#Chengdu Headline##Zigong#China's first town of salt transportation, prosperity and silence are only in the blink of an eye
The ancient town of Xianshi on the banks of the Puxi River
On the eve of the Spring Festival in 2022, my family and I went from Chengdu to Zigong to see the lantern festival, and then went to the ancient town of Xianshi.
I said I was going again because I had been to this ancient town several times.
Xianshi Ancient Town, located 11 kilometers southeast of Zigong City, on the banks of the Puxi River, has a history of 1400 years and has a very prosperous period in history. Zigong jing salt has always been famous throughout the country, when Xian Shi was a famous salt wharf, from here the boats carrying Zigong Jing salt from here along the Puxi River into the Tuojiang River and then into the Yangtze River, the best well salt was transported to all parts of the country, Xian Shi thus won the title of "China's first salt transport town".
Overlooking the ancient town of Xianshi
The old name of Xian City was "Xian Tan", and there is a local legend: one of the daughters of the Jade Emperor, the Eight Immortals, was born uninhibited, tired of the extravagance of the heavenly court, yearning for the beauty of the world, stealing the mortal world one day, indulging in the fun and frolicking in the area of Guxian City, enjoying and forgetting to return, and even lying on the side of the Puxi River and sleeping, the Jade Emperor was furious when he heard the news, so he cast a spell to recover his soul and let his body remain in the human world to transform into a landscape. The mountainous landform of the ancient town is like a beautiful girl lying on her side, and the Puxi River has a beach here, just at the feet of the fairy, so it is called "Fairy Beach".
Crotch well, a relic related to the legend of the fairy.
Xianshi ancient town is not big or small, there are three or four old streets, are relatively well preserved, which is probably because the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway, Chengdu-Chongqing Highway and other major land transportation instead of water transport, the fate of Xianshi has changed, in the long river of history, this process is only in the blink of an eye, the ancient town can be preserved is also a fortunate thing in misfortune.
The complete preservation of the old street of the ancient town of Xianshi
I visited Xianshi for the first time in 2007, and the complete old streets of Xianshi Ancient Town, the simple folk customs and the living conditions of the aborigines left a good impression on me, so whenever I went to Zigong, I would go to Xianshi to take a walk around, feel the tranquility of the ancient town, and let the city bring impetuousness in people's hearts a little calmer.
The quiet life of the residents of Xianshi Ancient Town
In the past ten years, there have been several times to Xianshi, in general, the ancient town of Xianshi has also changed, because it has become a tourist scenic spot, in addition to the establishment of road signs on the street, the construction of parking lots these convenient facilities for tourists, the old street for tourists commercial formats have also increased. However, it is gratifying that the pattern of the ancient town has not been changed, and no new buildings and structures have been added at will (there are ancient towns that arbitrarily change the original pattern and build antique buildings in the process of creating tourist attractions), and many indigenous people still live in the ancient town. Compared with the shops that fill the streets, selling wholesale handicrafts, and the so-called ancient town that is not a local specialty, Xianshi still feels good to me, which is why I am willing to come.
Baked elbow is the delicacy of the ancient town of Xianshi
The houses in Xianshi are just like the traditional practice in Kawauchi, the small green tile slope roof is erected along the street through the wooden houses, the façade is a courtyard, the streets are paved with stone slabs, the old dock stone class is stacked on top, and the stone slab road and stone ladder are very smooth because of the long years, which is also a witness to the history of the ancient town.
Residential courtyard
The ancient town originally had the Jiangxi Guild Hall, Guangdong Guild Hall, Fujian Guild Hall and Chen Family Ancestral Hall, which were preserved, and later most of them were converted into temples, but the building and layout still retained the old appearance, which is also a fortunate thing.
The old site of the Gate Tower of the Heavenly Palace has now been blocked, and the main hall inside has been changed to the Guanyin Hall.
The Kannon Hall converted from the Hokkien Guild Hall
The mountain gate of Jinqiao Temple was rebuilt from the original Guangdong Guild Hall.
Chen Ancestral Hall
In the half-street where the guild halls and ancestral halls are more concentrated, the fire-sealing walls with different shapes and jagged shapes stand high in the green tile roofs of a residential house, which is particularly outstanding and has become the most eye-catching landscape of the ancient town.
Although the Puxi River does not have the lively scene of salt boats coming and going, its quiet flowing appearance is very consistent with today's ancient town style. At sunset, several black canopy boats docked on the shore, close to the river water, as if looking back at the prosperous years of the ancient town of Xianshi.