Moo Gung Hwa

Moo Gung Hwa (무궁화) Hibiscus Syriacus is the national flower of S.Korea.

In Korean Moo Gung Hwa means never to be diminished or has no limit.

Syriacus is summer flower which blooms every morning and in evening the old flower paddles disappears and repeats for 100 days.

That's why people call this flower a everlasting flower.

Moo Gung Hwa has special connection to Korean people and culture.

This flower speaks the soul of the Korean people.

There are two big reason why Syriacus became national flower of Korea.

In GoJoseon Dynasty (고조선 ~ 80 B.C.) they called Syriacus flower the "gift from the God" and treated this flower as holy flower.

In many ancient Chinese literature, they expressed Korea as "Beautiful country full of Syriacus flowers".

This is well expressed in Korean national anthem

무궁화 삼천리 화려강산

Glamorous mountain and river full of Syriacus flowers

During Japanese occupation, Japanese knew the importance of Syriacus flower to Korean culture, and tried to destroy all the Syriacus flower in the country but it survived and the meaning of the flower grew bigger in Korean people's heart.

Like this Korean peninsula was always full of Syriacus flowers and people always thought of this flower as representation of their nationality.

Historically Korean peninsula always struggled with invaders. Chinese and Japanese always tried to invade the country but Korean people always fought back and survived. Even from Japanese occupation in early 1900s Korean people never backed down and continue to fight for the freedom and their rights. The soul of being never to be diminished kept the culture through the hard time and made the country flourish as it is right now.

無 (Moo): Non, nothing, never

窮 (Gung): Diminished, eliminated, destroyed

무궁 (無窮) / Moo Gung

This is the soul and willingness of Korean people.

This is why Syriacus is Korean people's flower and national flower of Korea.

This is one of Korean traditional pattern for Moo Gung Hwa.

Many patterns like this were used traditionally on architectures and clothing for decoration.

The oldest Moo Gung Hwa or Syriacus flower patterns were found during GoJoseon dynasty( ? ~ 108B.C.).

During GoJoseon dynasty, Syriacus flower was sacred flower and the flower patterns were commonly used at the end of the government building or temple's roof to decorate the architecture.

Many of the Moo Gung Hwa patterns which are widely used in Korea these days were made after the Japanese occupation.

When Korean government was formed, they chose the Syriacus flower to be national flower and used it on most of the government seals and government buildings.

Moo Gung Hwa / Syriacus flower has been part of Korean history from the beginning.

People loved this flower since the ancient time and still loves it today.

August 8th is Moo Gung Hwa day (not national holiday) and people plant the Syriacus flower trees that day.