An ambitious scholar, Wang Mian was determined to fulfill his responsibilities as a man of talent despite the frustrations and dangers of life under Mongol rule. He studied philosophy, military tactics and politics. He wrote poems and government treatises, drew up battle plans and painted unforgettable images of the flowering plum that became the principal model for plum painters of Ming and Qing times.

In this painting, Wang Main brought into balance the expressive and representational elements of his subject, for in depicting silken blossoms and rough branches, he employed both the delicately descriptive techniques of his academic predecessors and the bold calligraphic brushwork of his literati contemporaries.

The flowering plum (Prunus mume, or Japanese apricot) became an object of intense enthusiasm during the Southern Song dynasty and has remained one of China's favorite motifs. Blooming before all other trees, it was welcomed as the harbinger of spring. By Wang Mian's time, under the impact of the barbarian Mongol rule, the image of the flowering plum blossoming in the withered winter landscape, had become a powerful symbol of purity and endurance in adversity.