Kew Gardens Industry Project

From Lian Hua to Lotus explores how the cultural meaning of the lotus has shifted between Chinese and Western contexts. Drawing on Zhou Dunyi’s essay On the Love of the Lotus, the publication examines the lotus’s deep significance in Chinese history, where it has been embedded in philosophy, cuisine, medicine, religion and literature for over 5,000 years. The project contrasts this with the lotus’s introduction to Britain through colonial botanical exchanges, particularly at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where its original name and symbolism were replaced through Latin classification. By foregrounding the term Lian Hua, the book challenges colonial interpretations and re‑centres the lotus within its cultural origins, encouraging readers to reconsider how knowledge, nature and meaning are shaped through power and translation.