White Horse Temple
Peony Festival ("mudan huahui") is an important flower festival, which is held in Luoyang every year on April 10–25 and which attracts large crowds to the city and the White Horse Temple. The legend linked to this festival is that peony flower did not follow the orders of the queen Empress Wu of the Tang Dynasty to bloom during winter and she became enraged that it did not obey her command. As a result, she ordered that peony flowers be banished from Xi'an to Luoyang. It is this banishment which is celebrated as the Peony Festival in Luoyang.