Cultural | Guangdong Ancient Road: a living fossil of Hakka culture

Mu Qing pressed the language

Speaking of the ancient road, it is easy to think of two famous poems: Du Fu's "Tian She" has: "Tian She Qingjiang Qu, next to the ChaiMen Ancient Road"; Ma Zhiyuan's "Tianjing Sha Qiusi" song: "Dead vines and old trees are faint crows, small bridges and flowing water people's homes, and the ancient road west wind is thin horse". "The ancient Taoist, the ancient people who moved across the air, transported to the road of travel; through the dynasty, sewing the thread of sorrow and happiness." Ancient trails generally involve a series of historical sites, sites, relics, and relics.

These two poems include ancient villages, ancient bridges, ancient trees, pastoral gardens, etc., and may also include ancient towns, ancient cities, ancient castles, temples, etc. The ancient road is an important resource for future tourism development, which is quite attractive to modern people, and the key to this attraction is an "ancient" word, but it must not be developed in an antique way.

At present, there are still a large number of ancient roads in China, especially in the mountainous areas of the south, southwest and northwest. In some plain areas, due to the change of roads and changes in the world, most of the ancient roads have disappeared. There are some well-preserved ancient roads in the mountainous area, but they must not be the most prominent in that area, because most of the most prominent ancient roads in history have been through modern roads and railways, which have been destroyed, such as the Xianggui Ancient Road, the most orthodox, busiest and most culturally accumulated ancient road along the Xiangjiang-Lingqu-Lijiang River in history is not as well preserved as the area of Guanyang County in Guilin City, which deviates from the main line, and currently preserves 6 ancient roads and 26 state-level traditional villages in the county. This is determined by the economic development rate of the 40 years of reform and opening up.

------------------------

【Text】

Heyuan and Meizhou are located in the northeast of Guangdong Province, are famous Hakka cities, Heyuan is known as "Hakka Guyi", Meizhou is known as the "world's Hakka capital". Both cities are located at the junction of Guangdong and Gansu provinces, and have been the transportation fortress of Guangdong and Gansu since ancient times. In ancient times, a transportation network centered on Longchuan Tuocheng was formed here, and the Guangdong-Gansu Ancient Road, which was the key point of Heping County and other places. At present, Heyuan and Meizhou areas still preserve a large number of ancient road resources, which have witnessed the arduous travel of Hakka immigrants for thousands of years, and also witnessed the prosperity of Hakka culture, which is a living fossil of Hakka history and culture. Now that you have retraced the ancient road, you can still feel the thick style of the past history.

An important passage for immigrants from the Central Plains

The history of the Hakka is a history of population migration. Historically, due to wars and other reasons, the Central Plains people have endured hardships and migrated to Fujian, Guangdong and other regions, because they have retained their own unique style in the process of integration and development, and are called Hakka, different from the original local residents. Since ancient times, the East River has been the passageway for the people of The Central Plains to go south. For more than 2,200 years, the upper and middle reaches of the East River have been one of the main passages connecting Lingnan to the Central Plains from the north to the north, and it is also the connection between the Pearl River Delta and the Han River Basin. Due to the development of modern transportation and the construction of the Xinfengjiang Reservoir, many ancient local roads have been annihilated in the lofty mountains. However, there are still many bridges, passes, pavilions, and Hakka enclosures, which, together with the remaining ancient roads, carry a heavy history and culture, and have become a beautiful cultural landscape in the vast mountainous areas of Heyuan.

Wang Yuanlin, an expert in the study of lingnan ancient roads and a professor of history at Guangzhou University, told reporters that Qin Shi Huang set up counties in Lingnan, Heyuan Longchuan County was the first county set up by Hakka in present-day eastern Guangdong, and the Heyuan area became an important town for the garrison of the Central Dynasty and the immigrants from the Central Plains, and also became an outpost for the spread of Central Plains culture. After that, the Central Plains people settled in the Lingnan area, and then set up three counties, and successively the Central Plains people moved to Lingnan "Tongyue People Miscellaneous Places", which is the earliest Hakka immigrant in the Lingnan region. The Han gradually integrated with the local population, and the Hakka family gradually grew and migrated around. According to historical records, the route from Fujian and Zhejiang to Lingnan is mainly along the waterway to the south, that is, the passage from the Ganjiang River to the Beijiang and Dongjiang rivers. It was along these main passages that the Hakka ancestors reached the northeast and western Guangdong regions respectively.

Different villages inhabited by people with different surnames have formed different architectural styles, cultural characteristics, customs, dialects, etc. There are still a number of ancient buildings in Lianping County, Heyuan, most of which have the characteristics of traditional architecture in the north, and also combine local customs, natural environment and climate factors to form a unique architectural form. According to Wang Yuanlin, in the process of migration, the Hakka ancestors were displaced and went through countless hardships, which caused the closure of Hakka buildings. To protect themselves, these buildings are often defensive in nature. At the same time, in the process of migration, the Hakka people absorbed different cultures and were eclectic, so they produced a variety of styles of mixed buildings.

Heyuan Dahu Zhai Wei Long House is a typical Hakka traditional building. This dragon house was the ancestral house where the Zeng clan migrated from Luling in Jiangxi to Dahu Village in Heyuan County, Huizhou Province during the Song Dynasty. The Zeng clan migrated from Jiangxi to Heyuan to become Hakka, which has a history of nearly 800 years. Since migrating to Dahu Village, the strength of the Zeng clan has gradually expanded. At present, the descendants of Dahuzhai have migrated all over Heyuan City, and even Shaoguan, Huizhou, Shanwei, Guangzhou and other places have descendants of Dahuzhai.

The famous Xiatian Ancient Village is also a typical Hakka ancient village. According to local historical materials and the "Xie Clan Genealogy", the hakka family who first lived in Xiatian Village, Pitou Town, Lianping County, Heyuan City, was surnamed Xie, and Xie Fuche, the fifth grandson of the famous Southern Song Dynasty writer and patriotic poet Xie Fangde, moved from Xizhou, Jiangxi to Lianping Pitou, for the Pitou Xie clan Kaiji ancestor, which has been more than 600 years. The ancient buildings preserved in Xiatian Ancient Village include Fuche Ancestral Hall, Quangong Ancestral Hall, Dexing Building, Songxiuwei, Qianji Building, etc., which constitute a unique Hakka walled house group in the local area. Ancestral halls, ancient villages, Hakka houses, these unique buildings not only reflect the wisdom of the Hakka people, but also reflect the hardships and sufferings experienced by Hakka immigrants.

　Guangdong Salt Grain Merchants Ancient Road

In 2017, a new ancient road to Jiangxi was discovered in Heyuan City, Guangdong Province. This section of the Guangdong-Gan Ancient Road is mainly distributed in Heyuan City, Heping County, Lianping County and Dongyuan County, passing through The towns of Huyuan, Hot Water, Qingzhou, Xiusi, Dahu, Triangle, Gaoguan, Zhongxin, Shuntian, Jiantou, Shuangjiang and other towns along the way, with a general north-south direction and a number of main branch lines. The length of the route that has been clearly surveyed is 262.6 km. According to the local cultural relics department, the Guangdong-Gansu Ancient Road is a folk trade channel that "originates from the people and flourishes in commerce".

According to historical records, for hundreds of years, the Hakka region of eastern Guangdong has been rich in salt and grain, while Jiangxi has more grain and less salt. However, the two provinces of Guangdong and Gansu are full of mountains and waterways, and trade between the two provinces takes many mountain roads. At that time, the Hakka area quietly emerged to pick up the salt army, there were full-time burden pickers, there were also farmers and idle bearers. "Picking salt to carry jiangxi" has become the biggest side business of many Hakka people, and the hardships of picking up burdens have been exchanged for the phenomenon of "Guangdong salt is sold, and grain is sold in Guangdong", which has given birth to the ancient road of Guangdong and Gansu salt merchants. The salt merchant trail in Heyuan territory runs from Hailufeng to Zijin County, through Huangtang and KangheXiankeng, then to Dongyuan Lankou, and then to Heping Linzhai and Longchuan by waterway, and finally to the Gannan area. At that time, thousands of porters were active on this ancient road, who carried salt in droves, and the prosperity of the ancient road can be imagined.

Meizhou Pingyuan, where eastern Guangdong meets Jiangxi and Fujian, also has a famous Meizhou ancient salt road. The starting point of this salt merchant ancient road is also in the Chaoshan area, the local sea salt takes the waterway against the Han River, transports it to the Tai Po Sanhe Dam and then turns up the Mei River, to the Dongshan Wharf in Meixian County, and then changes to the land route to the shoulder of the porter to pick up the north, from Yushui Village through Meixian Daping, Pingyuan Shizheng into Jiangxi Liuche, Xunwu, to Jiangxi Junmenling, and then to Huichang County as the end, the whole journey is about 230 kilometers. Yushui Ancient Village is located in Chengdong Town, Meixian County, where the Hakka salt pickers pass through many salt transport teams, and the local area still retains the ancient road of that year.

According to the "History of Ming", Ganzhou changed to Guangdong salt in the second year of Ming Zhengde (1507), which shows that the salt road between Guangdong and Gansu has a history of more than 500 years. Huang Guoxin, a professor in the Department of History of Sun Sun Yat-sen University, elaborated on the ancient salt road related to Pingyuan in "Districts and Boundaries: A Study on the Salt Monopoly in the Neighboring Areas of Xiangyue and Gansu in the Qing Dynasty": "Tongjiaying and Chaozhou, from Ganzhou to Xiangshui, after arriving in Zhenmen Town, or change small boats to Luotang and then pick Yuemen Ridge, or directly pick Up Yuemen Ridge, arrive at Xinpu in Zhenping County, and then ship through the Grotto River through Meixi to Jiaying Prefecture. ”

In 1930, Mao Zedong carried out a social survey in Xunwu County, Jiangxi Province for more than 20 days, conducting a comprehensive and detailed investigation and analysis of the political divisions, geographical transportation, commercial activities, land relations, and land struggle in Xunwu, and later compiled into the famous "Investigation of Xunwu". During his investigation, Mao Zedong made a detailed account of the business between Huichang County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, and Mei County. For example, "from Shicheng and Ruijin, rice and beans are large quantities, worth hundreds of thousands of yuan", "Shicheng and Ruijin's rice to Menling, most of which passes through Luotang and Xiaba (Wuping, at the junction of the three provinces), Xinpu (Banana Ridge, thirty miles away from Mei County) to Mei County, about 300 quintals per day", "Meixian and Menling are not open to traffic, most of them are shoulder picked", "Menling goes to Meixian County, the porters go to a load of goods, and a load of goods returns", which fully proves the important historical role of the Guangdong-Gansu Salt and Grain Ancient Road.

Gritty Hakka women pick salt guests

Many people may not know that most of the people who sell grain and salt are Hakka women. Zhou Li, a researcher at the Cultural Industry Research Institute of Shenzhen University, said that the Hakka society of "women working and men" has created the hard-working and tenacious character of Hakka women. On the one hand, the Hakka area emphasizes culture and education, and the men are mostly readers and less engaged in manual labor; on the other hand, Meizhou is a hometown of overseas Chinese, when men mostly went to Nanyang to work, and only women and children were at home. In order to make a living, Hakka women chose to pick salt as a side business.

However, the work of salt pickers is not everyone's ability, and only those who have a certain physical and mental quality can take on this task, and it is even more difficult for female salt pickers. Zhou Li said that first of all, salt pickers must have superior courage and hard-working spirit. There are many thieves in the Gansu-Fujian-Guangdong Border Region, and they often need to deal with sudden incidents. Second, excessive cargo is a big problem for salt pickers. Each salt picker must pick at least 100 pounds of salt.

According to historical records, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Meixian was also active in a large army of women carrying burdens. Due to the tight blockade of the Japanese Kou, the salt of Guangdong and the southwestern provinces once depended on the coastal supply of southern Fujian. Most of the millions of catties of salt sold domestically rely on the human transportation of Hakka women in the Guangdong-Gansu Border Region. From Shao'an, Huanggang, Raoping and Gaopi at the junction of Fujian and Guangdong, along the Han River and Meijiang River, and then into Jiangxi via the Salt Merchants Ancient Road, thousands of women carry salt in groups every day, carrying salt in groups, carrying it one by one over the high mountains and mountains, and relaying it one stop at a time.