# "Let a thousand \[hundred\] flowers bloom": Original poetic source? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 3, 2019, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-a-thousand-hundred-flowers-bloom-original-poetic-source/828874 "2019-02-03T11:30:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-a-thousand-hundred-flowers-bloom-original-poetic-source/828874/1 "2019-02-03T11:30:09Z")
A friend would like to use the phrase “Let a thousand flowers bloom” on a plaque, possibly with an attribution. She and I are aware that the phrase’s modern incarnation comes from the Hundred Flowers Campaign in Communist China in 1956-57, culminating in Chairman Mao Zedong’s invitation in Summer 1957 welcoming constructive criticism of the regime: > [@](#): > > Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting progress in the arts and the sciences and a flourishing socialist culture in our land. That invitation didn’t go so well for many of the intellectuals who took it seriously: > [@](#): > > It is sometimes suggested that the initiative was a deliberate attempt to flush out dissidents by encouraging them to show themselves as critical of the regime. Whether or not it was a deliberate trap isn’t clear but it is the case that many of those who put forward views that were unwelcome to Mao were executed. The Phrase Finder ([The saying 'Let a thousand flowers bloom' - meaning and origin.](https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/226950.html)). Wikipedia suggests, without a source, that the term “hundred flowers” has a poetic origin: > [@](#): > > The name of the movement originated in a poem: “Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend” (Chinese: 百花齐放，百家争鸣, Bǎihuā qífàng, bǎijiā zhēngmíng). Mao had used this to signal what he had wanted from the intellectuals of the country, for different and competing ideologies to voice their opinions about the issues of the day. He alluded to the Warring States period when numerous schools of thought competed for ideological, not military, supremacy. Historically, Confucianism and Taoism had gained prominence, and socialism would now stand to its test. Wikipedia, _sub nom._ “Hundred Flowers Campaign” ([Hundred Flowers Campaign - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Flowers_Campaign)). For the attribution on my friend’s plaque, I have been searching unsuccessfully for the original poetic source of the phrase. Can anyone point me to the poem from which Mao was drawing? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-a-thousand-hundred-flowers-bloom-original-poetic-source/828874/2 "2019-02-03T14:43:48Z")
I think it was original, written by Mao or the Sam Seaborn of the regime for the purposes of the campaign. But I can’t find a cite to support that. When the Wikipedia article says “the name of the movement originated in a poem”, I think it’s just clumsy wording. They are just noting that the 4 characters that are used to refer to the campaign are the first half of a longer 8 character poem - but a poem that was written as the slogan of the campaign, not a poem that predated it. (Of course, there are likely to be instances of just the two characters 百花 in earlier literature, but without the same connotation.) As I say, though, I can’t find a cite - so if you need certainty please don’t rely on this. But I just wanted to note that the reason you can’t find the earlier literary reference is probably because it doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-a-thousand-hundred-flowers-bloom-original-poetic-source/828874/3 "2019-02-04T03:52:52Z")
Not sure what it’s worth as a cite, but [this](https://www.societyforasianart.org/sites/default/files/lotus-leaves/LotusLeaves-Spring2017-Vol19-No2.pdf) says that > [@](#): > > Mao himself plucked the “hundred flowers” from Chinese history. In China, the motif of “one hundred flowers” has a literary and artistic tradition that reaches back thousands of years. The specific lines of “Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend” first appeared in the 2nd-century book, _The History of the Former Han (Hanshu)_, and alludes to an even earlier time in China’s history—the age of Confucius—when many schools of thought competed for ideological dominance. ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-a-thousand-hundred-flowers-bloom-original-poetic-source/828874/4 "2019-02-04T15:46:08Z")
Thank you, **Riemann** and **The Other Waldo Pepper**. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-a-thousand-hundred-flowers-bloom-original-poetic-source/828874/5 "2019-02-04T15:56:32Z")
> [@brianmelendez](#): > > Thank you, **Riemann** and **The Other Waldo Pepper**. Well, pretty clearly I was wrong! Thanks to Waldo for tracking that down. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-a-thousand-hundred-flowers-bloom-original-poetic-source/828874/6 "2019-02-04T17:05:31Z")
I found this, but I am not sure how much it adds to the debate: > [@](#): > > The Hundred Schools of Thought (Chinese: 諸子百家; pinyin: zhūzǐ bǎijiā) were philosophies and schools that flourished from the 6th century to 221 during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period of ancient China.[1] > > An era of great cultural and intellectual expansion in China,[2] it was fraught with chaos and bloody battles, but it was also known as the Golden Age of Chinese philosophy because a broad range of thoughts and ideas were developed and discussed freely. This phenomenon has been called the Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought (百家爭鳴/百家争鸣; bǎijiā zhēngmíng; pai-chia cheng-ming; “hundred schools contend”). The thoughts and ideas discussed and refined during this period have profoundly influenced lifestyles and social consciousness up to the present day in East Asian countries and the East Asian diaspora around the world. The intellectual society of this era was characterized by itinerant scholars, who were often employed by various state rulers as advisers on the methods of government, war, and diplomacy. > > This period ended with the rise of the imperial Qin Dynasty and the subsequent purge of dissent. > > [Hundred Schools of Thought - Wikiwand](http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Hundred_Schools_of_Thought)