2024-04-16
Source: People's Daily
Picture (1): Aizawa Jiangxi Hall. Photo by Xu Rufang (2): Zhang Wei (right) is making spotted copper. Photo by Zhang Jinwen (3): A corner of the ancient city of Huizawa. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of the Huize County Party Committee
Core Reading
How can Yunnan Huize activate the new form of cultural tourism and explore the road of cultural inheritance and development? The protection of folk dwellings needs to be rationally utilized; the transformation of spotted copper handicrafts into commodities can better inherit skills; and the promotion of the restoration of the ancient city style also requires the activation of cultural and tourism formats. The ancient Aizawa is being explored and revitalized step by step.
On the bank of the Jinsha River, between the Wumeng Mountains, the ancient city of Huize, there are many guild halls.
Located in Huize County, Qujing City, Yunnan Province, although the city is small and the land is remote, it has its own prosperous scene. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, due to the abundant copper resources and the prosperous mining and metallurgical industry, businessmen from all over the world came here one after another, and eight major halls in Jiangxi, Huguang, Jiangnan and Fujian came into being. When the copper coins were no longer in circulation, the bustling shopping mall declined, but the ancient city hall remained.
In the past, Huize was known as "a cultured and undeveloped ancient city", but now, tourists are flocking to Huize and new forms of cultural tourism are emerging.
Why are there so many guild halls?
Copper ore resources are abundant, and the smelting history is long
The ancient city of Huize, the style is still the same, bluestone slabs, old houses, with the "Tian" character street extended, all the scenery is everywhere, and there are cultural relics everywhere.
"Dongchuan Mansion Chronicles" recorded: "Between Yunnan and Shu, rich in hardware, Dongchuan is the most. "In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Dongchuan Mansion was located in the ancient city of Huize. As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, the "Tanglang Copper Wash" produced by Huize was famous. The abundant copper ore resources and long history of smelting made Huize enter its heyday in the Qing Dynasty.
Huize is prosperous because of copper, and businessmen from all over the world gather here. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the provincial chambers of commerce built a total of 108 halls, temples and ancestral halls in Huize, and 36 of them have been well preserved, among which Jiangxi, Huguang, Jiangnan and other eight halls were listed as "national key cultural relics protection units".
The Jiangxi Guild Hall, which was built in the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, is the best-preserved guild hall building in Huize. The cornices are warped, and the triple bucket arches are magnificent. Usually businessmen settle down, the festival opens to welcome guests, and the stage of more than 10 meters is open to sing day and night, which is very lively.
However, with the expansion of paper money circulation, coinage no longer relied on copper, and after years of mining, the copper resources of Aizawa gradually depleted. The merchants left one after another, and the guild hall became increasingly deserted.
"Most of the guild hall buildings were unused, unmanaged, and not demolished, and the ancient buildings remained. Gao Shengtang, president of the Huizawa County Historical and Cultural City Folk Research Association, said that in 2013, Huize County was listed as a national historical and cultural city. There was no large-scale demolition and construction, and the overall pattern of the ancient city and the main structure of the ancient building were preserved.
How to preserve ancient buildings
Residential houses become homestays, and reasonable use is needed to do a good job of protection
After going out to work hard for many years, Qian Zhengkun decided to return to his hometown to open a homestay. He took a fancy to an old mansion, the right size, and quickly rented it. However, because of the long-term abandonment, the walls of the old house have long been cracked, and only 1/3 of the beams remain, and the tiles and rafters are broken when they are touched.
Although the house is broken, it is a city-level cultural protection unit, which cannot be demolished and rebuilt, but can only be renovated and repaired.
The project is very complicated: the fence is old, the exterior is cracked, the interior is hollow, the reinforcement is forbidden concrete, and only a little bit of soil can be poured to maintain the original appearance to the greatest extent. The old window could not be demolished, and six carpenters worked for three days to repair a window, and it only cost 800 yuan to buy a new window, but it cost several thousand yuan to repair the old window. The construction waste needs to be cleaned up, and large vehicles cannot enter, so they can only change to small tractors, which has been transported more than 100 times.
"Renovating a house is not only expensive, it's more laborious. Qian Zhengkun said that many construction details can only be discussed for a few days, and the plan cannot be decided, and some projects can only be suspended. After 18 months, the house finally became a homestay, and the courtyard was renewed, with the same structure and style.
Not only Qian Zhengkun, but more and more young people are returning to the ancient city of Huizawa to renovate their old houses and operate coffee, milk tea and other catering businesses, so that the old street will be rejuvenated.
"Someone lives in it, someone cares. The biggest risk of residential buildings is that they are in disrepair, and financial investment alone is far from enough. The relevant responsible comrades of Huize County said that there is a legal basis for the protection of the ancient city, and the ancient city of Huize has long put an end to the demolition of the old and the construction of the new. ”
How culture is passed on
The work becomes a commodity, and the spotted copper craftsmanship is renewed
Although copper coins are no longer used, the art of minting copper is still passed down in Aizawa.
Natural copper ore contains various metals, and the copper formed by smelting and casting has orange-red markings, so it is called spotted copper. A variety of daily necessities and handicrafts made of spotted copper, also known as spotted copper. The production technique of spotted copper is a representative project of national intangible cultural heritage.
Zhang Kekang is the twelfth generation of Zhang's spotted copper and runs an old spotted copper shop. After graduating from university, his son Zhang Wei wanted to take over the old store, but his father disagreed. Zhang Kekang has his own worries: spotted copper used to be used to make washbasins, teapots and other daily necessities, but now it can only make handicrafts, but how can handicrafts be so easy to sell?
Zhang Wei is full of confidence, especially in terms of technological improvement. He majored in chemistry in college, and with his professional skills, he figured out the composition and proportion of the potion soaked in spotted copper. After improvement, the production process of spotted copper can meet the requirements of environmental protection. In 2013, Zhang Wei resigned and returned to his hometown and took over the family's old spotted copper shop.
The hand-made spotted copper ware needs to go through more than 20 processes such as material selection, purification, rough billet, and burning, which often takes one or two months. Walking into the studio and opening the warehouse, Zhang Wei turned out a "bleaching furnace" made by his grandfather back then: "There is a line on the body of the furnace, which is placed in the water, and the line is just flush with the water surface. ”
In Zhang Wei's studio, there is a commodity display space, more than 100 yuan for small pieces, more than 1,000 yuan for medium pieces, tourists can buy spotted copper handicrafts when they come to Huize, and they can also experience spotted copper production. Zhang Wei said: "With the development of the times, only by making our works a commodity can we bring intangible cultural heritage skills to life. ”
Today, Zhang Wei's spotted copper artworks have gone out of Huize, and he has opened intangible cultural heritage exhibition halls in Qujing, Kunming, Xishuangbanna and other places. Coupled with customizing large-scale ornaments for some enterprises, the old store can sell nearly 20,000 pieces of spotted copper handicrafts a year.
In the past two years, Aizawa has paid more and more attention to intangible cultural heritage. Under the guidance of the government, more and more people are engaged in the production of spotted copper, and now there are more than 100 spotted copper craftsmen in Aizawa.
How the features are highlighted
To restore the style of the ancient city, it is also necessary to activate the cultural tourism industry
The ancient city of Huizawa, which is not overly commercialized, also has its own troubles - there are not many merchants like Qian Zhengkun who run homestays, and several guild halls are still not well-known and have few tourists.
In recent years, Huize County has actively raised funds to promote the restoration of the ancient city. The Huguang Hall and the Guizhou Hall are being renovated, and the Jiangxi Hall has been opened to the public as a scenic spot. Many of the occupied roads have been vacated, and the wooden plaques of yesteryear have reappeared on the streets.
The relevant responsible comrades of Huize County said frankly: "The restoration of the ancient city of Huize costs a huge amount of money, and at present, it can only be promoted in sub-districts, and the first pilot is carried out in the blocks where the guild halls are concentrated and the style is relatively intact. ”
On the riverside in the north of the ancient city, there is a mobile vegetable market, which has also been included in the scope of renovation. "The vegetable market must be preserved in the ancient city, so that the original residents can be retained. The relevant responsible comrades of Qujing City feel that in the process of restoring the style of the ancient city, it is necessary not only to attract foreign merchants, but also to retain the original residents.
The revitalization of the ancient city is also inseparable from tourists. At first, Qian Zhengkun's homestay offered free breakfast to tourists, but it was found that almost no tourists would eat at the homestay. When I chatted, I learned that tourists were looking for Aizawa snacks and thin bean noodles. As a result, Qian Zhengkun simply issued meal coupons for authentic soybean noodle shops directly to tourists.
Adding powder with one hand and stirring with the other, seeing the thin soybean flour slowly thickening, Liu Guirong, the representative inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Qujing City, picked the chopsticks lightly, and the fragrance of the beans instantly filled the air. With freshly fried fritters and a table full of condiments, a bowl of belly makes the whole body feel hot.
Liu Guirong's thin bean noodle shop is usually full of 12 tables, and there are many tourists with breakfast coupons waiting outside the store. Liu Guirong said: "At first, the customers were old neighbors, but in the past two years, there have been many tourists, and they are basically admiring it!"
At 10 o'clock in the morning, Li Xingcan, the person in charge of the Chuqian Guild Hall, was busy non-stop, and on the basis of restoring the ancient buildings, the Guild Hall set up a folk customs exhibition hall and a literati Ba Ya theme room. Tourists have a good place to listen to operas, drink tea, experience piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. During holidays and major events, the song and dance team and the opera troupe will also perform in front of the Jiangxi Guild Hall, and as soon as the music sounds, residents and tourists stop to watch.
Tourists are flocking in, and new forms of cultural tourism are also emerging. Free introduction to the culture of Huize copper merchants, explain the process of spotted copper, and let children make spotted copper spoons and cups by themselves...... In addition to making and selling spotted copper, Zhang Wei also became a docent. Whenever there is a research activity in the surrounding schools, they like to look for him. Nowadays, the Jiangxi Hall has set up a research venue and a special experience area, so that visitors can not only experience the production of spotted copper, but also buy their own works home.
There are many answers, some people admire the profound heritage of the national historical and cultural city, and some people deliberately go to this small city that is not overdeveloped to experience the unique "slow life".
The ancient city of Huize with "one county and eight halls" is looking forward to more people coming here. (Reporter Yang Wenming)
Editor in charge: Wang Wenjing
Forward: Sun Yan
Review: Hao Lin