The water of the canal flows from south to north to a market town in the northernmost part of Jinan Province, Mulberry Garden. On the shore, there is an old bathhouse. More than 200 years of history, far and wide famous. It is located on Pawnshop Street, now at the end of Changjiang West Road, 30 meters north, and has been transformed into West Street Cultural Square in 2021.
When it comes to the history of the bathhouse, we have to start from the beginning.
In the ninth year of the Ming Dynasty (1376), 10 military tuns were built on each side of the canal north of Dezhou, where the garrison tun tian and settled down. Most of the sources of soldiers came from Jiangxi Province and nearby provinces.
Twenty-eight years after Jiantun , in 1404 , General Sun from Xingguo County , Ganzhou Prefecture , Jiangxi Province , was then serving as a deputy Qianhu (from Wupinguan) and took his relatives in. He is well aware of the 20 tun centers with superior conditions - Liangdian, that is, the current Mulberry Garden Town Wharf is busy, with people shuttling, lively city views, many ships docked, going ashore to eat, shop and rest. So he settled down here, and at the west end of Chuandian Street, on the bank of the canal, bought a corner of the land to find a way to survive. He opened a pawnshop and other businesses, and the business was booming, and he made a fortune. But then the days gradually decayed. I had to live separately and find a new way to live. When I learned that the local people had difficulty bathing from autumn to early summer, and that there was not a bathhouse in the town or nearby, I decided to build one. "Rely on the mountains to eat the mountains, rely on the water to draft water", borrowing the canal water to feed the family.
He prepared brick and tile ash sand, stone and wood and other building materials, asked skilled craftsmen to elaborately design, and built eight green brick and gray tiles, and the whole body was wide. Inside, there are two bathing pools made of green brick and white ash sand, two earthquake pools, and a large flat-bottomed iron pot (1.3 meters in diameter) specially made in Botou (Jiaohe) in the fire cave (pit).
In the first year of the Qianlong Dynasty (1736), a decent bathhouse was built and named "Canal Bathhouse". On the wall outside the door is written a large "hall", and on the west side of the door there is the words "warm three pools, style elegant seat". In the evening, a white lamp is hung outside the door. Write a red word "don" in the center of the lamp, and open until the midnight break to collect the lights.
After the bathhouse heats the water with a coal fire, turn on the edge switch and put it into the lower pool. The church used all the canal water, hired two long workers, in the morning and afternoon have to carry 40 canal water, poured outside the wall can flow into a reservoir indoors, because the canal water is turbid, need to add alum precipitation. Bathing with canal water is good to rub mud, smooth, a hundred times stronger than well water. The crew of the past, the local villagers have become regular customers here, and people from dozens of miles around like to come. The price is also cheap, 1 copper 1 time. With the passage of the times, from 5 cents, 1 cent, 2 cents, 3 cents, it rose to the last 5 cents once.
The couplet at the door: "The canal water is hot to wash the wind and dust all the way, and the villagers are deeply warm and return to their hearts."
Every five rows of ten mulberry garden gatherings, women wash, other days for men to wash. In the autumn, especially years ago, it was really full of friends, like dumplings. As the saying goes, The stone pond is warm in spring and suitable for bathing, and the water pavilion has more warm guests in winter! Small pool water heat, for the elderly who like hot baths, large pool water temperature, for young and middle-aged people, no shower. There are norms in the hall: there are noble people to wash, and the old drunk cannot enter the pool.
The outhouse has a lounge, a café, and someone regularly delivers snacks and burnt cakes. There are also back rubs, pedicures, and enthusiastic service to people from all walks of life.
Opening a bathhouse is a very hard job, and you have to get up in the middle of the night and set fire to the house. Many people are willing to take a new bath, called "preemptive". Came here early. In winter, some people are waiting at the door at 4 a.m., that is really the golden rooster did not sing the water first hot, the first day of the rising sun came early.
During the War of Resistance Against Japan, it was also a red liaison station. Guerrilla columns west of the canal often visited here. Once, a plainclothes officer came to scout the enemy and was discovered by the puppet army. The whole city was blockaded to hunt him down. He hurried to the bathhouse, and it was the master who told him to hide and take cover. Take him across the river in the early hours of the next morning. A century-old bathhouse, patriotic feelings. In 1947, the owner of the shop let his son Sun Xiugang join the People's Liberation Army; in 1978, Sun Hongqi also joined the army, and in 2008, sun Lei came to the army.
The word patriotic is remembered in the heart, and some people have joined the military for generations.
The Sun family bathhouse also has a glorious history. The Qianlong Emperor went down to Jiangnan, passed by this place in the evening, heard that there was a bathhouse with water from the family canal, so he dressed in micro-clothes, went ashore to eat snacks, and then came to take a bath, which was very satisfied. Just before leaving, the entourage told the owner of the bathhouse the truth. Since then, this bathhouse has been renamed "Royal Dragon Bathhouse", and its name has been called for 200 years.
After 1958, it was renamed the new word "Mulberry Town Bath". During the Cultural Revolution, it was renamed "Workers' and Peasants' Soldiers' Bath".
After more than 200 years of history, the Royal Dragon Bathhouse has become a veritable "century-old brand" and the deepest place remembered by the people of Sangyuan. There have been five generations of business, the late treasurer is called Sun Rongsan (16th), 6 sisters and brothers, he ranks fourth. People like to call him "Fourth Master Sun". He always greeted people with a smile. After the establishment of the People's Commune in 1958, he handed over the bathhouse to collective management.
He died of illness in 1974 at the age of 72. The Royal Dragon Bathhouse withdrew from the stage of history, and the juniors handed over the church to the West Street Brigade. Later, the canal was watered less and less, polluted, and sometimes dried up. In 1985, at the age of 249, the bathhouse went out of business. Fast forward 48 years, people are still very nostalgic and relish. The old site has been transformed into a cultural square, where amateur Peking opera lovers sing Peking opera every Tuesday and Friday afternoon, and the audience is as large as 100 people.
Old people like to gather here to sit and chat. The old date tree that has gone through all the vicissitudes still guards this homeland. Tell you about the prosperity and taste of the place, and evoke immortal memories.
The daughter of The Fourth Master Sun, 72-year-old Sun Xiufang, and the 64-year-old grandson Sun Hongqi, who is already the 18th and is now the secretary of the West Street Party Branch, are the ones who introduced the family history.
Exactly: borrow the natural water of the canal, wash the whole body refreshing and beautiful.
The Royal Dragon Bathhouse is unforgettable, and the dream is again
