The significance of giving flowers?

[XiaoZhou]

On Valentine's day a few years ago I gave my then-girlfriend a flower, as well as one flower each to two other friends who were female and who I was not involved with romantically. Later that evening a different friend told me that there was some special symbolism or significance in giving flowers, with 1, 9, and 99 holding special significance, and told me that now my two friends would both think that I am romantically interested in them. At the time I was really worried: I thought that by giving one flower to my platonic female friend I had symbolically told her that I would love her forever.

I can't recall the specific details, and I am really curious to see if anyone else has heard of something like this. Does anyone know of symbolic meanings relating to the number of flowers given in Chinese?

[jbradfor]

one flower each to two other friends who were female and who I was not involved with romantically.

What were you thinking?

special symbolism or significance in giving flowers

It means you want to sleep with them. Don't deny it.

Back to your question, you might want to read this page. I'm not sure anything special about 1 flower, however, '9' is more common for romance-related things.

[xiaotao]

My family prefer flowers in the garden rather than in a vase. Sometimes when we would have lots of flowers as gifts in the house, my dad used to say that it looked like a funeral.

My Chinese relatives think that spending money on flowers is a waste of money because flowers die. Flowers from your garden as a gift is more meaningful than store bought flowers. I think giving flowers to your girlfriend only is enough.

[abcdefg]

In China a flower or flowers given on Valentine's day signal romantic interest regardless of the number given. (I would say they do in America as well, by the way.) Best not to confuse your work colleagues, classmates, or platonic friends with such a present while in China.

[gato]

On Valentine's day a few years ago I gave my then-girlfriend a flower

How come you are asking this question years later? Has it been gnawing you?

[XiaoZhou]

Potentially answering my own question, perhaps it has something to do with 九 sounding like 久, so anything with 9 symbolizes long lasting? The 1 puzzles me, though. (Bad bilingual pun: I will love you for yī-ternity, maybe?) I suspect that it is similar to the time a Chinese lady quizzed me about the different meanings in the colors of dresses that are worn to parties in the USA: she was sure that different colored dresses meant different things, where as to me (a person born and raised in the United States) there was no meaning. Perhaps this is one of those situations in which a cultural outsider reads too much into a minute piece of information that is fairly irrelevant to a cultural native.

How come you are asking this question years later? Has it been gnawing you?

I'm not sure why it came up in my mind recently. I hadn't really thought about it since then. I just put it down on a to-do list when I thought of it recently, and here I am getting things done.

[abcdefg]

There indeed is a lot of numerology folklore in China. I have been cautioned in the past not to give four flowers or four of most anything else as a present because it is an inauspicious number (四 sounds a bit like 死 -- "to die.")

...perhaps it has something to do with 九 sounding like 久, so anything with 9 symbolizes long lasting?

And I vaguely remember something about 2009.9.9 having been a very popular day for getting married, perhaps for the reason you mentioned.