Standing on the bank of the Danjiang River for more than 200 years, it has witnessed the rise and fall of Danjiang shipping and the great changes that have taken place in this land, and its exquisite architectural art, high historical value, unique cultural temperament, and even more precious -
The main entrance of the Boat Gang Hall is a stone archway
In the beautiful spring light of March, the Boat Gang Hall located on the bank of danjiang in Danfeng County presents a different charm from the past. Facing the bricks and tiles here and listening to the many stories left here, we are like walking on the interface of time where history and reality are intertwined, feeling its once-prosperous weather and prestigious aura.
"Longju Zhai has been the key point of transportation since ancient times, 'north through Qin and Jin, south through Wuchu', before the Longhai Railway was opened, the goods of the East Road went up the Yangtze River into the Han River against the water to Longju Village, scattered to Xi'an and Gansu by mules and horses, and transferred to Tongguan, Shanxi and other places through Luonan, enjoying the reputation of water and drought docks." In the square in front of the Boat Gang Hall, the docent tells the history of Longju Village, where the guild hall is located.
The colored dragon on the top of the archway
The Danjiang River, with its shallow water, used to be able to sail, and shipping was so developed! This can't help but make people think of the prosperity of hundreds of boats, ropes, and people.
"At that time, merchants gathered, there were many gangs, in order not to make the horse gang, salt gang, celadon ware gang, yellow gang and other gangs discriminate, to show the strength of the boat gang, more than 500 merchants engaged in Danjiang shipping agreed to extract three copper coins from the remuneration of each shipment and raise funds to build a guild hall. Accumulated over time, the armpits were gathered into qiu, and finally in the 20th year of Qing Jiaqing (1815), this famous guild hall was built, and it is also one of the most complete preserved boat gang halls in China, and was listed as a key cultural relics protection unit in Shaanxi Province in the 1950s. Zhou Danpeng, deputy director of the Danfeng County Culture and Tourism Bureau, said.
The Boat Gang Hall is also called ming palace, Pinglang palace, commonly known as the flower temple. The main entrance of the guild hall is a stone archway, which looks tall and magnificent under the reflection of the blue sky and white clouds. The denomination of the archway is embedded with a Nine Dragon Stone Plaque, carved with three large characters of "Ming King's Palace", "Alpine Flowing Water" on the left and "Qingfeng Mingyue" on the right. The Gate Stone Union "Hou Yuanyi was enfeoffed with virtue for thousands of years, following Xia Yu's title of Wang Fupi Jiujiang", and the banner "An Lan Puqing" took the meaning of calming the waves.
Stone carved figures on the roof of the theater building
There is a story in this stone union. Under normal circumstances, the ancients called Boyi, who helped Dayu to control the water, as "King Ming of Pingshui". Legend has it that in the last year of the Southern Song Dynasty, Kublai Khan invaded the Central Plains and drove the 7-year-old young emperor Zhao Fu to Yazhou, and the desperate little emperor and prime minister Lu Xiufu jumped into the sea together. After the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, in order to win the hearts of the people, this little emperor of the last Southern Song Dynasty was called "King Pingshui Ming".
"Because the gong and porters earn money by the docks, on the one hand, they hope that the Danjiang River is safe and the river is abundant, and on the other hand, they hope that the boat gang can grow in a group, so they respect the 'King of Pingshui Ming' who was sealed by the Yuan Dynasty." The docent introduced us to this.
The front is the archway, but the back is a theater building.
Although we have been here many times, we have been attracted and shocked by the beauty of the theater every time, and this time is no exception. It concentrates the essence of the architectural style of the north and the south, both the solemn and generous style of the northern architecture and the gorgeous and delicate characteristics of the southern architecture. The middle part of the theater building is high, the two sides are low, the top center is decorated with pagoda-style colored porcelain, and the colored dragons on the roof ridge and the corner of the cornice are inlaid with colored porcelain pieces, which is the most representative theater building in China with the South Opera Building in Bozhou, Anhui Province, known as the North Opera Building.
The Flower Theater Building of the Boat Gang Guild Hall
"The theater building is the main building of the guild hall, brick and wood structure, 27 meters high, 22 meters long, 11 meters deep, and 8 meters at the entrance." Gao Qiang, director of the Danfeng County Museum, introduced: "In the center of the Ruyi Dou Arch on the front, there are three big characters of 'Qin Jing Lou', as if to warn the world that ancient things are still in the present, and the world's situation looks at the drama, and has the role of gaotai indoctrination. ”
Most of the paintings and beams and pillars of the theater building are hollowed out wood carvings, carved with pavilions, carriages and horses, birds, animals, insects, fish, flowers, trees, etc., which are exquisite and vivid in form, of which the character carvings are the most exquisite, there are Da Shun cultivating the field, Xia Yu zhishui, ox horn hanging books, Chibi night tour, and scenes of the two armies fighting, etc., can't help but marvel at the superb skills of the ancients.
"You see, there are groups of character story reliefs on both sides of the four big characters of 'Harmony Sounding Sheng', which look like two lines of text from a distance, but in fact, it is a complete couplet composed of two groups of carvings, and no one has deciphered its meaning so far." Gao Qiang smiled and said: "In order to understand this intriguing mystery, the county has offered a bounty of 300,000 yuan." ”
"In fact, the six pairs of dragon and phoenix carvings between the pillars of the theater building are the wood carving treasures of the whole building, which were destroyed in the ten years of catastrophe, and now only two incomplete ones are left." Liu Junmin, former director of the Danfeng County Museum, said with regret.
Regret is regret, but from the exquisite and exquisite preservation of the theater building as a whole, we can feel the pursuit of people's interest in life at that time, as well as the economic and cultural prosperity created by merchants from the south to the north.
"My ancestral home is Huangshi, Hubei Province, and my grandfather's generation came to Danfeng by boat from Hubei to do business, and when they saw that the economy was prosperous, the climate was pleasant, and the people's customs were simple, they settled down." Deng Yaobin, who is more than 70 years old this year, said with emotion: "I remember playing here when I was a child, when the guild hall was larger than now, and there was a large row of empty houses, called the foot room by the elders, which was a place for boatmen and merchants to rest." ”
The Salt Gang Hall in the Party School courtyard of the Danfeng County Party Committee
Directly opposite the theater building is a hall of the Ming King. On the left outside the hall, there is a statue of the heroic punishment heaven who is unswerving and indomitable to death, and on the right is Xuan You, who is also a heroic and warlike tiger general, who is said to be the ancestor of the Miao people today. In the middle of the hall, with a majestic demeanor, solemn kindness, and crown on his head, is the "King of Pingshui Ming". It used to be a place of prayer for boatmen and the people.
"It is also a red cultural resource, which was announced by the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau as the first batch of immovable revolutionary cultural relics in Shaanxi Province in December 2020." Gao Qiang said.
In 1934, the Long March of the Red Twenty-fifth Army passed through here, conducted rectification training in the guild hall, and created the Longju Village Soviet, thus adding a red aura to this cultural relic.
In Longju Village, in addition to the Boat Gang Hall, there were also twelve major gang halls such as the Salt Gang Hall, the Celadon Gang Hall, and the Horse Gang Hall.
Coming out of the Boat Gang Hall, we walked the streets and alleys of Danfeng County, successively to the Party School of the Danfeng County Party Committee, the Chengguan Grain Station, and the West Street Primary School, and visited the ruins of the Salt Gang Hall, the Celadon Gang Hall, and the Horse Gang Hall that are still relatively well preserved.
Zhou Danpeng said: "At present, the county has begun to build a group of guild hall culture, restore the four halls, and collect exhibitions for tourists to visit and understand that period of history. ”
With Danfeng County's efforts to build the culture of the guild hall group, these historical relics on the banks of the Danjiang River will bloom with a more brilliant historical light and cultural light.
Journalist's Note
Let the soft power of culture really harden
I have been to the Danfeng Boat Gang Hall many times, most of them are sloppy and flowery, but this interview is careful. The ancient building under the blue sky and white clouds still tells its history and shows its charm.
During the interview, we learned in detail about the rise and fall of Danjiang Shipping and Longjuzhai Water and Drought Wharf in history, and traced the development and change trajectory of people's production and life forms in the flow of time and the changes in the world; between those ancient buildings, or stop to taste, or linger, lamenting the exquisite architectural skills of the ancients, the extraordinary pursuit of aesthetics, and the tolerance of different cultures in the north and south; from the cultural symbols and cultural atmospheres, what is felt is the lasting influence of cultural heritage on a place through time and space.
Shangluo has a long history and profound cultural heritage, and there are many cultural relics such as the Boat Gang Hall. This is the place of pride and pride of being a Shangluo person, the root of our journey from history all the way, and the soul of our way to the future. But it is undeniable that some cultural relics are unknown to outsiders, and even we ourselves know very little, which is quite embarrassing to "raise people in the deep boudoir and not know". The reason for this is that there may be problems of poor protection and serious damage, so that people who go there feel that they have "nothing to see"; there is a problem of ignoring the problem of value exploration and insufficient utilization, so that people who have seen it feel "useless"; there is also the problem of not paying attention to propaganda, because "there is no name" and few people come. These issues deserve sufficient attention.
It is our duty to protect cultural heritage, and while doing a good job in protection, we must strive to make those "sleeping" cultural relics "come alive" so that they can highlight both historical value and contemporary value. This is not only an important way to carry forward the excellent traditional culture and expand the external influence, but also the due meaning of our city to build "China's health care capital".
Danfeng County has included the building of the guild hall group culture represented by the Boat Gang Guild Hall in the "14th Five-Year Plan" cultural tourism development plan, and has focused on actively implementing it. Other counties and districts in our city have also taken greater measures than before in the protection and utilization of cultural heritage, and are making greater efforts. It is believed that in the construction of "one capital and four districts", more cultural heritage in our city will truly "come alive", and our cultural soft power will increasingly become the hard power of high-quality economic and social development.
Reporter Nan Shutang Bruce Lee
Editor: Sun Changfei
Editor-in-Charge: Liu Yifei
Editor: Yang Sen
Editor-in-Chief: Zhang Zhihong