Updated: 2006-06-12 09:02

Wang Luchang thinks the joys of life can be found in simple pleasures: playing a piece of romantic music, savouring a nice drink and arranging beautiful flowers while their sweet fragrance fills the room.

Wang is a flower arrangement artist who has been engaged in the gardening and flower art for more than 40 years.

"Flower art is full of fun. It is my passion outside of work," said the youthful 63-year-old. "Flowers always make me laugh and feel happy. That's why I look younger than other men of my age."

Wang, who has prepared flower decorations for big events in the city such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit (APEC) in 2001, said such occasions and conferences mostly required Western-style flower arrangements which contain more flowers and rich colours, just like an oil painting.

While the Western-style flower art puts the focus on shapes, the Eastern-style tends to express the floral essence with simple lines and beautiful curves.

As for flower art for the home, Wang said he prefers the Eastern approach, which is simple and abstract like a traditional Chinese painting.

"Sometimes, one or two flowers can make a good arrangement for a home, creating an elegant atmosphere," Wang said during a flower art class held in the Audi Media Centre recently.

"I visit many people's homes which are newly decorated," Wang said. "The interior decoration is perfect but most of them lack a 'soft' style. If you don't have time, even an artificial flower is better than nothing."

According to Wang, flower arrangement can be learned in just a few minutes if you follow a small number of principles. But of course, it may take a longer time to master the art.

Nevertheless, by knowing some of the ABCs of Eastern-style flower arranging, you can add more colour to your life.

As Chinese flower art emphasizes lines and curves, flowers with long stems such as lilies are widely used.

"Remember, generally speaking, we use an odd number of flowers - for instance three, five and seven," Wang said. But six and eight are also good numbers in China, while four (homophonous with the word for death in Chinese) is forbidden.

Take a lily as an example. The height of the first lily should be 1.5 to 2 times as high as the vase. The second flower should be half the height of the first one. The third one can be a little longer than the second one and stretch in another direction and you can bend the stem a little.

"The general shape of the flower arrangement is a triangle with nice curves," Wang said.

After arranging the leading flowers, we need some flowers with comparatively big petals as highlights as well as to cover the mud in the flowerpot. Blue hydragea is a good choice, he said.

Then the big flowers need some tiny flowers in simple and pure colours as decoration. Green plants with long leaves like grasses can add more nice curves and create a romantic atmosphere.

"Actually, art has no principles - sometimes you need more creativity," he said.

Wang showed one of his works in the classroom. It was an arrangement of fox lilies (the lily slightly resembles a fox head) and white peace lilies. But if you take a closer look, you find it is composed of three flowerpots.

"They can have any combinations with each other... This is creativity," he said proudly.

Although people today have a busy life, taking half an hour every week to make a flower arrangement can bring joy. Water should be poured on the flowers every day, then they keep for about a week in an air-conditioned room.

Sidebar:

Where to buy:

Wang Luchang presents several big flower markets in the city:

Caojiadu flower market - Located at No.1148 Changshou Road, the market covers 23,000 square metres and is the biggest flower market in Shanghai.

Wenhua Guangchang - At Yongjia Road and Shaanxi Road. Though the original Jingwen flower market has closed, some flower stores are still open in the area.

Shuangji Garden - In Tangqiao of Pudong. Some stall keepers are from the Jingwen flower market.

Gubei Flower Market - In Gubei Community, on Beibei Road.

How much:

Flowers, according to their different qualities, have different prices. Here are some of the cheapest among the most popular flowers:

Carnation (a bunch of 20): 4 yuan

Rose (a bunch of 20): 10 yuan

African chrysanthemum (a bunch of 20): 3 yuan

Lily (a bunch of 10): 10 to 70 yuan according to different types

Anthurium andraeanum (one flower): 3 yuan

Tiantangniao (Bird of paradise, a bunch of five): 20 yuan