The Yan family refers to the chinese residents who live by the sea, also called the Yan people, who are born on the water, grow up on the water, and float on the sea for many years, like eggs floating on a saturated salt solution, and the word "dan" is also derived from this.
There are many coastal areas in Guangdong, and the Yanjia culture is everywhere, but after years of baptism, and under the influence of diversified modern civilization, the traditional Yanjia culture has gradually been diluted, and the descendants have gradually forgotten the life form of their ancestors. In order to better understand the Yanjia culture in Guangdong, I came to Maoming, Guangdong Province, to find the fading Yanjia style.
West Coast of Guangdong
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > family memory</h1>
The west coast of Guangdong is dominated by the three cities of Yangjiang, Maoming and Zhanjiang, Yangjiang is close to the Pearl River Delta, Zhanjiang is close to the Hainan Free Trade Port, the economy is relatively developed, and Maoming sandwiched in the middle is one of the more backward places in these three places, where there are many fishermen living by the sea, and here also retains a lot of "Yan family memory".
Maoming Electric White Longtou Mountain is surrounded by mountains and the sea, with unique natural resources such as Junshan Mountain, Strange Stone, Coconut Grove, Silver Beach, Bay, Reef Island, Fishing Port, etc., and the continuous coast is a natural haven, where many fishermen live. In recent years, it has been included in the local key tourism development area, built a 5.3-kilometer private coast tourist resort [Romantic Coast], built into a theme leisure area with southeast Asian exotic style, and was rated as a national 4A level attraction, but I found that there are still many fishermen living there, continuing the traditional Yanjia civilization.
I am not a member of the Yan family, I know nothing about the Yanjia culture, and there are several fishing boats somewhere on the continuous romantic west coast, called "Yanjia Memory", which shows traditional fishing gear, Yanjia costumes, excessive gifts, etc., and is worthy of the name of the "Yanjia Culture Museum".
The Memory Hall of the Yan Family
The memory hall displays a rich variety of fishing, fishing, loading and other tools, all of which are woven with tengzhu and coated with a protective coating, which is very tough and not easily corroded by sea salt. The variety is dizzying, as if each fish has a special catching tool, which fully embodies the wisdom of the people. My daughter had never seen these rattan baskets before, and it was very strange to look at each of them carefully.
Wide variety of fishing gear
fishing gear
And I'm more interested in the costumes of the Yan family. The black cloth placket style with wide cuffs and wide shorts legs is convenient for working in the sea, and the women's clothes are round necks to prevent light, looking a bit like the old Tang costumes. The costume is based on the totem of blue sky, waves and flowers, and blue and white as the background color, giving people a sense of sunshine and freshness, and also has a quaint and original taste. But it is a pity that there are very few fishermen wearing traditional clothes.
Costumes of the Fu family
There is another very important element in the culture of the Yan family, that is, the oyster shell house. Oysters are common seafood in our lives, not only umami and nutritious, but also oyster shells are hard, can replace brick and wood to build houses, solid and firm, refreshing and comfortable, and not easy to be eroded by the sea breeze, is very suitable for seaside houses building materials. And for fishermen, oysters are readily available, so most of the houses of the Yan family are oyster shell houses.
Oyster Shell House
The scale of this [Yanjia Memory] is very small, and there are almost no tourists who come to visit, we have seen no one else for a long time, and it is actually a very sad thing that modern people forget the traditional Yanjia culture. When I bring my child on a tour, she will soon lose her memory, but culture is not just about being remembered, but more about being integrated.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="21" > catch 100 catties of large jellyfish</h1>
Although the romantic coast has become a tourist attraction, the aboriginal families still live by the sea in this area and make a living from fishing. There are many fishing boats on the coast, and the fish, shrimp and crabs they catch will flow into various restaurants and become everyone's meal. I was walking along the beach when I met a couple of fishermen who had just returned from fishing.
Fishermen returning from fishing
fisherman
Sort out fishing nets
From a distance I saw them pour baskets of "fish" into the minivan, but strangely, I couldn't see the fish clearly, they were all transparent, so I went up to look at them with curiosity.
3. 4 fishermen wore rubber shoes, rubber gloves, and rubber clothes, and dragged a huge red, white and blue bag from the sea, and then put the creatures inside the bag into the frame one by one. These creatures are pure white and transparent, with small brown spots on the surface, large heads and small bodies, slippery feeling, and are jellyfish! Very huge jellyfish! In the past, seeing jellyfish was in the aquarium, and it was really the first time to see jellyfish at the beach.
100 pounds of large jellyfish
jellyfish
You must be fully armed to touch the jellyfish
I wanted to go up and touch it with my hand, but I was immediately stopped by the fishermen, who said that jellyfish poison would prick people, and that without a full set of rubber shoes and rubber gloves, it would be untouchable and would be life-threatening. I said these jellyfish are so big, they said that these are not big, only about 100 pounds (50 kilograms), the real big will be 100 kilograms, several people can lift.
I asked if these jellyfish were used to eat? He smiled and said, "Of course, after the jellyfish are pickled and cooked, this is the jellyfish we eat in the restaurant every day. "It was really unexpected that such a huge jellyfish had turned into a small and delicious jellyfish on the plate, and my knowledge was refreshed again."
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="22" > fishing boats, sunsets, and sea markets</h1>
The fishing boats on the seashore are lined up and staggered, and when the sun sets in the west, the golden sunlight shines golden on the fishing boats, and here is the west coast of Guangdong, so gorgeous and so charming. The sun hadn't set yet, we weren't willing to leave, and I hadn't seen such a beautiful sunset in a long time. The daughter saw the egg yolk-like sunset and said that it was as if she had eaten ta in one bite, yes, who wouldn't want to take the sunset for herself?
In fact, these fishing boats have few fishermen living, are used to go out to sea to fish, most of the people have now lived on land, but every holiday festival, they will come to the sea market to sell, the local residents can buy fresh and cheap seafood on the market. Unfortunately, the day I came was not a ruins day, and I did not have the opportunity to see the lively market, but I hope that I can visit it again on another day in the future.
In the book whenever I read about the yanjia culture, there will be a kind of simplicity that vaguely moves me, this shallow search for the yanjia culture journey, although the time is very short, I have benefited a lot, I understand a lot of the local customs of the yanjia, I hope that through my words can also let you feel the simple charm of the yanjia.
Sunset in western Guangdong