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An ancient town is like an old man who has been through the ages, carrying the nostalgia of generations of children and grandchildren.
Hebei has 6 national-level historical and cultural cities and 40 state-level historical and cultural towns and villages, which are comparable to Shaanxi, Shanxi and other provinces.
From Wei County to Zhengding, why are the ancient towns and famous cities in the land of Yanzhao scattered? From Chengde to Baoding, what calibrated the status and temperament of ancient cities? From Shanhaiguan to Handan, what has been passed down in the town spanning thousands of years? From Jimingyi to Yingtan, what have those unique ancient villages bred for the town?
The annual ring depicting the famous city of Hebei ancient town is an excellent section for interpreting the human geography characteristics of Hebei.
The "genetic code" of the ancient town
Bubei Fort, Wei County. Courtesy of Li Xinwei
"Fort" and "City": the crystallization of mountains and rivers
October 19, 2020, Zhangjiakou Wei County.
When you first see Bubeibao Village, you will have the feeling of time solidifying here in an instant - green brick Daiwa, mottled city gates, weathered walls... The ancient villages of hundreds of years ago have condensed into the "bonsai" of time.
On the lintel of the fort in the southeast of the ancient castle, there are four large characters of "Buzhuang North Fort" carved, with the words "Ying and Xiang" on both sides, and the brick carvings and wood carvings are exquisite and gorgeous, full of ancient charm.
"Look, the front and back streets of this fort form a 'human' glyph. The main street in the north and south and an east-west main street in the center of the fort, with the Zhenwu Temple in the north and the Dengshan Tower in the south, the street shape system has formed a 'main' shape whether from the north or from the south, which means that the 'master' lives. On the Wenchang Pavilion, the commanding height of the ancient castle, Jia Xiao, a researcher at the Ulju Museum, introduced it to reporters.
This wonderful street pattern, quaint architectural style, and heavy chronological marks have aroused great interest among visitors - who is the "owner" of this ancient castle?
In the middle of Bubeibaoqian Street, an old house is being renovated. Several technicians climbed up the lintel, and the remaining bricks and tiles were removed and numbered and neatly placed aside.
This old house has three main rooms, two east and west ear rooms, three east and west wing rooms, and three south rooms, divided into inner and outer courtyards, the courtyard is paved with bricks, the building is simple and exquisite, and it is a typical early Ming Dynasty building.
Its owner was Wang Zhen, a eunuch of the Ming Dynasty, known as the initiator of the ming eunuch dictatorship. Bubei Fort is Wang Zhen's hometown.
"If he hadn't introduced the Wala army into Weizhou, the change of Tumu Fort might not have happened, and the entire History of Ming might have looked different." Jia Xiao said that although Bubei Fort has left a unique mark on the history books because of such a small episode, it does not prevent it from being named a famous historical and cultural village in China because of its characteristics of a typical ancient village in the north.
However, Wang Zhen is not the master of Bubei Fort, an ancient village that was built more than 2,000 years ago.
Bubei Fort, formerly known as Zhao Jiazhai, is rumored to have been built in the Western Han Dynasty, and the brothers Zhao Sheng and Zhao Yong came from the south to settle here and build a village, named Zhao Jiazhai Village. The earliest record of Bubei Fort appears in the History of Jin, and the Ming Dynasty Chongzhen edition of the Chronicle of Weizhou records it as "Buzhuangdu".
Jia Xiao said that in 2018, the State Council agreed to list Weixian as a national historical and cultural city, the main reason is that "the style is well preserved, the cultural relics are rich and diverse, and the number of ancient buildings is large", "Such a large number of well-preserved ancient village forts like Bubei Fort are the biggest features of the ancient architectural relics of Wei county." ”
"There is Fujian Tulou in the south and Weizhou Ancient Castle in the north. To this day, more than 430 castles are preserved in Ul County, which is known as the 'State of Castles'. Li Xinwei, director of the Ulju Museum, took out a map, "In the history of Wei County, there are eight hundred Zhuang Forts, which can be said to be a village with a fort, and a fort to see is a village." ”
On the map, look at the whole territory of Wei County, whether it is at the foot of the South Mountain, the northern hills, or the banks of the Huliu River, you can see the remains of ancient castles everywhere.
October 19, 2020, the south gate of the ancient city of Weixian County.
The three-fold eaves of the mountain-style building Wanshan Tower, towering above the Jingxian Gate, the south gate of the ancient city of Ulju.
Looking up, the mountainous Mountains in the distance have become a huge barrier of Wanshan Tower, and the combination of the ancient city and the distant mountains is like a landscape painting with a huge depth of field and a deep artistic conception, ethereal and quiet, attracting people's reverie.
In addition to the ancient castles scattered throughout the county, on the platform on the south bank of the Huliu River, a larger and higher-specification castle, the ancient city of Ulju, is another historical and cultural business card of Ulju County.
Li Xinwei introduced that the construction of Ulzhou City began in the second year of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (580 AD), and during the Ming Hongwu period, the city wall was built on the basis of the original city site, bricks and stones, becoming a military town within the "nine sides" system of the Ming Great Wall, forming a "majestic iron city with majestic armor on all sides".
Although due to historical reasons, the ancient city of Ulzhou has been partially damaged, but the overall pattern of the ancient city has not changed, the ancient city has a lot of offices, temples, pavilions, and residential houses, full of Ming and Qing relics.
If we look at it from the current geographical point of view, Wei County, which is located in the northwest of Hebei, far from the urban area of Zhangjiakou, and deep in the junction of the Taihang Mountains and Yanshan Mountains, why do there are so many ancient village forts and ancient cities with such complete shapes?
"The most fundamental thing is determined by the unique geographical location of Wei County." Analyzing the reasons for the rise of the ancient city of Ulzhou and the distribution of many ancient castles in the territory, Li Xinwei believes that it is inseparable from three words: "war", "road" and "business".
Million-year-old Paleolithic ruins have been found in the Huliu River Valley of WeiXian County, located in the "three forks" of Yangshao culture, Hongshan culture and Hetao cultural exchange, convergence and integration. At the time of Yao Shun, it belonged to Ji Prefecture, and during the Shang Zhou Dynasty, it was a daiguo. During the Qin and Han dynasties, the Three Kingdoms, and the Two Jin Dynasties, they were all Dai Commanderies. The Northern Zhou Elephant was renamed "Ulzhou" in the second year, and has been used for generations, with a history of more than 1440 years.
Located between the Inner and Outer Great Walls, Ulju is a place of contention for soldiers guarding the northern gate of the Central Plains. There were frequent wars here, and the villagers were often plundered, so the villages were connected and castles were built in a place to protect themselves. The earliest ancient castles in Wei County appeared at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.
The ancient castle of Weixian really appeared on the stage of history at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.
After recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang built the Great Wall in the north and built the city of Guangguo. After Zhengde in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, in order to defend against the harassment of the remnants of the Northern Desert forces from going south, the village of Ulju and the soldiers guarding the border in the Chongyao district built forts to defend themselves.
"Speaking of roads, historically Ulju was a major transportation route connecting Biansai and the Central Plains. One of the Eight Heavenly Foxes of Taihang is located south of Ulju City. Li Xinwei said that if you pull your gaze back to thousands of years ago, the traffic between the Central Plains and the North, the Beijing Division and the Mountains and Shaanxi intersected here, which can be regarded as the thoroughfare between the east, west, south, and north.
The advantages of transportation naturally bring about the circulation of merchants.
East-west, Pingyao, Qixian, Taigu, sparsely populated, barren land, Ulzhou since ancient times has the reputation of "rice grain river", Jin merchants lack of grain in the Eastern End of the Datong Basin in Ulzhou was supplied.
In the north-south direction, the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the northern nomads was uncertain, and the imperial court once opened horse markets in Datong and Xuanfu (present-day Xuanhua, Hebei), and allowed private exchange trade. Shanxi merchants came to the wind and exchanged their inland products for Mongolian horses, cattle, sheep, donkeys and fur products, and then sold them to the provinces through various holes. Flying Fox Yu is one of the important paths for Jinzhong merchants to go north to Xuanzhang and south to the Central Plains, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
In Li Xinwei's view, every town in human history is the product of terrain and geography, the crystallization of mountains and rivers, and the result of the exchange of people and property.
"As a special kind of settlement, the ancient castle is similar to the ancient village in the plain area, and it is the juvenile form of the ancient town." Li Xinwei said that the "bonsai" of an ancient castle left by Weixian for posterity allows us to glimpse the appearance of the famous city of the ancient town in its "infancy", so it has also become a typical sample of exploring the development process of ancient towns.
Mountain resort. Hebei Daily reporter Zhao Jie photographed
"Land" and "Bit": the meeting of the current situation
On October 21, 2020, Chenggang Guoshan Living Community, Shuangluan District, Chengde City.
The Ison River meanders through, reflecting the bustling pedestrians on the shore.
"This is the root of the city of Chengde."
A sentence by Zhang Shouyi, director of the Summer Resort Research Institute of the Chengde Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau, is confusing. Isn't the urban origin of Chengde a summer resort? How could it be 15 kilometers to the west in a living quarters of the workers of an old state-owned enterprise?
It turned out that the Kara river tun palace where the Kangxi Emperor was stationed was here.
Judging from the current map, the main urban area of Chengde City is divided into two districts, Shuangqiao District and Shuangluan District, which are blocked by ShuangtaShan, Mopanshan and Yuanbaoshan. Both places are river valleys in the Yanshan Mountains. Among them, the Shuangluan district at the confluence of the Luan River and the Ison River seems to be flatter and wider in terms of area than the Shuangqiao area on the bank of the Wulie River.
According to the research of local experts in Chengde, the Kangxi Emperor first looked at the flat land of Shuangluan District.
"After removing Aobai, ping 'San Fan', and taking over Taiwan, the Kangxi Emperor deeply felt the threat from western Mongolia and turned his attention to the north." Zhang Shouyi said that the incompetence and weakness exposed by the Eight Banner Soldiers, who had no combat experience for more than thirty years, made the Kangxi Emperor uneasy in his heart, and he began to look for a place to learn martial arts.
This place was quickly found, "only the Zi re River, the road is close to the capital, and the traffic has not lasted for more than two days."
The Kangxi Emperor chose his training ground at the junction of the Mongolian steppe and the Rehe Mountains, which is today's paddock and the northern area of Bashang. Chengde is right in the middle of Beijing to the Mulan yard.
From Beijing to the Mulan Yard, the Qing court built many palaces. There are more than 20 seats outside the Gubeikou, of which the three most important are the Qara River Tun Xinggong (Qara Hetun, Mongolian meaning Qingcheng, now Luanhe Town), The Polo River Tun Xinggong (Polo Hetun, Mongolian for Purple City or Baicheng, the location of the present-day Longhua County) and the Rehe Shangying Palace.
The Kara river tun palace was the first palace built by the rulers of the Qing Dynasty outside Saiwai, and the original site was in the current Chenggang living community. Here the East Twin Pagoda Mountains, the west of the Phoenix Mountain, the south of the Snake Mountain, the north of the Lone mountain, stacked mountains surrounded by a radius of more than ten kilometers of open land, Luan River and Isun River confluence in the north, to the east.
At that time, the specifications of the Kara River Tun Palace were very high, and there were dozens of palaces, as well as gardens, pavilions, small bridges and flowing water, and the palace buildings were integrated with the scenery of mountains and rivers. The Kangxi Emperor especially liked it here. "At that time, the Kangxi Emperor considered building a large palace in this area." Zhang Shouyi said that later he found that the area around the Rehe Camp, which is 15 kilometers away from the Kara River Tun, has better scenery, a more superior environment, and a unique geographical location, so he decided to expand the large palace on the Rehe River, the Rehe Palace.
The landing of the historical chess piece is such a coincidence. The Rehe Palace, later known as the Summer Resort, thus took the stage.
On October 21, 2020, the main entrance of the summer resort.
Entering the main gate of Li, on the inner noon gate is the four-character plaque of the Kangxi Imperial Book "Summer Resort". Next to it is the "Record of the Imperial Summer Resort" written by the Kangxi Emperor himself, which elaborates on the cause and effect of the construction of the summer resort.
The Kangxi Emperor took advantage of the nearly ten years to build the Thirty-six Views of Kangxi based on the principles of teaching nature, being higher than nature and not destroying the natural landscape. On the basis of the construction of the Kangxi Emperor, the Qianlong Emperor added thirty-six scenes, and after 89 years of construction, completed more than 120 groups of buildings based on the seventy-two views of Kangqian.
With the continuous expansion, the function of the summer resort began to increase, and a large number of daily affairs of the imperial court began to be handled here.
"The Kangxi Emperor spent half a year in the mountain villa, and the same was true during the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods." Zhang Shouyi said that we must not think that the summer resort is just a palace garden for the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty to shoot and play, to a certain extent, the Chengde Summer Resort was once the second government affairs center of the Qing Dynasty outside beijing.
In fact, the summer resort and the surrounding temples were built by the Second Emperor Kangqian to achieve a clear political purpose, where many major historical events and many major decisions were made, and it has had a profound impact on Chinese history.
"The surrender of Turbat is actually the return of heaven and man..." In front of the temple of Putuo Zongcheng outside the summer resort, the handwriting of the stone stele of "The Return of All the Imperial Turbats" is still faintly recognizable.
In the thirty-sixth year of the Qianlong Dynasty (1771), when the temple of the Chengde Putuo Sect was completed, it coincided with the return of the Mongolian people of Turgut to the embrace of the motherland after 148 years of exile.
In order to commend the heroic feats of the Turgut Ministry of "cherishing the homeland in the end, Sui'er abandoning the special lun" and carrying forward the spirit of the Chinese nation of loving the motherland and uniting and unifying, Qianlong personally wrote the imperial system, and the stele described the "Record of all the Return of Turbats" and the "Records of the People's Department of Excellent Compassion for Turbats", engraved in four languages of Manchu, Han, Mongolian and Tibetan, and placed in the stele pavilion of the Temple of Putuo Zongcheng and commemorated by Yongzhi.
Zhang Shouyi said that the summer resort and the surrounding temples have creatively solved the insoluble knots of ethnic problems in China's history, effectively consolidating and developing a unified multi-ethnic country. Chengde thus became the center of the Qing Dynasty's settlement of ethnic problems.
The Summer Resort Shōjo Hall, also known as the Nanmu Hall.
This single-eaves canopy-roofed hall with seven rooms wide and three deep rooms is surrounded by a corridor, and the kangxi emperor's imperial pen "澹泊敬诚" plaque hangs in the middle of the front eaves.
"The Jingcheng Hall is the core building of the main palace, whether it is the architectural pattern or the combination of spaces, it is the central building, equivalent to the Taihe Hall in Beijing, and it was the place where the Qing Dynasty held major celebrations, the pilgrimage of hundreds of officials, and the reception of ethnic minority leaders and foreign envoys." Li Zhuan, deputy director of the Summer Resort Research Institute, said that in 1793, the Qianlong Emperor had received the British envoy Magorney and his party here.
In Zhang Shouyi's view, in the Qing Dynasty, China's cities with international popularity in the world, in addition to Beijing, Guangzhou, etc., probably belong to Chengde. As the World Heritage Committee commented, the summer resort was the summer residence of the Qing Dynasty, and Chengde became the capital of the Qing Dynasty because of the summer resort and surrounding temples.
Because of this, Chengde is the first city in Hebei Province to be selected as a national historical and cultural city. As early as 1982, it became the first batch of national historical and cultural cities with 24 cities such as Beijing, Kaifeng and Xi'an.
At present, Hebei has a total of 6 national historical and cultural cities in Chengde, Baoding, Zhengding, Handan, Shanhaiguan and Weixian.
According to the characteristics, the national historical and cultural cities are mainly divided into 7 categories, such as historical capital type, traditional style type, and general historical site type. The historical ancient capital type ancient cities are all cities characterized by the historical relics of the capital era and the style of the ancient capital, such as Beijing, Nanjing, Xi'an and so on.
"Chengde is an isolated case, although it is not an ancient capital, but its status as the second political center of the Qing Dynasty, its construction model and its role in history are similar to those of an ancient capital." Zhang Shouyi said, "So although Chengde has only been a city for more than three hundred years, its position in the history of urban development in ancient China is a unique existence." ”
Quaint and elegant West Castle of Ulsan County. Hebei Daily information sheet
Rise and Fall: The Vicissitudes of Mulberry Fields
September 21, 2020, Shengfang Town, Langfang Bazhou City.
If you enter this town from the Shengfang high-speed rail station, you will not feel that it is much different from other northern towns. But if you stand on the towering Wenchang Pavilion and look south, the vast expanse of Dongdian and the foliage are completely different.
Modern people's understanding of Shengfang may come from steel and wood furniture, which makes this industry an important economic town in Langfang. But what most people don't know is that Shengfang was once a very prestigious water town in the north in history, with the reputation of "South Suzhou and Hangzhou, North Shengfang".
In fact, there is also an East Lake corresponding to Baiyangdian (West Lake). Dongdian is a triangle lake, flooded by the Daqing River, so also known as "overflow dian" and "overflow depression", located between the Ancient Baigou River, the Zhongting River, the Daqing River, located in Langfang City, Hebei Province, Bazhou, Wen'an territory, most of which have dried up. But at least during the Qianlong period, the water area of Dongdian was still larger than that of Baiyangdian.
Shengfang is a pearl on the edge of Dongdian, which was founded in the Spring and Autumn Period, initially named Ditou Village, and later renamed Wuping Pavilion.
By the time of the Song dynasty and the Liaojin Dynasty, this dock, which was located in front of the war confrontation, ushered in a great economic and cultural integration between the north and the south. In the Song Dynasty, Su Xun went north along the canal and introduced the technology of planting rice and lotus root in the south, so that the vast waters of Dongdian presented a beautiful scenery of reeds and rice, and the fragrance of linghe - "Shengfang's ancient appearance is comparable to That of Suzhou and Hangzhou, and the fragrance of Thyme Lotus Fish and Rice".
What really made Shengfang complete a leap forward in a generation of commercial and trade towns was the penetration of the North Canal.
After the unification of the Central Plains by the Yuan Dynasty, it spent a huge amount of money to build the North Canal, which not only made the Grand Canal run through the whole line, but also connected the water system in the central Hebei region from north to south, so that Shengfang's economy, politics and culture were included in the scope of Gyeonggi radiation. Shengfang, it is precisely in this way to usher in the true sense of prosperity, in the Ming and Qing dynasties jumped into one of the "six major towns directly under the jurisdiction".
On September 21, 2020, the reporter went all the way north from Wenchang Pavilion, and the ancient buildings that were very different from the traditional architectural style in the north were lined up one after another.
The traditional Chinese mountain top and European arch are mixed together, and non-construction professionals are often confused by the all-encompassing nature of Shengfang's ancient architecture.
The Zhangjia courtyard in the middle of WumiaoQian Street is a four-entry courtyard, the east side of the first and third courtyards with Western style, the west side of the second and fourth courtyards of the Chinese traditional architecture, is a combination of Chinese and Western, the combination of north and south, the combination of officials and the people of the northern water town typical Qing Dynasty residential buildings.
Further north to Zhongshan Road, the Wang Family Compound with the elegant name "Shizhutang" was built in the sixth year of Qing Guangxu (1880). The overall architectural style here is more diverse, bringing together the Western Byzantine and Chinese slope top architectural styles, which are unique in China and are called the "museum" of modern architectural aesthetics by domestic architectural experts.
"Shengfang Building has three treasures - the Theater Building, the Archway, and the Wenchang Pavilion. There are also well-preserved Qing Dynasty residences such as the Zhangjia Compound, the Wang Family Compound and the Yang Family Courtyard. Wang Sheng, a local folklore expert in Shengfang Town, said, "The mixture of architectural styles here also fully shows that Shengfang, as an important commercial port, was inclusive, open and prosperous." ”
After the North Canal is completed, whether it is going north to Beijing or south to Suzhou and Hangzhou, the traffic is extremely convenient. From the Ming and Qing dynasties to the first half of the 20th century, most of the Shengfang people lived on boats, and a large number of ships traveled to and from the canal to engage in water transport.
However, Shengfang, which once flourished for a while, ultimately failed to "grow" into a city like Suzhou and Hangzhou due to the weakening of the canal's function.
Shengfang, Botou and Cangzhou are three typical canal towns in the northern section of the Grand Canal. They use their respective development histories to outline a map of the development and evolution of cities along the Grand Canal.
Compared with Shengfang, the urban development of Botou has taken another step forward, taking a step from "town" to "city", and even completing the transformation from a commercial market town to an industrialized town.
September 23, 2020, Cangzhou Museum.
The sparks produced at different times in the Botou Match Factory are displayed in one exhibition cabinet. On most sparks, there are two eye-catching large characters "Bo tou".
This is a common memory that belongs to generations.
Botou is an important dock on the Grand Canal, and at the same time, it is passed by the official road from Nanpi to Jiaohe to the east and west, and is at the intersection of land and water. "During the Ming Dynasty's Wanli Period, Botou Town built an earthen city, which is a rare town-level city along the Grand Canal in the north." Sun Jian, director of the Cangzhou Regional Cultural Research Institute, said.
By the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period, when canal shipping had not yet been interrupted, the giant town of Botou along the river had opened the door to industrialization.
In 1911, Bozhen Station was established with the opening of the Jinpu Railway. With the help of railway transportation, Botou's matches manufacturing, smelting and casting, engraving and printing, firing technology and other industries have been fully developed.
But history has not left enough time and opportunity for Botou to grow into a big city. After the change of transportation mode, the development process of Botou has also slowed down with the decline of the Grand Canal.
Canghai Sangtian, today's Botou, with casting, automotive molds, environmental protection equipment, industrial pump valves as the leading industries, has become an important part of Cangzhou's urban and rural economic and industrial chain.
What stands out is Cangzhou.
On September 17, 2020, Cangzhou Museum "Grand Canal North" exhibition hall.
From the sand table of cangzhou ancient city in the Ming and Qing dynasties, it can already be clearly seen that the ancient city of Cangzhou was a good scale.
According to the "Cangxian Chronicle", the Cangzhou City Pool was completed in the fifth year of Tomorrow Shun, and the circumference of the city wall was eight miles, with a height of two and a half feet, a width of three and a foot and a width of five feet. Because the city wall resembles an ancient official hat, it is also called "Gantou City".
Wang Jianshuang, secretary of the party branch of the Cangzhou City Museum, dropped the laser pointer on the southwest corner of the sand table of the ancient city.
"Generally, there are four city gates in the east, west, south and north, and five in Cangzhou. Because the Cangzhou Canal is developed in shipping, goods come and go, and commerce is prosperous. In order to facilitate access, a small door was set aside on the basis of the four doors, and the people of Cangzhou called it 'Little South Gate'. Wang Jianshuang said.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the extension of the economy of the Grand Canal docks, an arc-shaped fixed trade area was formed between the small south gate and the west gate closer to the riverbank, and a number of trade markets were concentrated, and the area around the small south gate gradually became the commercial center of Cangzhou.
Developed business activities have continued for hundreds of years. Until the 1980s and 1990s, it was still known as the "Wangfujing" of Cangzhou by the people of Laocangzhou.
Nowadays, the "Little South Gate" has been demolished with the ancient city wall, and the urban area of Cangzhou is gradually developing to the west, and cangzhou, the ancient canal city of "reading a thousand sails", is actively transforming, from the Grand Canal to Bohai Bay, transforming into an important port city in the Bohai Rim region.
The "temperament and appearance" of the famous city of the ancient town
Zhengding South City Gate. Photo by Zhao Haijiang, a reporter of Hebei Daily
The story of the "City Pool"
On the evening of September 4, 2021, the lights began to rise, the city walls were majestic, and the ancient tower loomed. The entire ancient city of Zhengding is outlined by pale yellow lights into a dreamlike picture.
At this time, standing on the city wall, looking up, the Tuotuo River in the south of the city flows silently, the four pagodas in the north of the city are hidden in autumn colors, and the horse road of the city wall at the foot is like a arms wrapped around it, winding towards the east and west.
City is a combination of "city" and "city". A "city" is a place where transactions are made. The "city" is a place for defense and is surrounded by city walls, etc.
The urban boundaries of modern cities are defined by a certain road or a special dividing line. In ancient times, cities were first clearly defined by the city defense system.
West of the well mouth, south of the Tuotuo River, once Zhengding, has always been the seat of the prefecture county, since the late Tang Dynasty, it has become the military, political, economic and cultural center of the central hebei region.
As a national key cultural relics protection unit, the Zhengding Ancient City Wall is the general name of the Inner City, urn city and moon city. The ancient city wall of Zhengding was built in the Sixteen Kingdoms period of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and has a history of more than 1600 years. The existing city wall is one of the few remains of the Ming Dynasty city wall in China. The most well-known Changle Gate today is the South City Gate, one of the four gates of Zhengding.
The city walls outline the basic outline of the ancient city and arch the tranquility and prosperity of the ancient city. Under normal circumstances, the wall system of ancient cities is jointly played with the moat system.
"In ancient times, the word 'city pool' was used, 'city' is the city wall, 'pool' is the moat." Guo Jianyong, senior engineer of the Hebei Institute of Ancient Architecture, said, "The city wall and the moat are the most basic urban defense systems, and some high-level ancient cities will also have urns, guancheng, sentinels, acropolises and so on." ”
July 21, 2021, Handan Yongnian Guangfu Ancient City.
In the early morning, the heat has not yet arrived, and the spirit is refreshed. On the walls of the mottled ancient city, people wearing white exercise clothes calmed down and slowly pushed out their palms, which is a "push hand" in tai chi.
Yongnian Guangfu City has a history of more than 2600 years, and has historically been Quliang County, Guangping County, Wu'an County, Guangnian County, Yongnian County, Huanzhou, Guangping Road, guangping Province, so it is called Guangfu, and it is also a place where soldiers and families must compete for generations.
As a military defense facility, the ancient city wall of Guangfu has preserved or remained in its urns, corner towers, horse roads, city gate holes, jack gates, and city gate towers. The most famous thing about the ancient city of Guangfu is its well-preserved moat system.
In fact, the ancient city of Guangfu is the only dryland water city in northern China, surrounded by 46,000 acres of Yongnianwa wetlands. Surrounded by more than 5 kilometers of moats around the walls of Canton, the two banks are planted with weeping willows, and four suspension bridges connect the inside and outside, forming a solid castle.
In the ancient city pool architecture system, the defense of the moat can be described as the most important, almost all large cities have moats.
But the one that best reflects the military defense function of ancient cities must be Shanhaiguan.
On October 26, 2020, the Department of Shanhaiguan Military Department.
Youshan Customs, the former site of the Bingbu Division on Shanhaiguan Square, will be overlooked by most tourists, perhaps because it is too narrow compared to the majestic East Building of Shanhaiguan Town.
However, in the history of the Ming Dynasty, the status of the military department was quite high -- it was the only military institution established by the Ming Dynasty outside the capital, and it was directly under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty Military Department.
"The city defense system of Shanhaiguan can be described as a masterpiece of ancient Chinese military city defense architecture." Guo Zemin, former director of the Shanhaiguan Cultural Protection Institute, said that in the Ming Dynasty, Shanhaiguan developed from a large-scale military fortress into a city of considerable scale. As far as the part of Guancheng is concerned, in the 8-kilometer area from Laolongtou to Jiaoshan Mountain, the two wings are open, supplemented by five major passes and six castle arch guards, "the wall of the city is tall and thick, the moat is deep, the outer sentry, the wall platform, the enemy platform, and the beacon are scattered, and layers of barriers are set up, plus heavy troops are deployed, which tightly locks the throat of the Western Liaoning Corridor." ”
It is precisely for this reason that it is necessary to set up such a decision-making department combining military and administrative affairs as the Military Division and Office in front of the Shanhaiguan City Tower to achieve the greatest "front command."
From the primitive ring trench settlement and the earth enclosure to the relatively mature rammed earth castle, to the later generations of brick and stone construction, digging water as a pool, the history of upgrading the urban defense system is also the history of human urban development. After all, guarding the people is the original reason for the emergence and growth of the city.
Dingzhou Gongyuan. Hebei Daily reporter Zhao Yonghui photographed
The height of the temple
On July 30, 2021, Baoding was directly subordinated to the Governor's Office.
Walking under the "GongshengMing" Tall Yi Gate, you can still feel the majesty of this provincial government office.
As the building of the Qing Dynasty Military and Political Office, the Office of the Governor directly under the Qing Dynasty is the office of the Governor directly under the Qing Dynasty, the highest military and political organ of the province directly under the DirectLy Subordinate Province, and the only and most complete Qing Dynasty Provincial Office in Existence in China.
The architectural layout of the Governor's Office not only inherits the characteristics of the previous Imperial Household Office, but also is influenced by the architectural layout of the Imperial Palace in Beijing and the Ming and Qing Dynasties and even the regulation of residential buildings.
"A governor's office, half of the History of the Qing Dynasty."
The Office of the Governor-General of Zhili indicates not only the status of the ancient city of Baoding as the capital of the province directly under the Qing Dynasty. From the eight years of Qing Yongzheng's directly subordinate governor stationed here, until the fall of the Qing Dynasty, until the abolition of the Qing Dynasty, a total of 59 people and 66 governors who were directly subordinate to this office, such as Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Yuan Shikai, Fang Guancheng, etc., can be described as a certain historical epitome of the Qing Dynasty, especially in the middle and late period.
If it is said that the governor's office as a feudal official is somewhat high, then the county office that often appears in the drama is more grounded.
September 6, 2021, Xingtai Guangzong.
"Guangzong good lobby, Weixian good city wall, giant deer good archway." Guangzong is well known, in addition to the sand dune platform, there is also a surviving Ming Dynasty county ya building main body - the main hall of the Guangzong Official Office. It was built in the second year of Ming Yongle (1404 AD) and is one of the few well-preserved county halls in the country.
According to historical records, the main buildings of Guangzong County include Zhaobi, Bell and Drum Tower, Yimen, Lobby, Second Hall, etc., and now, other buildings have been obliterated with history, leaving only the lobby. The lobby, also known as the public hall, the main hall, etc., is the main building of the county court, and is the place where the county issues government decrees, holds major ceremonies, and publicly hears important cases.
The office represents the political function of the ancient city and defines the political status of the ancient city at that time.
Due to the few offices that have been preserved, it is no longer possible for people to experience the status of these ancient cities directly from the actual architecture. In fact, leaving aside the cities of Xingtai and Handan, which were once the "capitals of the country", the ancient cities of Yanzhao and Zhao, which were famous thousands of years ago, can be described as everywhere.
For example, the daimyo, in history, was the seat of the prefecture, road, prefecture, province, and county. In the second year of the Song Renzong Qing calendar (1042 AD), he even built a capital here, known in history as "Beijing", with a population of more than one million, even exceeding the capital of the country at that time.
The current Mantouying Township in Zhangbei County still has the ruins of Yuan Zhongdu, which was founded in the eleventh year of Yuan Dade (1307 AD), and was on a par with the Yuan Capital (present-day Beijing) and Yuan Shangdu (present-day Zhenglanqi East, Inner Mongolia) at that time.
The characters "zhou" retained in the modern place names of Dingzhou, Cangzhou, Bazhou, Zhuozhou, Shenzhou, and Jinzhou, as well as the old titles of "Baodingfu" and "Zhengdingfu", which have been left in the depths of folk memory, are marked by the administrative status of the ancient city in a certain era.
In addition to the administrative and judicial functions of the Government Bureau, the temple of literature and the system of tribute courtyards, which undertake important functions such as education and examination, are also important components in ancient cities. Their specifications are also often symbols that mark the status of cities.
On September 28, 2020, Confucius celebrated his 2571st birthday.
At 9:58, the Chengde Rehe Confucian Temple solemnly held the Gengzi Year Festival In accordance with the custom.
On the high platform of the Dacheng Hall of the Rehe Confucian Temple, 36 dancers, dressed in traditional costumes for the dance, wearing top hats and holding feathers, stand in six rows and six columns according to the weekly etiquette system, and dance the six dances with the palace music.
Located in the east of Chengde West Avenue City God Temple, the Rehe Confucian Temple was built in the 41st year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, and its scale is second only to the Qufu Confucius Temple, which is one of the three major Confucius temples in the country.
The Temple of Literature is a temple dedicated to Confucius and is also the seat of the ancient official school, which has both ceremonial and practical functions. In ancient times, the Temple of Literature was generally the cultural and educational center of each city, and was widely recognized and respected by society.
Dingzhou City Knife and Gun Street, adjacent to the Dingzhou Tower, Dingzhou Confucian Temple is also famous.
Entering the Temple of Literature "Lingxing Gate", but seeing two ancient locusts in the courtyard, it is said that they were planted by Su Dongpo when he was in Dingzhou Zhizhou, so it was called "Dongpo Double Locust". Although it is nearly a thousand years old, the ancient locust is still leafy and shady.
Dingzhou Confucian Temple was founded in the Tang Dynasty, is the largest existing scale in our province, the most complete preservation of the architectural pattern of a Confucius Temple complex, known as "Zhongshan Temple Learning The World" reputation. After successive repairs in the Tang Dynasty, the Dingzhou Confucian Temple now has three adjacent north courtyards in the east, west and middle, as well as the Jiexiao Ancestral Hall in the south.
From the Temple of Literature to the east across the Ya Bureau, there is another monument in Dingzhou, the Gongyuan Temple.
Gongyuan, commonly known as the examination shed, is the examination hall for scholars in the era of the imperial examination, that is, the place where the subjects are opened to take the examination. In Dingzhou, there is the best preserved state tribute court in northern China - Dingzhou Tribute Temple. It was founded in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, and from its completion to the abolition of the imperial examination system, it has always been a place for feudal society to obtain Xiucai and Gongsheng.
This grand scale, imposing sitting north facing south axis symmetrical layout complex, in turn for the shadow wall, the gate, the second gate, the Kui Pavilion, the lobby, the second hall, the back building and other major buildings, the east side of the Wuchang area of the original Yanwu Hall, Wenchang Palace, harem and other buildings, each building has its own courtyard, the courtyard according to the needs of use, more or less built some auxiliary buildings, outside the gate also built a military room, deacons honor guard room and so on to spectacular, the entire building layout has a tension and relaxation, rich in changes.
Walking through it, we can not only appreciate the majestic architectural community, but also imagine the grand examination scene of that year.
Zhang Li, director of the Protection and Management Office of the Dingzhou Gongyuan, said that during the Qing Dynasty, Dingzhou had successive jurisdiction over Quyang, Xinle, Wuji, Shenze and other counties, and the examinations for child students in these places were all conducted in the Dingzhou Gongyuan.
Candidates who have obtained the qualification of student members must also pass the annual examination and the subject examination twice at the Gongyuan, and select a certain number of students to participate in the township examination held in the provincial city where they are located. The annual examination and science examination in the jurisdiction of Dingzhou were also held in The Dingzhou Gongyuan.
"As an important ancient city, the Dingzhou Confucian Temple, the Ya Office and the Tribute Temple are relatively well preserved. These three components are basically next to each other, together forming the political, cultural and educational center of the ancient city of Dingzhou. Zhang Li said.
The Great Realm Gate. Photo by Zhao Haijiang, a reporter of Hebei Daily
City fireworks
August 25, 2020, Dajingmen Great Wall Cultural Tourism Zone.
The opening ceremony of "Mingdekou Street" is being held.
Horsehead piano, accordion and other outdoor instruments performances and chimes, mouthpieces, guitar singing, Hummai band performance echo, acrobatics, clowns, animation dolls and other performances interspersed, square dance, Russian skirt dancers dancing...
"Koujie" tries to recreate the glorious business scene of Dajingmen in that year, but the crowd at this time is still far less than the grand situation of "mutual market" hundreds of years ago.
Zhang Yantai, a researcher at the Hebei Academy of Social Sciences, said that in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the "GongShi" and "Tea horse mutual markets" formed outside the Great Wall of Zhangjiakou Dajingmen communicated the trade between the hinterland and the border areas.
In the mutual market, livestock, furs, medicinal materials, woolen fabrics, silverware, mushrooms, hair vegetables, etc. from the Mongolian plateau passed through Zhangku Avenue to Laiyuanbao Market, Xigou Market, Yuanbaoshan Market, where they were exchanged for silk, tea, grain, porcelain, sugar, cotton fabrics and small department stores in the form of barter trade, and transported from Zhangku Avenue to Kulun (present-day Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia), Kyakhta (present-day Aldanbrak, Mongolia), Mausgwa (present-day Moscow, Russia) and other places.
Participating in the "mutual market" trade were Han, Tibetan, Manchu, Hui, Mongolian, Uyghur, Kazakh and other ethnic groups, as well as merchants from Japan, Britain, France, the United States, Russia and other countries. These merchants built more than 1,500 merchant shops inside and outside the Dajing Gate, including 44 foreign foreign firms, and the annual trade volume reached 150 million taels of silver at the highest.
It is precisely because of the interconnection of the "Tea and Horse Mutual Market" that the commercial activities of Zhangjiakou Fort, a border castle, are becoming increasingly prosperous. It also made Zhangjiakou truly become a port city with international reputation at that time. Today, Zhangjiakou Fort is also regarded as the starting point of Zhangjiakou City.
No matter what era, the city is always a place where people gather to live. For the famous city and ancient town, posterity actually wants to explore the daily life of ordinary people in that time and space, and sniff the life breath of ordinary people in historical time and space.
The "city" was the most important component of ancient towns and cities, and it was also an important condition for determining whether a city was prosperous. The ancients' food, clothing, shelter, and rice, oil and salt, are all in it.
Most Baoding people's breakfast is not necessarily donkey meat fire. A small dish of locust pickles, accompanied by a bowl of white porridge, may be the most suitable for the day of ironing.
On September 12, 2021, On Yonghua Avenue in Baoding, the storefront of "Chinese time-honored" Huaimao pickle is not large, but the "taste" is particularly strong.
It is said that the predecessor of Huaimao Pickle is Huaimao Sauce Garden, located under a large locust tree in the north of West Avenue Road in Baoding City, because the locust tree is close to the door, so it is named "Huaimao", symbolizing the meaning of prosperity and prosperity.
Huaimao pickle was opened in the 10th year of the Qing Dynasty (1671 AD) and has a history of more than 300 years. In the twenty-ninth year of Guangxu, Cixi passed through Baoding, tasted Huaimao pickles, and even claimed to be good, and gave the name "Taiping Cuisine". Since then, the value of Huaimao pickles has risen a hundredfold, and at that time, the price of a pound of pickles was as high as 1.7 taels of silver (equivalent to about 500 yuan).
Bacon from Chaigou Fort, tofu shreds from Gaobeidian, sesame oil from Damingfu; Zhao Jiaguan in Changli, Majia Old Chicken in Baoding, Dumplings in Oil in Handan... The old brand is a city firework that has lasted for thousands of years in the city.
Solving the problem of safety and appetite, the people in the town began to pursue a richer spiritual life.
"There are 'three buildings' in the villages of Weixian County: temples, drama buildings, and official wells." Li Xinwei's words aroused the interest of reporters.
As a special settlement environment, the ancient castle of Weixian is slightly different from that of ordinary villages in terms of shape and function. The ancient castle combines military, defense, life, production, religion, entertainment and other functions, not only forming ancient buildings such as zhuang forts, temples, theaters and so on, but also creating a unique and inclusive ancient village fort culture - a special cultural type that is more similar to the ancient town culture.
October 19, 2020, Songjiazhuang Village, Wei County.
Under the inner city of the village fort gate, a unique theater building sits north to south and stands on Tongjie Avenue. From a distance, a hollow pavilion is faintly interesting. The middle of the theater building is a hollow passage, about 2.2 meters wide, usually open to traffic pedestrians, in case of performance, covered with wooden boards, front and rear wooden gates can be closed, on the upper can sing martial arts, under the traffic pedestrians, the entire street facing is the audience seat...
The creativity of "Heart-piercing Drama Building" is wonderful, and it can be called a "must-have" of Weixian Opera Building.
Li Xinwei said: In Wei County, where there is a village, there is a fort, where there is a fort, there is a temple, and if there is a temple, there is a theater.
The ancient opera house in Weixian has a variety of forms and characteristics, and it is a valuable and unique heritage in the ancient architecture of Weixian County.
The theater building is known as the theater stage, music building and song stage, and is an ancient building dedicated to theatrical performances, most of which were built in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The ancient opera houses in WeiXian county have a variety of characteristics and are second to none in Hebei Province.
The "Inheritance of The Inheritance" of the Famous Ancient Town
WeiXian Songjiazhuang wears the heart drama building. Boulders
Towards the "World of The Spirit"
On 25 July 2021, "Quanzhou: World Maritime Trade Center of Song and Yuan China" was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List through the deliberations of the 44th session of unesco's World Heritage Committee.
In the thirteenth and fourth centuries, with the prosperity of maritime commerce, foreign religions such as Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Manichaeism, Christianity, Judaism, etc., as well as the traditional Chinese Confucianism and Taoism, took root and grew up in this free land. To this day, Quanzhou has preserved a wealth of religious cultural relics, which can be called the "Museum of World Religions", which is the image witness of this precious cultural heritage.
"There is Quanzhou in the south and Wei County in the north."
Li Xinwei said that the number of ancient buildings in Weixian County, especially temples, palaces, temples, temples, courtyards, nunneries, ancestral halls, and pagodas, is located at the top of all counties in Hebei Province. According to the "Chronicle of Weizhou", by the guangxu period at the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were nearly a hundred ancient temples in the county town alone.
Wei County, which the famous archaeologist Su Bingqi called the "Three Forks" area of cultural integration, also receives various religious cultures and religious arts from the Central Plains and the North, the East and the West.
Li Xinwei said that the most prominent feature of the ancient temples in Weixian is the rich types. Due to being at the forefront of the collision of various cultural exchanges, in WeiXian County, the local people worship various religions and temples of gods, including Buddhism, Taoism, home protection gods, luck gods, protector gods, etc.
"Whatever consolation is needed, worship the gods of whatever kind." On the one hand, this reflects the inclusive cultural characteristics of WeiXian in ancient times, and also reflects that the beliefs and worship of the ancients are not completely limited, and they also have a very pragmatic side. Li Xinwei said.
Unlike the official temples in those big cities, the ancient temples of Ulju are mostly folk practices, and the architectural forms are flexible and changeable, and they are both practical, functional and ornamental. In ancient temples, there are many inscriptions, poems, and inscriptions, and many temples also have a large number of murals, brick carvings, wood carvings, etc.
On July 13, 2021, the staff carried out protective repairs to the national key cultural relics protection unit , Sakya Monastery in Weixian County. The renovation includes the Hall of the Heavenly King of Shakya Temple, the Hall of the Great Treasure, and the Hall of the Reclining Buddha.
The daxiong treasure hall with a single eaves at the top of the mountain is clumsy in line, which is very different from the common ancient architectural style of heavy eaves. The roof of the Shakya Temple building is quite gentle, the eaves and 4 wing corners are upturned, which is more obvious from the side, the eaves of this hall are 1.5 meters, and under the outer eaves is a huge bucket arch, the proportions and shapes are very cleverly handled, making the nave more solemn and solemn.
Mr. Qi Yingtao, a well-known expert in ancient architecture in China, came to Sakya Temple in 1985 to inspect and believe that the Daxiong Treasure Hall of Shakya Temple has the architectural characteristics of the Yuan Dynasty.
In fact, walking through the ancient towns and cities of Hebei, one of the most prominent features is that there are many temples, temples, ancestral towers and so on.
"This is the embodiment of the gradual maturity of human settlements and the gradual transformation of the ancients from the material world to the spiritual world." Zheng Yimin, chairman of the Provincial People's Association, said, "Highly developed urban civilization has bred highly developed religious buildings and religious cultures, which have also condensed into urban civilization, which in turn has once again promoted the development of the city." ”
In Zhengding, Tang to the end of the Qing Dynasty, with the construction of the city pool, temples, Taoist temples, pagodas and other buildings were continuously built in the city, forming a rich and colorful group of scenic spots and monuments, known as "nine floors, four towers, eight temples, twenty-four gold medals". Among them, Linji Temple is also the ancestral court of the Buddhist Linji Sect.
In the Berlin Zen Temple in Zhao County, in the late Tang Dynasty, Zen masters were stationed here for forty years from zen masters, forming a far-reaching "Zhao Zhou Men Feng", and the Berlin Zen Temple and Zhao Zhou thus became an important ancestral court in the history of Chinese Zen Buddhism.
Compared with the systematic and complete religious atmosphere in large cities, in regional units such as villages and towns, the ancients' way of pursuing spiritual life was often more grounded, and this pursuit eventually became a rich and colorful folk culture.
March 2, 2020, Lantern Festival.
When the solemn ceremony of worshipping the river god on the Mianhe River was completed, the villagers of Zhuangwang Village in Tianchang Town, Jingxing County lit a hundred river lamps one by one and put them into the river in the dark of night.
Pieces of river lanterns descend the water, and the lights and waves shine together, so that the villagers and tourists on both sides of the river can experience the charm of the folk culture that has been passed down for thousands of years in the lively celebrations.
Worshiping the river god and putting out river lamps is a local custom, there are many styles of river lamps, each river lamp represents the inspiration and creativity of the makers, integrating paper tying, wood art, paste, painting, paper cutting and other skills, in order to ask the river god to bless the life and property safety of all villagers.
The lights in Jingxing Tianchang Town are in the water, and the lights in Shangsuzhuang in Wei County are on the street.
When it comes to Shangsuzhuang Village, people will joke: "The dogs there have a playful taste when they bark twice." ”
Shangsuzhuang people love to sing opera, which should have a lot to do with the origin of the national intangible cultural heritage "Baideng Mountain" in Shangsuzhuang Village.
This is one of the most ancient and mysterious folk activities in northern China, which has been passed down in a living way to this day.
Every year on the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth day of the first lunar month, Shangsuzhuang holds a worship of the Lamp Mountain. The activities include lanterns, rubbing lantern twists, hot oil, igniting fire gods, lighting lamps, worshiping lanterns, folk community fires, singing dramas, etc.
Hundreds of lamps are placed on the wooden shelves in the Lamp Mountain Building to display lace and auspicious words, and then the lamps soaked in sesame oil are inserted into the lamps one by one and lit. Then, a series of calligraphy and paintings of "five grains and abundant deng", "wind and rain" and "Guotai Min'an" came into view. The social fire team beat gongs and drums all the way, and under the guidance of the lamp officer, everyone prostrated and prayed for the new year to have enough food and clothing and peace for the people.
Every year during the Lantern Festival, thousands of outsiders flock to Shangsuzhuang, and the ancient Dengshan Tower is crowded with people.
"The so-called history and culture refers to the spiritual and material wealth that people have created and accumulated in the long history. They take the form of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage, which together form the unique character and moral philosophy of our nation. Zheng Yimin said that these cultural genes, which embody the wisdom and thoughts of generations of ancestors, are often hidden in those ancient cities and ancient villages and towns with a long history.
Ulsan hit the tree flowers. Hebei Daily reporter Zhao Yonghui photographed
Passing on the "Intangible Heritage"
June 5, 2021, Langfang International Convention and Exhibition Center.
Hebei "Intangible Cultural Heritage Shopping Festival" and the 9th Langfang Characteristic Culture Expo are being held here.
In front of the Yutian clay sculpture booth, several tourists relished the clay sculpture in their hands.
Wang Zhenfeng, the inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage project Yutian clay sculpture, introduced the characteristics of the Yutian clay sculpture while guiding, leading tourists to feel the beauty of intangible cultural heritage.
Throughout the Expo, more than 6,000 kinds of intangible cultural heritage items of time-honored food, traditional embroidery, ceramic supplies, native textiles and other products closely related to the lives of the people were displayed.
Intangible cultural heritage is the various traditional cultural expressions that are passed down from generation to generation by peoples and are considered to be part of their cultural heritage, as well as objects and places related to traditional cultural expressions.
Hebei is a large province of intangible cultural heritage, and at present, 6 projects are included in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of the United Nations, 163 projects are included in the representative list of intangible cultural heritage at the national level, and 990 projects are included in the list of intangible cultural heritage at the provincial level.
Each intangible cultural heritage has its fertile soil for nurturing and growing, and most of it originates in ancient towns and cities.
Lantern Festival, the first lights up. At night, the ancient town of Nuanquan in Weixian County is filled with a strong smell of the New Year.
The Tree Flower Plaza is already full, and an exquisite "Hit the Tree Flower" performance is about to begin.
In the background, the oversized blower is running at high speed, the flames burst out of the iron furnace, and the craftsmen and masters still keep adding coal and iron to the furnace, completely melting into golden molten iron from the furnace mouth and constantly flowing out.
"The molten iron from the tree flowers is smelted at a high temperature of more than 40 minutes." Wang De, a provincial-level non-hereditary person who "beats tree flowers", told reporters that about 1,000 kilograms of iron and more than 500 kilograms of coal are used to beat tree flowers.
In order to prevent burns, Wang De, who was wearing a sheepskin jacket and a straw hat, walked to a basin of cold water and dipped a broom in cold water to beat his whole body. When he was about to stop, he saw him stretch the wooden spoon in his hand to the molten iron, scoop up a spoon, round his arm, and throw it against the high wall.
In an instant, the molten iron exploded countless golden and brilliant flowers, drawing a huge arc in the air and scattering along the city wall. Spoon after spoon, Wang De threw it higher and higher, playing faster and faster, as if he was in the midst of a "flower rain", and the tree flowers lit up the entire night sky.
Playing trees and flowers is a folk community fire carried out by local people to celebrate the harvest, pray for the wind and rain to be smooth, and Guotai min'an, which has a history of more than 300 years.
Now that "Hitting Trees and Flowers" is patented and the performance skills are constantly innovating, this ancient art has been revitalized in ancient towns.
September 6, 2021, Handan String City Street.
From the stylistic point of view, the stone arch bridge built across the Qin River is not unique. At the intersection of Qiaoxi Road, a stone sculpture of a young man crawling with a pair of elegant footsteps is even more eye-catching. It depicts the idiom "Handan toddler".
Shen Youshun, director of the Expert Committee of Handan Famous Historical and Cultural Cities, deliberately led the reporter to walk on the toddler bridge. In his view, the "Handan idiom" itself is a spectacle in the corridor of traditional Chinese culture.
"There are more than 100 Handan idioms recorded in the "Records of History" alone, and the "Chinese Idiom Dictionary" contains more than 18,000 idioms, of which more than 1,580 belong to Handan." Handan toddler, Nuwa patching up the heavens, Ye Gonghaolong, indiscriminate counting, covering the ears and stealing the bell, meikai twice, backwater war, breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat, returning to Zhao, Mao Sui self-recommendation, bearing jing's request, talking on paper... Shen Youshun is like a number of family treasures, "There is no second place in China that is rich in idioms like Handan. ”
Shen Youshun believes that the site of Handan has not been moved for more than 3,000 years, the name of the city has not changed, and its historical relics are rich, the level is distinct, the context is complete, and the influence is profound, which is rare in China's historical and cultural cities. The idiom allusion is the most characteristic cultural symbol of Handan.
The handan idiom type is all-encompassing, and some reflect the concept of ruling, such as "the past does not forget, the teacher of the future"; there are profound meanings and reveal the philosophy of life, such as "blue is better than blue"; there are those that reflect major events in the history of the classic: such as "returning to Zhao after the end of the bibi"; there are those who warn and lash out at the undesirable phenomena of society, such as "Li Ling Zhi Dim"...
This is the ancient city of Handan, the most important cultural relic left to future generations.
"Idioms are the root culture of the Chinese nation and have profoundly influenced the way our nation thinks, expresses and aesthetics. Chinese is inseparable from idioms, and idioms cannot be bypassed in Handan. Shen Youshun said that these idiomatic allusions have influenced China for more than two thousand years, and have long been deeply imprinted into the genes of the entire Chinese culture, becoming our basic way of expression and historical philosophy.
Tianchang Ancient Town Folk Show. Hebei Daily reporter Tian Ming photographed
Keeping "Our Nostalgia"
On October 19, 2020, Huailai Chicken Song Yi.
Standing on the wall of Jimingyi Ancient City, it still maintains the layout and weather of the old times.
The street layout of "three horizontal and two vertical" forms a clear spatial division between horizontal and vertical in the city, connecting important building groups and echoing before and after. The Jade Emperor Loft is built in the middle of the north city wall, and the Kuixing Loft is built in the middle of the south city wall, and the two attics echo each other. The whole city slopes northwest in the direction of the post road, and an east-west horse road runs through the city, reflecting its post characteristics.
In the horse road, tourists can't help but be thrilled, when the daily horse bell sounded, flying dust rolling, the pawn riding fast, wind and fire, day and night, what kind of scene should it be?
At the foot of Jiming Mountain, there is a thousand-year-old road. This east-west avenue was known as the "Shanggu Trunk Road" during the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, and since then successive dynasties have regarded it as the only way to pass through Juyong to Yan (around present-day Beijing), Ji (around Hebei), west to Datong and Xinjiang, nantong to Flying Fox (south of Wei County, Hebei), Bauhinia Pass (located in Laishui County, Hebei Province, one of the Great Wall Passes), north to Kulun (present-day Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia), and Russia.
There were many famous towns and coaching inns on this ancient road, and Jimingyi was one of them. In 1219 AD, Genghis Khan led an army to the west and set up a "station" (post station) here. During the Ming Yongle period, this area developed into the first major station on Jingshi North Road, because it was located at the foot of Jiming Mountain, so it was called Jimingyi, which undertook the functions of military station and civilian station.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Jiming Yicheng was repeatedly repaired and was an important transit point for Beijing to the northwest region. In 1913, the Beiyang government announced that it would "abolish the post station and open a post", and Jiming Yi ended the history of its post station, and the post city became a village.
The ancient town has left Chinese cultural nostalgia, while the ancient village has left the nostalgia of the ancient town.
October 23, 2020, Xingtai.
Liu Shunchao, an expert in xingtai city's literature and history, has a bookstore full of all kinds of books. Opening the book "Xingtai Ancient Village Culture" edited by him, it is full of xingtai people's "nostalgia".
"There are more than 5,000 villages in Xingtai, the vast majority of which are precipitated by history, and the original form preserved for hundreds of years is relatively intact." In Liu Shunchao's view, from a longer historical perspective, villages, towns and cities are actually a concept of continuous development and change. After studying a large number of ancient villages in Xingtai, Liu Shunchao found that when the villages were formed, they were closely related to the local geographical environment. If analyzed from the morphology of environmental settlements, villages can be divided into mountain pass type, ancient castle type, market type, temple type, scattered type and so on.
Huangsi Town and Xihuangcun Town in Xingtai County, Shankou Town in Longyao County, and Dukou Village in Shahe City are typical mountain-pass-type villages and towns.
"From the perspective of transportation, in ancient times, due to the limitations of transportation, people walked more when traveling, or used cattle, horses, and cars as means of transportation, over the mountains, and the mountain pass was the only way. For this reason, the pass path has become a place where people live, and the settlement formed by this is a mountain pass type village. Liu Shunchao said that in the long river of history, such mountain-pass-type villages often gradually grow due to the development of transportation and commerce, becoming towns or cities, and at the same time, there will continue to be ancient towns that decline, degenerate and degrade for some reasons.
Compared with cities, ancient villages can sometimes show strong stubbornness, so the stability and vitality of villages are very prominent, and those villages that have stagnated for various reasons have become living fossils of history.
On June 10, 2021, Yingtan Village, Luluo Town, Xingtai City, Taihang Deep Mountain.
"There are many deep stone bridges in high mountains and valleys, many steep cave dwellings, many stone buildings built on the mountains, and many water and mountain springs on the back of the mountain." In early summer, the elderly Lu Zhaoyang, who was more than an old man, led the reporter into the village through the Dongzhai Gate, and the quaint mountain alleys and lingxiu mountains reflected each other, and the stone city walls, stone city gates, stone houses and other buildings could be seen everywhere.
Yingtan Village, one of the first batch of famous historical and cultural towns and villages in our province, is known as the "First Ancient Stone Village in Jiangbei", which is an ancient village built of red stones, which is like a faint red cloud in the green of summer.
Step by step along the stone road, as if through a time tunnel, you can see the smoke and dust of history, and you can hear the echo of history.
Liu Shunchao even compared Yingtan to the "Shangri-La" in the Taihang Mountains.
In Liu Shunchao's view, the "nostalgia" left by Yingtan Village for future generations is first reflected through those antique buildings and the folk architecture that has been passed down from generation to generation.
The house is the essence of Yingtan, and the unique red stone renders the charm of the ancient village. Or the house as the wall, or the wall as the room, the house has a courtyard, the courtyard has a house, the wall is built with the terrain, the house is undulating and meandering with the hillside, jagged, layered, from a distance, a bush, permeated with vitality.
The folk culture that has survived in Yingtan is also very charming. These include the Lujia Sitang culture with clan colors, the Taihang Mountain red culture with national spirit, and the colorful legend culture.
Yingtan Village has "one surname, three branches and four churches", and the vast majority of 105 households have the surname Of The Road. There are three branches of the Lu surname, the three branches are divided into Dehetang, Zhonghetang, Rulintang, and Guihetang, and there is a complete family tree.
"The reason why a place has a relationship with a person is at least a certain degree of connection, specific to the hometown is blood and kinship." Liu Shunchao said that when we look back at our hometown in an increasingly huge city, "this kind of ancient village condensed by blood and kinship is as precious as amber that freezes time and condenses our last nostalgia." ”
(Thanks to the Hebei Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, Weizhou Museum, Chengde Summer Resort Research Institute, Cangzhou Museum, Hebei Ancient Architecture Research Institute, Hebei Folk Writers Association and other units and individuals for their strong assistance to this report)
(Interview/Hebei Daily reporter Yuan Weihua, Zhu Yanbing, Wang Xuewei, Li Jiancheng, Chen Zheng, Xing Yun Wrote/Hebei Daily reporter Yuan Weihua)