Source: Nanyue Ancient Yidao Network, compiled from the public account "Zhanglin Old Things and New Things"
In 1996, at the fourth council meeting of the Chaoshan Historical and Cultural Research Center, Professor Jao Zongyi said in his speech: "There is a very interesting, very important and worthy of study issue is the Zhanglin Port issue,...... This place is called Camphor Forest. Camphor is the camphor tree, and the camphor forest is the place where camphor is planted. Professor Rao's exposition has attracted the attention of the Chaoshan historians. In fact, the local historical materials of Zhanglin have long been recorded. Chen Jiyu's "Zhanglin Rural Chronicle" records: "In the past, camphor trees were everywhere, and bushes were shrubs into forests, so it was called camphor forest. "The place name of the camphor forest is named after the camphor bush. Many places in Chaoshan were also forested with camphor trees in ancient times. From the old map of Chaozhou Capital, the place names of many places are related to camphor trees, such as "Zhangxi", "Zhangshan", "Under the Camphor Tree", "Zhanggang", "Zhanggangzai", "Camphor Forest" and so on. Judging from the distribution of geographical names, in ancient times, the places where camphor trees were shrubmed were all over Chenghai, Raoping, Tai Po, Chao'an, Chaoyang, Puning and other counties, up to Chaoshan all over the place.
But when were the forests destroyed and the Chaoshan camphor trees nearly extinct? According to the "Chronicle of Chaozhou Prefecture", large-scale deforestation began in the early Qing Dynasty. At that time, "the buildings, the masonry, the objects, and the trees were all removed by the unmoved people." "The camphor tree is among those destroyed. But the devastating large-scale felling of camphor trees can be regarded as the early days of the Republic of China. At that time, the warlords divided their territory and fought each other, and Guangdong was also occupied by the reactionary warlord Chen Jiongming, who wantonly ran amok and plundered the people's fat, and did no evil. Cutting down camphor trees and profiting from them is also among the warlords. According to the 1922 Jinzhong Middle School 'Jinzhong Monthly Journal and Evolution', at that time, Guangdong Province set up a special "Official Camphor Bureau" to specialize in this matter. In 1921, the general office of the Guangdong Guanzhang Bureau issued a special notice to investigate and register camphor trees throughout the province. "Where there are camphor trees, go to the newspaper quickly, and those who do not report to the officials are the official camphors!" Cut it correctly. This "trick" of the reactionary warlords has really worked, and who wants to give their own things to the reactionary warlords in vain? Officials and people everywhere honestly reported the number and size of camphor trees. The Guangdong Guanzhang Bureau checked one by one according to the camphor tree information reported below. The officials of the Guanzhang Bureau found that there were dozens of camphor trees in Yuntishan Township (commonly known as Yangbigang, now belonging to Fengxi), and they had not yet reported to the officials, so they put seals on each plant and posted notices in the ancestral hall of YuntiShan, ordering the villagers to "come and report quickly, and they will return to the officials to cut down them in a slow time." At that time, the villagers of Yuntishan Township reported the information of the camphor trees in the village. In an instant, dozens of camphor trees fell under their swords and axes and were transported away, the large trees lost twenty or thirty yuan of foreign money, and the small trees only lost a few pieces of foreign money. The villagers repaid the money to the officials and masters, which was actually equivalent to dozens of camphor trees being cut down in vain.
In this camphor cutting operation, even the ancient camphor on the top of the Golden Mountain in Chaozhou Capital City was not spared. When the Guangdong Guanzhang Bureau verified the ownership of the hundreds of-year-old ancient camphor trees in Jinshan, a family surnamed Luo who lived next to the ancient camphor tree in Jinshan, because the ancient camphor was next to his house, he pretended to admit that the ancient camphor tree belonged to his family and cheated dozens of yuan of foreign money. Kanayama Junior High School on the top of Kanayama Mountain was a famous school in the province at that time, and Li Chuntao, who studied at Waseda University in Japan, served as acting principal of the school. Principal Li was extremely disgusted by the warlord's camphor cutting action, but the obstruction was weak, so he sent the school to the camphor cutting site to move all the chopped camphor firewood to Jinshan Middle School. After the Official Zhang bureau found out, it immediately negotiated with Jinshan Middle School. Mr. Li Chuntao immediately produced evidence that this ancient camphor belonged to Jinshan Middle School. The official Zhang bureau turned to anger the Luo family, who lost the case and went to prison. The Jinshan Guzhang incident attracted the attention of the gentry circles in Chao'an County, who condemned the evil acts of the warlord authorities in cutting down ancient trees and destroying cultural relics. But the ancient camphor had been cut down, and the gentlemen could only look at the tree and sigh: "Although the clouds of the former Egypt have perished, the chita of the golden character is still there; the number of paris has been burned by soldiers, and the ruins of the Nashi still exist, covering the extent of its people, and it is rich in public morality." In contrast, in our country, the Jin people were burned by the Kou and Kong Ting, and the thieves were chaotic and the Zhuge Was destroyed. Thousand-year-old monuments, a day as dung, our people lack public morality! Although the camphor is an ancient fungus, whether it exists or not, the morality of the Wuchao people is coveted, and the Wuchao people can not be protected by the responsibility of making them depressed and add ancient! Otherwise, if it is destroyed in vain, and does not leave a trace of victory for the world, what is its heart like public morality? It is like the heart of public morality! Oh, the son is speechless! ”
The destruction of the ancient camphor of Jinshan is the same regrettable thing as the annihilation of Hanshan oak. "The Han Temple is not lost, and the oak is annihilated first." This good ancient is also said to be. "Han ancestral oak", annihilated in dryness, this is a relatively consistent statement at present. But when the ancient camphor of Jinshan was cut down, someone once exclaimed: "Oh! Camphor is named after the ancients, and its effect is inevitably Ye, or can we indifferently ignore it? Otherwise, Zhangwei Weimao will not tolerate people, and people will not be protected, and those who are blind will have their tricks. Will see the morning as the camphor of the clouds, the twilight as the tree of the earth, geometry is not equal to oak. "Regarding oak, there should be such a legend since the Song Dynasty: the rarity of oak blossoms indicates the number of Teochew scholars. On the other side of the Han River, the ancient camphor tree of Jinshan, which is far away from it, "Withered leaves, Wei Mao Sensen, people are not surprised." He who has a stake will be regarded as a benefit. So there was no shortage of people on the sidelines. Although the above is a folk legend, it shows that the hipsters attach importance to and worship ancient camphor wood and ancient oak.
In the early days of the Republic of China, this province-wide felling of camphor trees led to the tragic destruction of camphor trees throughout Chaoshan Province. According to the "Chaoshan Encyclopedia", there are 14 kinds of ancient trees in Chaoshan, including lattice wood, yellow lianhua, red neem, silver-backed rouge, autumn maple, Indian bodhi tree, banyan tree, fir, masson pine, camphor tree, red vertebral tree, elm tree, iron holly, jackfruit, etc., a total of 23 trees (including one dead tree), and only one ancient camphor tree remains. This ancient camphor tree is in the middle of the compound of a private house behind the "Pearl Lady Temple" in Xishe Village, Zhanlong Town, Puning City, with a height of about 20 meters, a chest diameter of about 2 meters, and a tree age of more than 600 years. The temple in front of the two streams, there are stone bridges in the middle of it, the villagers call it "lamp heart bridge"; the ancient camphor is high in the creek, the growth is good, its lush foliage covers the ancient temple, covering nearly 700 acres, like a giant umbrella covering the ancient temple, the villagers call the ancient camphor tree "niang umbrella". As mentioned above, there is no evidence of how many camphor trees survived the destruction of camphor in the early days of the People's Republic. However, the reason why this ancient camphor in Xishe Village, Puning City, survived under the sword and axe of the reactionary warlord may be due to the "blessing" of the "Pearl Lady".
Professor Rao Zongyi said: "The Persians record that camphor is produced near China, and there are 2 places in the Far East, one of which is recorded as 'Little China', and there is also the name of 'tide camphor'... Chaozhou's maritime traffic is linked to camphor, and Zhanglin Port was an important port in the Ming Dynasty, and perhaps there were many camphor trees planted there..." After the opening of Shantou, pewter and camphor were both famous products of Shantou. This confirms Professor Jao Zongyi's statement that "China has a Maritime Silk Road, and there should also be a mothball road", and the "tidal camphor" is likely to be the camphor tree produced in Chaozhou.
(The original article was published in the public account "Zhanglin Old Things and New Things", which was collected and compiled by the Nanyue Ancient Yidao Network.) If copyright is involved, please contact Nanyue Guyi road network. ）