In the Jiaodong Peninsula, "Baisha River" is a relatively common place name. There are rivers called "Baisha River" in Chengyang District of Qingdao City and Haiyang City of Yantai City, and in Pingdu City, there is also a "Baisha River Street".
The next content is mainly related to the Baisha River in Haiyang, and the village where the source of the river is located is introduced.
Before introducing the village, let's briefly understand the general situation of the "Baisha River" in Haiyang. According to the Haiyang County Chronicle:
"The Baisha River, which originates from the urn kiln head, flows through the urn kiln head, bao yu shi, shangnian head, Dafu Yan, zhaizi head, dongwei garden head, east pear garden, fishing pan, stone horse head, east zhaitou, Yulin, Dugzhuang, Shu village, Penghua zhuang, Bozi, Xingcun, Xiaotan to the southwest, into the Dingzi Bay. The length of the river is 34 km and the basin area is 221 km². ”
The length of 34 kilometers does not seem to give people much feeling, but in the entire Haiyang territory, this value is already quite high - second to the Changshui River, and comparable to the Dongcun River, the Jiyan River, and the Liugezhuang River (all about 30 kilometers).
(▲Scenery of the mouth of the Baisha River)
It is worth mentioning that the mouth of the Baisha River is near Magu Island on the shore of T-Shaped Bay. On the bridge leading to Magu Island, you can enjoy the scenery of the estuary. The confluence of rivers and seas often has rich aquatic resources, so the mouth of the Baisha River is also a very popular place for fishing friends.
In the above introduction, the birthplace of the Baisha River has been mentioned, that is, the village of "Urn Kiln Head". This village is located in the middle of Haiyang and is under the jurisdiction of Zhuwu Town according to the division.
(▲Indication of the location of the village of Urn Kiln Head)
From the Zhuwu town station to the south, a short walk along the Yanfeng Highway, you can see the village name stone stele of "Urn Kiln Head" on the west side of the road. However, it is only the entrance to the village of the urn kiln, and it is still a long way to really come to the village.
Regarding the origin of the name Urn Kiln Head, the "Jianzhi of Haiyang City Town and Village" records three theories, one of which is: At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the villagers made a living by burning urns, so they ordered the village to be named Urn Kiln Head. Another theory is that because the village was built in the east of the kiln yard where the urn was burned, the urn kiln head village was named. Another is: At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Sun surname moved from Yunnan to build a village to settle down, because the village was built around the mountains, the terrain was like an urn, and the village was not seen near before, so it was named Urn Kiln Tou Village.
As far as the author's personal feelings are concerned, the third statement has a higher degree of credibility. The reason why the Baisha River originated here should also be directly related to this terrain surrounded by mountains on all sides.
Due to the topography, the size of the village is not very large, and the house buildings are divided into multiple pieces. According to statistics in 2002, the village has 6 surnames (mostly Sun surnames) such as Sun, Zhao, Jiang, Zhang, Cong and Dong, with a total of 212 households.
(▲Large locust tree and old house in Urn Kiln Head Village)
Last fall, I and my friend visited the village of Urn Yaotou once. Due to the unfamiliar terrain, we did not find the exact location of the source of the Baisha River, but there were other gains: in a street in the village, we saw a large locust tree with a trunk, obviously some years old.
In addition to the large locust tree, the traditional houses and large halls of the urn kiln head are also quite distinctive, but because they did not immediately sort out the pictures after returning at that time, they are now looking again, and only the scenes of the large locust trees and several old houses have been found. Talking is better than nothing, through these pictures, everyone will have a general feeling about the overall style of Urn Kiln Tou Village.