General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed to "inherit culture and develop beautiful towns with historical memory, regional characteristics and national characteristics." He stressed, "Let the residents see the mountains, see the water, and remember the homesickness." ”
As a place with a long history of agricultural civilization, Wenshui is full of many traditional villages with a long history. These traditional villages embody the memory of history and reflect the progress of civilization. It embodies the local traditional culture, architectural art and spatial pattern of villages and towns in Wenshui, and embodies a cultural essence and spatial memory of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
In order to better inherit history and culture and build beautiful villages, Wenshui Propaganda specially set up a column "Rural Memory" and launched a series of articles written by Comrade Liang Dazhi, a member of the China Writers Association, and successively introduced the stories of ancient villages in Wenshui County.
Elephant Village was formerly known as Qiujing Village. During the Warring States period, the princes quarreled and fought each other to seize the world. After continuous annexation, the seven male rivalries of Qin, Wei, Han, Yan, Zhao, Qi, and Chu were formed. During the change of princes, a group of official eunuch families in Korea (present-day Henan) were degraded, and deeply felt worried about the destruction of the country and the extinction of the nation, so they privately moved to relocate. When the time was ripe, more than 30 families with the surnames of Wen, Wu, Fan, and Shi went north with their families to find a place to stay. When I came to Dalingyi (present-day Wenshui) in the Zhao Kingdom, I found that the climatic conditions here were superior and the silt plains were vast, so I chose to build houses and settle down on the slopes of the two higher terrains in the plains. After the house was built, it was found that the house built on the slope of the two hills showed a tic-tac-toe structure, so it was called "hill well", which gradually evolved into "autumn scenery".
In fact, the word qiujing itself has two other meanings, one is the ancient field system unit, the hill contains sixteen wells, and the well is 900 acres; the other is that its original meaning refers to the countryside and the countryside.
As the population continues to grow, so are the houses. In order to prevent flooding, the village was high and low, and the village weir was built along the trend, and it was inadvertently found that the village was outlined by the village weir, which resembled the shape of an elephant, and the name of the village was changed to an elephant.
Elephant villagers cultivate heirlooms, help with cultivation, and promote cultivation with reading. Constantly building a home for survival, building a temple for spiritual sustenance.
"Elephant Village is a good village, leaving two dragons in the corner." Elephant Village has been around foreground streets since ancient times, and the two old streets are full of ancient courtyards with high houses and thick walls, and domed gates and brick carved gatehouses abound. There are many stone mills and stone bricks in the corners of the street houses, and the opposite wall of the road is built with a wall. Eighty-three-year-old Shi Zhenhou led us to visit the courtyard built by his ancestors, with five main rooms, four east and west wing rooms, and three south rooms with gatehouses. Shi Zhenhou said that this courtyard was built in two parts, the main room and the east and west wing rooms were repaired by his grandfather Shi Shunzhang, and the south room was repaired by his grandfather Shi Hengshan. Their ancestors made a living from farming, and being able to build this courtyard shows the thriftiness of their fathers.
Elephant Village is located in the eastern part of Wenshui, connecting Qixian, Pingyao, Taigu and other Jinzhong Plains, which is located in the birthplace of Jin merchants. During the Republic of China, there were many exchange coupons circulating in Elephant Ancient Town, such as Xinhetang, Tiandehou, Yunji, Dashengchang, Yufengyuan Grain Farm, etc., which is enough to show that the merchants gathered here and won one by one.
There is a Hu Xueying second courtyard who used to do business in Xi'an on the front street, the entrance to the site is empty, the second street door is a brick carved hanging flower door, a single eaves hard mountaintop, carved rafters, buckets, flowers and "eight immortals" and "lion rolling hydrangeas" and other patterns, the door forehead inscription "condensed Rui qi". There is a stone pillar on each side of the doorway, and there are stone carvings on both sides of the stone pillar, and the two stone lions on the top are gone. The hostess in the courtyard told us that it was a stone lion with a very cute image and a very exquisite carving. The eaves behind the gatehouse are wooden, and the single eaves are suspended from the top of the mountain. The inner courtyard is a five-square courtyard, and some of the doors and windows still preserve the ancient style. The main room and the east and west wing rooms are high walls, and the two jujube trees in the courtyard are lush. Not far to the west is Wei Linkui's ancient residence. Wei Linkui once did business in Mongolia, and after returning to his hometown, he became the village chief for many years, and his son Wei Mingshan studied in Japan. The high openings on the back wall of one of his five-square courtyards resemble a city wall, and there are traces of the demolition of the archway behind the house.
On the south side of the back street near the West Weir, there is a binary courtyard, which is the old residence of the tea guest "Yao Yuan Tang". At that time, Cai Dong Cheng'en of Elephant Town married the granddaughter of Qiao Chongyi, the chief soldier of the six provinces in Yiwang Village, Jiaocheng, and the Qiao family also gave a courtyard on the south side of Elephant Back Street Road to the Cheng family. Cheng En's son, Cheng Tingbi, saw the "Zhangku Avenue", an international trade route carrying gold and silver, which had the natural advantages of a land commercial port, and "took the east entrance" to Zhangjiakou, a trading capital. Here he built his "Yuanyuan Hall". He purchased tea leaves from Hubei Tea Mountain several times and continuously transported them to the Mongolian steppe and even Russia through the "Zhangku Avenue".
Cheng Tingbi's business is becoming more and more prosperous, and the two sons Born, Cheng Tai and Cheng Guang, both inherit their father's business, making the business of "Yuantang" more prosperous, and also buying land and real estate in their hometown, and the courtyard of "Yuanyuantang" is just west of the Qiao family courtyard. In the twenty-sixth year of the Republic of China, a family separation contract was born:
Cheng Tai is divided into three rooms of the main landlord, south to Mingtang; east room with second street gate; five south rooms to The second street room, north to the east half of the center of the Mingtang courtyard. The outer courtyard has two and a half rooms, the east room has five rooms, and the South Carolina room has two and a half rooms. There are five main rooms in the east courtyard, and the south is to the Ming Hall. Cheng Guang is divided into two rooms in the west of the main room of the hospital, south to the MingTang; five rooms in the west room, three rooms in the south room, and the center of the North Mingtang Courtyard is divided into half of the middle and west. The outer courtyard is divided into half of the north and south, two and a half rooms in the main room, two and a half rooms in the south card, and a foundation after the hospitalization south room. The six rooms in the west room of the east courtyard should be five rooms in the east room of the outer courtyard, and there is no house in the west to patch up the mule.
From this contract, we can see the general appearance of the binary quadrangle of "Yuanyuan Hall". Two high horse pillars on both sides of the gate, the second street door is a single-eaves hard hilltop, the brick carved hanging flower gate tower, carved rafters, buckets, flowers, lions and "eight immortals" and "qinqi calligraphy and painting" and other patterns, the bucket part has a brick carved "Ningrui" plaque, the door forehead inscription "Shou and Hidden", the thick street door under the high threshold, the dragon heads on both sides of the ridge of the building are high.
On the north side of the back street opposite the "Yaoyuan Hall", it was originally a two-entrance courtyard of the "Yaoyuan Hall", and the main room of the courtyard was a two-story building, which was also called "Lou'eryuan".
Not far to the east of lou'eryuan is a Chen family courtyard, which is the old residence of Chen Zhongfu, the treasurer of "Tong Sanyi". The predecessor of "Tong Sanyi" was the "Three Yi Zhen" of Tongzhou, and in the 20th year of Qing Jiaqing (1816), a branch was opened on Qianmen West Street in Beijing, named "Tong San Yi Dried Fruit Seafood Store". Chen Zhongfu started as a guy in "Tong Sanyi". He can bear hardships, be willing to study, have responsibilities, talk about credit, have a good attitude, plus he can write and calculate, articulate, good at communication, write a beautiful brush word, play a sharp abacus, and he has also practiced a palm calculation method, and he can perform four calculations with the five fingers of one hand. Gradually, from writing accounts, running outside, standing counter, he became a very influential "Tong Sanyi" big treasurer, and soon Chen Zhongfu also became a shareholder of "Tong Sanyi". "Tong Sanyi" not only deals in dried and fresh fruits, mountain treasures and seafood, but also sells some daily necessities such as oil lamps, umbrellas, bowls and chopsticks, and processes preserved fruits and preserves by itself, so that it later produced the "Tong San yi autumn pear paste" that swept the capital. Chen Zhongfu used his talents and abilities to exchange for the prosperity of "Tong Sanyi", and also built this Chen Family Courtyard in Elephant Village.
Interestingly, opposite this Chen family courtyard is the Qiao family's name courtyard, and Chen Zhongfu's youngest daughter Chen Shumei and Cheng Jingzhou, the son of Cheng Guang, a descendant of the "YuanyuanTang", married and married, achieving a good story of "Tong Sanyi" and "YaoYuantang". Cheng Tingbi and Chen Zhongfu used their wisdom and charm to build a monument to Jin merchants!
Elephant Village not only has an ancient courtyard with high walls and thick walls, but also many solemn temples.
There is a Hongfu Temple in the east seat of Elephant Qianjie Village facing north and south, and the entire building such as the main hall, the box room, and the bell and drum tower appear to be high and magnificent. Inside the main hall, there is a lotus flower platform on a brick pillar, and on the platform there is an iron Buddha more than five meters high, weighing about five tons, which shows the height of the main hall. Inside the temple, there is a very delicate black jade stele more than three meters high, which looks like a mirror and looks like satin to the touch. Hongfuku-ji Temple is high in architecture and large in area, so the villagers also call it Daiji Temple.
On the east weir of the front street, there is a temple of saints. According to Wang Zhongjian's "Monument to the Reconstruction of Confucius Temple in Elephant Village": "Wuyi Elephant Village used to have a Confucius Temple, which has been falling for a long time over the years. In this year's gengyin, the people of the people rise up and renew, and they will hang the stone forever, and they want to remember a word. ...... The elephant man can pay homage wholeheartedly, and if he thinks with joy, he will see that the most holy spirit does not judge his sincerity and comes to the Lord. In fact, the so-called Dongjue Cui Wei golden splendor in the world is only for the sake of worshiping the Buddha's land, and the elephant people know how to build a Confucius Temple, and their insight is as high as it is. Yu Gu jia qi yi and remembered. "It is said that the statue of Confucius in the Confucius Temple is very realistic.
There is a west-facing Guanyin Temple in the back street of Dongyan, and in addition to the Statue of Guanyin on the main hall, there is also a golden sand sculpture of an elephant, where the people worship the gods and Buddhas in order to obtain heirs. When the child is born in the full moon, he will go to the Guanyin Temple and offer flowers. It is made of barn poles, filled with paper and flowers, and accompanied by ribbons. Therefore, the villagers also call the Guanyin Temple "Flower Temple".
The north seat of the village faces south of a Dragon King Temple, which was built in the 15th year of Hongwu. The peculiar thing is that in the temple, in addition to the statues of the "Five Dragon Kings" of the Green Dragon, the Red Dragon, the Yellow Dragon, the White Dragon, and the Black Dragon, there is also a shrine on the top of the front shrine, where the Statue of the Dragon King is not large, but every time you pray for rain, you have to carry it in front. The Dragon King Temple was once converted into a school.
The Guandi Temple in the Weir of the West Guard Village of the village faces north and south, and the scale is not large, but the configuration is complete. There is a stage opposite, and there are iron flagpoles and horse stakes at the entrance of the temple. Guandi Temple is also known as laoye temple.
In the south of the village opposite the Dragon King Temple is Wenchang Pavilion, the only surviving temple of elephants, which is now enclosed in the courtyard of a family. The main hall seat faces north and south, with three widths, four rafters deep, a single eaves overhanging the top of the mountain, a five-purlin front porch structure, a single ang douqi of the stigma section, a dragon head playing head, and a diagonal arch between the tweens of the Ming Dynasty. The exterior looks dilapidated, but the carved beams on the top and two sides of the temple, and the painted paintings on the wooden walls in front of the temple are exquisite and vivid. There is a room in the east and west ear halls, and the head has the word "Ten Thousand" and the brick carving of the Beast.
In the south of the village, a wall-style cai temple is two meters deep from north to south, three rooms long from east to west, and the middle shrine is sculpted with the statue of the god of wealth. There is an ancient well on the west side of the Caishen Temple Road, and there is a well king temple next to the well, which is dedicated to the water god. There are also three small temples, also called the Five Dao Temple. There are two front streets and one back street.
The elephant village is full of talents, born in 1891, Wen Wanjin was inspired and influenced by his uncle's "ticket class" when he was a child, and he had a special fondness for Jin dramas, and at the age of 14, he could play Jin opera songs with a whistle. At the age of 15, Wen Wanjin went to Pingyao "Zhufeng Garden" to worship Yang Yanqing as a teacher; in 1921, he also visited Gao Xiyu, who was known as the master of "Dogman", and systematically learned the playing skills of Huqin with them. Wen Wanjin finally became a famous Jin opera huqin player, contributing to the enrichment and development of the playing skills of the middle road zi.
During the Republic of China period, Elephant Village had two lotus fall rap masters, one was Wei Maze and the other was Chen Zhensheng. They make a living by rapping on lotus flowers, improvise songs and export chapters, and are often active in Wenshui and Fenyang areas, which are very popular with the masses.
Intentional or unintentional, elephant invisible. The world's greatest and grandest, sublime and magnificent grandeur and realm are often not stuck to certain things and patterns, but show the appearance and scene of "thousands of weather", and it seems that there is no certain shape.
That's the charm of Elephant Village.
Photo: Liang Dazhi