I used to only know about the old cellar of Luzhou, and I didn't know that there were several national treasures hidden in Lu County, and I went to the Spring Festival and recently went twice, and I really regretted going to see it late.
Just over an hour's drive from the main city of Chongqing, Luxian is a national cultural heritage county, also known as the Dragon City. We went with the teachers of the Chongqing Cultural Relics Protection Volunteer Service Association during the Spring Festival, which coincided with the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the New Year, and fully experienced the dragon culture of Dragon City.
Dragon dance makes a lantern festival
The national intangible cultural heritage, the rain temple colored dragon, is known as the "Oriental Living Dragon" for its long history and romantic dragon dance performance art, which has a history of nearly 100 years.
On the day of the Lantern Festival, Lu County carried out a dragon dance performance competition, and each town brought colorful dragons of different styles to participate, including grass dragons, water dragons, fire dragons, bench dragons, and also combined with lion dance, fan dance and other performances, dancing from the county street to the competition platform, and returning to the street from the competition platform, mingling with the people, and the scene was lively.
Dragon brain pons
Located on the Jiuqu River in Longhua Village, Luxian County, it was built during the Hongwu (1368-1398) period of the Ming Dynasty, and it has been 600 years since then. Now it is the national Chongqing cultural relics protection unit, a national treasure!
The Dragon Brain Bridge is a flat stone bridge with two large stone slabs paved side by side. The bridge is 55 meters long and 1.9 meters wide, and there are no bridge railings to facilitate flood discharge.
The dragon brain bridge is known as the first ancient Chinese beam bridge, the most peculiar is the middle eight piers, carved with four dragon heads, two unicorns, a lion, an elephant, the image is vivid, brilliant, get rid of the monotonous and dull situation of the beam bridge.
The beasts all use the round carving technique, facing the head of the upstream part of the carving, and the tail of the downstream part of the bridge. The focus is on the head carvings, which are huge in form, each weighing several tons.
The two dragon heads in the middle are particularly huge, and one of them is said to be the Dragon King. The faucet head is high, every fold, every line, all vivid, smooth and full.
The dragon horn is even tied with decorative streamers, which is vivid and interesting. The dragon's beard, mane, and roots are fine, and the dragon's scales are round and delicate. The orb in the dragon's mouth is chiseled from the monolithic stone by carving, which can be rolled but not taken out, which is very ingenious!
The four faucets, completely different, subtle, all changed. I was really impressed by the carving skills of the ancients!
The elephant is carved more concisely and thickly, and the trunk is curled.
The outermost two unicorns are angry eyes and full of qi.
The green trees on both sides of the bridge, the river under the bridge gurgling, and the exquisite stone bridge reflected in the water, is particularly spectacular.
There are still many stone bridges carved with dragon heads scattered in the countryside of Luxian County, I didn't look for them this time, and I will spend more time looking for them slowly next time.
Yuántōng Temple
Built in the first year of the Ming Zhengde (1506), more than 500 years ago, it is a national key cultural relic protection unit and another national treasure in Luxian County.
The mountain gate is a torii-style building with heavy eaves, and the book "Yuantong Zen Forest" is written.
The most valuable thing about Yuantong Temple is the main hall, which is a well-preserved Ming Dynasty building with a clear date in the southwest region.
The heavy eaves rest on the top of the mountain, and the upper and lower eaves are covered with fighting arches, which are French shapes built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with a total of 60 flowers. The intricate bucket arch blooms like a flower under the eaves, which is ingenious and has high artistic value!
There are four stone pillars made of whole stone, 6.3 meters high and 0.5 meters long and wide, supporting the entire hall. A rare sight!
The last time I saw exquisite ancient buildings was in Shanxi, I didn't expect that Luxian County, which is so close to our Chongqing, also has such exquisite and historic ancient buildings, which is a blessing for my eyes!
Qu's Manor
It was built during the Qing Daoguang period (1809--1845), and the Republic of China expanded the watchtower in 1912. Majestic and magnificent. It is now a national key cultural relic protection unit.
The word "Wake Up" in the middle of the gate was inscribed by Gao Weiran, a former Qing Hanlin imperial history and pseudo-presidential adviser, and the words "Fu Yu Xi Shou" were bricked on the stone wall where the gate was located.
The high gables like official hats serve as fire and fire insulation.
Two of the four watchtowers at the four corners of the building are original ruins, and they still retain the bullet marks left by the PLA when it attacked the bandits.
The theater and Buddhist hall inside the building are a combination of Chinese and Western buildings, with flying beams and paintings, exquisite carvings and luxurious decoration.
The residence is famous in Bashu after Liu Wencai's "rent collection courtyard" in Dayi County and became the second class education exhibition hall in Sichuan, and is known as the "essence of folk architecture in southern Sichuan", which is worth visiting and appreciating.
Luxian Museum
This small county town also has a Song Dynasty stone carving museum, known as the "Qingming Upper River Map on Stone" because of its good preservation and exquisite carvings. It had only recently reopened, and I immediately went to my wish.
The Song Dynasty was an era of exquisite and elegant cultural development in ancient Chinese society, and stone carvings of the Song Dynasty are one of the remaining treasures of this society.
Unlike stone carvings in other places, Luxian stone carvings mainly come from a large number of Song tombs. There are more than 160 stone chamber tombs and more than 500 tombs carved in the Song Dynasty in Luxian County, which is by far the densest group of stone chamber tombs of the Song Dynasty in China.
Since 2002, with the detection of many tomb robbery incidents, more than 800 precious cultural relics have been recovered, and then the stone carvings of the Song Dynasty unearthed by excavations are large-scale, numerous, rich in subject matter, exquisite craftsmanship, and because the time of discovery is relatively late, the stone carvings have been well protected, which can be described as "sleeping for nearly a thousand years, waking up to the world's shock".
"Death is like life, death is like survival" is a belief in death and life widely advocated in ancient Chinese society. The luxurious burial chambers and ornate stone carvings in Luxian County are like a miniature and portrayal of an era, engraving several relics of Song Dynasty society between eternal heaven and earth. This social atmosphere also allowed famous craftsmen who migrated from the north to find a space to display their artistic and creative talents.
The roof of the mansion in the Song tomb is beautifully carved.
Flying sky on the beam.
Song people live
In the Song Dynasty, according to the architectural style of housing, the people of Luxian carved various shapes of patterns on the stone, and integrated these patterns into daily life. With a unique artistic language, these stone carvings tell the Song Dynasty's understanding of life and death, as well as their yearning for eternal years.
All kinds of exquisite stone windows, exquisite and delicately carved, flowers, birds and animals.
Let me compare and see how tall and thick this stone gate is.
Through the stone carved images, we can still experience the exquisite and rich life of the Song people, courtyard houses, home objects, clothing decoration, leisure and entertainment, all have elegant artistic interest and exquisite life style. Academic circles have a good reputation: "To study the social life of the Song Dynasty, the Northern Song Dynasty looked at Kaifeng, the Southern Song looked at Hangzhou, and the people looked at Lu County." ”
Seeing maids with different postures, holding fans, copper mirrors, and towels, is very lifelike.
Male attendants, holding books, official hats and other different objects.
The various chairs carved on the stone, among which the chair is easy to fold, light and easy to carry, and has a backrest, so that the owner can sit and rest anytime, anywhere. In the Song Dynasty, only officials or prestigious people were eligible to reserve chairs.
The most interesting thing is that this male attendant, carrying a folded chair, is he preparing for an outing?
The waitress holds a note (wine jug) with a note bowl (wine warmer), and delicate dishes are placed on the table.
Tian Xiang's maid.
Hand-to-hand gifts of the Song Dynasty.
There are also various flowers. The Song people pursued the style of Qing and Shu, paid attention to the beauty of lines, and paid attention to the meaning and connotation of flowers, so they were endowed with lotus flowers with high character and chrysanthemums that symbolized calm and indifference, which naturally became the main objects of stone carvings.
Rui Beast Culture
The dragon is the representative of the spirit of the Chinese nation, and the green dragon in the stone carvings of the Song Dynasty in Luxian County is rich in shape, or walking with its head held high, or looking back, or shrinking its neck and sticking out its tongue, or staring at its teeth, with an exaggerated expression.
Other beasts are also White Tiger, Vermilion, Xuanwu, etc., which are also numerous but different. Some are full of muscles, some have beards, and some are dragged by children's tails, vivid and interesting!
The technique is mostly high relief, supplemented by bas-relief and black line carving. Whether it is a deep relief, a bas-relief or a line carving, the posture of the beast is different, and various expressions are displayed, and no two stone carvings with identical carvings can be found.
Samurai Photography
Samurai are particularly large works in Luxian Song Dynasty stone carvings, life-size or even larger, and the image design comes from real soldiers of the Song Dynasty, so I call them "portraits" of samurai!
They are clad in armor, holding a variety of Song Dynasty weapons, and stepping on auspicious clouds, resembling god generals. Its expressions, movements, and armor are all meticulously carved, and the image is lifelike and exquisite.
Some samurai even wore flowers on their heads, which is also a portrayal of the real life of men in the Song Dynasty.
Only by watching the exhibition on the spot and being surrounded by samurai can you feel the heroic courage of fighting against the Yuan army!
Singing and dancing to the level
In the Song Dynasty, all kinds of music, dance, and opera were prevalent, and were well received by people at all levels, and livestock and family musicians became fashionable, and aristocratic mansions sang and danced, played and sang endlessly. The images of many dancers and musicians appear in the stone carvings of the Song Dynasty in Luxian County, which is a vivid portrayal of the singing and dancing in the quiet corner of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Luxian Song Dynasty stone carvings are unparalleled artistic treasures, and also a precious heritage for studying the material life and spiritual culture of Song Dynasty society.
TIPS:
The museum is free and closed on Mondays, and sometimes there are temporary closures due to power outages, so it's best to call before going.