Plum

The plum is a flower much loved by the literati.  It blossoms during the cold winter and looks noble and pure.  To the literati, it symbolises vitality and strength in adversity, noble quality in human character that they held highly.  Popularly grouped with the pine tree and bamboo and called the 3 durable friends of winter,  a favourite theme in poems and drawings of the literati.

In Chinese, plum is pronounced as mei (梅）which also sounds like eye-brow (眉）.  Usually the design shows plums and magpies to form the auspicious phrase xi shang mei shao (喜上眉梢) which means happiness on the eye-brow. 

For more detailed explanation, please read : magpie

A design with bamboo (symbolises husband), plum (symbolises wife) and two magpies signifies marital bliss.  Such design is often used to offer congratulations to the newly weds.

A design popularised during the Kangxi Period was blue and white vessels with plum and crackle ice design.  This was to represent the cracking of winter ice and with the plum heralding the arrival of spring.  Another popular motif shows a scholar on donkey in a winter landscape to seek spring's first plum blossoms.

A Chinese scholar famous for his love of plum is Lin Hejing.