According to legend, three old gardeners planted orchids on Sheshan Mountain. Whenever, orchids bloomed in spring, people in the towns would come to Sheshan Mountain to appreciate the flowers.
One time, when the magistrate of Songjiang county came and appreciated the flowers, a burst of gale blew off all orchid flowers at Sheshan Mountain. The magistrate was outraged and ordered: If flowers are blown off in a flower appreciation season again, the gardeners will die.
When an old man named Xiudao heard about this, he told the old gardeners: large trees make shade. Dense bamboos block wind. If bamboos are planted around orchid, the wind will be blocked.
The three gardeners thought his words were reasonable, so they planted bamboo walls around orchid. A few years later, bamboo roots grew out from orchid shrubs and carried the fragrance of orchid.
It is recorded that when Emperor Kangxi ate bamboo roots in Sheshan Mountain during his southern tour, he smelt an intense fragrance of orchid.
He was amazed and immediately named Sheshan Mountain “Lansun Mountain (literally "Orchid Bamboo Root") and wrote three Chinese characters "Lan Sun Shan" (literally "Orchid Bamboo Root Mountain") for Xuanmiao Temple.
Whenever bamboo roots broke ground in spring, many scholars would come to Sheshan Mountain. Orchid bamboo roots have an ordinary appearance but a pleasant scent.
If you put a bamboo root in a room, the room will be full of the delicate fragrance. After it is cooked, the fragrance is even stronger. Emperor Kangxi visited Songjiang several times all in the seasons when bamboo roots broke the ground in order to enjoy the delicacy of bamboo roots.
