The following set of old photographs was taken in 1938 in Shuozhou, Shanxi, Shuozhou, also known as Mayi, located in northern Shanxi, upstream of the Sanggan River, adjacent to the Inner Mongolia Plateau in the northwest and Yanmen Pass in the south. As a place name, "Shuo" refers to the northernmost part of the land and the border of the country, which is at the junction of the two countries, and the place name of "Shuozhou" comes from its geographical location on the border. In the history of Shuozhou, there are many martial generals, brilliant literati, beautiful scenery, and its cultural context is ancient and long, which is fascinating. Let's go through these old photos to feel the former style of this ancient city of Biansai.
The picture shows the scene of the eastern wall of Shuozhou City in 1938. According to the "Records of Shuozhou", Shuozhou City was founded in the eighth year of Northern Qi Tianbao (557 AD), and Shuozhou City was rebuilt in the early Ming Dynasty, and the rebuilt Shuozhou City had four urns, four corner towers, twelve enemy towers, and four gate towers. The four gates are: East Gate Wende Gate, West Gate Wuding Gate, South Gate Cheng'en Gate, and North Gate Town Gate.
The ancient city wall of Shuozhou in 1938 looks like the ruins are relatively well preserved. Shuozhou, known as "Mayi" in ancient times, is said to have been the Qin general Mengtian (孟恬) who guarded the Great Wall to garrison the Xiongnu's horse-raising border city, where Mengtian once built an earthen city. The ancient city wall in the photo was built by Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty in the 20th year (1388 AD), the plane is square, the side length is 1800 meters, and the rammed earth wall is about 5-10 meters high and about 10-20 meters wide. There were originally four gates in the Shuozhou City Wall: Wende Gate in the East, Cheng'en Gate in the South, Wuding Gate in the West, and SaiMen in the North, and the same tall urns were built outside the four gates. On the surrounding walls, there are four main entrance towers, four corner towers, sixteen enemy towers and beacon towers, which are spectacular, tall and majestic, and impregnable.
In 1938, Shuozhou, standing on the city wall overlooking Shuozhou City, residential buildings are connected to the wall, which shows that Shuozhou City at that time was densely populated and was a bustling border ancient city.
In Shuozhou in 1938, standing on the city wall and looking at the entire Shuozhou City, the houses were dotted with houses, which had a big city atmosphere.
In 1938, the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda was overlooked. Located in the Northwest Buddhist Temple of Ying County, Shuozhou, the Wooden Pagoda of Ying County was built in the second year of Liaoqingning (Song Zhihe III, 1056 AD) and added in the sixth year of Jin Mingchang (1195 AD of the first year of the Southern Song Dynasty). According to records, the Wooden Pagoda of YingXian County was built under the auspices of Empress Xiao of Liao, and its role was originally as the "family temple" of the Liao nobles, and it was also used to worship the Buddha and ascend to the enemy. Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, as the name suggests, is a stupa made of naillessness and riveting, all made of wood, although the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda has endured thousands of years of wind and rain, it still stands tall.
In 1938, close to the wooden tower of Ying County. In the twenty-first year of Yongle (1423), Ming Chengzu led an army to Xuanhua and attacked Tatars and Vala. On the way back to Beijing, he was stationed in Yingzhou. With a stroke of his pen, he wrote a four-character plaque of "Junji Divine Work" for the Wooden Pagoda of Ying County. In the twelfth year of Zhengde (1517), the little prince of Tatars invaded Yingzhou, and Emperor Mingwuzong led his division to help Ying. In July 1518, in order to celebrate the victory of Yingzhou, Emperor Mingwuzong came to Yingzhou for the second time, climbed the tower to feast on the heroes, and wrote the four characters of "Wonders of the World" to praise the wooden pagoda.
In 1938, the stone pagoda inside the Buddhist Temple in Yingxian County. Formerly known as Baogong Temple, The Temple was founded five generations later during the Jin Dynasty and has a history of 1,000 years.
1938 Shuozhou South Avenue overlooking. South Street was the most prosperous commercial street in Shuozhou City at that time. From the photo, you can see that the street is wide and straight, and the shops on both sides of the street are lined up, and in the distance you can see the tall and magnificent city gate tower of Shuozhou City.
In 1938, Shuozhou Streetscape, located in the middle of the street, an ancient archway, on which are written the four characters of "Nan yan Mao Yu", "Nan Yan" refers to summer farming and persuasion of farmers, and "Mao Yu" refers to hard work, which probably means that the wind and rain will be smooth and the years will be harvested.