Abstract: As an object with both natural and social dimensions, flowers are undergoing profound meaning reconstruction in the
consumption context of contemporary China. Their transformation across the three dimensions of ritual, emotion and taste traces the
path of China's social transition from tradition to modernity. Ritualistic flower consumption has shifted from sacred festivals to daily
etiquette, marked by prominent individualization and normalization. Emotional consumption has achieved a core turn from "pleasing
others" to "pleasing oneself", and the two types of consumption show an increasingly integrated trend. Taste-oriented consumption,
driven by aesthetics and predicated on knowledge, has become an important cultural practice for social stratification. Flower
consumption has transcended its material attributes and evolved into a composite symbolic commodity for emotional expression,
cultural identity and social distinction. This transformation is not only a microcosm of evolving consumer culture, but also reflects the
underlying logic of the subject-oriented shift in contemporary Chinese society. In the consumption sphere, politics, economy,
knowledge and emotions intertwine to jointly shape and reshape social structures. Flower consumption thus serves as a key window to
interpret the cultural logic and social changes of contemporary China.

Key words:  , flower consumption, symbolic economy, ritual life, emotional identity, meaning production