When you explore the city of Jian'ou, you must not forget that the ancient city of Jian'ou is its essence.
I still remember when I first came to Jian'ou to do business, I thought that the whole city was only the Shuixi and Shuinan areas that developed later, because the urban construction and scale of these two urban areas were enough to make Jian'ou qualified for the title of "city".
On my second visit to the city, I decided to switch routes, from the railway station along Zhongshan Road all the way to the east, and when I was about to reach the Shuixi Bridge, a very different style of urban area came into view
It is as if it is from the outer court of the Forbidden City to the inner court, less of the wide atmosphere outside the court, but unexpectedly more of the rare city atmosphere of modern cities.
Even now, the ancient city of Jian'ou is still the most dynamic place in the whole city, even in the future planning, it is difficult to change its "center" status.
The reason why the former Jian'an was renamed Jian'ou is because this ancient city is the common county seat of Jian'an and Ouning counties, which can be imagined from the huge size of the city.
It should be known that the counties and towns of China in the Ming Dynasty have a tradition of building city walls, because there are few people in the land, these cities and pools are more than a few hundred meters square, and from the east end of the city wall, you can see its west end at a glance.
But the city wall of Jian'an is a rare vast, from the south gate Guangde Gate to the north gate Chaotianmen straight line distance has exceeded two kilometers, even to the 21st century today, Jian'ou ancient city still did not exceed the scope of the Ming Dynasty city wall, which is extremely rare in the history of modern urban construction in China.
As the first place in Fujian to accept the Han culture of the Central Plains, the Founding Prefecture of the Qing Dynasty should have flourished and was full of monuments.
However, looking at the ancient city of Jian'ou today, the ming dynasty and before the buildings are almost impossible to find, and the walls and pavilions built by the dynasties in Jianning Province have been destroyed in the war, and the most fatal is the "Battle of Pengzi" in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
In order to eliminate the soldiers and civilians who were still defending the homeland of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing army used artillery and mines to collapse many of the walls and gates surrounding Jianzhou, and the former civilization and prosperity of Jianzhou came to an abrupt end with the swarming Qing army.
From the beginning of the siege of the city by the Qing army in early March 1684 to the order of the shaving of hair by The People of The 23rd of March, Jianzhou was left with only the decadent walls and tiles and the smell of blood stains on the streets.
From some previous data, it is inferred that the number of people who founded the prefecture before the slaughter of the city had reached more than 100,000, and in the end, only no more than 300 people lurking in the ruins in the city escaped this disaster, which led to the serious injury to the vitality of the ancient city of Jian'ou.
Even today, when the economy is highly developed, the scale of the ancient city cannot surpass the heyday of the Ming Dynasty. This "Battle of Pengzi" called Jianzhou has no shining place since then, and the three ming dynasty cities of Fu, Jian, and Quan have since lost a word of "Jian".
How many times the ancient city of Jian'an expanded before the Qing Dynasty, and how many city gate towers were built in this vast urban area, no one has been able to give an accurate answer.
One claim to be examined is 24, but because none of these gates existed at the same time, it is inevitable that overcounting and omission are inevitable.
The only thing that can be confirmed is the final version of the eight rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty. At present, there are still four remaining gates in Jian'ou, and they are all located by the river
The best preserved is the Tongxian Gate on the banks of the Songxi River in the south, which is also the highest specification and largest ancient city gate in Fujian Province.
The stone slab above the door is inscribed with three large characters of "Tongxian Gate", which was inscribed when it was rebuilt during the Qianlong Period of the Qing Dynasty
Above the tower, there is also a castle tower with heavy eaves on the top of the mountain, which enshrines the statue of taibao deity, so it is also called "taibao lou".
As early as the Yuan Dynasty, the world-famous traveler Marco Polo described in his "Marco Polo's Travels":
"The city is quite large, with three beautiful bridges, more than 100 steps long and about 9 steps wide. The women of this place are beautiful Peugeot and live a comfortable and luxurious life. ”
"Silk is produced here, and different kinds of satin are woven. Cotton is woven from colorful cotton yarn and marketed throughout the province.
Residents run extensive businesses and export large quantities of ginger and galangal to other places. It was these descriptions of Marco Polo that spread the customs and customs of the two cities of Jian'an and Ouning in the Yuan Dynasty throughout the world.
In order to commemorate this international traveler, the locals have erected a bronze statue of Marco Polo in the square in front of the Tongxian Gate, and many people who have just come here are surprised by the foreign faces in front of the monuments.
At present, there is also a relatively well-preserved city gate for Tongji Gate, the scale is much smaller than the Tongxian Gate, and the Tongji Gate, which is enclosed in an arched underground square, only shows a sharp tip on the side of the road, and if you do not pay attention, you will miss it.
The nearby riverside gate was not so lucky
It is surrounded by an ancient street and alleyway, and once there was a family built above the city gate, in order to redevelop the city gate, the surrounding illegal construction has been demolished, surrounded by iron tiles and waiting for renovation.
Now just to record what it looked like before it was renovated, many of the wall bricks on the arched city gate have weathered and sunken, and under the overgrown city wall, a hidden canal leads the city's accumulated water to the river, completely losing its former majesty.
The area around Linjiangmen is a lively aquatic market, where people can take it and sell it after rowing small boats and fishing in Chongyang Creek.
In order to enable the fish caught to survive longer, the ancient Ancestors of Jian'ou also invented a traditional process of storing live fish, "bowfish".
It is to tie the head and tail of the caught fresh fish with a rope into the shape of a bow, tie it to a bamboo pole and carry it on the shoulder to sell.
Fresh fish treated with the "bowfish" technology can not only survive for two more days, but also remove the earthy smell from the fish, and feel more fresh and sweet when eaten.
On the north bank of the Shuinan Bridge, there is a bowfish square, and on the bronze sculpture in the center, a young man on a bicycle holds the handlebar, and his face is full of relaxed pleasure.
From Bowfish Square all the way north, you can come to the prosperous commercial district of the ancient city - Jian'ou Drum Tower Business Circle.
The predecessor of Jian'ou Drum Tower was the Nancheng Gate Tower built during the Jian'an Shi County, and during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Wang Yanzheng, wang Yanzheng, the son of Wang Zhenzhi, was called emperor of Jianzhou and converted the South City Gate Tower into the "Five Feng Lou" to show the imperial weather of "Feng Ji Rui".
The bottom of the drum tower is set up with a large two small three door openings, if according to the ancient hierarchical relationship, the middle door opening is not ordinary people can enter and exit at will.
After that, the drum tower has been rebuilt many times, although all of them have this iconic three door openings, but the wooden attic above is no longer what it used to be.
In addition to the above gates, Jian'ou also has a temple of literature that can be called the "crown of the Eight Minfu-level Confucius Temple", which was built in the First Year of the Song Dynasty and played an important role in the revival of Jian'ou and the evoking of humanities.
The first gate to enter the Temple of Literature is the Lingxing Gate, which is a three-door and four-pillar soaring stone archway
The half-moon-shaped pool in the rear is called Panchi, and in the Zhou Dynasty ritual system, it is stipulated that "the learning of the son of heaven is Yong, and the learning of the princes is Pan". The "Panshui Bridge" in the center of Panchi, also known as the "Buyun Bridge", blesses the students who are studying to be able to walk in the clouds.
Due to the closure of the museum due to the epidemic, I was not able to enter the Temple of Literature to see the interior
Fortunately, a unique traditional food "Bao Kuang" was found on the mobile vendors on the side to alleviate the regret of this trip to the Temple of Literature.
The method of making the dumplings is to put the kneaded glutinous rice balls in a splint and press them into a cake shape, and then wrap them with hot sauce, crisp bamboo shoots and other fillings, and the simple and delicious street food is made.