Our mission
The mission of the Chinese Floral Arts Foundation USA-Charter is to promote the traditional Chinese floral arts and culture through means of education, lecture/exhibit and community engagement.
Through the understanding and appreciation of the philosophies of Ancient Chinese Scholars, we strive to combine the traditions of the past and the fast-paced busy world of today. With this bridge between the two cultures, we hope to be one step closer to the balanced life that many seek and yet so few achieve.
The goals of our education program, “Be A Scholar For A Day”, are to create a diversity of cultural learning experiences using a present day approach, engage participants in an active learning process, and instill an appreciation for lifelong learning habits.
history of the scholar program
The word “scholar” in the Ancient Chinese Dynasties meant extreme high social status. Being a scholar not only required personal academic achievement but also high moral standards for the Chinese society. Scholars dedicated many years seeking the true meaning of life. The first activity the engaged in every morning in order to stimulate their five senses was practicing the four arts or “4 rituals”. They burned incense 焚香, hung paintings 掛畫, brewed tea 點茶, and arranged flowers 插花. After the initial preparation of carefully learning this state of mind, they would spend the rest of their lives to perfect the skills such as qin 琴, qi 棋, shu 書, hua 畫.
usa charter
The Chinese Floral Arts Foundation - USA Charter was established 2012. It was sprung out from the Verdant Mist Scholar’s Society of the Huntington Library “Liu Fang Yuan” of the Chinese Garden. Its mission is to gather people of diverse backgrounds together to further the understanding and appreciation for the philosophies of Ancient Chinese Scholars. For thousand years all the Chinese literati tried to improve each individual four skills such as to have the abilities of playing music and chess and abilities to master beautiful calligraphy and to create magnificent paintings and poems. Again now a days, we replace these important spiritual enhancement to many fashionable events. Maybe just maybe, the Chinese Floral Arts Foundation can bring back the true meanings of our life back to the modern world.
