Phoenix Nirvana
Author: Fan Xiaomin
The phoenix, also known as the "Phoenix Emperor", is the king of the birds in ancient legends. The phoenix flying together has been one of the important elements of Chinese culture since ancient times, symbolizing auspiciousness and harmony.
For many years, it has become a well-known well-off village. How exactly did it achieve Phoenix Nirvana? With such a question, I walked into the splendid "Phoenix" of the well-known rural tourism demonstration village.
On the north bank of the Jing River, 3.5 kilometers away from the county seat of Jingchuan, there is a small mountain village surrounded by mountains and rivers, shaped like a phoenix spreading its wings, which is called Phoenix Village. Today, it has three important laurels: Gansu Rural Tourism Demonstration Village, National AAA Level Tourist Scenic Spot, and Top 100 Examples of Beautiful Countryside in China.
It was once a symbol of poverty and backwardness. In the period of planned economy and small-scale peasant economy, it has become the norm here to dig up soil and open courtyards, plant crops all year round, and rely on the sky to eat. Although this place is across the river from the county seat, the shadow of poverty is like a shadow, and after many years, the people have only solved the problem of food and clothing, have no money in their pockets, and only rely on a little surplus grain in their hands. There is no hope for the future, the population is growing negatively, and various factors have been plaguing the development here. On sunny days, two feet of mud, endless sweat, endless strength, all year round still can not get rid of poverty. It is 50 kilometers from Qingyang Airport and 220 kilometers from Xianyang International Airport, 2 kilometers from Fuyin Expressway Jingchuan East, 3.5 kilometers from the central urban area of the county, and only 2 minutes by car to the famous Longshang, water-slippery hot spring hotel. However, such a location advantage does not bring economic value to the place.
Fenghuang Village, Chengguan Town, Jingchuan County, is named after a beautiful legend. According to legend, the Nine Heavenly Divine Daughters derelicted their duties in the Heavenly Palace, violated the Heavenly Rules, and were dismissed from their posts by the Jade Emperor, and the Queen Mother Niangniang let her go to the netherworld and endure hardships. The Nine Heavenly Daughter was born in a peasant family surnamed Xue in Dongsheng Village, Maasai Township, Changwu County, and the girl born to the Xue family was full of lepers, and people called her "soybean residue bald". Her parents loved her very much and gave her a nickname Guiying. When Gui Ying was 3 years old, her mother died, and when she was 7 years old, her father died and she lived with her brother and sister-in-law. Her sister-in-law looked down on her and often tortured her, making her herd sheep and twist wool all day in the mountains. When I got home, I only let her eat some leftovers and leftovers, and let her grind her all night at night.
Charming Phoenix Village (Photo by Li Yanfu) ▲
Xue Guiying twisted the wool while herding sheep, and over time, twisted a lot of wool. When she was 13 years old, late one night, her sister-in-law got up and saw that there was still a bright light in Guiying's house, secretly looked through the crack in the door, and was surprised, Xue Guiying was not a bald woman, her hair was black and long, and there was a golden crown next to her, which was studded with jewelry and shining gold. At this time, the sky was about to dawn, and Gui Ying saw that the heavenly machine had leaked, so she had to drag the wool thread that was usually twisted and hurriedly fled. She tied one end of the yarn to the door bolt and pulled one end in her hand.
On the first day, Xue Guiying walked to the ditch, took off the bald crown by a water spring, freshened his long hair, and continued to hurry after a short rest. Since then, the spring water in the ditch has been flowing out of the white foamy substance.
Charming Phoenix (Photo by Li Yanfu) ▲
The next day, Xue Guiying came to Zijing Village, Jingming Township, Jingchuan County, sat on the edge of the mountain, looked around the vast expanse of the four fields, she missed her parents and family, and burst into tears. The nails were cut, and the blood kept flowing, staining the bunches of bauhinia flowers red. Since then, the bauhinia flowers that bloom on the top of the redbud slope have turned red, while the others elsewhere are purple. It is said that this blooming bauhinia flower is stained red by Xue Guiying's blood.
There is a big Buddha hall in Bauhinia Mountain, Xue Guiying wants to stay in the Temple for one night, and the old temple said that she was a female body inconvenience and asked her to leave quickly. She moved forward step by step through the hazy night, and met an old mother at the entrance of the village, and she kindly took Xue Guiying to stay for one night. Xue Guiying prostrated his head continuously, thanked the second elder for his kind heart, and recognized the second mother's family in Bauhinia Slope.
On the third day, she crossed the Jing River and rested for a while on a stone under the Qinglong Mountain in the Sujia River. After that, continue west along the main road on the bank of the Jing River, walk to a village in Luohan Cave Township, comb the hair that has been disturbed by the wind, and leave the place name of Bangtouping.
At noon, Xue Guiying walked to the Jiang family village and saw the landlord surnamed Li of the Jiang family grinding wheat on the field, and a guy circled around the road. She felt so thirsty that she asked the owner of the mill for water to drink, and when the lord saw the beggar, he was angry and scolded, "Didn't you see that people were busy?" If there is water for you to drink, you bald head and rotten eyes called Hanako, go away. When Xue Guiying heard him insult himself like this, he said angrily, "You look down on my bald woman, your grain today can hit eight cartons and eight tons, and there is rain in the east that will blow away your three burdens and three burdens." After Xue Guiying left, the dark clouds in the east rolled in the blink of an eye, lightning and thunder, storms and rain, and the wheat was washed away by the rain.
After the rainstorm, she walked to the mouth of the Phoenix Ravine and saw an old mother collecting wheat, she helped to pile up the wheat grains in the field, asked for a bowl of cold water, and after drinking it, she had the spirit. That night, Xue Guiying had to rest in a rotten kiln of the Jiang family, "a cave of three zhang, nine days the Virgin mother will be safe." She sat in the cave and became a fairy. The people buried her on the Phoenix Mountain and built the Basilica of Our Lady of the Nine Heavens.
Since then, the Nine Heavenly Virgins have become a goddess with a wide reputation in Shaanxi and Gansu, and people have built the Nine Heavens Virgin Temple in Maasai Township, Changwu County, before she became an immortal, Zijing Village in Jingming Township, Sujiahe Village, and Bangtouping Village in Luohandong Township. The Nine Heavenly Mothers have great divine powers, and can do the clouds and rain, bless the well-being of the people, and have many good births.
The temple was originally built in the Tang Dynasty, and has been rebuilt and expanded by the Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing, Republic of China and other dynasties, forming a thousand-year-old famous temple with profound cultural accumulation and famous longdong. Due to historical reasons and disrepair, some temple walls are damaged and paint is peeling off, and the protection is very inadequate. The villagers of Fenghuang Village raised funds and invested in labor, repaired the ancient buildings, and built a road up the mountain to facilitate tourists to go up and down the mountain.
The main deity of Phoenix Mountain is the Nine Heavenly Virgins, and within the mountain gate is the sacrificial square, and the Nine Heavenly Virgins Hall is located among them. After the Main Hall of Our Lady of The Virgin Mary is the Great Hall of the Golden Mother of Yaochi, the two halls are golden and brilliant, and there is also the two-storey Guanyin Master Hall, as well as the Nursery Palace and the Temple of the Mother-in-Law, which are simple and elegant, the gods are dignified, and the incense is continuous all year round.
Throughout the ages, every year on the seventh day of the ancient July temple fair, believers from all over the world flocked to the mountain to worship the Golden Mother and the Virgin, pray for peace, and play in the mountains and rivers, and there were many relatives from the family of the Mother of the Nine Days in Mazhai Township, Changwu County. The ancient building complex of Phoenix Mountain has a long history and many legends, and is the most important Buddhist and Taoist cultural landscape in Longdong.
Some people also say that when King Wu of Zhou and Jiang Ziya sent troops to cut down the silk, it was a blessing and a righteous act for all the people, and the phoenix of Fengming Qishan Mountain flew out from the Fenghuang Village of Jingchuan, because it was not very far from Qishan County in Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, and it used to be rich in water and grass, and it was also one of the earliest birthplaces of farming culture.
Some people say that the village looks like a phoenix and is an auspicious place; some people say that it is the name given by the Queen Mother, which means that the mountain nest flies out of the golden phoenix. Fenghuang Village has a large mountainous area, a thin industrial foundation, a large number of people going out, and poor basic conditions, and is one of the poor villages in the jingwei river-facing mountain special hardship zone. There are 806 people in 199 households in 6 villager groups in the village, of which 328 people are poor in 86 households. In 2015, the per capita net income of farmers was still below the poverty line, the total administrative area of the village was 6757.1 mu, the cultivated land area was 448.5 mu, and the forest land area was 2692.8 mu; in 2014, the whole village had 86 poor households and 326 people, with a poverty incidence rate of 40.8%.
Speaking of the changes in Fenghuang Village, it benefited from the precise poverty alleviation and rural revitalization strategy proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping. This is the root of Phoenix Nirvana in Phoenix Village. The party committees and governments at the county and town levels have judged the hour and sized up the situation, adapted to local conditions, and made correct decisions; they have conscientiously implemented the spirit of the Nineteenth National Congress of the Party and the strategy of rural revitalization, and in accordance with the development plan of the province's "Ten Green Sunrise Industries", they have insisted on finding a way out in the "three changes" reform in rural areas. Talking about this, Jiang Mingde, the 58-year-old former party branch secretary of Fenghuang Village and the president of the Walnut Oil Peony Association, said with great emotion: "I have been a village cadre all my life, and I always feel that I have a lot of resources, but I just can't do a doorway, and now I understand it." ”
To develop, we must eat through the family foundation. A group of people from the party committee and government of Chengguan Town spent a week concentrating on conducting a field investigation of the resources of Fenghuang Village, and they were surprised to find that there were unique resources here. They found that Fenghuang Village is close to the county seat, and the development of tourism should be the first choice. With an average altitude of 1080 meters above sea level, it has a temperate monsoon climate with an annual rainfall of 553 mm and an average temperature of 10 °C. Fenghuang Village has a mild climate and beautiful scenery, is the back garden of the county seat, and is also a summer resort for leisure, entertainment and health vacation.
Over the past year, using the unique natural heritage, with the help of the 15-kilometer-deep And rich ecological resources of the Fenghuanggou River Basin, and with the use of unique cultural heritage, the upside-down pagoda grottoes that are in line with the north and south grottoes have been publicized in many ways, and the ruins of Xueju dianjiangtai have been actively protected. The "Legend of the Phoenix" passed down by the people by word of mouth plays a unique role in educating the villagers and helping each other, and the ancient temple of the Phoenix in the village has a long history. These cultural heritages have become a favorite place for tourists. Taking advantage of the unique folk culture, handmade embroidery products with simple patterns and exquisite embroidery were introduced; agricultural tools and daily necessities such as wood art, iron art, and hand-weaving were preserved; phoenix shadow puppets were rehearsed, and the unique red culture was used to sort out and compile the life deeds of the old underground party members in Phoenix Village, build a red theme cultural square, embed the core values of socialism, and carry out in-depth red theme cultural education, and the "red village" that was gradually forgotten by posterity was once again full of positive energy and spirit.
How to make good use of these resources, the best way is to develop tourism, develop and make good use of these resources, and turn resource advantages into development advantages. They immediately hired a high-qualified rural tourism planning company in China, measured and investigated on the spot, operated according to the positioning of high starting point and low starting point, and quickly came up with a planning and design plan. Openly solicit opinions from the people and all sectors of society, continuously improve and improve, so that the plan has high-looking, operable and feasible.
The idea is set, the key is to look at the action.
To engage in tourism, the important thing is how to revitalize the only land, how to let the people also participate, to be investors, beneficiaries and managers of tourism. The bottleneck that constrains the problem, in addition to funds, is mainly the mechanism. To this end, the first step they did was to explore the poverty alleviation mechanism and completely activate the "one pool of water" for poverty alleviation.
After field research, many mass meetings and meetings of the village "two committees" team were held, closely combined with the actual conditions of the village, fully respected the wishes of the masses, promoted the joint production and joint industry and joint stock of peasant households and market entities, attracted investment and introduced Gansu Jinxiu Phoenix Cultural Tourism Development Co., Ltd., deeply promoted the "three changes" reform tourism poverty alleviation mechanism, adopted the model of "leading enterprises + cooperatives + peasant households", took the Jingxiu Tourism Service Professional Cooperative in Jingchuan County as a bridge link, and integrated the mountains, water, fields, forests, roads, caves, and caves of the village collective and the masses. Resources such as folk culture, historical sites, and folk crafts have been quantitatively converted into assets into shareholding companies, idle and surplus funds have been absorbed into shares, and farmers have become shareholders. Through consultation between village collectives, cooperatives, tourism companies, and peasant household representatives, in accordance with the principle of "no shares in nothing, no shares in nothing, and no one without shares", 12 types of shares, such as collective resources units, special fund poverty alleviation units, contracted land management units, folk culture shares, and labor skills shares, were set up, and fixed dividends and profitable dividends were adopted to ensure that the interests of village collectives and peasant households were not damaged. Relying on the "three changes", the masses can follow the enterprise to do business, 15 people have set up small shops in the scenic spot; they can work for the enterprise, and 53 people in the village can engage in gardening, equipment management, security guards, cleaning, etc. in the scenic spot, and each person can receive about 20,000 yuan in post wages every year; dividends can be distributed in the enterprise, and the peasant households will receive dividends at the end of the year according to their respective shareholding situation. In 2017, the cooperative paid dividends of 258,900 yuan, of which the village collective dividend was 50,000 yuan and the farmers' dividend was 208,900 yuan, driving the average income of poor households to increase by 1,400 yuan. The masses have truly become "three gold farmers" who sit at home to collect rent, stare at the ledger to collect shares, and earn salaries from enterprise workers.
Driven by cadres stationed in villages and village groups, the masses have changed their concepts and summoned up vigor. Fenghuang village has a good ecology, a beautiful environment, unique terrain, suitable climate, a pleasant habitat for wild animals, and a wide variety of indigenous tree species; the small watershed of Fenghuanggou is about 15 kilometers deep, the water source is sufficient, the spring water is sweet and delicious, the aquatic life is rich, the wild fish are fat, the cliffs of the ditch are strange, and the ancient trees are overgrown. The babbling of the stream, the birds singing, the concentration of negative oxygen ions in the phoenix valley is as high as 2,000 per cubic centimeter, which is a veritable natural oxygen bar. Taking advantage of these conditions, the county residents are attracted to the village, forming a close to the natural ecological tour. The ancestors left a unique humanistic legacy. The Fenghuanggou Grottoes of the Inverted Hanging Pagoda of the Northern Wei Dynasty are in the same vein as the North and South Grottoes, are well preserved, and have great characteristics in style and use, which is of immeasurable value to the study of Buddhist culture. North of Chaojiaping in Fenghuang Village, there is the ruins of Xue Ju Dian Jiangtai (圻墌城), which belongs to the historical relics protection area, which has gone through vicissitudes and verified historical facts, although it is already a ruined wall, it is of great historical value for the study of the Xue Ju regime and the first battle of the early Tang Dynasty- the Battle of Shallow Water. The legend of the phoenix educates the villagers and touches people deeply; the ancient temple of the phoenix has a long history, the incense is flourishing, and the tourists of the Tanabata festival gather together; the phoenix totem condenses the spirit of the phoenix- and travels to alleviate poverty and be reborn in the fire. The people have created a unique folk culture. Phoenix peasant embroidery skills have a long heritage, simple embroidery patterns, bright color collocation, exquisite embroidery, with distinct Longdong folk characteristics; wood art, iron art, hand-knitting and other production of agricultural tools, daily necessities self-sufficiency. Phoenix Shadow Puppet - The old Qin Yun is a treasure of the nation, "telling the story of the ages in one mouth, manipulating millions of soldiers with both hands", which adds fun to the agricultural entertainment of the phoenix people. The elderly here to the young people to talk about tradition, filial piety, young people here with the elderly to learn history, practice the throat, especially the children in the city is a feast of the eyes, a good drive for parent-child travel. The elders have inherited a unique red culture. Sort out and compile the life deeds of Jiang Minglu, Jiang Shicai, and other old underground party members in Fenghuang Village, explore and carry forward the revolutionary spirit of the old revolution and old party members, carry out in-depth red theme cultural education, build a red theme cultural square, join the socialist core values, re-display the "red village" that will be gradually forgotten by future generations, educate the children and grandchildren of the future generations, remember the martyrs of the ancestors, remember the red tradition, and carry forward the revolutionary spirit.
The second step is to plant leafy "plane trees" in many ways.
Their eyes were fixed on the earthen caves of yesteryear. Loess cave dwellings are a thing of the past
The main form of Longdong folk houses, warm in winter and cool in summer, grounded, most of the people in their 40s have come out of loess caves and have feelings for loess caves. Therefore, they repaired and transformed the abandoned and idle caves of the masses, turned waste into treasures, and built a cave book house, a rural memory museum, a day care center for the elderly and a farmhouse, although it looks "rustic", it has unique characteristics and preserves the authentic style of traditional villages to the greatest extent. This act, like a fire, ignited the spiritual hall of the villagers. Then the old farming, old objects, old crafts, etc. handed down by the elders were displayed one by one, and the embroidery building with the Architectural Style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and built in the Republic of China period was repaired, so that the ancient charm of "old style" became the favorite of tourists. The development of rural tourism has made the young people who have gone out to work return to their hometowns, the elderly and left-behind women can earn money without leaving the house, and the family is reunited and happy; the village is full of flowers and green plants, playing, doing business, going to relatives, and falling in love, people suddenly increase, and the anger that has not been seen for many years has reappeared. Riding on the "east wind" of precision poverty alleviation and precise poverty alleviation, not only the basic conditions in Fenghuang Village have been greatly improved, but even new things such as the Internet, e-commerce, supply and marketing direct sales, and huimin finance have also entered the village, and the wireless network has achieved full coverage without passwords. The vigorous vitality of the village not only made the people feel the warmth of the party and the government again, but also the town and village cadres also had a great sense of achievement.
Former village leader and today's mayor of the town, De Wei, said: "In the past, people were afraid to talk about phoenix, because phoenix village was synonymous with backwardness; now, phoenix has become the business card of Chengguan Town's external propaganda. Walking in Fenghuang Village, we can read the expectations of the people; working in Fenghuang Village, we can feel the responsibility on our shoulders. ”
Speaking of the future, Li Yong, the young new secretary of the town party committee, said endlessly: "In the next step, we will actively strive for project support, continue to expand the scale of the rural tourism industry, vigorously implement the second phase of the 'Splendid Phoenix Pastoral Complex' project project, build new health care centers, commercial streets, tourist service centers, museums and other scenic spots, improve tourism elements, make up for industrial shortcomings, with the help of rural tourism, firmly tie the masses to the industrial chain, so that the people can get rich quickly in the tourism poverty alleviation. Let the Phoenix Village truly become a veritable 'Golden Phoenix'. ”
According to legend, the phoenix self-immolated to ashes every 500 years, and then reborn from the ashes, circulating endlessly and becoming immortal. The implication is that the phoenix is the messenger of happiness in the world, and every 500 years, it will bear all the unhappiness and hatred accumulated in the world, throw itself into the raging fire, and exchange the end of life and beauty for the peace and happiness of the world. Similarly, it is only after the flesh has endured great pain and tempering that their bodies can be reborn.
About the Author:
Fan Xiaomin, pen name Xiaolong, has a postgraduate degree and is a member of the Gansu Writers Association. He is currently the secretary and chairman of the party group of the Jingchuan County Federation of Literature and Art, a special expert of the Gansu Provincial Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese Culture and Art Special Committee, the vice chairman of the Pingliang Writers Association, and the editor-in-chief of the quarterly magazine "West Queen Mother Literature and Art". He has published more than 500 literary works (the first) in newspapers and periodicals such as "People's Literature", "Selected Poems", "Feitian", "Yanhe", "Gansu Daily" and other newspapers and periodicals, and has won many awards such as the First Kuntong Literary award and the Fourth Gansu Yellow River Literature Award.
(Responsible Editor/Lu Xu, Times Report, China Reportage, No. 11, 2021)
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