"The ugly March is dark, from Ninghai out of the West Gate, the clouds are scattered and the sun is bright, and the people are happy and happy." This is a sentence from the first part of "Xu Xiake's Travels". Xu Xiake, a native of the Ming Dynasty known as the "Traveling Sage", not only left a travel diary of more than 60 thousand words, but also left a festival for future generations because of the opening sentence - China Tourism Day.
In 2011, the State Council passed a resolution to designate the date mentioned in the opening chapter of "Xu Xiake's Travels" as China Tourism Day. On May 19, 1613, this is the origin of the "5.19" Chinese Tourism Day.
Screenshot of CCTV's "China in the Classics: Xu Xiake's Travels".
It is a young festival, only 14 years ago. However, Xu Xiake's practice and advocacy for China Tourism Day that "tourism is a way of life" is becoming more and more popular.
In the travelogue of "Xu Xiake's Travels", there is a "Diary of Songshan Mountain", more than 3,700 words, which records what he saw and felt when he walked in Zhengzhou Xinmi and Dengfeng, and traveled to Shizhun River and Songshan Mountain. China Tourism Day is still inspiring.
Songshan Ma Jian/photo
01
Known as "Yousheng", it is also a "travel idiot"
In fact, before Xu Xiake, there were many ancients who traveled long distances. For example, Confucius traveled around the world, Zhang Qian chiseled the Western Regions, Xuanzang traveled to the West to film, and Zheng He went to the West seven times...... Why is Xu Xiake called "You Sheng"? In the author's opinion, although the former travels a long distance, most of them have a special purpose, which is a "business trip" rather than a tour; Only Xu Xiake is a pure tourist, and he simply wants to go to the famous mountains and rivers to have a look.
Xu Xiake has set up the ambition of "traveling well" since he was a child, he said: "The big husband should face the blue sea and the twilight, but limit himself to a corner? ”
In "You Songshan Diary", he also said: "Yu Ji Nian accumulates five mountain chronicles. "At the age of seven or eight, I thought about traveling all over Wuyue, which is indeed very accessible, and I have some sense of mission.
His friend Chen Hanhui once said that he "seeks mountains like visiting friends, and traveling far away is like leaving oneself." "I really regard tourism as a way of life, and even tourism as a part of life.
As for how he can not work and only travel, there is research in the academic community, which is beyond the scope of this article. But there is one thing: traveling with a strong ambition and writing a diary while traveling may not be as comfortable as it may sound at first glance.
02
Not only love to travel, but also love to remember, and remember in detail
The comparison between Zhang Qian, Xuanzang, Zheng He and others cited above and Xu Xiake actually omitted a situation - there are also ancients who loved "pure tourism", such as Li Bai once said, "I love famous mountains and travel, and I am far away from famous mountains." ”
Perhaps Li Bai's poems are too famous, so they are not famous for tourism. But more importantly, compared with Xu Xiake, when the latter traveled, he made a detailed record of what he saw, heard, thought, felt and gained.
During the trip of more than 30 years, no matter how difficult the conditions were, even if he was sick or injured, Xu Xiake insisted on writing, leaving a large amount of precious information, which was sorted out and formed "Xu Xiake's Travels".
This travelogue is not only highly literary, but also of high scientific value. Qian Qianyi, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, said: "Mr. Xiake visited Zhuji, and the real characters, large characters, and strange characters in this world ...... Not only is the spirit of Xiake not grinding, but the world cannot be asked without this book. The British scientist Joseph Needham wrote in his History of Science and Technology in China: "The Travels of Xu Xiake does not read like something written by a scholar in the seventeenth century, but rather like a record of field surveys in the twentieth century." ”
03
Where has Xu Xiake been in Zhengzhou?
In the third year of the Lunar New Year, in the second lunar month of 1623 AD, the tourist Xu Xiake arrived in Zhengzhou, and he said in the "Diary of Songshan Mountain": "On the 19th, I arrived at the Huangzong store in Zhengzhou, Henan. "That is, today, Xingyang Wangzong store, began a seven-day trip around Song Mountain.
He successively climbed the Stone Buddha Ridge, arrived at the Tianxian Temple, explored the Shizhun River, "Deluyan Temple", passed the Heavy Blessing Palace, joined the Huishan Temple, stayed in the Shaolin Temple, went to the Five Milk Peaks, and reached the First Ancestral Nunnery...... According to the author's rough statistics, there are more than 30 named points mentioned in the "Diary of You Songshan", which are concentrated in Dengfeng City, Xinmi is secondary, and Xingyang is also involved.
Since 2015, the "Xu Xia Passenger Tour Line Landmark Site" search activity participated by industry insiders, local governments and social forces has been launched, and Songshan Mountain and Shizhun River in Dengfeng have been selected as the first batch of landmark places, and Xinmi's Xianglu Mountain, Tianxian Temple and Xinmi Ancient City have been selected as the second batch in the following year.
Schematic diagram of Xu Xiake's seven-day tour around Songshan Source: Dengfeng release
Judging from the current situation after 400 years, he has at least visited Shizhun River, Stargazing Platform, Luya Waterfall, Zhongyue Temple, Songyang Academy, Fawang Temple, Wuji Cave, Shaolin Temple, Dharma Cave and other places, and most of the landscapes and distances described can be corresponded to today. Following Xu Xiake's footsteps in the Songshan area, a ready-made tourist route is about to emerge.
04
Tourist routes need to be further developed
Xu Xiake recorded in detail the natural and cultural scenery of the Songshan area in his travelogue, and praised it. When describing Luya Waterfall, he said: "It is strange to get water in this cover, and the water is restored to the stone, and the stone can help the water, and if you can stop the water and make the water fly, it is better than Wu......yi."
When he arrived at Zhongyue Temple, the sun had already set, and he still climbed the mountain from the northeast of the temple.
He said: "According to the Songtian and the earth, the order of the worship rank is the head of the five mountains, so it is called the Songgao ......" affirms the geological status and cultural status of Songshan.
Most of the landscapes recorded by Xu Xia's visit to Songshan have remained the same as they were back then, and some have disappeared now. The author believes that at a time when the flowers are becoming more and more charming, attaching importance to and developing Xu Xiake's Songshan is of great significance in history and modernity.
From a historical point of view, "Xu Xiake's Travels" is a text written in ancient books, and the grass and trees in the Songshan area are the heritage displayed on the vast land, and it is the mission of cultural workers to creatively transform and develop them innovatively. From a modern point of view, all localities are grasping cultural tourism and promoting consumption, so that the resources that are both "talking" and "watching" are precious.
Schematic diagram of Xu Xiake's visit to Songshan Source: Dengfeng release
In November 2023, Dengfeng City also held a symposium with the theme of "Promoting the Spirit of Xiake, Inheriting Chinese, and Songshan Culture", and the participating scholars proposed to take the inclusion of "Songshan" and "Shishuhe River" as the landmark of the Xuxia Passenger Tour Line as the entry point, and strive to open up a new pattern of Songshan cultural tourism and landscape tourism.
The author believes that it is completely possible to launch a "Xu Xiake footprint" route among the current many tourist routes, select sightseeing check-in points in the "Songshan Diary", and connect the humanistic stories and natural scenery, which must be able to add more heritage to Zhengzhou and Songshan tours. This can be done by local governments, and so can travel agencies.
Xie Juemin, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh in the United States and a Chinese geographer in the United States, once said: "When reading Xu Xiake's travelogue, it is best to take it with you when you travel. "Actually, following Xu Xiake's footsteps to Songshan, we ordinary people can also do it.
Zhengguan News reporter Cheng Shuaixing