Walking in the streets of Qingduizi Ancient Town in Zhuanghe City, tourists are often warmly welcomed to the home by the owner of an old house, who regards his home as a public "scenic spot", takes the initiative to open to the outside world, publicizes history to tourists, inherits culture, he is Zou Pinglin, he has now purchased three old houses, and repaired the old as old, and all this is due to his old house complex.
Recently, with another Zhuanghe old house being favored by Zou Pinglin and paying a deposit, this old man is famous for collecting and rescuing the old house where celebrities have lived, so that the dream of permanently collecting and passing on the old house with a history of more than a hundred years is gradually becoming a reality.
Collect the old house only for childhood feelings
Zou Pinglin, a 64-year-old native of the ancient city of Jinzhou, lived in a two-story old mansion in the ancient city when he was a child, and his parents and a large family of nine children were happy and harmonious, and his childhood music forged his old house complex.
To this day, he still remembers the four gates of the Golden State. "Four large yellow clay gates, more than three meters wide and more than ten meters high, above which can run cars." There is a moat on the edge of the city, and the moat bridge can be lowered to enter the people. My house is just by the city gate, a small two-story building. ”
In his eyes, the old house not only gives people a sense of beauty in architecture, but also has a heavy sense of history in it.
Since then, he has had a constant feeling for the old house. Later, he became the inheritor of the provincial intangible cultural heritage Golden State Dragon Dance. With the vicissitudes of time, Zou Pinglin's sideburns were stained with white frost. At this time, he had a certain amount of savings, and his life was very comfortable, but in his ordinary life, he always felt that something was missing.
In 2018, a visit to Qingduizi Ancient Town broke his peaceful life. At that time, a friend said that Qingduizi Town was worth seeing. When he looked at the old mansions in front of him that were crumbling due to disrepair, he was moved: "These old mansions have been abandoned for too long, and if they are not repaired, they will collapse and gradually disappear, how regrettable!" He felt that these old houses were the crystallization of the wisdom of the ancients, and should not die out in our generation, but should be respected, preserved, and passed on."
At that time, the more he looked at the old mansion, the more he had a strong desire to protect the old mansion.
Before leaving, he left his phone number to a local friend and instructed: "Whoever sells the old house, call me!"
Soon, he received a call from a friend. At that time, the main price of the house: "20,000 yuan for a house!" This was quite expensive at the time, because the price of a house was as high as 10,000 yuan before. Zou Pinglin did not bargain and bought the first old mansion. He laughed and said that the locals still say that he inflated the house prices in Qingduizi Town.
After that, he was unable to receive anything and bought three old houses in succession. A few days ago, he took a fancy to the fourth old house and paid a deposit to the owner. Affected by this, one of his relatives also wanted to buy an old mansion, and Zou Pinglin transferred the old mansion to the name of his relatives.
The "Celebrity Mansion" hides the story
Zou Pinglin said: "Buying an ancient house, from the historical and cultural inheritance, I think it is worth it." He said that there was a native old man named Wang Yufa in Qingduizi Town, who was more than ninety years old this year and was known as the "Qingdui Living Map." He had heard many stories about the old houses in Qingduizi Town from the old man Wang Yufa, but now the old man had his ears behind his ears and could not hear, and could only rely on words to communicate. Zou Pinglin recorded the story of the old mansion told by Wang Yufa and posted it in a conspicuous place in the old mansion, hoping that everyone who visited the old mansion could feel the atmosphere of history, "stop for a moment and travel through the millennium." ”
According to Zou Pinglin, the first old mansion he bought was originally a church, and later, it became a large pharmacy in Yun Xiang Ge. "Legend has it that when The Beijing Tongrentang was founded, two doctors were transferred from here." Later, the doctor who went out from here also returned and made charitable donations, and there are still records on the stone tablets of the temple next to it.
The story behind the second old mansion is even more legendary. Li Bingheng, a famous minister of the late Qing Dynasty, was a native of Anzishan in Zhuanghe, and what is less known is that Li Bingheng once lived in an old mansion in Qingduizi Town, which is now occupied by Zou Pinglin.
The third old mansion is "related" to Qi Faxuan, a well-known space technology expert in China and the chief designer of Shenwu. It is reported that Elder Qi was once sent to the local area and lived in the old mansion purchased by Zou Pinglin. The local elderly also told Zou Pinglin about a period of life that Qi Lao spent here.
Three old mansions were reborn
Zou Pinglin said he couldn't figure out how much it cost him to buy and repair the old house. Regardless of the cost, everything is in accordance with the principle of "repairing the old as the old".
Most of these old houses were in dilapidated when they were purchased, and he carried out reinforcement repairs. He repaired according to the original appearance of the old house, hired a carpenter to create doors and windows, roof beams, doors and windows and wooden beds, etc., and the tiles of the roof were all made of the old black tiles left over from the previous renovation of the old house, which doubled the cost and was troublesome, but Zou Pinglin persisted persistently.
He not only insisted on doing this kind of repair of the old mansion at any cost, but also often promoted his ideas to the owners of the old mansions around him.
Some owners of old houses replace old tiles with red tiles when renovating. Zou Pinglin came to the door to persuade: "The red tiles are spread out, it is too ugly, just like wearing a suit and tie, wearing a dog skin hat on the head, not matching." I have old tiles, free to give to you!" When Zou Pinglin was shopping, as long as he saw someone changing the red tiles for the old tiles, he would dissuade them. When he saw that an old house was replaced with plastic steel doors and windows, he would sigh.
He would also pull back old materials such as old tiles that had been abandoned by others and use them when he repaired his houses.
Today, the three old houses he collected more than a hundred years old have been restored and reborn, and their interiors have been restored in strict accordance with the original appearance, carving beams and paintings, tables for offerings, plaque couplets, all of which are the original old things, and some parts that are really rotten and cannot be used, so ask the carpenter to redo a set as it was.
Now, it attracts many people to visit and take pictures every day.
The Future of Old Homes: Passing on history
Today, Zou Pinglin spends some time in the old town every year. He said he was used to life here.
Facing the old house, he has a grander wish: to reproduce the style of the old house in an authentic way, so that future generations can experience the true state of the life and living of the ancestors, and let the old house story that carries the memories of several generations continue to be interpreted.
As for the future of his collection of old houses, Zou Pinglin's bigger idea is to create an "ancient town homestay" that tourists can visit, as long as there are tourists who like it, they can stay overnight and have a "close contact" with the old house.
When the reporter interviewed in Qingduizi Ancient Town, he learned that although Qingduizi Ancient Town has experienced thousands of years of vicissitudes, there are still several old streets in the town that have not changed the appearance of the old times, and there are still a large number of old-fashioned buildings in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty on the old streets today, which is one of the most complete preserved historical blocks in Dalian's jurisdiction, and is listed as the directory of historical buildings in Dalian and the first list of immovable cultural relics protection in Dalian.
Zou Pinglin said that at present, the local government is also very supportive of his approach. He waited for the opportunity to start the idea of "ancient house homestay", so that the old house combined with the history, culture and customs of the ancient town, so that tourists can enjoy leisurely in the ancient town, they can also learn the local culture, so that the long-standing culture contained in Qingduizi Ancient Town can be spread.
Zhang Ximing, chief reporter of The Peninsula Morning News and 39 Degrees Video