CCTV9 China 1 October 2016
Ep01 - "The Sole National Beauty" - To the Chinese people, the peony is the king of flowers, a symbol of happiness and a national symbol of China. In the first episode, we learn how images of the peony evolved through history, how the lives of ordinary Chinese are touched by the peony, and how it builds a bridge between the People's Republic and Taiwan.
Ep02 - In the second episode, we join a plant hunter on his dangerous mountain expedition, we learn about the role of the peony in traditional Chinese medicine, and we meet a Japanese scientist who wants to breed the perfect black peony.
Ep03 - In the third episode, we learn about the quest for the legendary "Wei's Purple", a variety that has been lost for many centuries, and the tremendous effort it takes to make peonies bloom in time for the Chinese New Year.
Ep04 - In the final episode, we learn how the peony left the Orient and conquered the horticultural world, and about a hybridization experiment in the Tibetan highlands involving the rarest peony species in the world.
I hope you enjoy this – I put quite a bit of work into it! The result may not be perfect, but it looks and sounds much better than the “official” version you may have found on the web.
Don’t believe the narrator when he says that the peony is 3 billion years old – 300 million would be closer to the truth.