Ancient Villages in Hubei - Jiangqiao Ancient Town

Ancient Villages in Hubei

Jiangqiao Ancient Town

? A rusty iron lock, locked the dust of the years, but can not lock the fresh morning light. Green bricks and gray tiles, flying eaves and arches, not tired of telling the already numb prosperity hollowed out wood carvings, study and drawing room, in the carving of the years knife marks at the same time, but also carved down the owner of the former elegance.

In the deep courtyard, carved beams and paintings of the fragments stayed in the depths of the years, covered with pulp rusticity and gravity, covered with the track marks of time. In this corner of the ancient village, wandering in the dark and with a little broken courtyard, read the legend of what happened here, or with an ancient tree alone, or with a flower conversation, such as walking into an ancient ink painting, with a faint ancient charm, looking at the stone cracks in the naughty plants, sniffing the breath of the humidity, seems to have dreamed of returning to the flavor of the Jiangnan.

"Ambiguous distant people village, according to the market smoke. Dogs barking in deep alleys, chickens crowing in mulberry trees upside down ......" This is an ancient poem depicted in the countryside picture, desirable. Jiangqiao, known as the "Little Zhouzhuang in Hubei", has the meaning depicted in this ancient poem. Jiangqiao is located in the southern suburbs of Daye City, Hubei, with a jurisdiction of four square kilometers. East and Song evening, harbor back a lineage; South and Liangting, Hu Geng look forward to each other; West and Dazhuan, Batang a water; North and plains, Xiezi lips and teeth. An 800-year-old ancient stagecoach road stretches across the village, and as history progresses, people build houses on both sides of the stagecoach road, eventually forming today's Jiangqiao.

In the late Southern Song Dynasty, this place was not called "Jiangqiao", but was known as "Anchang Township, Xiyangli, Shangzhongwu Two Castles". Until the thirteenth year of the Yuan Dynasty, the Jiang brothers donated funds to build a "three-hole stone arch bridge". The merchants from the south to the north benefited greatly, passers-by were full of praise, later generations in honor of the Jiang brothers, and will be named "Jiang Bridge", and the three-hole stone arch bridge has also become a landmark in this area. Ancient people often have the habit of naming areas after landmarks, and the name of the bridge gradually became the name of the place, and the name "Jiangqiao" is still in use today.

The traditional Chinese ancient village construction concept, often follow the idea of building villages on the side of the mountain, and Jiangqiao ancient town is not man-made site, is because of the ancient stagecoach road, according to the layout of the two sides of the road to build a market-style village. Although Jiangqiao ancient town is not man-made exquisite design, but in the overall pattern is still in line with the traditional concept of feng shui, Jiangqiao surrounded by mountains on three sides, a face to face the water, since ancient times, Jiangqiao has a "Jade Belt wrapped around the waist, the four water back to the hall," the feng shui legend, the ancient Jiangqiao water system is developed, from the Jiangqiao can be a boat directly to the Daye Lake, Jiangqiao Ancient Town for the land and water, so also known as the "water town", the "water town. Therefore, there is a "water town" reputation.

The architectural style of Jiangqiao Ancient Town is based on Gan architecture, complemented by Huizhou architecture. From afar, the green bricks and tiles, simple colors, just like a Jiangnan ink painting. Jiangqiao Ancient Town has seven well-preserved ancient buildings, namely, Yitaixin Money Store, Zuo's Ancestral Hall, Qiaobianya Ancestral Hall, Jiuzhu Hall, Chunchaotang, Blacksmith Shop and Dongyue Temple, which are like seven bright pearls inlaid in the Jiangqiao Ancient Town. Ancient town of Jiangqiao ancient street for the vertical, the ancient port for the horizontal axis, with three-hole stone arch bridge as the center line, through the simple and beautiful Jiangqiao, a port of clear water meandering flow. Standing on the shore of the small harbor, it is a pleasure to watch people coming and going, and cars flowing. Throughout the year, the water of the ancient harbor always changes, but what remains unchanged is the ancient flavor of the small harbor. Growing in the small port next to a tree, the age of more than a hundred years old, side by side into a welcoming gesture, come to travelers often take a picture with it, for the millennium old village added a heavy historical color.

Yitaixin money changer is Jiangqiao Ancient Town preserved a very characteristic building, he is a farming society to the transition of industrial and commercial type of society, a unique building, the front store and the back of the house. The side facing the street is a store, and the rear part is a mansion. Front and back through, but the store's door and residential door is not symmetrical, the store's door to the street and open, the aspect of soliciting customers. Residential door is strictly in accordance with the traditional Chinese feng shui direction. Generally, there is a family motto above the entrance of the gate of the ancient building to show the family style, and there is a family motto "Yunhui Baoshu" above the entrance of the gate to the house to show the family style, and the owner of Yitaixin, Zuo Guohui, also known as Zuo Yunde, made his family prosperous through thrift and honesty in business, and then he built this house. Yunhui Baoshu" as the family motto, Yitaixin's family motto, "Yunhui Baoshu", is derived from "Qionglin of Early Learning", "Tian's division of wealth, and the sudden exhaustion of the bauhinia tree in front of the court", when Tian Zhen, Tian Guang, Tian Qing, the brothers of the Sui Dynasty, divided their family, they had to divide even a bauhinia tree in front of the hall into three parts. The tree then suddenly withered and died, so they felt ashamed that they were not as good as the wood, so they decided not to divide the family again, and the tree flourished again. The head of the family, Zuo Guohui, admonished his children and grandchildren to never split the family through this historical story.

In the old town there is an extraordinarily tall building, which is the Zuo ancestral hall. The Zuo family is currently the largest number of people in Jiangqiao family name. Historically, the villagers of Jiangqiao ancient town, most of them migrated from Jiangxi, Jiangqiao this is a place of miscellaneous surnames, its structure is complex, the local original has formed a certain market, south of the merchants and passing people, are from the Jiangqiao ancient pier, to the direction of Daye, the north of the merchants take the boat to the Jiangqiao, change the waterway and change the dry road, there will be a customer stopping, and the growing prosperity.

Jiangqiao Zuo clan, Ye Yi founder Zuo Yaocheng Gong, is one of the people from all the families who come to Ye to live in Jiangqiao. Ming and Qing dynasties, the left family out of business, foreign officials more, when the left, not only the people reached the peak period, its financial strength to gather is also exceptionally rapid, according to the genealogy of the left for the officials, although the position is not high, but for the officials, such as the "one of the Beijing job", "nine military workers waiting to patrol the political hall", like such officials to the government. ", like this family of officials and eunuchs, really more, in ancient times, officials and eunuchs and businessmen have a natural intimate relationship between the officials and businessmen, as long as there is money, they will buy property, store. The Zuo family has gradually become a big family name in Jiangqiao. However, the success of the government and business, but also the failure of the government and business. With the decline of the feudal dynasty, Jiangqiao Zuo family of government and business power also faded away. Nowadays, only a Zuo's ancestral hall is left. The Zuo Ancestral Hall, sitting in the west and facing the east, focuses on internal lighting, is load-bearing with wooden beams, has green bricks and tiles, and is a three-entry building, which is characterized by carved beams and decorative roofs and gables. Changes over the years, so that these wood carvings covered with dust, exquisite murals are also increasingly mottled, but travelers, you can still through the old house of the twilight of a glimpse of the left at the time of the splendor of the house.

In addition to the ancestral hall of the left, there is also a Qiaobianya ancestral house was fortunate to be preserved, the ancestral house

for the Ming Dynasty building, sitting in the north and facing the south, the layout of simple, simple and elegant. The rectangular building is a colorful green brick and gray tiles, towering horse head wall, and half-hidden half-exposed double-draped roof hidden behind the overlapping horse head wall, the shape is rich and varied, and the head of the long sky. It can be fireproof and windproof. Its internal pattern of three into two openings, a hall, the center is a hall, the patio, the face of the three rooms, the hall, the second bedroom, left and right symmetry. Wooden structure through the bucket beam, bedroom floor height of one and a half floors, the lower floor living, the upper floor to place things, the hall is not layered, appearing tall and spacious, the momentum is extremely grand. Ancestral hall door hangs a plaque, the internal enshrinement of ancestral tablets, every year festival, there will be the Zuo clan to come to pay homage.

The ancestor of the Zuo Clan, Zhengyou Gong, was a loyal person, harmonious with his neighbors, his dragon dance camp, breaking the boundaries between surnames, absorbing the participation of many clansmen of other surnames, not afraid of the skills out of the country, open-minded, noble character, so he was awarded by the Qing Dynasty - "the imperial gift of the township to drink Dabing! ". The state government holds large-scale celebrations in harvest years, and every time Lord Zhengyou came to a banquet, he brought along a dragon lantern team from Jiangqiao Street to celebrate the occasion. This contributed to the preservation of the traditional folklore of the dragon lantern dance, which has now been recognized as a municipal intangible cultural heritage. Nowadays, in the ancestral house, there are still placed in the festivals and New Year's dance dragon lantern apparatus, Zuo's ancestors selfless spirit has been confirmed and inherited in a dance dragon lantern.

Today's calm village, a thousand years ago, also became a rich and powerful, the existing "nine Confucian Hall" is the best witness. According to folklore, the ancestors of the Nine Confucian Hall in Jiangqiao was a large family with a luxurious house, and the origin of the name "Nine Confucian Hall" is rumored to be that one year, the same list of their family in addition to the nine Confucian scholars, which is known far and wide.

Nine Confucian Church was built in the Ming Wanli years, the houses before and after the threefold, after the two yards, belonging to the Gan style, each of the heavy center of the patio ditch next to the stone balustrade, hall wood beams are wood carvings, three rooms for two-storey, after the two yards, brick and stone, the backyard for the garden. But now the nine Confucian Church has been dilapidated, only a few remains standing in the depths of Jiangqiao ancient alleys, let people hang.

Jiangqiao ancient town of buildings on both sides of the store. But in this there is a seemingly ordinary building on the surface, but in fact the former is a pot to help the world's medical center --- "spring grass hall". Chun Cao Tang is located in the middle of Jiang Qiaoxia Street, near the crossroads of the east and west directions, the traffic is convenient, the north and south is the longitudinal axis of the street, more pedestrians coming and going, located in such a bustling location in fact, in order to facilitate the people to see the doctor to get medicine.

Chun Cao Tang's building belongs to the Gan school of architecture, open the store into the medical center, is a "seven" shaped counter, the counter on the street side of the counter and the depth of the aisle to the lobby is also the counter, the entire counter for the fully enclosed, if there is a doctor to ask for medical advice, along the aisle to enter the door, through the patio, then enter the hall. If there is a bone-setter, he will write a prescription and get the medicine at the counter in front of him. In the center was the patio, which allowed for light and ventilation. And is now seemingly inconspicuous small house, had come out of a generation of famous doctors --- Liu Fukun, Liu Fukun Daye City Center Hospital, one of the founders of Daye City Center Hospital, the attending expert physician, he is not only skillful, wonderful hands, medical style and medical ethics is also rumored, and he was a teenager in the Jiangqiao "Spring Herbology" as an apprentice, and started his medical career. The first time I saw the "Spring Herb Hall" in Jiangqiao, I was apprenticed to it.

The time has changed, in 1998, the "spring herb hall" store was refurbished to call the bedroom, the former scenery has long since disappeared.

Through the old streets and alleys of Jiangqiao, one can not help but sigh, when the brilliant ancient stagecoach road, but now it is the door can be sparrow, almost all the stores and counters have been closed, lost the prosperity of the past. But here, there is only one store is still in operation, can be heard from afar in the alley clanking ringing, which is the Jiangqiao blacksmith store. In the past, Jiangqiao blacksmith store, first by Li, Zeng two family names in the Jiangqiao business, and later through the apprenticeship, it increased "Xu", "Liang", "left" and other disciples. "and other disciples of the family name, after liberation business has been very prosperous, there are dozens of furnaces to make iron. Modern science and technology is developed, industry is also developed, a lot of iron products are rubber or plastic instead of industrial a molding, industrialized production instead of iron products are almost few people use and will soon be eliminated inheritance of the situation sushi can be dangerous, there is the possibility of disappearing at present only left a family, but the inheritors are no longer engaged in iron, only a master occasionally do some products for the people, the master tried hard to iron this ancient memories of the legacy!

Of course, the old Jiangqiao Stagecoach Road is not only stores, ancient merchants popular belief in Guan Gong or other gods, Jiangqiao Dongyue Temple is to play such a role, Jiangqiao Dongyue Temple, was built in the Southern Song Dynasty. Jiangqiao Street for the ancient stagecoach road, the group of male rivalry or dynastic change, war

Occasionally. Therefore, Dongyue Temple has been repeatedly damaged, the last repair time for the Xianfeng years, the current Dongyue Temple, is built on the basis of the old temple donated to the people's homes, the temple is still preserved a Xianfeng years of public donations to repair the Dongyue Temple monument to the annual festival, people will also come to this incense to pray for blessings.

Jiangqiao ancient town of the most eye-catching building is the town's three-hole stone bridge - Jiangqiao, the history of "built in the first thirteen years of the Yuan Dynasty, the Li people Jiang two servants chiseled stone Charlotte brick". When the residents of this place suffered from many inconveniences such as crossing the river and harbor, so there are two brothers Jiang's righteousness to fund the bridge, the people responded, and finally repaired successfully. From then on, the neighbors of the township to celebrate the righteousness of the two brothers, the Jiang brothers of the "last name" named - "Jiang Bridge". Stone arch bridge, the bridge is 20 meters long, 5 meters wide, 3 meters high, all for the stone masonry into a three-hole stone arch bridge, each spanning 5.8 meters, the arch ring is 0.35 meters. The bridge has a pavilion - that is, the attic. There are stone benches on both sides and round gates at both ends of the bridge. On the round gate are the words "South Welcome" and "North Arch", and in the center of the bridge are two sculpted stone statues - "General Shui" and "Yue". The center of the bridge is also dedicated to two sculpted stone statues - "General Shui" and "Marshal Yue". The attic on the bridge was destroyed in a flood in 1954, and the current Jiangqiao Bridge was rebuilt with funds raised later. People come and go, this three-hole stone bridge after years of change, although the appearance of change, but the same is the people of Jiangqiao give it the soul, visitors walk here, always wonder, are looking over the fence, savor the "South Welcome" "North Arch" conveyed by the meaning.

Through the ancient streets of the alley, to the depths of the alley, a special shape of the gate tower stood at the end of the alley, which is the famous "Xingjian building", the ancient said "yuanyuanmen", during the Southern Song Dynasty, Yue Fei was here in the military mining, he was a militarist's strategic vision to build a city in Jiangqiao. Strategic vision to build a city in Jiangqiao, on the street entrance to the south gate said "Regulus Gate" down the street entrance to the north gate said "Burgundy Gate". Today's Regulus Gate is several times damaged and then rebuilt, while the "Burgundy Gate" by the current Jiangqiao Street gatehouse replacement.

Living alongside water is a traditional Chinese village habit, and so is Jiangqiao, which was built around an ancient stagecoach route, with a small river running through the city, originating from the Longjiao Mountain Range and passing through the Jiangqiao Reservoir to Jiangqiao. And the water in Jiangqiao can be more than a river so simple, Longquan Well and Turtle Spring Well in the river echo each other, the river on both sides of the ancient camphor tree shade glittering.

? With a history of more than 800 years, Jiangqiao was once a necessary route for Daye County to travel to Liu Renbachi, Yinzu and even Jiangxi. In its heyday, the old street of Jiangqiao was crowded with people, merchants and stores, and it was a major town in the southern district of Daye. Because of the road and the rise, but also because of the road and the decline, the rise and fall of Jiangqiao Street are closely related to the road. 50's, with the main road in the south of Daye re-routed construction, the lively old street gradually lost the prosperity of the former scene, residual in the depths of people's memories.

Walking in the old streets of Jiangqiao, peeling bricks, deformation of the flying eaves, the old Gan residential, all carrying the memory of the past, these are rare human resources, contains a heavy historical and cultural value. Today's Jiangqiao Ancient Town with the times, the next step will be to build the old street as the center of gravity, and with the surrounding tourist attractions supporting the development of this place into a set of natural scenery and humanistic landscape in one of the tourist attractions.

The ancient stone bridge, gurgling water, deep old street, precipitated the prosperous past, filled with thick nostalgia. Now, the thousand-year-old town of Jiangqiao is glowing with the former style, with the enchanting style of the Jiangnan water town to us slowly.