Local customs, geography, history and culture of Shanxi Province

Shanxi Province is located on the eastern flank of the Loess Plateau in western North China. The geographical coordinates are 34°34'~40°43'N latitude and 110°14'~114°33'E longitude. It is about 290 kilometers wide from east to west and 550 kilometers long from north to south, with a total area of 156,300 square kilometers in the province, accounting for about 1.6% of the country's total area. Shanxi is located inland on the east coast of the continent. The outer edge is surrounded by mountain ranges. As a result, it is difficult to be influenced by sea breezes, creating a relatively strong continental climate. At the same time, and due to the attack of cold air masses in winter by Inner Mongolia, the northern part of the country is relatively cold, thus forming the climatic characteristics of Shanxi; winter is long and cold and dry; summer is short and hot and rainy; spring is characterized by large differences in daily temperatures and sandy winds; autumn is short and mild. Temperate continental monsoon climate, the average annual temperature 3 ~ 14 ℃, day and night temperature difference, the temperature difference between north and south is also large. In the western Yellow River Valley, Taiyuan Basin and most parts of southeast Jin, the average temperature is between 8 and 10℃. Linfen and Yuncheng basins have an average annual temperature of 12 to 14℃. Winter temperatures in the province are below 0 ℃, and in summer the province is generally hot, with temperatures in July ranging from 21 to 26 ℃. The frost-free period in Shanxi is long in the south and short in the north, long in Pingchuan and short in the mountains. Datong Basin for 110 to 140 days, Wutai Mountain only 85 days, north of Xinzhou Basin and the eastern mountains 135 to 155 days, Linfen, Yuncheng Basin is as long as 200 to 220 days. The province's annual precipitation is 400 to 650 millimeters, but the seasonal distribution is not uniform, the summer June to August precipitation is highly concentrated and heavy rainfall, precipitation accounted for more than 60% of the year. The province's precipitation is greatly influenced by topography, with more in the mountains and less in the basins. There are three rainy areas in Shanxi, one is the Taihang Mountain area and Zhongtiao Mountain area in southeast Jin, the second is the Wutai Mountain area, and the third is the Luliang Mountain area.

History and Culture

Shanxi, one of the birthplaces of the Chinese nation. In this land, 100,000 years ago, there are human beings living and reproducing, Xihoudou culture and Dingcun culture sites show that as early as in the Paleolithic era, there have been human beings living and reproducing here. During the Zhou Dynasty, Shanxi was the territory of the Tang Kingdom. Later, Tang Shuyu's son, Xiefu, changed the name of his country to Jin because it was near the Jin River. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Shanxi was the state of Jin, one of the five hegemonic states. In 403 B.C., the three kingdoms of Han Kangzi and Wei Huanzi and Zhao Xiangzi divided Jin, and the three kingdoms of Han, Zhao and Wei, which were separated from Jin, were known as the Seven Kingdoms of the Warring States together with Qin, Chu, Qi and Yan. After Qin Shi Huang unified China, there were five counties in Shanxi, including Taiyuan, Shangdang, Hedong, Yanmen and Dai County. By the time of Sui Dynasty, Taiyuan was the third largest city in the Yellow River basin after Chang'an and Luoyang. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan and his son rose up in Taiyuan, and after establishing the capital Chang'an, they honored Taiyuan as the "Northern Capital", meaning "Other Capital". Therefore, Gu Zuyu, a Qing dynasty scholar, pointed out in "The Chronicle of Reading History and Fangyu" that the situation of the world must be taken from Shanxi. During the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, Shanxi's economy and culture took the lead in northern China. During the Ming Dynasty, Shanxi Xingzhongshu Province was set up in Taiyuan, which was later changed to Chengxuan Buzhengji (承宣布政使司), and was in charge of five provinces and three states in Shanxi. In the Qing Dynasty, it began to be called Shanxi.　Shanxi has a long history and a rich cultural heritage. So far the history of written records of up to three thousand years, known as the "Museum of Ancient Chinese Culture", also known as "the cradle of Chinese civilization". The legends of "Jingwei reclaiming the sea", "Nuwa mending the sky" and "Yu chiseling the Mengmen Gate" took place in Shanxi. Yao, Shun and Yu, the three emperors of ancient China, built their capitals in the south of Shanxi, which were "Yao Capital Pingyang (present-day Linfen City)", "Shun Capital Puzhan (present-day Yongji City)", and "Yu Capital Anyi (present-day Xiaxian County)". ". During the Spring and Autumn Period, Chong Er, the Duke of Jin, was one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, Datong (then known as Pingcheng) was famous as the capital of Northern Wei for a while, and has since been the accompanying capital of Liao, Jin and the early Yuan Dynasty, and has been known as the "capital of three generations". The capital city of Taiyuan, known as the "Dragon Vein" location, has always been a place of war, Shanxi has emigrated more than a dozen times. Dahuishu in Hongdong County was a major immigration station. Many parts of the country circulated "ask me where my ancestors are, Shanxi Hongdong Dahuishu", that is, from this. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the rise of the Jin merchants and the Shanxi Ticket Company, which were known for their honesty and non-deceptive behavior, became famous in China and abroad.　The Yellow River flows through Shanxi, which has nurtured countless heroes and heroines. In various periods of China's history, Shanxi has produced many statesmen, militarists, scientists, literary figures and historians. The most famous ones are Chong Er, the Duke of Jin Wen, one of the lords of the Spring and Autumn Period; Wu Zetian, the only female emperor of China and an outstanding statesman of the Tang Dynasty; Xue Rengui, the General of the White Robe; Guan Yu and Zhang Liao, the "Saints of Wushu" and the famous generals of the Three Kingdoms Period; Direnjie and Peidu, the famous prime ministers of the Tang Dynasty; Wei Qing and Huo Zaodi, the famous generals of the Han Dynasty, whose resistance to the Huns is famous in history; and Huo Zaiwei, the famous generals of the Han Dynasty. There are Pei Xiu, a cartographer of the Western Jin Dynasty, who founded the "six styles of cartography"; Luo Guanzhong, the author of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, one of the four great masterpieces of ancient China; famous poets of the Tang Dynasty, such as Bai Juyi, Wang Bo, Wang Zhilu, Wang Wei, and Wang Changling; famous literati, philosophers, and political reformers of the Tang Dynasty, such as Liu Zongyuan; famous statesmen of the Song Dynasty, such as Sima Guang; and famous literati and poets of the Jin Dynasty, such as Yuan Haoqian. There are three famous opera singers among the four great Yuanqu Opera masters, Guan Hanqing, Bai Pu and Zheng Guangzu; Fu Shan, a thinker, writer, medical doctor, painter and calligrapher in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties; Gao Jin, who was regarded as a "straight official" by Emperor Jiajing; Yang Shenxiu, one of the Six Gentlemen of the Hundred Days' Reform in the late Qing Dynasty; and Xu Xiangqian and Fu Zuoyi, among the Ten Famous Generals in the late Qing Dynasty. etc. Shanxi, the people of the world, the generation is not lack of people.

Folk customs

Marriage: Shuozhou people get married, as elsewhere, generally by matchmaker's words, parents' orders. Despite the changing times and changing customs, but still largely along the old habits, especially in rural areas, the important etiquette program, stick to the rules, so far unchanged, roughly have to go through a blind date, engagement, marriage, back to the door in four steps.　Matchmaking: Matchmakers propose marriage for men and women, introducing the situation of both sides, such as age, genus, birth date, character, looks, as well as the family's financial situation and parents, and so on. After weighing the conditions of the two families and discussing with all the people, those who are interested in getting married will go to the woman's home with the matchmaker to have a look at the man. Both sides agree, that is, about time, and then invite the woman to the man's home to see, the favorite will stay at the man's home to eat, tacitly agreed to discuss the marriage, see not like that is to leave.　Engagement: the matchmaker in the men and women between the two families for many times to determine the bride price and dowry, the woman exchanged children's birthdates and eight characters, choose an auspicious day for the engagement wedding, the man to send the "food box" and part of the bride price to the woman, and hosted a banquet to celebrate. The following day, the woman hosts a banquet for the man. After that, choose a day to get a marriage license, some also travel, after the wedding, men and women give each other some clothes, said for summer or winter.　Marriage: before the wedding in January, the bride price, commonly known as "tea", the male party to make the matchmaker will "bride" out of the recruitment of clothing (underwear) and "water gift" (rice, flour, meat) sent to the female family, and The date of the marriage is notified. Afterwards, the closest relatives of both the man and the woman invite the prospective groom and the bride to their homes for a meal, which is called a "katsura" (a meal for the head of the family). The day before the wedding, friends and relatives came, commonly known as "to be", some invited "drummer" to help, so also known as "An drum", the evening of men and women to eat in their own homes. "Turnover Cake". Marrying day, men and women early in the morning fried cake to eat, said "eat happy cake". After breakfast, the male party played drums and music, carrying sedan chair (some with a horse-drawn carriage or mule pack sedan chair, now basically with a car) to the female home to marry. Generally by the male uncle, the realities of marriage. The groom should bring the bride a red belt, said: "happy ending"; bring a bottle, bottle inserted a green onion, called "rooted after"; with five ribs of pork or mutton a piece of pork, called "away from the mother of meat", "five parties to celebrate", to marry back, the male party to the two ribs to bring back, said that after the marriage of husband and wife, said: "tendons and bones do not leave". Women set up tea, sweets, pastries and other hospitality to welcome the bride. The bride put on the clothes brought by the male party (usually red cotton clothes, cotton pants), to the parents to say goodbye, by the siblings to help on the sedan chair (car). Peers have to send a new, open the box, after the "He Tang" (also known as round meal) who followed, according to the pre-selected hour into the male family. To the male family, the bride was assisted by a pro-led, step "red felt" into the new room, and for the "He Tang" who "burned tea", eat "dinner at the door". Noon bride and groom to worship heaven and earth, after the ceremony that is the beginning of the banquet, called: "sitting". Seats during the bride and groom to toast to the guests, salute, recognize the size. In the evening by the groom's brother-in-law presided over the bridal chamber ceremony, commonly known as "inverted treasure pot", so that the bride and groom said tongue twisters, riddles, jokes to make fun of the couple to eat across the table, late at night after the end of the party. Early the next morning, the bride and groom to relatives and friends salute, said: "worship" (some places in the worship of heaven and earth held after), and by the worship of the party to pay the gift of money to express congratulations. Funeral: the ancient Shuozhou funeral etiquette procedures are extremely cumbersome, generally can be divided into small convergence, large convergence, burning paper, send lamps, resignation of the spirit, the funeral, the second and so on. 2006, "China's first Yellow River Loess Plateau Liulin - Mengmen New Year's Eve Cultural Festival" in Liulin County Mengmen Township was held in Liulin County, with one hundred folklorists, scholars, unanimously passed the protection of Chinese traditional New Year's Eve culture Mengmen Declaration. Mengmen Declaration on the Protection of Traditional Chinese New Year Culture.