"The Last Secret Land of Jiangnan", "The Living Qingming River Map"... The ancient county town of Songyang, hidden deep in the mountains of Lishui, Zhejiang, has been given too many beautiful descriptions by tourists. Scattered around the ancient villages, mottled old houses, old streets, traditional customs, time seems to stand still, tourists walk through history.
However, this "living Map of the Qingming River" once faced the embarrassing situation of a piece of old houses becoming dangerous houses, and once these old houses became ruins, the most beautiful humanistic scenery would lose its popularity and aura. The songyang old house rescue operation, which began a few years ago, has brought the old villages back to life, and more importantly, the old craftsmen have returned to their hometowns, leaving a team of craftsmen who shuttle between ancient buildings in these villages. As long as there is this team, at least for the next ten years, the "Last Jiangnan Secret Realm" will not be guarded by anyone.
Songyang craftsmen repair the old house site. Courtesy of respondents
The "great carpenter" saved 160 old houses in six years
"It's harder to build an old building than a new house, and there are too many hidden structures in it." Ye Yanjie, 26 years old this year, took over the craft of his father Ye Changxian after retiring from the army, and although he has been engaged in this business for more than five years, Ye Yanjie will consult "Master" from time to time when he encounters problems. In the face of boring learning, Ye Yanjie said that he was a stubborn temper, "As long as I can do a good job in repairing ancient buildings, nothing else can stop me." ”
The ancient building repair process has strict requirements, in the absence of design drawings, it is necessary to repair the old as old, and restore the ancient building itself to the greatest extent. In Ye Yanjie's not very long experience in repair, he has repaired many hidden structures of ancient buildings, complex and diverse construction processes, and different building materials.
His father, Ye Changxian, 57 years old this year, learned from his teacher at the age of 16, has decades of experience in the repair of ancient buildings, and has built more than 160 ancient houses in the local area since 2016 alone, and is a highly respected "big carpenter". The big carpenter is different from the carpentry in modern decoration, because the local buildings in Songyang are mostly wooden structures, the big carpenter is the real teacher who can't be separated from the local people to build houses earlier, and the craftsmanship of a big carpenter determines the quality of the whole building.
In Ye Yanjie's memory, his father was not very popular in his early years. Before he was even born, his father had to find another way out, and it was not until 2008 that he picked up the craft again and began to repair various ancient buildings, including old houses.
Songyang repairs the scene of the old house. Courtesy of respondents
When he first learned the craft, Ye Yanjie actually didn't think much of his father's various old carpentry jobs, and he even felt, "Just fix it with iron nails." However, this idea was severely criticized by his father, "You don't understand this, you can't use iron nails to repair cultural relics." Because of the difference in concepts, the father and son often argue, but it is precisely this kind of debate that makes Ye Yanjie have a personal understanding of what is the old craft and what is repaired as old.
In the process of participating in the rescue of the old house, Ye Yanjie and his father's team were qualified for repair, and now there are 38 craftsmen in the father-son team, with an average age of more than 50 years old, and young people like Ye Yanjie are very rare. "Now there are too few peers learning this craft, it is more difficult to do this work, it takes two and a half to three years of apprenticeship to become a teacher, but unfortunately most young people can't calm down to learn the craft."
Trek tens of kilometers in search of old tiles
Old house architecture is an important part of the traditional village, farmers have feelings for the ancestral houses that have lived for generations, and the rescue action that began 6 years ago has given the locals confidence in the old houses to persist. There is a family in Songyang, the husband is sick and urgently needs money for surgery, just a vendor wants a high-priced buyer of the wood carvings on the old house, but the family still insists on not selling after a long time of discussion.
But ordinary people want to save the old house, there are indeed too many difficulties. Most of the ancient buildings in Songyang were built in the Ming and Qing dynasties to the Republic of China period, of which there are fewer ancient buildings in the Ming Dynasty, most of the buildings in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period, most of the old houses are rammed earth wall structures, generations of people live and inherit, complex property rights, and a large number of residential populations, which increase the difficulty of repairing old houses.
Among the old houses that Ye Yanjie participated in the repair, there are 19 old houses in Yuyan Village, with a permanent population of more than 100 people. The craftsman team spent seven months repairing the house alone, "needing to communicate with each villager to understand their needs." ”
Ancient buildings usually have no design drawings, and various renovations over the past hundred years often make old houses unrecognizable, leaving only the main structure. In 2021, when Ye Yanjie was repairing an ancestral hall in seven villages, he found some traces that were difficult to confirm, in order to figure out the specific structure, after communicating with the elderly in the village many times, he learned that there was once a pair of symmetrical cranes in the ancestral hall, and now only one side has left some traces, if it is not the oral account of the old man, no one can understand the original design of the ancestral hall.
In Songyang, the roofs of some old houses have been washed by wind and rain, and it is difficult to distinguish the previous structural appearance, and they have been restored little by little in the repair. Courtesy of respondents
Most of the old houses are made of local materials by villagers. In Songyang, most of the fir buildings, in order to ensure that the original state of the cultural relics is not changed, from a window frame size and roof tiles, to the overall style, the craftsmen have strict requirements for repair. Sometimes in order to find suitable old tiles, father and son would go to villages dozens of kilometers away to find them for several days or even half a month.
A craftsmanship that cannot be repaired
After the Songyang rescue of the old house, "can be repaired or not changed" has become the consensus of local craftsmen, but also a strict principle.
In the Ye Clan Ancestral Hall in Dalingjiao Village, Yuyan Town, there is a girder with a diameter of 75 centimeters, and the surface is very exquisitely carved, but the middle has been hollowed out, and the mold is so rotten that the finger can directly poke into it. The craftsman Wu Bingsong made a mistake and suggested that it be replaced directly, and the villagers also proposed to change the new one. However, the "Old House Office" demanded "both structural safety and preservation of cultural relics value", forcing Wu Bingsong to delve into the skin splicing technology and finally completed this seemingly impossible task. Wu Bingsong said that even the tribesmen could not see that the girder had been repaired in the end.
Repair of the Songyang Cai Ancestral Hall. Courtesy of respondents
Being able to repair or not change is sometimes not fully understood by villagers who are more inclined to replace new components in their lives. Craftsman Zeng Ronghua once encountered such a question, "Why only repair and not change?" It's irresponsible for you to just tinker! "For craftsmen, in fact, replacement is more profitable than restoration, but the principle that the repair team has always followed is that it cannot be repaired for the sake of profit alone." Zeng Ronghua repeatedly explained to the villagers that the old house is a cultural relics building, as long as it does not affect the safe use, it cannot easily replace the components, in order to maximize the preservation of the original state of the cultural relics.
In the Songyang County Rescue Old House Operation, the repair and replacement were clearly demarcated. For example, the old house floor, the original three-in-one land surface, the occupants changed to the cement floor, whether to retain or repair, according to its location to judge, the public area is recommended to repair, the annex area is allowed to be retained, the triad surface wear is small to maintain the status quo.
Craftsmen returned to leave the technique local
Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, Songyang has been a place for construction craftsmen, and in recent years, local factions and skills have been lost. In the operation to save the old house, these old craftsmen have a wave of homecoming. During this period, Songyang County has cultivated more than 2,000 traditional craftsmen, more than 30 teams, and more than 1,000 traditional craftsmen have participated in the project, forming the "Songyang Craftsmen" brand.
In Sandu Township, there is a group of traditional craftsmen known as the "Sandu Gang", the typical representative is Zeng Ronghua's team, rammed walls, tiles, large wood and other craftsmen are all from Sandu local, forming a scene of Sandu craftsmen repairing sandu old houses. Craftsman Zeng Xinliang, a teacher with more than 30 years of carpentry experience in Sandu Township, originally thought that his craft was useless, and later went to Hangzhou to engage in the decoration industry. After his hometown began to rescue the old house, he took his son back to repair the old house, and in more than a year, he took over five old house projects, and the original team also increased to 20 people.
Songyang villagers also participated in the action of repairing old houses, picking up soil to repair houses themselves. Courtesy of respondents
Huang Guiqiang, director of the Fifth Room of Heritage of Zhejiang Ancient Architecture Design and Research Institute, said, "The Project of Saving Old Houses has not only repaired the houses of the people, but also trained local craftsmen. In 2021, Songyang County also recommended Ye Changxian to work as a teacher at Songyang Vocational and Technical School to teach the craft of repairing ancient buildings, and now Ye Changxian goes to the school once a week to teach more than 40 students.
In Songyang, Ye Yanjie and his father's craftsmanship is already very famous, and sometimes they can receive jobs from other places, but most of the time the father and son still repair the old house in Songyang. Recently, they are renovating the old house of a large family in the local history, and the wood carvings on the house are intricate and exquisite, which is very old. "We craftsmen are more concerned about our reputation than making money." Ye Yanjie said that craftsmen sometimes "leave traces" on the building, what day the pillar is made, when it is spelled, the craftsmen will give the label name, it is this "naming", so that the matter of repairing the old house is no longer just a job for the craftsmen, "as if participating in a period of history, the traces of our work will continue with these old houses."
Beijing News reporter Geng Ziye
Edited by Zhang Shujing Proofreader Zhao Lin