In Hongcun South Lake, students are painting the scenery in front of them. Photo by Simon Huang
On March 31, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi presided over the first foreign ministers' dialogue between Afghanistan's neighbors and the Afghan Interim Government in Tunxi, Anhui Province. Tunxi thus attracted the attention of the world.
The southern Anhui style represented by Tunxi presents a strong Huipai style, and from ancient times to the present, it is a treasure land with beautiful scenery and outstanding people. Recently, I have traveled in Tunxi, Shexian, Yixian and Xiuning and felt the unique charm of southern Anhui.
Huangshan in the rain and fog
Tunxi is the urban area of Huangshan Mountain, and the calm Xin'an River runs through the city. As dusk falls, bustling crowds pour into the streets. Huangshan City basically has no industry, and its main economic income depends on tourism, so the local ecological environment is excellent, and its long-term air quality indicators rank among the top in the country. Strolling through the streets of Huangshan City, people will feel that this is a leisure treasure, especially those who have lived in big cities for a long time, and coming to Huangshan can temporarily put aside their busyness and sorrow and recuperate their bodies and minds.
Huangshan Scenic Area is now a very mature tourist attraction. The ancients said that "the return of the Five Mountains does not look at the mountains, and the return of the Huangshan Mountains does not look at the Mountains", which is the true admiration of the scenery of the Huangshan Mountains. In fact, the "five musts" of qisong, strange stones, sea of clouds, hot springs, and winter snow are enough to make Huangshan win the title of "the world's first strange mountain".
Unfortunately, when I climbed Huangshan Mountain, it was raining heavily, so I saw an unusual scenery of Huangshan Mountain. When the individual is in the misty mountain forest, it is like stepping into a fairyland, and he is also integrated with the whole strange mountain, where the heavens and the earth have turned into a white world.
The world-famous Huangshan Welcome Pine has become more powerful and powerful under the mountain rain and fog. With a history of more than 800 years, Yingkesong is not only a symbol of Huangshan Mountain, but also a business card of Chinese culture for a long time. Local people are set up to take care of the welcome pine, and their health status is also checked regularly.
Huangshan pine, represented by the welcome pine, can survive in the cold and heat, and even grow out of the cracks in the stone, and its attitude of being born to the sun has been given a special spirit by the literati and inkers of the past generations: it has a strong vitality, and in the face of wind and rain and time, it has always stood proudly.
Up and down the Huangshan Mountains, I also saw some pine trees that resembled the yingke pine. Most of them grow on cliffs, with straight torsos piercing the sky, while the other side grows branches and leaves toward the sun, showing upward vitality.
In the rain of the Huangshan Mountains, the distant mountains appear in the thick fog, and the strange stones in the vicinity cover the layers of gauze, adding a little mysterious color. Even if you take a cable car to reach the bright top of Huangshan Mountain and reach this peak at an altitude of 1860 meters, you need to hike for several hours.
There is an observatory on the top of the light, and there is also an observation deck next to it, where you can watch the wonderland of Huangshan Mountain. However, because of the torrential rain at that time, the temperature at the top of the mountain was very low, and the strange rocks in the distance were very blurred, only the nearby steep cliffs and strange pines showed a unique posture in the rain curtain.
In fact, even when the sky is clear, Huangshan Is often cloudy and misty, and the fairy atmosphere is fluttering, and it is this blurry visual effect that makes the scenery of Huangshan Have a certain taste of "wanting to say and rest", which also makes people more evocative.
Visit the traces of the ancient city of Huizhou
Shexian County, located in the northeast of Huangshan City, is the location of the ancient city of Huizhou. It is one of the birthplaces of Huizhou culture and a major transportation route from ancient times to the present. This 24.7 square kilometers of land contains thousands of years of historical stories. Since the beginning of the Qin Dynasty, people have settled here, and after the Tang Dynasty, the number of residents has increased and the culture has flourished. Nowadays, the ancient city of Huizhou has been developed into a relatively mature tourist area, but there are still many residents living in it, and the old streets and alleys are full of traces of years of washing.
I entered from the west gate of the ancient city of Huizhou and soon saw Xu Guoshifang. This is a stone arch with three big characters of "University Scholar", so it is also called "University Scholar's Workshop". Unlike the common "four-legged arch", it has eight columns. In fact, this archway is more like a rectangular building with a hollow in the middle and no dome, and its shape is unique among the ancient arches in China.
It is said that this was built in honor of Xu Guo. This Ming Dynasty minister was born in Shexian County, entered the examination in Jiajing for forty-four years, and later became a scholar of Wuyingdian University, participated in the suppression of rebellion in Jinchuan, Yunnan, and made meritorious contributions to the imperial court.
Xu Guo's story is just a historical moment in the long and splendid Huizhou culture.
Huizhou is located at the junction of Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, because of the mountainous areas and abundant water resources, some people who escaped the war in the Central Plains in ancient times chose to settle here. After the Sui and Tang dynasties, Huizhou culture flourished, and the Ming and Qing dynasties were even more prosperous, whether it was Huizhou's poetry and song, or pen, ink and paper, it was the essence of culture. Not to mention the unique architectural style of Huizhou, which has a place in the world's architectural gardens. There are also Huishang merchants who have traveled all over the world, spreading the unique Huizhou culture and enhancing the popularity of Huizhou.
In fact, in today's administrative divisions, there is no "Huizhou City", huizhou is more like a cultural geography concept. Huizhou in the cultural and geographical sense includes six counties: Shexian County, Yixian County, Xiuning County, Wuyuan, Jixi, and Qimen County, but now Jixi has been assigned to Xuancheng City in Anhui Province, and Wuyuan is assigned to Shangrao City in Jiangxi. Although Huizhou, as an independent administrative unit, has not been able to fully inherit the ancient "territory", its cultural identity has always existed.
Hongcun Ancient Village
Yi County, under the jurisdiction of Huangshan City, has Hongcun, a collection of Huipai architectural styles. As early as the Southern Song Dynasty, Hongcun has been inhabited, and for hundreds of years, regardless of whether the outside world is full of wars, Hongcun is a calm harbor, so that local buildings are protected from the destruction of war, so that many historical traditions have been preserved.
Entering from the west gate of Hongcun Village, I saw a group of students sitting on the shore of the South Lake, facing the South Lake Academy and the clear lake in front of them, splashing ink and color on the canvas, and a series of vivid and vivid paintings were produced. Most of the young people who come to sketch come from the surrounding schools, and their paintings have also attracted many tourists to stop and admire.
Stepping on the stone path, I came to the entrance of Nanhu Academy, one of the most well-known buildings in Hongcun. Nanhu Academy is a typical anhui-style building, during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, Zhidaotang, Wenchang Pavilion, Huiwen Pavilion, Enlightenment Pavilion, Wanghu Tower and Gion, together formed this academy. Although the building has grown the traces of time, the sound of the books of the predecessors of the past seems to echo in the ears. Today, living in the hustle and bustle of the Internet, it is difficult for us to imagine the feeling of reading quietly in the bookstore. When our relationship with all things in nature, from the classical "integration with heaven and earth" to today's instrumental reading mode, separating the relationship between self and nature, and then seeing such a wonderful scene as Nanhu Academy, is there a sense of loss?
The beauty of seclusion
There are many ancient villages in Huangshan City, some of which still exist, and some of which only leave ancient place names. However, even if you can see the ancient place name, you can find unusual traces from the scenery, and Fenkou Village is one of them.
The ancient fenkou village can be described as culturally prosperous: there is Jinshi Cheng Jue, the "History of Song" is dedicated to its biography, and wuyuan Cheng Ruochuan, who left an important mark in the history of the Southern Song Dynasty's resistance to Jin.
However, today's Fenkou Village no longer has the remains of these historical celebrities. It's a calm village, but it has the feel of a village from the last century. You can feel a certain classical and tranquil atmosphere. In the middle of it, I suddenly remembered Tao Yuanming's peach blossom garden. Tao Yuanming once did pengze county order, and the living area is not far away. Perhaps, Tao Yuanming has also heard people talk about this place.
"After a long time in the cage, return to nature", the pastoral life that Tao Yuanming yearns for, is not also the paradise that we today, when facing the troubles of the world, are eager to seek? Although it is difficult for ordinary people to achieve a state of seclusion, it is also a wonderful journey back to basics to get out of the bustling city occasionally and encounter the hidden beauty of Fenkou Village on the way to find historical sites. (Simon Wong)
Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph