The ancient village is a treasure trove of history and culture, scattered with thousands of years of traditional Chinese folk customs and simple family culture. All along, I like to carry a camera on my back, use my limited leisure time, walk away from the city, visit ancient villages and towns, look at a broken wall, a carved flower, feel a quiet, a mystery, relax my tense nerves, and enjoy the carefree simple and slow life. With this kind of mood, on a weekend day, I walked into Tongshuping Village, a thousand-year-old village located in Liangtian Township, Jiexi County.
Tongshuping Village is located at the junction of Jiexi, Fengshun and Wuhua cities and three counties. "The thousand-year-old village is unharmed today, surrounded by mountains and waters." This is what tourists praise this ancient village. According to the "Tongshuping Liu Clan Genealogy", the third ancestor of the Liu clan, Mianji Gong, and his four sons opened a residence in Tongshuping during the reign of Ming Jiajing (1522-1566 AD). At present, the village has a population of nearly 2,000, all surnamed Liu, and is the birthplace of the Liu clan faction in Longtan, Jiexi County. It's also amazing to think about it, the old village was a blood group with the same ancestors. One person, scattered branches, more and more descendants, the settlement slowly expanded, and eventually dispersed to various places. Judging from the excavated burial structure, before the Hakka people came to live here, the aborigines were slash-and-burn She. Judging from the place names, at least people with the surnames Yuan, Li, Chen, Zeng and Deng lived here in history. Inexplicably, the local Hakka dialect pronounced the Tongshuping character Tongshuping village as "梌" (pronounced tu tú, a type of cypress tree), called "梌shuping", which is still used today. It is said that the place was rich in catap trees, but at least it is said that the map of "Records of Jieyang County" compiled by Liu Yeqin during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty has written "Tongshuping", and it is said that the legendary "Zishu" is rare in the local area.
The whole village is in the shape of a boat, surrounded by mountains, two streams pass through the village, the village path is set along the stream, all paved with bluestone, the whole village space is natural and smooth, and the movement is suitable. Walking into it, I was first attracted by the clear stream water in the ancient village. The stream rushes from the distant mountains, like a villager who does not apply powder, flowing crystal clear in the open land of the village. The creek is crystal clear, and the pebbles, rocks and grass at the bottom of the stream are clearly visible and flow happily. Every once in a while, a dam is built, forming a clear waterhole, which is probably where the stream rests. The pool water is clear and deep, occasionally fish swim out of the water to feed, the small pool water ripples, circles, the breeze blows, slowly disperse. Stepping on the big stones in the stream water, listening to the stream flowing under the feet, tired to find a stone to sit down, listening to the cheerful and beautiful singing of the stream, thirsty for a handful of stream water, the mountain stream water is clear and sweet, as soon as you take the entrance, suddenly a clear and soaked into the heart, there is a sense of enlightenment that cleanses the soul and cleanses the soul.
At the back of the village and at the mouth of the village, there is a whole ancient forest, which is intertwined and verdant, called "Fengwei Tree". The sun shines from the sky, and the village is still so quiet and charming, so welcoming. Old Hakka houses and newly built buildings are lined up, alleys are deep, mottled earthen walls are engraved with the marks of time, bees and butterflies dance among the flowers, and birds sing in the treetops. Calm days, quiet and far-reaching melodious, but smell a few chickens and dogs barking, a few slang words from the village are cordial country sounds. A faint sense of hometown, a gentle warmth, the integration of man and nature, and the harmony between people and people, this is a real peach blossom source. The countryside, hills, cooking smoke, trees, flowers, birds and this ancient charm have become a beautiful picture in your mind, and walking in it is like walking in the memory of time.
In the ancient village, the winding pebble paths and scattered stone garden reveal the vicissitudes of the agricultural era. The whole ancient village has well-preserved Tianxilou, Mashi Road, Three Houses, Reservoir, Ancient Well, Master's Palace, Dianfeng Gong Temple, Beitai Palace, Dragon God Bogong, Sanshan King Palace, Guanyin Temple, Catholic Church... Walking through it, it is like visiting ancient times, a cornice, a pool of blue water, a green brick, that old alley, that bright sun, that distant color, nothing to do with love, no matter the mood, all make people sigh for no reason. In contemplation, the small bridge is as fresh and pleasant as flowing water; The plantains do not spread, and the lilac knots are faintly melancholy; The euphemism of the piano music lingers. It seems that you will meet anytime and anywhere, a gentle woman with a face hidden, speechless, and low eyebrows like a light and elegant orchid, as well as a warrior who passes through the streets with a Dao bone fairy wind. The old house, as if out of the deep valley and clear stream, the otherworldly depth, that far from the world, a different kind of beauty, piano sound, inkstone, poetry style, rhyme, Liao words are endless. Looking back, the Yunshui Zen realm has been immersed in the painting.
I wandered through the ancient village, stepping on the stone road full of the footprints of generations of ancestors, as if walking on the back of the ancient village. The long, wide, square, or round hemp slab, polished smooth and shiny, seemed to tell us something. Occasionally peeking in from an old mansion in the ancient village, I saw the deep courtyard. The mottled old wall yard, the moss under the hemp stone steps, and the new green extracted from the ancient tree are all imprinted with traces of time. Idle old people sit at the foot of the wall and talk about things, and rarely can see others. Now is the era of "countryside encircling the city", young and middle-aged people have gone out to work, the village is quiet, only the corner wasteland grows a variety of bushes and wildflowers, under the moisture of the spring rain, they are beautiful and charming.
Along with the ancient villages, there are also ancestral halls and clan cultures, which have deeply influenced generations of Chinese, and many heroes and greats throughout history have been deeply influenced by clan culture. The Dianfeng Ancestral Hall and the Liu Ancestral Hall are located in the very center of the ancient village, and the Liu Ancestral Hall has been converted into a cultural activity center. The hall is a brick and wood structure, hard mountain roof, lifting beam type, sitting north facing south, plane two, step type, each entrance is three bays. The ancestral hall was used as a school in those days, and you can imagine the strong learning atmosphere at that time. Unfortunately, after nearly a hundred years of wind and rain erosion, the buildings have been broken and the walls have fallen off, and they are in urgent need of repair and repair. Next to the former Liu Clan Ancestral Hall, I found a piece of yuan gem on it, which is rare in other villages in Liangtian Township, proving that in ancient times, a weaving workshop and a dyeing workshop were opened in the Tongshuping Ancestral Hall. Yuan gemstones, named for their shape similar to yuan treasures, also known as "calender stone", "kicking cloth stone", "fan cloth stone", "stepping cloth stone", "flying goose stone", etc., is a unique tool used by ancient dyeing workshops for grinding and dyeing cloth products, composed of two parts, the upper and lower pieces, different sizes in various places, but similar shapes, the small is five or six hundred catties, and the weight is more than a thousand catties.
Some things do not have time to cherish, so they are hastily hidden into the thick curtain of history. The roads of the ancient village are rich and express the state of survival. Day and night, sunny or rainy, everything here is without pretentiousness, no matter who has a cordial excitement. I stood in front of an uninhabited gatehouse, with two round iron rings in the middle of the black wooden door, like eyes staring at me. I wanted to push open the wooden door and hear the heavy noise, which had been lost in the city for many years. I wanted to step over the threshold and enter the green brick house. Sitting in the living room and drinking green tea steeped in mountain spring water must be another taste. I happened to meet a local elder, so I talked with him about the topic of the ancient house, but it triggered the sigh of the old man, the sigh of the old man is full of loss, loneliness and regret, now, the ancient village is less populated, empty and lonely lingering, refusing to disperse. The scene of the farmhouse where chickens and dogs heard each other in the past and the smoke was everywhere has sunk in the past years. All growing memories, whether happy or sad, sink into the negative of the soul, solidify into stone, dry into inner images, and wipe them with the warmth of memory until they shine a different kind of light and brightness. At this moment, the old man's gaze became so hazy, deep, distant and peaceful, as if he had traveled through time and space to trace the idyllic life of the lively men and women and listen to the sultry chickens and dogs barking. The old man then told me happily that this year, businessmen have come to the village to contract the cultivation of vegetables, and in recent years, people who have settled outside the village have also returned to their hometowns to build houses, and they all know how to preserve the continuation and memory of a village and keep their spiritual homeland.
"Planting green seedlings in the field with your hand, looking down and seeing the water and sky, the pure way in your heart is the way, and regression is forward." It's spring ploughing season, and villagers are planting rice in the fields. We who have lived in the city for a long time can hardly see the description of Bai Juyi's poem: "The Tian family is less idle in the month, and the people are busy in May." At night, the south wind rises, and the wheat is covered with yellow. The women and aunts eat poorly, Tong Zhi carries the pot pulp, and goes with the feeding field, and Ding Zhuang is in Nangang". I met a family planting rice, and in casual chatter, he told me that he worked and set up a home in the provincial capital, and it was convenient for him to return to his hometown after the opening of the highway in Jiexi. This time it was to bring the family back for a vacation. He told me that with the advancement of urbanization, more and more people's memories of the process of agricultural production are fading, and when you come back with your family on the weekend, you can really relax your mood, breathe fresh air, manage your own vegetable garden under the blue sky and white clouds, eat your own organic vegetables, sow seeds, fertilize, water --- harvest, and truly enjoy the fun of farming. The participation of parents promotes the relationship between children and parents, so that children can meet more good friends. Villages are the source of Chinese civilization, especially these ancient villages, which carry the roots of traditional culture and are valuable cultural heritage. The protection and utilization of villages should be an important theme in the construction of new rural areas. In the long run, after urbanization has developed to a certain extent, it will become fashionable for people to diversify their lifestyles, experience rural life, and pursue nostalgia.
People, many times nostalgic. A tree, a bouquet of flowers, a grass, is a good memory, there are countless thoughts stranded in the heart, after the prosperity, turned into smoke, sinking in the heart, never fading. When I was tired of walking, I casually found a stone step to sit down, watched the sunset, and froze for a while, thinking about the past of the ancient village, thinking about the long history, thinking about the red dust old things drowned in the depths of the years, and letting time flow slowly, all of which are a leisurely and quiet enjoyment. At this moment, the soul seems to have been washed by the clear river water over and over again, no longer impetuous and no longer troubled, and when the sun sets, the West Mountain still does not want to leave. Once, I also wanted to be under a clear sky, knotted for the house, holding a scroll in hand, admiring the moon and singing the wind, watching the clouds and scrolling, avoiding the hustle and bustle of the city, like my ancestors, living the most frugal life in the world, until I quietly end up in the breeze and green fields.
Tongshuping Ancient Village, through the bright wind and rain, thousands of years, that beauty and extreme, but never let go. Every wind and crescent moon in the ancient village will be frozen into an ever-fading landscape in life. And our life is always moving forward again in such nostalgia, shaking off the smoke and dust of the past years, so that the static time and space slowly return, it is plated with a layer of memory light, or softened by the water of time to the hardness and roughness of the past, thus filled with a softness and warmth that soothes the anxiety of reality, full of a kind of compassion that is put down after understanding, and brings warmth to the heart in such a rapid and rapid time.
It's a place to relax and relax. Learn to relax, and the tension and fatigue will disappear; Learn to let go, life is different. Usually, we are busy, day after day, year after year, forgetting who we are, only knowing that we are constantly rushing forward. If we slow down, we will see more scenery on the road; If we relax our minds, life will be filled with joy; If we let go of excessive material desires, the mind will be liberated. Wandering in the tranquility of Tongshuping Ancient Village, my mood felt particularly relaxed and comfortable, like a long-distance sailing ship anchored in a calm harbor, less hurried and restrained, more rare serenity and detachment.
About author:: LIU Junhe, male, born in December 1968 in Tongshuping Village, Liangtian Township, Jiexi County, college culture, member of the Communist Party of China. Deputy Secretary-General of Liangtian Economic Promotion Association, member of China Novel Society, vice chairman of Jiexi County Writers Association, author of the long historical novel "The Legend of the King of Three Mountains", currently lives in Dongguan.
Source: Liangtian Information Network