Flower Banquet

The flower banquet in 754

The Flower Banquet (花卉盛宴) was an annual spring event held in the Tang capital of Chang'an during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. It revolved around a grand competition for the most beautiful and splendorous flower exhibit, the winner of whom would be granted an audience with the Emperor and rewarded. The contest aside, it was also significant for being the only day of the year where the imperial city would be open to commoners, permitting free intermingling between the classes. The festival was a favourite of Emperor Xuanzong's most treasured concubine, Yang Guifei, who acted as its yearly host.

Course of celebration

Each year, the official commencement of the festival would be signalled by the opening of the imperial city gates to welcome the common people. To accompany their excitement, they would be instantly treated to a fantastical performance of acrobatic dancers, musicians, exotic animals, and illusionists which culminated in the imperial consort's appearance on stage. Thereupon, she would identify the winning team, and festivities throughout the city would follow, lasting well into the night.

Opening ceremony

Performers and animals in flowered-headdresses during the festival

In the festival of 754, the opening spectacle was complete with elephants bearing baskets of overflowing flowers on their backs, exotic rhinoceros lavishly adorned with jewelled headdresses, and acrobats who gracefully danced through the air on parasols. When their elephants burst through the gates to glorious fanfare and their masked dancers glided to the ground to perform illusions that transformed peonies to butterflies, the throngs of thrilled commoners were awestruck. In perfect sync, the butterflies spiralled in flight towards a single focal point at the balcony of the Flower and Calyx Pavilion, where Yang Guifei made her splendid entrance. Without speaking a word, the imperial consort delicately drew one of the butterflies gravitating around her to her finger before redirecting it to the winning team.

History

The Flower Banquet was an annual tradition which was cast as a day of merriment for people of all classes and a celebration of the beautiful high culture of the Tang's golden age. It contributed to the flourishing flower industry in this period. In spite of this, underpinning it were recurring accounts of corruption, extortion, and even violence, particular during the premiership of Yang Guifei's cousin, Yang Guozhong. Amassing a vast fortune through his familial tie, Guozhong employed criminal means to guarantee his victory in the contest year after year. His wealth alone always permitted him to assemble the some of the most exquisite carts of flowers, with many other participants simply being too poor to compete on his level. Those who could afford it dared not to for fear of being targeted in retaliation after the fact. Not satisfied with this advantage, however, Guozhong would also hire petty thugs to intimidate rivals and extort luxury items for his procession. These unfair practices ensured that the contest was always a farce.

Festival of 754

In what would be his last Flower Banquet in 754, Guozhong had the gang he hired procure by force the famed peonies of Duling village. Seventeen villagers lost their lives to these bandits as a result, provoking the vengeance of the Hidden One Li E. The festival of that year therefore proved to be a bloody one. The same gang responsible for the murders also acted as Guozhong's proxy team in charge of his grandiose entry to the contest, "Shifting Spring Cage". Li E ambushed the last flower cart of the Shifting Spring Cage team when it was en route to meet with the rest of the procession, killing the three henchmen transporting it. Its absence was deemed inconsequential by the gang boss at the time. As expected, their team was immediately proclaimed the victors on behalf of Yang Guozhong and invited into the Flower and Calyx Pavilion for an audience with the Emperor.

The victorious team's dreams of being richly rewarded came to naught; they were left waiting in a courtyard outside throughout the whole evening while the court was preoccupied with the surprise appearance of the jiedushi An Lushan. His arrival in the capital on the day of the festival was significant because to the Emperor, it dispelled Guozhong's allegation that Lushan would ignore his summons that had been intended to test his loyalty. Welcomed like a dear son by the Emperor, Lushan was able to extract numerous favours, including the right to use warhorses from the imperial pastures and honours for his soldiers—all measures intended to bolster his power for his imminent rebellion. Lushan's audience with the Emperor, which included a performance of the Sogdian Whirl with his Turkic dancers, occupied the court's entire night. The Shifting Spring Cage team was forgotten while Guozhong, as Lushan's hated rival, could only seethe with rage at the Emperor's endearment to Lushan.

Li E killing the gang leader

Meanwhile, Li E had followed the Shifting Spring Cage team into the premises, slaying them all at the Gazebo of Submerged Fragrance and accomplishing his mission. Their bodies were discovered by Guozhong's servant not long after, and Guozhong issued secret orders for the Feathered Forest to be mobilized in search of the culprit. So as to avoid ruining the court's festivities, the alarm was not raised and the Emperor was not informed. The Hidden One's escape from the imperial city was facilitated by the help of the young scholar Yan Jiming when he fell into his carriage, a first meeting that would prove pivotal for the upcoming civil war.

Li E's subsequent flight across the rooftops of Chang'an is also notable for inspiring a drunken Li Bai to compose the famous poem "Ode to Gallantry" (俠客行) as a tribute to fabled heroes after wildly chasing after him. The true story behind this poem later became distorted into a legend that Li Bai drowned to death in a river while drunkenly pursuing the moon.

Behind the scenes

The Flower Banquet features as the central background event in the first volume of Assassin's Creed: Dynasty, lending its name to the volume's English title, "The Flower Banquet". Although the Chinese name for the flower contest (花卉盛宴) does literally translate to "flower grand banquet", the actual occasion is less of a single banquet and more of a city-wide holiday. Banquet may therefore be a misnomer.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Dynasty (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One (mentioned only)