Introduction to Jianshui Shiping Day Trip

Jianshui Shiping is a famous tourist destination in many people's minds. Not only are there many exciting cultural relics and monuments here, but there are also a range of traditional folk elements that attract a large number of tourists. Here is a detailed strategy guide.

First, we went to the Shuanglong Bridge, commonly known as the "Seventeen-hole Bridge", a large stone arch bridge with three pavilions and seventeen holes built in the Qing Dynasty.

Shuanglong Bridge is located in the western part of Jianshui Ancient City, about five kilometers away, spanning the confluence of Lujiang River and Tachong River. It is one of the famous historical relics in Yunnan Province and has been listed in the history of bridge building in China. It is a very beautiful bridge.

This bridge was built in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty with three holes and in the Daoguang period with fourteen holes. Because it is connected together, it is commonly known as the "Seventeen-hole Bridge". There are three tiers of pavilions on the bridge and one pavilion at each end.

The whole bridge is built by boulders, with a total length of 148.26 meters and a width of 3 meters. It has an original and very beautiful shape. It is one of the excellent ancient bridges in China and a national key cultural relics protection scenic spot.

Shuanglong Bridge is a very "photogenic" place, which can be photographed from a distance or up close, especially at sunset. It is very beautiful. Unfortunately, today we had a cloudy day with dark clouds, so the photos were not bright and exciting enough.

This is the daily pose of "Big Brother Country". A person who is fluent in English and has traveled all over the world has become a "farmer" in Yunnan.

Walking to the other side of the bridge, I was fascinated by a section of the railroad. It was a special railroad, narrower than the one we saw. My big brother from the countryside said it was the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway! It was going to Vietnam!

The Yunnan-Vietnam Railway: Information is that it was a railroad connecting Kunming, China, with Haiphong, Vietnam, in Southeast Asia, and the first railroad in Southwest China.It was designed and planned by the French in the mid-to-late 19th century.

The Yunnan-Vietnam Railway is divided into two sections, of which the Vietnamese section was started in 1901 and opened to traffic in 1903. The Yunnan section began construction in 1904 and was completed on March 30, 1910, and was opened to traffic in 1903, while the Yunnan section began construction in 1904 and was completed on March 30, 1910.

On April 1, 1910, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway opened to traffic. However, the track here was a French standard narrow-gauge railroad, which was very different from the Chinese railroad. When the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway was completed, it was also called the third largest project in the world by the British Daily News, comparable to the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal.

Now more than 100 years later, the tracks are still there, and so are the stations from back then. Where are the trains? Is the line still open?

The country brother says it's still open, but it's not the steam locomotives of the past. It's a modern tourist train now. You can go directly to Shiping from here, but it's not the same route to Vietnam.

Next, we entered a village not far from the station. It is called Fang Xin Village. There are a few old houses here, including the Yijiaoyuan, which used to be known as a big house. It is said that the money was not because of the land, but because the family had a mine.

The family used to have mines, as they do now, and was unusually rich, so this yard was very large, but then it was divided among the poor. It is said that 17 or 18 families moved in at once.

But now there are hardly any families left in the courtyard, they have all moved away or are unused. We just saw an old woman cooking and she was very enthusiastic to let us in, but she didn't understand the language well and didn't know what to say.

Although the house was a bit run down, looking at the details of the house showed the wealth and interest of the original owners. The doors of the Maharajah's temple were carved with great hollows and gold leaf on the outside. How grand it was back then!

All the quality wood used is still intact after a hundred years. All the angles have been carved and decorated. It's really beautiful.

The bricks used have been carved and polished, while the pillars are exquisitely beautiful and cloudy.

The most interesting thing is to see a "life pursuit" left by the owner:

Hundred acres of fertile land, ten thousand volumes of books, three lanes of qin, a pot of wine, plowing in the early morning and learning in the evening, non-immortal, non-Buddhist, half-farmer, half- Confucian.

This passage was seen written on the wall

At the entrance of the village, I saw a lot of people gathered around. It turned out to be a chili pepper collector. 7 yuan a catty. Yunnan people like spicy food and produce good chili peppers, but farmers complain that growing chili peppers is not profitable.

I joked, "Can I try one?" An aunt laughed and said, "Don't you dare eat it. I hadn't moved. The boy who came with me grabbed a bite, then his mouth opened and wouldn't close. He ran and yelled, "Water, give me some water." Haha, let's not talk about it. It's hot to think about now!

Then there was a bridge: the Majiaying Dragon Bridge.

This bridge was built in the Qing Dynasty Qianlong sixty years (1796), the Republic of reconstruction. In fact, this bridge is on the same road as the Shuanglong Bridge in front of it, and there are several other bridges on this road that are either not very large or have not existed for a long time.

Nowadays, this road seems to be a small path only three or four meters wide. In the past, it was a very important road, the main road to southern Yunnan, but also the official road, or "highway" in those days. Its significance was extraordinary. Material transportation, army mobilization, trade, official documents, and even people rely on this road, it became the "national pulse" road.

Here, the countryside is beautiful, with geese swimming in the river and lotus flowers spreading in the rice paddies.

A little further on, we reached Shiping County. The first thing we saw was a large expanse of water. My big brother from the countryside said it was Isolong Lake, one of the five great lakes of Yunnan, smaller than Dianchi, Erhai and Fuxian lakes, and bigger than Qilu Lake.

The circumference of Isolong Lake is 150 miles. The now perfect Rainbow Trail is built right next to the lake, perfect for running, horseback riding, and playing. Isn't it beautiful?

It was nearly noon by now, and my big brother from the countryside took me to a small restaurant for lunch in the village of Doujiwan, near the lake. There are several small restaurants here, mainly barbecue, and the guests are all drivers from the village or passing through.

In the area of Shiping and Jianshui, even the smallest restaurant will have a barbecue stand, with barbecued tofu as the main focus, which is the standard for restaurants. The locals love grilled tofu, and even if they eat a bowl of noodles, they will add a piece of grilled tofu, which is a long-standing dining custom.

We asked for the chunky tofu from Shiping. It starts out in a dried tofu state. As the heat increases, the inside begins to expand and the outside becomes crispy. At this point, it is baked. According to the local custom, it is eaten with hands dipped in seasoning (water). We asked the owner to cut it up and plate it.

But how could Lao Xu make us eat only tofu, but ask for grilled meat, gizzards and pork skin? No. How many people have had this kind of grilled skin? Do you still want to know what it tastes like?

The first roast is panko, a local native pig, slaughtered in the morning, slightly marinated with some chili noodles and other roasted ingredients. After grilled and cut into small pieces served on the table, so fragrant. This is the best roast pork I've ever had.

The meal was delicious and cheap. I still miss the flavor after time, it seems to still be wafting between my teeth.

After lunch, our countryside brother turned on the navigation and we continued to find the traveling route he had set. We first went to Xiushan Temple in Shiping.

Xiushan Temple is located about 15 kilometers southwest of Shiping County in Yunnan Province. Built in the Tang Dynasty, it was originally called Zhenjue Temple and was renamed Xiushan Temple at the end of the Ming Dynasty. After going to Yunnan, I found that many monasteries here are the unity of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, reflecting the tolerance and openness of Yunnan's religion, or the beliefs here are not xenophobic.

The temple is well-green and lush, with many plants, mostly ancient trees, such as cherry blossoms in the Tang Dynasty, plum blossoms in the Song Dynasty, Luo in the Yuan Dynasty and osmanthus in the Qing Dynasty. If it is in the blooming season, you can imagine the magnificence and fragrance of this place.

With its ancient architecture and quiet environment, it is a good place for cultivation.

Quiet temple, walking around, no monks, no incense, took a lot of pictures.

Next, we went to Yingzheng Village in Baoxiu Township, 10 kilometers west of Shiping County, a small village with heaps of ancient buildings.

The first thing we saw was a national cultural heritage unit: the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall.

Built in 1925 by Chen Heting (real name Chen Jun), a late Qing dynasty scholar and Yunnan industrialist, it presided over the construction of the first private railroad in Chinese history.

Chen Zheng's ancestral hall consists of an ancestral hall, a lotus pond, a stone bridge, a center hall, a main hall, side halls, a pavilion and other buildings. There are two courtyards with a total building area of 12,400 square meters. The buildings are probably less than 100 years old and have many elements that appear to be modern architecture.

The building is of high specification and should have cost a lot of money while pursuing exquisite details, especially the pillars with stone lions. The carvings were not only beautiful, but also bold, which was rarely seen elsewhere.

Yingzheng Village also has the A Zheng Ancestral Hall, which is also a national cultural heritage unit. The Zheng Ancestral Hall was built in 1882, the eighth year of the Qing Guangxu reign, and is still well preserved.

Unfortunately, the gate here is closed. The big brother in the countryside said several times, have never seen open. It may still be under repair. But if you look at the carved beams of the house, you can feel its delicacy and beauty.

It started to rain, and the children walked hurriedly by. Now Yingzheng is a provincial cultural village, also known as "the first village in Yunnan". Historically, it was very famous, with many talented people and a lot of money! Their ancestors were so hardworking and smart.

Yingzheng Village has a history of more than 600 years. There are three streets and nine alleys in the ancient village, named after family names and geography. The streets are paved with green stones, and most of the houses here are large quadrangles facing north and south. There used to be 403 siheyuan in the village and now there are 28 complete siheyuan.

Finally, we visited the former residence of Chen Heting, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, "Chen's Former Residence". As mentioned earlier, he built the "Chen Clan Ancestral Hall".

I don't know whether Chen Heting (1874-1931) was the richest and most famous person in Yingzheng, but his resume is not simple.

He was a scholar at the end of the Qing Dynasty. After the Xinhai Revolution, he served as Counselor and Director of Internal Affairs of Cai E. Later, he became the general manager of the Bi Railway, founded three railroad banks, and presided over the construction of the Bi Railway, the first private railroad in Chinese history.

Chen Heting devoted his life to industry as well as education. Information shows that in the 32nd year of Guangxu (1906), he transferred the assets of a century-old shrine to promote learning and founded Yingzheng Elementary School. Children in the village were persuaded to enroll in the school, which became something Shiping County eagerly awaited.

Chen Heting's former residence is the largest building in Yingzheng Village during the Republican era. It is well preserved. As far as the individual residence is concerned, it can be said to be exquisite to the extreme, and is known as "the pearl scattered among the people".

The overall architectural details are perfect, as if it were a beautiful craft that could be packed away.

The most distinctive feature of Chen's former residence is that it is carved with flowers. There are few figures and animals, probably related to the owner's pursuit and preference. These wood carvings are not only in relief, but also multi-layered three-dimensional carvings, which are beautiful.

The architecture of the ancient house may be related to the identity and status of the owner. He broke through the aesthetic perception of traditional architecture and incorporated his own thoughts on art. If you take a closer look, Chen's old residence has a lot of its own characteristics, which also makes it match the owner's identity and culture. Among the dozens of ancient houses I saw in Jianshui and Shiping, it is different and memorable.