Walking into the ancient alley of Shenmingting Lane, the first thing that comes to mind is the origin of this place name. According to Qing Jiaqing's "Chronicle of Ruian County", the Qing Jianjun Pavilion Shenming Pavilion (which has been rounded) was here, so it was named Shenming Pavilion Lane. The Shenming Pavilion was built in the Ming and Qing dynasties to post lists and "affirm and educate". During the Ming and Qing dynasties, various localities and townships set up "declaration pavilions", which, in addition to posting list articles, were also places for mediating civil disputes. And the folk have another saying, saying that the wise man of one of the four sages of Ruian consulted in a small pavilion in the alley to sue the wenzhou prefect and punish the evil monk. In order to commemorate the righteous actions of Gao Ming and others, the local people named this pavilion "Shenming Pavilion" and named the alley where the pavilion was located Shenming Pavilion Alley. It can be seen that the place name of Shenmingting Lane has the connotation of declaring justice.
Shenmingting Lane is located in the south of the old city, running east-west, from Huitou Street in the west to Huiwenli in the east, with a length of about 300 meters and a width of 1.5 meters. Mingxin Lane Nantong Shuixin Street, because the lane between The Shenmingting Lane and the Shuixin Street, each took the second character composition, named Mingxin Lane; Xuzhai Lane Nantong Shuixin Street, during the Qing Dao Guang years, Xu Songnian was the admiral of the Fujian Water Division, built the first here, so the name Xu Zhai Lane. In the north, there is Jiyi Lane Tong fan bridge street, which was once named Jizheng Street, and was renamed to the current name. In the Ming Dynasty, Shenmingting Lane was called Mafang Lane, because there was the 200th Mafang of Ruianshuo in the lane, so it was called Mafang Lane. Two hundred is the serial name of the Ming Dynasty Ruian Qianhu.
This alley, narrow enough to touch the walls on both sides, has a long history and has been stained with the wind and frost of the years. After hundreds of years of still showing the legacy of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the doorway is still the same, the pattern has not changed, although it has been exhausted, but the charm of this ordinary alley is still intoxicating.
It was already afternoon when we arrived at Shenmingting Lane, and on the south side of the east entrance of the lane was the gable of the north courtyard of Chen Dichen's former residence in Huiwenli. A touch of goose-yellow sunset, projected on the castle-like green brick wall of the former residence, seems to be plated with a layer of gold, overflowing with an angular and majestic temperament. The gable of the former residence is very exquisite, using a brick solid water method, architectural accessories and decorative details are integrated with a large number of Western architectural elements, door eaves and window eaves with strips of brick stacked into an arch, and the decorative belts on the courtyard wall are so elegant and atmospheric, it still looks magnificent. Turning around in front of the house and behind the house, the outer wall of the Clear Water Method looks like a strong and majestic castle, which makes us feel a strong sense of the grandeur of Western classical architecture.
When we turned around, a different, but very familiar, feeling came upon us. Opposite the gable is a traditional mansion building with a quaint traditional doorway. In fact, this is the effect of the historical continuation of buildings in the old streets and alleys of different periods, which allows us to have two different feelings in the same alley at the same time, not only to appreciate the bright atmosphere of Western architecture, but also to relive the subtle and warm traditional ancient style.
The gate of the old mansion is half hidden, we are inconvenient to rush in, afraid of disturbing the tranquility of others, through the half-open door slit, only to see an old man in the gate sitting leisurely in the courtyard, holding a purple sand pot, wearing reading glasses, holding a newspaper, I don't know if I am drinking tea or being fascinated by the story in the newspaper, completely unaware of our existence. Instead, a flower cat lying lazily on the wall saw someone standing in front of the door, looked up and squinted for a moment, and then lay down.
There are almost no shops in the alley, old houses of blue color, very few pedestrians, the alley is quiet, and the noise outside cannot be heard here. The rhythm of the ancient alley is like a slowly flowing river, not impatient. For hundreds of years, no matter how the outside world changes, people here still live their own way.
In this peaceful and peaceful alley, the most eye-catching thing is the old houses that are still in the doorway, in the densely packed houses, you will find some ancient buildings, one by one, there are courtyard buildings, there are buildings, they have different styles, but they also complement each other.
Although there are no luxurious official mansions here, which makes people look at it, when we walk into the Hong Mansion at No. 16 Shenmingting Lane, we will feel that this trip is not worth it. Hongzhai is a large mansion that runs through Shenmingting Lane and Fandaqiao Street, built in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. It consists of a doorway, a main house, and a left and right rear hall. The masonry structure of the doorway, the roof of the doorway is made of roof type, and the eight-character wall on both sides sets off the doorway to be extremely simple and elegant. The main house is a two-storey porch-eaves building with five rooms wide. On the second floor, there is an inner corridor, and there are sitting sills and beautiful people leaning in front of the corridor. The roof is made into a falling wing, so that the stereotyped and sluggish static roof gives a lively and agile feeling, such as the feeling of wings wanting to fly. The architecture is exquisitely crafted, and the luminous wood elements of the main house and the back room have exquisite carved patterns. The heart drawer of the bright lattice window has many forms, such as abductor brocade, Tuanshou abductor brocade, bubu brocade, etc., which are very exquisite and beautiful.
The Zeng Mansion at No. 26 Shenmingting Lane is also a compound in the alley, built in the Qing Dynasty. Originally composed of the entrance hall, the main house, and the back house, the current situation of the Zengjia old house is not optimistic, the historical style and original layout of the building are almost destroyed, and only a few original houses remain. That is, this only remaining original house retains the immortal glory of the Zeng family.
There are no names of a ranking of people scattered here like Nandi Street, but out of this compound came the Zeng brothers who had made outstanding contributions to the cause of science in our country.
Zeng Province (1899-1968), formerly known as The Province. In 1914, he studied at the Department of Biology of Nanjing Higher Normal University and Soochow University, and in 1928, he studied at the University of Lyon in France at public expense, obtained a doctorate degree in biology, and successively served as a professor of the Department of Biology of Qingdao University, the dean of the College of Agriculture of Sichuan University and Shandong University, and a professor of Huazhong University. In 1958, he was received by Chairman Mao in Wuhan. He is a well-known entomologist in China and one of the founders of plant protection and biological control technology in China.
Zeng Mian (1901-1988), zi mianzhi. Zeng Province Brother. He graduated from the Department of Horticulture of Southeastern University in 1925 and entered the University of Montbuña in France in 1934 with a doctorate. He has served as a professor at Central University, Yunnan University, Nanjing University and Shandong University. He has long been engaged in the research of citrus fruit tree resource cultivation technology, and is one of the pioneers of modern horticulture in China.
Zeng Yue (1898-1968) character Bofu, is the eldest of the Zeng brothers, but also the main backbone of the family. Graduated from Wenzhou Middle School in the early years of the Republic of China, and later studied in the Department of Education at Nanjing Higher Normal School, tao Xingzhi, an educator, has been engaged in educational work in this province. In the mid-to-late 1920s, he successively served as the chief of education section (director) in Changshan, Qingyuan, Lishui and other counties, making great contributions to the education cause in southwest Zhejiang and his hometown.
We visited several old streets and alleys and found that there is one thing in common, that is, the owners of the house pay attention to the sitting direction of the house. The houses on the south side of the streets and alleys are rarely submissive to the north of the adjacent alleys of the geographical environment, and most of them use a north-south passage or small alley to change the direction of the residences. For example, No. 25 Shenmingting Lane is an enclosed building, and the owner sets the courtyard door on the east side of Xuzhai Lane, so that the main house has the ideal sitting direction of sitting north and south. Some buildings have the main house facing west and east, and the courtyard door is located on the north side of the main house. These designs solve the problem of building sitting direction limited by geographical environment, which reflects people's attention to the sitting direction of residential buildings. Residential buildings in the southern Zhejiang region pay great attention to the direction of the house, and most of them use sitting north and facing south. Ryan has an old saying, "The third emperor repairs the south-facing house", which has both the south-facing sun, which can block the cold winds in winter, accept the cool summer breezes, and have the reasons for public opinion.
We saw a large shadow wall on the back wall of No. 25 Shenmingting Lane, and the childish singing of children was heard from the opposite wall, which should be a kindergarten. According to common sense, the opposite of the shadow wall should be the gate of a building, not the wall, which is not in line with the use function of the shadow wall. Wondering, the aunt who came out of Xuzhai Lane by the house told us that in the early years, the shadow wall opposite the gate of the Guo Ancestral Hall and the Zhu Ancestral Hall, and later opened a kindergarten, felt that the alley was too narrow, and it was inconvenient to enter and exit, so the gate was changed to Fan Bridge Street, and the original gate was blocked with a wall.
Although there are no landmark buildings scattered here like Zhongyi Street, in the alley, this Guo Ancestral Hall and Zhu Ancestral Hall are two very cultural places, and the cultural meaning here does not refer to these two ancestral halls alone, but some things that happen in this ancestral hall.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the new school was abolished, and Ruicheng successively established a number of Mongolian schools. In the twenty-ninth year of Guangxu (1903), Chen Huai (Meng Chong) founded the Yisheng Academy in the Guo Clan Ancestral Hall in Shenmingli. In the 34th year of Guangxu (1908), the Desun Girls' School was opened in the Zhu Ancestral Hall and later merged into the Dexiang Girls' School. Subsequently, the business school also borrowed these two ancestral halls to train financial and accounting personnel for business. In the 31st year of the Republic of China (1942), ruian county simple normal school was founded, which was located in the Guo Ancestral Hall. In 1954, the kindergartens attached to Southwest Primary School were moved to Zhuzhai and Guozhai Ancestral Halls respectively, and later expanded into a demonstration center kindergarten, which is now Ruian Kindergarten.
This seemingly ordinary alley may contain more secrets and stories that we can't explore. But as a physical evidence left over today, it is warming our eyes and hearts. When you inadvertently walk through the old mansions with a history of more than a hundred years, and see the brick sculptures on the old doorway full of old atmosphere, you will suddenly have this illusion, this small street seems to have come.