Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition
Zhijiang Longjin Wind and Rain Bridge (Photo by Tian Hua)
"Yuan you have Zhi Xi You Lan". Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County, located in Huaihua, Hunan, is an ancient city with a history of more than 2,000 years, where Qu Yuan, Wang Yangming, Shen Congwen and other literati and inkers have sung and sung here. The water, mountains, bridges, buildings, palaces, alleys, streets, squares and pavilions here all highlight the profound cultural heritage.
"Dancing water to help wanmu qi, xunfang to cross the Yangxi river with xingxing, cangcang ancient tree smoke cage, mist detailed cloud cover low." Wushui River and Yangxi are the mother and child rivers of the Zhi river. The dancing water flows through the Zhijiang River, dividing the ancient city into east and west banks, and its scenery of "dancing water dragging blue" is particularly spectacular. At the mouth of yangxi into the Wushui River, three thousand-year-old heavy yang trees that have seen the vicissitudes of the world before and after standing, because they are like clouds and fog, are called "cloud trees".
The water in Zhijiang Sandaokeng Town is intoxicatingly beautiful. The waterfalls and streams here are varied, or slowly swaying, or flying waterfalls, or snuggling up and running, or illusion.
Mingshan, ten kilometers north of Zhijiang City, is one of the few famous mountains in Chudi to be included in the "Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Place Names in China", and is famous for its "Mingshan Diecui". Every year on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, Mingshan attracts tens of thousands of people from Zhijiang and surrounding counties and urban areas to climb here to pray for blessings.
Mingshan is not only beautiful in scenery, but also produces strange stones, known as "purple robe jade belt", and its stone carvings are national intangible cultural heritage. Huang Benji of the Qing Dynasty wrote in the "Chronicle of Hunan Wuzhi": "The stone carvings of Mingshan are carved with flowers, birds, figures, landscapes, pavilions, etc., which are extremely exquisite; the carving of various shapes and patterns such as beidou, octagon, and guqin is breathtaking." Zhijiang County Chronicle records: "When Empress Dowager Cixi built the world-famous Summer Palace, the Mingshan stone, known as the 'Purple Robe Jade Belt', once entered the ranks of jade carvings as a tribute stone. ”
Zhijiang is a gathering place of ethnic minorities mainly from the Dong ethnic group. "Dong" is composed of "people" and "same", taking the meaning of "people seeking great unity", implying that the people of Dongxiang have the virtue of loving peace, and this cultural characteristic is reflected in the Dong architectural art such as wind and rain bridge, drum tower, and stilt tower.
After more than 400 years of vicissitudes, the Longjin Wind and Rain Bridge, which was built in the nineteenth year of the Ming Wanli Calendar, is an important Jindu of the Xiangqian Ancient Road, and its shape is "if the rainbow will drink, like a dragon floating water", known as the "First Bridge of Sanchu", and is included in the Guinness World Records, reflecting the spirit of wind and rain in the same boat and solidarity.
If you are careful enough, you will find that the drum towers of each Dongzhai in Zhijiang do not need to be nailed and riveted, and they are built layer by layer, and the principle of harmony and balance is cleverly used. Common riverside people's homes, the two floors have balconies, log railings, roof pillar feet overhead or into the water, the local people's so-called "stilt house", it reflects the Dong people respect for nature, the pursuit of human and natural harmony of the survival concept.
As early as the Song and Yuan dynasties, Zhijiang attracted merchants from all over the country to do business and start a business, and merchants from Fujian, Jiangxi and other places also established guild halls in Zhijiang. The largest existing Mazu Temple in the mainland, the Tianhou Temple, was built by the Fujian Hometown Association, and the exquisite reliefs make people marvel at the exquisite craftsmanship of the ancestors.
Zhijiang has an alley and a street very famous. The alley is the umbrella alley in hedong, strolling through it, you can walk across the threshold at will, and the owners inside are greeting and sitting, and telling the story of the ancient house. The street is Huangjia Street in Hexi, built in the Ming and Qing dynasties, paved with bluestone rock slabs, and was once the only way to the Yungui Ancient Post Road.
"The Anti-Japanese War ignited lugou and a piece of paper fell on the Zhijiang River." Located in the ancient city of Qiliqiao, the "Surrender Memorial Hall", known as China's "Triumphal Arch", is a landmark building in China to commemorate the victory of World War II, the Memorial Hall of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is one of the ten cultural landmarks in Hunan, a thematic memorial that comprehensively reflects the historical facts of the victory and surrender of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japan, with more than 2,000 world war documents and pictures and more than 1,700 physical objects. They record the heroic and indomitable efforts of the Chinese nation and the countries of the world's anti-fascist camp to share hatred against the enemy and resist foreign humiliation.
Walking in Ma Zhijiang City is like walking into the Grand View Garden of history, and the ancient meaning is strong and intoxicating.