35 kilometers east of Ningyang County, there is a village called Hucun, north pillow Dawen River, east, south and west surrounded by mountains, east of the nine-crowned dragon mountain, west of the dustpan mountain, south of the Ling Mountain. Hucun was originally the seat of the government of Lingshan Township in Ningyang County, Shandong Province, and later Lingshan Township was merged into Huafeng Township.
Lake Village is located in the hilly and mountainous area, why is the village named Lake Village? According to the 13th edition of the "Ningyang County Chronicle" of Qing Guangxu, in the first year of Jin Taihe (1201), the Tan Gongneng Official Monument of Tan Hongli of the Yiren dynasty recorded that there were 15,000 households in ningyang, and the stele listed the names of each village, of which "there were Fengzhao Village (now Dahuaishu Village), Xinzhao Village (now Xinlesi Village), and there were also North and South Falling Stars, Nanyi, Xia Dai, Sanbu, Hu Village, Siwang and so on. The Hucun Village Stele erected in 1989 records: "The village was built during the Northern Song Dynasty, and it was named because of its low-lying terrain and water-like lake." It can be seen that the "Hu Village" called "Hu Village" in the Jin Dynasty was renamed "Lake Village" during the Northern Song Dynasty.
Lake Village has a tall ancient locust, famous far and wide, especially in recent years, the network is developed, information is smooth, the transportation is convenient, attracting tourists from all over the world to come to sightseeing.
The ancient locust is located at an intersection in the village, on the south side of the east-west street and on the west side of the north-south street. In the distance, the ancient locust tree trunk is thick, the canopy is huge, the branches are numerous, and the clouds are towering. Nowadays, it is winter, and the leaves of the locust trees have fallen, but it is not difficult to imagine the summer season of lush foliage and shading the sky.
The surviving elderly people in the village are only 100 years old, and there is no exact written record, and no one can say exactly what age this ancient locust was planted. When I met several eighty-year-old people in the village and asked about the age of this ancient locust tree, one old man said it was eight hundred years old, and another old man said it was at least a thousand years old. The two old men's statements can only indicate that this ancient locust tree is very old, but not the exact age.
Hucun ancient locust has been included in the list of ancient trees in Ningyang County, and there is a sign on the side of the trunk that says that the tree is estimated to be 600 years old. That is to say, according to estimates, this ancient locust tree has a history of 600 years. Then, pushing back 600 years ago is the early years of the Ming Dynasty. In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, during the Hongwu period to the Yongle period, in the past fifty years, the Ming government has repeatedly immigrated to Shanxi Hongdong locust tree to build villages in other provinces, almost all immigrant villages have the custom of planting locust trees, in order to express the thoughts of the homeland of the Shanxi Hongdong locust tree, and many villages have ancient locusts planted in the Ming Dynasty, which has become a witness to the history of the village. Whether this tree was planted during the Ming Dynasty is unknown because there is no exact written record.
In the QR code of the signboard, there is the basic information of this ancient locust tree:
Commonly known as Acacia, Leguminidae, Locust genus. Estimated age of 600 years; protection level: first class; tree height 12 meters; chest diameter 1.75 meters; ownership of collective ownership; tree trunk straight, extremely spectacular. The east and west branches extend to the sides, and the skin crack is 5-8 cm deep, requiring four people to hug it.
After measuring the tree fence, the three adults stretched out their arms and barely closed the fence. The diameter of the ancient locust chest is calculated at 1.75 meters, and the tree circumference is about 5.5 meters. If an adult has his hands outstretched and the distance between the tips of his fingers is one (tuo), then the ancient locust tree needs to be hugged by three people, and the tree is surrounded by three people. Compared with the shanxi Hongdong locust tree with more than seven trees in the historical record, it is obviously more than half the size, but this ancient locust tree is already a rare giant tree in the territory of this county, so how much of the big locust tree in Shanxi Hongdong is thick and tall, because it has long ceased to exist, only to imagine.
There is a large stone strip next to the ancient locust in the lake village, which is smooth and flat, and the texture is very good. According to the villagers, in the hot summer, the heat is unbearable, the canopy of the ancient locust tree is lush, and this is the intersection, which has become a good place for the villagers to cool down. Every year during the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival, the villagers will burn incense in front of the ancient locust tree to pray for blessings.
The ancient locust in Lake Village is still full of vitality, spring sprouting, summer is long, and the branches and leaves are luxuriant, but after all, it is an old tree that is more than 600 years old, has experienced hundreds of years of ups and downs, and witnessed the historical transformation of Lake Village for hundreds of years. Speaking of this ancient locust, the words of the villagers all reveal their deep admiration and deep feelings for it. The ancient locust in Hucun has become the home symbol of the villagers and a spiritual symbol rooted in the hearts of generations of people. No matter how far away you are in a different place, the ancient locust in the village will always be the unshakable concern of thousands of wanderers, which is haunting, because - this is the hometown!
Pray for the longevity of the ancient locust in Lake Village, bless the descendants of the villagers for thousands of generations, political and people, long years, and boundless life!