Different from the mountainous areas, in the Chaoshan Plain near the water, the villages near the water often take the form of "sitting in the air and facing the full" with the water as the dragon vein, and form villages of various shapes with the gentle flow of the stream. For example, the ancient villages in Shantou's Chaoyang District mostly adopt the pattern of "sitting in the air and facing full". The Dongli Village, which has been introduced and built in "Tiger Land", is a square village with streams and ditches on all sides, and the Shangcang Ancient Village in Chaoyang Pass near the Rong River is composed of Wu, Lin and Zeng Three Villages, which are independent and interconnected into the word "Pin", and these three villages each form a different shape of enclosure with the stream as the dragon vein, of which the Wu old village above the word "Pin" is a typical round village.
Legend has it that at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the ancestor of the Wu clan, Qingjiang Gong, came from Fuzhou, Jiangxi to create a township here, and saw that this place was a "Ding" shaped land, so he built a round village commonly known as "jade belt waist" with the stream as a guard to match it, and there were large mansions such as seven wall lotuses built inside, such as "floating water lotus", so it was also called "floating water lotus village"; the Lin clan and the Zeng clan at the lower end of the word "pin" also built square villages according to the direction of the stream.
These near-water ancient villages also deliberately excavated crescent-shaped or semi-circular artificial ponds in front of the village to store water, because feng shui believes that "the storage of water in the pond is enough to shade the veins of the earth and nourish the true qi" (Qing Lin Mu's "Yang House Huixin Collection"). Water is a symbol of wealth, "the former pond swamp, the house of the rich, surrounded by affection on the left and right, piled with gold and jade" (Water Dragon Sutra). This pool of clear water is the "treasury" of a village, and the "wealth" comes with the source of the flowing water, and then looks forward to it. The clear water reflects the distant peaks and banyan trees on the edge of the village, which is like a swab, and in the summer, the breeze is gentle, and the village children and ducks play in the pool, which is very poetic and beautiful. In this way, the village is beautiful because of the water, and the people are "wise" because of the water (Confucius Yun: "The benevolent Leshan, the wise man enjoys the water"), and the water smell is foolish and broken, which is not superstition, but protects the environment from the perspective of cultural taboos.
Near the gate of the village, there are often called "trees" (or "sacred trees") of the big banyan tree to guard the entire ancient village, the tide custom has "before the banyan after the bamboo" said, because the big banyan tree represents the cause of "cheng", so many kinds of in front of the village, and "bamboo" because of the homophony with "get", so many kinds of behind the village. In this way, the "front banyan and back bamboo" has become "before the after".
In addition to maintaining the characteristics of the "dock wall" of the Han and Jin Dynasties, these Chaoshan ancient villages are also somewhat similar to the "Beiye" of the Tang Dynasty. The great Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei's "Scroll of The Picture of The Chuan River" (Guo Zhongshu of the Northern Song Dynasty and Shang Qi of the Yuan Dynasty both have survived in the world, which are hidden in the Seattle Art Museum and the Shengfu Temple in Japan, respectively) depicts the place where he lived in seclusion——— the Shaanxi Lantian Yuanchuan Villa, the mountain villa in the painting is backed by mountains and water, surrounded by ditches, surrounded by walled walls, with a patchwork of mansions and pavilions, a pond in front of which can be passed through, and a small bridge connecting the outside on both sides... All this can be seen in the shadow of Chaoshan Ancient Village.
Directions
From the fort, take a ferry to the Jingbei ferry port, and after disembarking, there is a tricycle to reach Shangcang Ancient Village. It takes about 50 minutes by car.