Photo: Zhang Chongzhen
Ouhai Zeya is a transliteration of the Wenzhou dialect "zhaixia". "Under the wall", as the name suggests, is below the cottage. This cottage is located in Gushi Village, known as Gushi Village, and is said to have been built by the Southern Song Dynasty. The current cottage has long been gone, but the remnants of the cottage in the village, the mountain, and the tip of the mountain are still there.
If you haven't seen the ruins of the ancient village, don't say you've been to Zeya.
On March 19, the third stop of the first group of Luoshan in January 2023, China, led by teammate Zhu Xiaoman, the goal went straight to Zeyagu Village, starting from the Banling Waterfall in the Jinkeng Gorge Scenic Area of Shiqiao Village.
The half-ridge waterfall whistling down along the canyon is as imposing as a rainbow, falling into Bitan, which makes people feel excited.
Somehow, the iron gate of the Jinkeng Gorge scenic area was closed, but this did not stop us in the slightest. Climb over a guardrail to enter the scenic area, and follow an ancient road up the stairs, with Jinkeng Gorge on the side. Listening to Sister Xiao Man, many ancient roads in Zeya have gradually been submerged and abandoned due to the long absence of people.
Not far up the ancient road is the Tongji Bridge, which is a two-hole stone arch bridge, also known as Banling Bridge. The appearance of this bridge is simple, according to local conditions, and its shape is also extremely rare among ancient bridges. Tongji Bridge was originally a wooden bridge, rebuilt in the 20th year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1894), built with stone barriers, and its predecessor was the Jingdao that transported official silver during the Southern Song Dynasty, and is now a district-level cultural protection unit.
Tongji Bridge Stone Stele
Climb this staircase, more beautiful scenery of Jinkeng Gorge will be waiting for us in front.
Jinkeng Gorge is an important scenic spot in Zeya, with beautiful mountains and waters, dangerous peaks and caves, strange rocks, beautiful waterfalls and blue waterfalls, known as "South Zhejiang Grand Canyon" and "Wenzhou First Gorge" reputation. Follow the winding ancient road along the edge of the canyon and enjoy the scenery.
Goku Face Rock
Entering the scenic area, the strange rocks along the way will come to you, including fairy boots, Wukong faces, fairy baths, fairy changing caves, etc., which are interesting and reverie.
Wei Zheng, the photographer of this event, held up an umbrella to take pictures of his teammates. Although you don't bring a DSLR, you can take good photos with your mobile phone.
Tianmen Gorge
Tianmen Gorge is a classic work of Jinkeng Gorge Scenic Area, with an entrance of only 6 meters, and a steep Tianmen Peak on both sides, more than 30 meters high, like a heavenly gate guarding the valley entrance. This can't help but remind people of Li Bai's ancient famous phrase "The gate of heaven interrupts the opening of the Chu River, the blue water flows eastward here, the green mountains on both sides of the strait face each other, and the lonely sail comes from the sun".
Through the cave
The peak loop turns, and a tunnel is seen in front. According to the scenic area management, when the Jinkeng Gorge scenic area was built and upgraded in 2003, in order to connect the scenery behind, it opened up the mountain rock to form a cave and went out, so it was called through the cave. To enter the cave, you must turn on the lights and walk in the dark cave.
Coming out to play must have hoped for a good weather, but when I came to Zeya, it rained lightly. However, the rain is not heavy, and you can feel the ethereal of the mountain and the poignancy of the ancient road in the fog of smoke and rain, and you can only experience it if you are immersed in the scene.
There are nine waterfalls in the Jinkeng Gorge, with different shapes. In addition to the Banling Flying Waterfall, there are also Zhuaya Waterfall, Dragon Whisker Waterfall, etc., one waterfall is higher than the other, and the waterfall is fascinating. If it weren't for the rain for days, I wouldn't have been able to enjoy such a beautiful view.
The crystal clear stream, green as blue and bright as a mirror, makes people feel refreshed.
Jinkengxia Scenic Area is not only beautiful scenery, but also unique cultural landscape, and has maintained many landscapes such as post roads and ancient inns, ancient papermaking workshops, primitive ancient villages, ancient bridges, ancient temples and so on from the Southern Song Dynasty to the capital. Rich human resources and beautiful natural scenery form the characteristics of the scenic spot.
Another stone arched bridge appeared across the valley, which must have been very old from its shape. Later, it was learned that the bridge was called Yongrui Bridge, known locally as the Fire Bridge, which was originally a wooden structure, and was later burned before it was made of stone.
Out of the canyon, walking on a country road, the old house in front of you belongs to Jinkeng Village. Wearing a raincoat and an umbrella, I walked through the ancient village, surrounded by hazy mountains.
Several peach blossoms and cherry blossoms in Jinkeng Village compete with each other and attract attention. Several quaint old houses nestled in the mountains of ink painting, which is particularly peaceful. There are also the simple smiling faces of the villagers, which are indisputable to the world.
Old houses, also a kind of scenery...
The distant mountains are like daisy, and the smoke is foggy. Up close, the trapezoidal rice fields with distinct layers give people a beautiful enjoyment.
A unique old house attracts everyone's attention, and the bright "brilliance" in front of the door should have been built in the 60s of the last century.
Coming out of Jinkeng Village, under the guidance of the leader, entered a water bamboo forest. Some parts of the forest have been submerged with barren grass, and it is difficult to distinguish traces of the ancient road.
Out of the bamboo forest, walking through the field paths, the pastoral pictures of mountain villages are presented in front of you.
After asking the tour leader, Miss Xiaoman, she said that this place was called Kumentuo Village, which used to be called Kuyintuo Village, and I heard that during the Cultural Revolution, the national treasury silver transport passed through Kuyintuo Village, and then went in the direction of Budaiyuan Village and Qingtian.
The rain gradually stopped, passing a large rice field ahead, and the moist air mixed with the smell of the earth after the rain.
You see, the pinnacle in the distance is our target for today, the ancient towering mountain, and the clouds and smoke cover the mountain, like a fairyland. It takes about two hours to walk from Kumen Pass to the top of the ancient towering mountain.
Enter Zhikeng Village, a beautiful ancient village with an altitude of more than 500 meters. Located deep in the mountains, Zhikeng Village is known as the "peach blossom source" in the Zeya Mountains.
Zhikeng Creek
The bridge passed on the Zhikeng River is called Yongqing Bridge, which is the ancient road from Yongjia to Qingtian, so it is called Yongqing Bridge. Zhikeng Creek descends from Wufengyuan and leads to Zeya Reservoir through Zhikeng Village.
Passing through the rice fields, there is a dense green forest and bamboo again. Zeya is a lot of bamboo, all over the mountains. Walking in the bamboo forest, I feel that the air is particularly fresh, and you will often find a variety of blooming wildflowers on the roadside, blue and green, and red purple and red, which is lovely.
Starting from the half-ridge waterfall of Jinkeng Gorge, after three hours of hiking, around 12 noon, we finally came to Gushi Village. Zhu Xiaoman suggested that we go to the top first, and then come down to her old house to eat. At this time, the sky was drizzling again, looking around, mountain peaks, mountain roads, mountain villages, in the mist, the light and the time were obscure, looming, unpredictable, forming a mysterious and fantastic world.
From afar, the ancient village towers into the clouds, and under the background of the surrounding hills slightly lower than it, there is an independent high hill momentum. Its mountain shape is special, it is a regular cone, resembling Mt. Fuji in Japan. The ancient village is called "the top of the wall" by the locals, and Zeya was under the ancient village in ancient times, so Zeya was called "under the village" at that time, and it was not until the 80s of the last century that it became Zeya.
According to legend, the ancient towering cottage was built in the Southern Song Dynasty, when the area around the ancient village was sparsely populated and overgrown with weeds between the rolling mountains. There are no trees, no terraces or gardens, and the whole mountain is thatched, like a large haystack, and a huge rock is exposed at the top. There is an official road under the mountain that is the only passage from Wenzhou Mansion to Qingtian to the Southern Song Imperial City Lin'an, the slope of the mountain is very even, from the mountain down, the whole mountain surface is unobstructed, standing on the top of the mountain and looking at the distance, all movements in all directions can be seen.
At that time, a woman named Chen Xianying, with five brothers, traveled south along the road from Qingtian in neighboring county to Guzheng Village. She saw that the terrain of the ancient towering mountains was very dangerous, so Chen Xianying decided to set up camp here, rob the merchants passing by the official road, kill the rich and help the poor, and never missed a shot.
Turn into the path next to the Christian Church in the village and lead to the top of the ancient village, which is full of stone paths and steps. The process of climbing to the top takes about 40 minutes, and the continuous ascent is also a test for many.
Starting from Shiqiao Village and ending at the ancient village, the ancient road is the birthplace of Zeya green forest culture, and abandoned paper workshops, stone troughs, and repaired old road pavilions can be seen everywhere. Time has passed, and the legacy remains.
Finally reached the top of the mountain, and also saw the remnants of the black ancient wall. According to the two-step track, the altitude is 752 meters. After thousands of years of vicissitudes, the cottage has long been gone, and it is full of desolation.
The wall, which was fenced off along the top of the hill and made of rubble, has been badly damaged, and in some places only corners remain. The flat shape of this mountain is actually an elliptical garden, so the wall also encloses an ellipse. Listening to team leader Zhu Xiaoman, now the government is ready to build an ancient village.
After a few trips to Zeya, I finally saw the ancient wall of the "village", and it was better to see it than to see it, and it was not worth the trip, so take a photo to commemorate it. Unfortunately, the weather was bad and foggy obscured the view. If it is in the blue sky and white clouds, the condescending scenery must be infinite.
Coming down from the top of the mountain, Zhu Xiaoman invited us to her hometown on Nanshan Road in her ancient village to eat wood steak rice, taste home-grown vegetables, and make two tables of hearty farm dishes. Especially her in-laws, the two old men are busy and happy.
Zhu Xiaoman said that the 24 donkey friends visited the old house for the first time, and the old man was very happy. The old house should be popular, and today it is the first time that the two tables are eating in the old house. The fragrant white rice, delicious farm dishes, and the enthusiasm of the family deeply touched us. I sincerely wish the two elderly people a long and healthy life.
Leave the village and embark on the ancient road to return. The place from Gujian Village to Shiqiao Village is called "Brain Head", and the rice fields that used to be golden are now desolate...
At three o'clock in the afternoon, return to Ishibashi Village. This one-day tour of Ouhai Zeya Jinkeng Gorge-Ancient Towering Village came to a successful end.
"A very memorable event, saw different rural life, and appreciated the magic of Wenzhou's green mountains and green waters. Thank you team leader Zhu Xiaoman, Captain Zhang and all your friends for accompanying you all the way", this is the testimonial of many teammates!
The two-step trajectory shows that more than 11 kilometers have been walked. There are landscapes, pastoral, ancient villages, humanities, and a good route of Ouhai Zeya along the way, which is worth taking.
Editor's note: Ancient Towering Mountain, known locally as Ancient Towering Village, is 738 meters above sea level. Because there are no other peaks around, the lone peak towers over the mountains, hence the name "lonely tower", and the evolution of the homophony of Wenzhou dialect is now called "ancient tower".
In this village, there have been many legends about the time when the ancient village was built and how it went through. It is said that it was built during the Huangchao Uprising in the late Tang Dynasty, and Huangchao's subordinates fled to set up camp here to rob their homes; It is said that the mountain people in the Zeya area, the officials forced the people to rebel, ganged up to the mountain to build a cottage to become a good man in the green forest, on an ancient road from Zeya to Gushuang, robbed rich merchants, robbed silver, and helped the poor; There is also a saying that this village was built in the Southern Song Dynasty, and a woman surnamed Chen led people to build it, and after robbing the official silver, the officers and soldiers with strong soldiers could not break it, and later used the trick of "straw boat borrowing arrows" with lanterns tied to the head of the goat, only to break the village and kill them in a nest.
There are many legends about the ancient village, and several also involve famous people. One is the story of Yang Wenguang standing in Tianchangling and shooting the king of the village with an arrow, and the legend of the "Eight Immortals" in which the iron cane Li sent the stone slab to make the village gate, which also makes the village full of legends and myths.
It is because of this ancient village that people call the ancient village below it "Gushuang", because of the homophony of "shun" and "double" in the local dialect, and it is still used today. Because when the village was built, there was a large village below the cottage, and the scope roughly included the area around the central town of Zeshang, Zexia and Waiyuan before Zeya built the reservoir, it was collectively called "Zhaixia", and later also called "Zexia". Wenzhou dialect has the same homophony, and most of the Zeya people migrated from Fujian to avoid the war at that time, and the time is right. Later, the name of "Zhaixia" was changed to "Zeya", and it is still used today. Some locals born before the seventies of the twentieth century still maintain the name "Zhaixia". It can be seen that the ancient village should be the origin of the name Zeya.