A lacquer vase decorated with blossom patterns.[Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

"Flowers are widely connected with women's beauty, religion, prosperity, longevity, success in exams, and many other perspectives," the curator explains. "Talking about them, we're talking about people's life."

The displayed paintings are joined by porcelain, jade, lacquer ware, enamels and other decorative arts, which have been inspired by plants throughout history.

From a ceramic plate used by a royal family of the Ming Dynasty to a Qing Dynasty empress' headwear, admiration for plant patterns are ubiquitous, and this remains part of our present culture, Wang Zhongxu says.

"Cultural relics are not just antiques being immersed in ancient styles," Liu Yuzhu, director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, says after he visited the exhibition.

"They can only be reborn in modern society when people today have emotional resonance with them. Such an exhibition is just an interaction between history and our time," Liu says.