Commissioned Genealogy of Mongol and Hui Princes and Dukes' records: 'Shanggu Mountain Princess, granted as the consort of Shanggu Mountain', meaning that a princess of a royal prince, not of high status, was married to him. Historical records do not mention the origin and name of this princess, and in the grand Manchu-Mongol marriages of the early Qing Dynasty, this was an insignificant political marriage, but it is remembered to this day because of a peony. In the former residence of the consort's mansion, now in Xiaochengzi Town, Ningcheng County, Chifeng City, grows a peony that has been fragrant for more than 300 years, of the 'Rich Red' variety, which is said to have been bestowed by Emperor Kangxi as part of the princess's bridal dowry. Although there is no historical evidence to support Kangxi's bestowal of a dowry to a Shanggu Mountain Princess and it does not quite conform to the regulations, this peony was indeed brought into the palace by gardeners from Baipengyao Village, Huaxiang, Fengtai District, Beijing, who specialized in cultivating peonies for the royal family, and later planted beyond the Great Wall as part of the princess's dowry, blooming and falling for over 300 years. In 2021, Baipengyao Village welcomed back a branch of the 'bridal dowry peony' to its original home. Erenchen's descendants prospered, and by the time of his great-grandson Gele'er, the number of auxiliary leaders had accumulated to 38. The Qing court approved the establishment of the Khalkha Middle Banner in the territory belonging to Ningcheng County, and Gele'er was ennobled as a prince, becoming the first Zasak, a hereditary title that lasted for seven generations. By that time, Wandan Wei Zheng had been dead for 80 years. The consort's mansion was inherited by Gemupule, the seventh-generation descendant of Erenchen, who built a new mansion in Changgao Village in 1822 and transplanted the peony into the new residence for successive generations to nurture and worship. Today, the bridal peony has been propagated into three courtyards, with an average plant height of 1.5 meters and a covering diameter of 2 meters. The main stem of the original plant reaches 7 centimeters in diameter, still flourishing with lush branches and leaves, and a proper plant shape. The flowers are pink, with thousands of petals, and the diameter of the flowers is about 20 centimeters, with about 200 blooms each time. Every May, when the flowers bloom, they present an elegant posture, bright colors, and an intoxicating fragrance, making it the highest latitude woody peony in northern China.