Recently art professor Chiang Hsun was reminded by the flowering of Taiwan's rhododendrons of an ancient legend about the cuckoo. He vividly and romantically recounted how the Sichuanese monarch Wang Di (" Emperor Hope ") turned into a cuckoo and bled to death crying mournfully, and how his body was buried by falling rhododendron petals. This gave rise to the story of the cuckoo flower.
近來美學教授蔣勳因著寶島正逢杜鵑花開，不免思想起那一遙遠的與杜鵑鳥有關的傳說，遂充滿情感的對人們述說，那懷著許多希望活著的四川帝王「望帝」，如何變成杜鵑鳥悲切啼叫，出血而盡，又如何被與落下的花瓣埋葬，而有了杜鵑花的故事。