Text/Zhang Fengming
More than 200 years ago, a family surnamed Fan came to the willow side of the seven-star blessed land in the north of the Guanwai, in a lush spiritual mountain and beautiful water, opened up the land and occupied the grass, settled down, multiplied, studied diligently, did business and good study, and gradually accumulated a lot of wealth, according to the custom of preoccupation or local influence, this place is called Fanjiagou.
Itong Observatory: Fan Family Compound
According to legend, by the time of the Qing Jiaqing period, the Fan family was already prosperous, and the rich side, the land and mountains within a hundred miles of Fanjiagou in the wicker side belonged to the Fan family. Fan Tan, the heir of the Fan family, also passed the Xiucai exam, and under his auspices, a courtyard complex of green bricks and gray tiles was built (it is reported that there were four courtyards built at that time), and now only one courtyard remains, namely the Fan family compound in Fanjia Village (Fanjiagou Tun), Jingtai Town, Yitong Manchu Autonomous County.
There are five main rooms in the Fan family compound
It is said that before the founding of New China, the Fan family all moved away, some said that they went overseas, some said that they went to Taiwan, and 30 years ago, a descendant of the Fan family returned to worship the ancestors, and since then he has never seen the descendants of the Fan family return. Due to the development of modern information, it is learned that the descendants of the Fan family now live in Beijing, Changsha, Yueyang and other places.
East wing of the Fan family compound
After the founding of New China, the Fan family compound was owned by the local government, because the courtyard was spacious, it was used as a village committee, village primary school, old people's home, agricultural middle school, oil mill, etc., and changed owners many times, until in 1992, villager Liu Guozhong spent 58,000 yuan to buy the Fan family compound. At that time, Liu Guozhong was excited, because Liu Guozhong's family for three generations had an indissoluble bond with the Fan family compound, and his grandfather and father had carried the work for the Fan family as long-term workers, and in Liu Guozhong's impression, the Fan family compound was mysterious and unattainable.
The west wing of the Fan family compound
Liu Guozhong, 63, said: The ancestors of the Fan family are Manchu Zhenghuangqi people, and the descendants of the Fan family, Fan Rende and Fan Shuren, are readers, and the others are all in business. When the gate and the front door (inverted seat room) in front of the Fan family's courtyard were not demolished, the outer figure-eight green brick shadow wall was in front of the door, and the relief was carved with "Fulu Birthday" and other patterns, and the four corners of the courtyard were built with nursing house forts, which were very magnificent, but they were later demolished.
The five main rooms of the Fan family courtyard see the small round arch door on the west side from east to west
Today, we push open the gate of the Fan family courtyard, and we are greeted by a Manchu-style triad house with green bricks and gray tiles, and entering the courtyard seems to make people travel back to the Qing Dynasty, feel the simple solemnity of the high wall and deep courtyard, and the blue-gray tone amazes the time, as if telling the prosperity of the past.
Fanjia Courtyard (photographed at Yitong Manchu Museum)
The Fanjia courtyard is a relatively well-preserved Qing Dynasty Manchu triad courtyard-style house found during the Third National Cultural Relics Census, originally a Qing Dynasty Manchu northeast courtyard-style complex, because the door face room (inverted seat room) has been demolished, now only the triad courtyard (main room, east wing room, west wing room) remains.
Small round arch door on the west side of the Fan family compound
There are five main rooms in the Fan family courtyard, sitting north facing south, symmetrical left and right, and the chimneys on both sides of the main house are typical Manchu floor-building chimneys, also known as dogtail chimneys (the chimney on the west side is renovated and made of modern red bricks, the same as the prototype). The east and west wings are also five, but slightly smaller than the main room, and there is also a floor-to-ceiling chimney on the south side of the west wing. The east and west wings and the main room are connected by a small round arch door, the round arch door is wooden, the deadbolt is a short horizontal wood, the whole looks very old, through the small door to the side courtyard and the backyard. Brickwork, stone and wood carvings in the lintels and ridge buildings are still clearly visible today. Its scale and form are the few existing Manchu courtyards in Jilin Province in the Qing Dynasty.
Interior beams of the main room of the Fan family compound
The Fan family compound is the main landlord Fang Shan
Three pigeons fell on the ridge of the Fan family's compound
The Fan family compound has experienced more than 200 years of vicissitudes and vicissitudes, and it is really cherished for a long time to be preserved. Although it is not as new and fashionable as the modern rural red brick glazed tile house, it is definitely a luxurious mansion in the northeast village of the Qing Dynasty, and it can be seen that the Fan family courtyard is a large family full of children and grandchildren, and many long-term workers and servants.
A floor-to-ceiling chimney was built outside the main landlord side of the Fan family compound
"It is said that the Fan family's courtyard is a treasure land of feng shui!" Liu Guozhong said that since moving in, things have gone smoothly. Liu Guozhong was an authentic farmer, and when he was young, he never dreamed that he would be able to live in the Fan family compound and become the owner of the compound in the future. Strange to say, since he moved to this yard, the Liu family's life has been really good, raising chickens and sheep to earn money, life is getting better and better, and his son has also been admitted to his ideal university and participated in the work.
A corner on the west side of the Fan family's compound
Legend has it that gold and silver jewelry was buried under the Fan family's compound: According to Liu Guozhong, the current owner of the Fan family's compound, legend has it that when the Fan family left before the founding of the People's Republic of China, they buried some gold and silver jewelry in the courtyard, but the specific location is not clear. At that time, the Fan family had two daughters-in-law, the eldest daughter-in-law and the head of the family left together, the younger daughter-in-law did not leave, and later remarried and came back to dig, but did not dig. For these legends, Liu Guozhong said that he had only heard about it, and he had never dug it himself!
The main landlord of the Fan family compound is Fangshan and the east wing is north Fangshan
During the third national census of cultural relics (2009), when the local government learned of the existence of the Fan family compound, Ma Xuezhong, deputy director of the Yitong Manchu Culture Research Center, and Professor Shi Lixue, a member of the Standing Committee of the Jilin Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a member of the Cultural and Historical Committee, and a director of the China Folk Customs Society, all rushed to investigate and were shocked to see this compound built 200 years ago. According to measurements, the Fanjia courtyard covers an area of about 2,800 square meters, with five main rooms 20 meters long and 7 meters wide, with a height of about 2.62 meters from the ground to the eaves and about 5.26 meters from the ground to the ridge; the east and west wings are 18.3 meters long and 7 meters wide, and the height from the ground to the eaves is about 2.6 meters and the ridge is about 5.15 meters.
Tombstone of King Rulinlang
Not far from the Fan family's compound, on Nanshan, there is another tombstone of the King of Rulinlang of the Qing Dynasty, standing here. The Fanjia compound is about 1400 meters away from the Qing Willow Side Site in the north, and about 1900 meters away from the wicker side site in Jingtai Town in the northwest.
From left: Wang Hu, vice chairman of the Gongzhuling Music Association, Fan Guizhen, secretary of Fanjia Village, Liu Guozhong's wife, Yu Zhihui, director of Yu Fengzhi's former residence, and Zhang Fengming, the author of this article
From right: Fan Guizhen, secretary of Fanjia Village, Liu Guozhong, owner of Fanjia Compound, and Zhang Fengming, author of this article
The author of this article and Fan Guizhen, secretary of Fanjia Village
At the fourth meeting of the 10th Jilin Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Professor Shi Lixue, a provincial folklorist, proposed the "Suggestions on the Protection and Rescue of the Fanjia Compound". The reason why the Fanjia compound has protection value is that it is the largest and most well-preserved Manchu residential triad building left over from the three northeastern provinces and even the whole country. At the same time, the Fan family compound and the tombstones of Rulin officials, as the cultural heritage of the Qing Dynasty, are waiting for the vast number of literary and historical experts and scholars to come to study and investigate; The Fanjia compound is adjacent to Jingtai Town, the site of the wicker side, which is the green Great Wall built in the northeast during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, which played an extremely important role in the study of the Qing Dynasty's wicker border and the Qing Dynasty's closure policy, as well as the Qing Dynasty's political economy, farming culture, history and culture, folk customs and Manchu Northeast houses!
(Note: Original articles, reprinting is prohibited, violators will be investigated!) )
Author/Photography: Zhang Fengming
Member of Jilin Photographers Association
Editor-in-Chief of China Public Welfare Online Culture and History Channel
June 30, 2023