Fuck Yeah Chinese Garden

ogress:

misskusakabe:

thejelliclequeer:

fuckyeahchinesefashion:

Old ginkgo tree in 古观音禅寺Gu Guanyin Temple, Zhongnan Mountains, Xi’an. The temple was built in Tang dynasty in 628, with more than 1,400 years history. It’s said this ginkgo tree is planted by Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong himself.

@misskusakabe

This is so beautiful. I might need to go to China now.

Ginkgos would probably be totally extinct if it weren’t for human cultivation starting about 4000 years ago in China.

They are the last remnant of the species that covered the entire planet during the last part of the dinosaur era and were cultivated from rare refugia in the Himalayas for religious reasons. Reverence for the ginkgo passed from earliest periods first from unknown origin into early hermitic movements (anachronistically known as “Daoism”) and then into Buddhism.

The species living today, Ginkgo biloba, is functionally identical to fossils dating back 270 million years although clearly some genetic changes did happen over time.

Also, “wild” populations in China are sprung entirely from temple samples gone wild; the only genetic diversity is found today in the refugia.

(via fuckyeahchinesefashion)