Four waters belong to a traditional folk house.

The ancient villages in the Pearl River Delta generally have rich regional cultural characteristics of Guangfu, and most of them are comb-shaped layout with three rooms and two corridors. However, due to physical geography, unbalanced regional development, differences between different nationalities and foreign cultures, different settlement cultural landscapes have been formed in the spatial landscape.

In Gaoming, Heshan, Sanshui North, Huadu, Baiyun District, Conghua, Zengcheng, Dongguan, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, it is the frontier of the intersection of Guangfu and Hakka cultures. Guangfu villages on the northwest edge of Guanghua Plain in the Pearl River Delta, such as Huadu Northeast, Baiyun District Northeast and Conghua South, have formed Guangfu architectural features with Hakka style due to the influence of Hakka architectural culture, and many villages have built walls and tall buildings. Guangkefeng in the west of Dongguan and Shenzhen-Hong Kong areas forms Guangfuwei Village; In Wuyi area of the Tanjiang River Basin in the southwest of the Pearl River Delta, due to the struggle of indigenous peoples, especially the influence of western architectural culture transplanted by overseas Chinese in modern times, the original comb-shaped houses, Ming-style houses and three-bedroom and two-corridor houses have been converted into western-style land-based houses, and defensive buildings such as watchtowers are all around the village. A large number of modern watchtowers with strong western architectural style have been built in Huaqiao Village, which breaks through the box of "comb layout" in layout and focuses on defense function. Similarly, newly built Lu-style houses with western style are increasingly deviating from the unified roadway scale, or placed in front of, behind or even at the edge of the village. Although it still maintains the layout of the ranks, it is always far away from the old houses, forming a unique overseas Chinese village landscape. [1] The topographical features of Sanshui, the northern part of the South China Sea, the southwest part of Huadu and the south-central part, and the crisscross of plains, hills and rivers, make the villages in this area mostly built on the mountain in a regular comb layout, with a half-moon pond in front, forming a "comb layout" village landscape of banyan trees, ponds and cymbals; In the Shatian area, such as the northwest, northeast and south of Panyu, due to the late development, the river channel is relatively straight, and most of the banks are landed residential areas, forming the Shatian settlement landscape of Shatian, He Yong and Maoliao; However, in the areas with dense river networks in the west and north, such as Shunde and the back of the Pearl River, the regular comb layout becomes free, showing the typical Lingnan water town landscape of banyan trees, rivers and cymbals.

The "Lingnan Water Town" referred to in this paper is a type of China water town settlement that once existed or existed in the history of the Pearl River Delta region, with contiguous mulberry fish ponds or fruit forests and flower commodity agricultural areas as the open external space, with rich Guangfu people's regional architectural style and natural landscape characteristics of Lingnan subtropical climate vegetation. The reason why it is named "Lingnan" is that it is convenient to be symmetrical with "Jiangnan Water Town". From 2002 to 2004, the author investigated a number of cultural relics of Lingnan water towns in the Pearl River Delta region with Xingtan Town in Shunde as the center. This article is written by combining the results of field investigation with literature records, and briefly discusses the most important aspects of the Pearl River Delta from the natural conditions of flat terrain, interwoven rivers and networks, regional development and county-level organizational system, the prosperity of clan system since Ming Dynasty, the prosperity of culture and education since Song and Ming Dynasties, and the development of commodity pond agriculture since Ming and Qing Dynasties.

First, the landscape characteristics of Shunde Lingnan Water Town

The ancient bridge is the key element to form a water town. Shunde river network is intricate, with many bridges since ancient times. According to statistics, there are 4 Song Bridges, 4 Bridges and 8 Qing Bridges in Shunde, all of which are stone bridges. Well-preserved ones are: Xingtan Town: Jin Ao Bridge, Juji Bridge and Mingyuan Bridge in Feng Jian Village; Gulang Village spans Aoqiao Bridge, Yinlong Bridge and Qifeng Bridge; Li Ji Bridge and Yong 'an Bridge in Beishui Village; Love Bridge in Gufen Village; Yuelong Bridge in Shangdi Village; Gaozan (East) Village Civilization Bridge; Lunjiao Town: Ziyang Bridge in Beihai Village; Zhouwei Yubo Bridge; Ronggui Town: Luo Yang Bridge in the township; Four Seasons Village Xiuqiao; Chencun Town: Old Xu Niang Spring Bridge and Hongqiao; Liu Lezhen: Lingyun Bridge in Fulu Village; [2] Historically, it can be seen that most of the existing ancient bridges are located in Xingtan Town, and Xingtan Town in Shunde has become the best area in the Pearl River Delta to preserve the landscape of Lingnan water town. "Another potential regional function of Shunde is to develop regional leisure tourism represented by the water town landscape with Lingnan characteristics ... Tangji's agricultural landscape and water town village landscape have gradually disappeared in the developed areas of the Pearl River Delta, but there are still such resources in the central and southern parts of Shunde, which have become landscape resources that need to be protected and rationally utilized." [3]

Most of the ancient villages in Shunde are water towns, and Longjiang, Longshan, Rongqi and Guizhou have all been replaced by modern towns. Chencun, one of the four famous towns in Guangdong in the past, became a settlement in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and was named after the local citizen Chen Lin was recruited as Tai Wei of Jian 'an. Xianfeng's "Shunde County Records" said that "longan litchi has been offered for a long time in the Han Dynasty, and different flowers were offered in the Song Dynasty" [4]. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Chencun set up Duning Inspection Department. "All kinds of flowers and fruits flow all over the world." [5] In particular, chencun waterway, which connects all parts of the Pearl River Delta, passes through the town, effectively promoting its development. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, through the development of river trade and commercial agriculture, the ancient town created a vast township, three cities and six cities. In the 13th year of Qing Qianlong (1748), it opened up a new market and soon developed into a "merchant-style" market. [6] Qu Dajun has a special liking for the scenery of its ancient water town:

"There is a water town called Chencun in Shunde. Zhou Su is more than forty miles. Water gushed from the tide and flowed through it. There are twists and turns, and there is no garden that cannot be reached. There are many water pines on the shore. The big hug. The branches are drooping. Green smoke comes out from time to time. Bridges vary in length. Connected everywhere. People on board will get lost. I thought it was. It's just that the number of flowers is heavy. Most people live in longan planting areas. Endless ... Chencun's water is weak and powerful, so "take it as a high-level fighting wine and sell ten thousand altars every year. Other villages also come to fetch water and return it by boat ..." [7]

1. Settlement layout conforming to water potential

The rivers in Lingnan water town in Shunde are the natural boundaries of settlement groups. Settlements are generally divided into different plates by rivers, mostly in the shape of simple "D" or "⊥" (or "Y", such as Gulang Village in Shunde), and also in the shape of complex groups, nets and wells (such as Feng Jian Village in Shunde). There are also streets built around mountains and surrounded by rivers that are radially distributed.

There is a river between the surnames and houses in Shunde water town, and each group has its own fixed land gods (also called "clubs"), such as sixteen clubs (now called "streets") in Shunde Feng Jian village: Jianlong, Cungen, Tantou, Mingyuan, Backstreet, Gaoshe, Maishe, Wuqiao, Houjia, Gao Xiang, Zhijie and Bibi. [8] Shunde Lingnan Water Town, each community has its own social gods and docks, and the distinction is very strict. Each house, ethnic group, family and individual uses a different pier.

In the Qing Dynasty, "every township had a social altar to build a place for villagers to sacrifice to the people." A family is a big club or a village. Its bricklaying stones can only be counted a few feet, offering a stone, and it is only pious in the morning and evening. Some people rely on trees for their altars. [9] There was no unified planning for rural construction in the Pearl River Delta during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but in the process of economically developed rural construction, the layout of alleys in the same village maintained a very strict relationship with gods such as "land" and "social public". The resident was Zhong Fang, and at the same time he was a social public dedicated to a certain social public. These rural buildings are regulated by the same culture, so they have a relatively unified cultural landscape. This attachment not only makes the community life orderly, but also facilitates the integration of the community, which is highly consistent with the requirements of the economic environment in the Pearl River Delta at that time. [10] [1 1] Upward, local buildings such as houses and ancestral halls face the river, and the lanes formed by the buildings are perpendicular to the river and directly face the small piers. (such as Xihua Street, Longtan Village, Xingtan Town)

The author believes that the settlement groups in these water towns were probably formed in the early stage of their development under the norms of the spiritual culture such as "social public", and the clan groups dominated by single surnames showed a regular layout of "comb structure" isomorphic to the settlement groups in the lower reaches of the Beijiang Delta plain [12], which was widely distributed along the rivers in Shunde and other places with the densest river network in the middle of the Pearl River Delta (for example, Qingtian Village in Xingtan still retains this pattern) Later, with the population doubling and settlement expansion, neighboring small villages gradually became one, and the relationship between surnames became increasingly close. Gradually, in addition to the initial social workers, there may also be geographical gods. For example, the formation process of the "Northern Emperor Sacrifice System" in Shawan, a famous town in the Pearl River Delta studied by Liu Zhiwei is probably the process of integrating Shawan's surname villages into a unified community ... In fact, He controls the Northern Emperor in most years. [13] When the surnames of some large water towns formed later in Shunde (such as Fengjian and Shajiao). ) First, they usually live in their own independent communities, and the emergence of conditions such as population reproduction, settlement expansion, worship of regional gods, dense river networks, developed water transport routes, and the formation of regional markets may be the fusion of surnames living in their own independent communities.

2. Simple and elegant, transparent and heavy vernacular architecture.

Tone:

Different from the "white walls and plain tiles" in Jiangnan water town, Guangfu local architecture in Shunde Lingnan water town is gray and muddy in color, which is "blue walls and tiles, white land". Buildings are usually gray granite streets, gray granite stone footstools, gray blue brick walls (there are also many oyster shell walls and concrete in the early days), and gray tile roofs focus on key parts such as roofs, eaves, walls and beams. At the junction of eaves and roofs, black edges and white grass are often applied, and the outline is eye-catching. Under the strong sunlight, it enriches the elevation changes and shows the sense of rhythm and rhythm of architectural modeling. Black and white feet are quite eye-catching and fresh, which can reduce thermal radiation and glare.

Modeling:

The buildings (residential houses and ancestral halls) in Shunde Lingnan Water Town are characterized by the unique shape of the abundant volcanic wall, that is, the ears are like woks, which is called "wok ear house". In the Ming Dynasty, the shape of Zhong Er was interpreted as the binaural shape symbolizing the official hat of the Ming Dynasty, and it was stipulated that only those who achieved fame in the imperial examination were qualified to build such a house. In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, with the development of commodity economy and the popularity of clans in the Pearl River Delta, the style of Feng Volcano Wall was widely adopted by the people, which was closely related to the development of social economy and culture, and became a common gable shape in Lingnan water town architecture.

The decoration on the side of Yong 'er gable is often a pattern of water plants and grass dragons with a black background, commonly known as "sweeping the grass tail of Cigarette Cards", which is related to the living environment of Lingnan water network and waterfront. The grass tail on the gable has beautiful decorative lines. Against the background of black, the white grass tail is full of vitality and is an indispensable decorative pattern on the gable of Guangfu traditional folk houses. Bell House is also called "Aoyu House". That is to say, the top of the main ridge of a big house likes to play with pearls in the middle, and the decorative fish at the opposite ends is a common ridge decoration in the Pearl River Delta Basin. According to legend, octopus is a kind of hydrophilic totem of all ethnic groups in Xijiang River basin, and later it was transformed into dragon mother belief and dragon totem worship. It is said that octopus is very popular with people because it likes to swallow fire and rain. The gable of the ear and the backbone of the fish can also be regarded as a kind of hydrophilic building. The roof decoration of traditional buildings is decorated with Kuiwen, commonly known as "Bo Gu", which is said to be an abstract change from the dragon pattern in Shang and Zhou Dynasties. This is also the architectural vocabulary of south or water in the five elements, which has been endowed with far-reaching cultural origins. [ 14]

In addition, images such as Dragon Boat Ridge, custom colored paintings, pottery sculptures, gray carvings, brick carvings and wood carvings around ancestral halls, exquisite brick carvings on the heads of ancestral halls, and wood carvings on beams all imply simple emotional themes in rural areas such as good luck, longevity and prosperity.

Residential:

The poor families in Shunde Lingnan water town settlement mostly live in straight houses, that is, single huts; Most small and medium-sized families live in Ziming's house and three or two corridors. Ziming's house is a double room, the main room is a hall, and the second room is a room. There is a patio in front of the hall, a kitchen behind the house and a single house, which is suitable for a well-off world with a small population; The basic pattern of large and medium-sized units is mainly "three rooms and two corridors". The so-called three rooms is a three-room house, hanging on the top of the mountain, with a room and bedrooms on both sides. The patio in front of the house has two corridors on both sides. The patio is surrounded by a wall. The plane of the whole house is a regular rectangle. Of the two corridors, the corridor on the right leads to the street, usually the concierge; The porch on the left is mainly used as a kitchen. Generally, the doors of residential houses adopt foot doors, stile doors and wooden doors, commonly known as "three-piece heads". The "three-headed" door not only keeps the privacy of the living room, but also facilitates ventilation. It can not only observe the outside of the door, but also has a good defense function and high artistic value. This is a realistic and transparent image example of Lingnan architecture. Some built a shrine behind three rooms, and there was a shrine on one side of the upstairs hall for placing ancestral tablets. This housing model is the most common and typical standard housing in rural areas of Pearl River Delta, including Shunde [15]. Shunde's water town is bounded by the river, and still takes the three corridors as the basic unit, and expands into a large courtyard with multiple entrances and channels in parallel. With three rooms and two corridors as the basic format, there can be many additions and deletions.

Ancestral temple:

Most rural ancestral temples in the Pearl River Delta, including Shunde Water Town, were built after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and the site selection often pays attention to geomantic omen, so they often face a special angle determined by geomantic omen, rather than due south. Generally speaking, its layout is very similar, with square bottom, negative yin and yang, and the back of the mountain and the back of the water, which conforms to the basic principles and pattern of housing and village location in the concept of geomantic omen. In front of the ancestral hall is Little Square, where people can get together and hold various celebrations. On the other hand, the open flat land also sets off the majestic momentum of the ancestral hall.

The entrance to the ancestral hall is a porch-style layout, and Sumitomo desks are often decorated on both sides of the gate. In the past, whenever there were festivals, musicians played here. After entering the gate, there is a screen door to enhance privacy, also known as "middle door" or "middle door" to form a hall, which is a common layout form and design technique in traditional Guangfu ancestral hall; Behind the hall is the patio. The ground elevation of the patio is slightly lower, generally covered with granite strips and with open drains. There are side rooms or eaves galleries on the left and right sides of the patio, and the sloping roof on all sides forms the trend of "four waters in one" Behind the patio is the main body of the whole building, namely Admiralty Hall, which is usually called "XXX Hall" and has three bays. This is the largest single building in the whole ancestral hall, which meets the function of people gathering and discussing. The bright room is equipped with a screen to block the view of discussing the Sanjin ancestral hall. After entering China, there is a narrow backyard, which is a relatively simple back seat. The Ming room is dedicated to the ancestors of the long houses in the past dynasties, with the ancestral halls of Peixian and Peixiang on both sides, dedicated to the ancestors who won the family name and contributed to the construction and repair of the ancestral hall. Other small ancestral halls and study rooms (so-called "private companions") adopt the traditional door-to-door style of Guangfu dwellings as the entrance shape. Generally, the plane is a three-bay room with doors, bricks on both sides and no columns. Simple structure, strong contrast between reality and reality. [ 16]

On the whole, the plane layout and spatial organization of rural ancestral halls in the Pearl River Delta, including Shunde Water Town, are closed to the outside and open to the inside, and adopt a strict symmetrical layout of the central axis, which contains the ethical and ceremonial order advocated by the Pearl River Delta since the Ming Dynasty, and combines courtyard organization and buildings to form an organic whole.

Temple:

The temples in Shunde water town generally adopt saddle-shaped volcanic walls, which are located on both sides of the temple, and the walls gradually rise step by step. On the border of gables, black borders are usually used, and white thin lines are drawn to set off the outline.

As Guangfu people are located in the Pearl River Delta water network zone, Guangfu villagers have an indissoluble bond with water, so the religious beliefs and folk festivals of local settlements also reflect the existence of "water" culture everywhere. Water temples, such as Hongsheng Temple, Long Mu Temple, Tianhou Temple and Beidi Temple, are generally worshipped in Shunde water towns:

"Yi people pray the most. If every township has a temple, it is the main temple in that township. The most prosperous towns in Zhong Yi are Guandi Temple in Xishan, the official Town God Temple and Coach Temple in Xilinchen Village. The Dragon Mother Temple in Longtan is particularly spiritual, and the villagers worship the prayers and burn like clouds. " [ 17]

In terms of festivals, the most prominent ones are the Dragon Mother's birthday and the Dragon Boat Festival. This is a direct reflection of the geographical environment of the water town in the settlement and the villagers' beliefs in customs.

Turret:

The article "Tall Buildings" in Guangdong Newspeak says:

"In major counties in Guangzhou, many tall buildings are built in their villages. ..... The foundation of the building is made of solid stone, with a height of 78 feet, and the walls are made of bricks or oyster shells, with a height of 56 feet. A building or a single building or a complex, the front and back floors of the complex are connected, and rainwater is injected from the well, so it is called the back floor. Covered with iron, steel and copper, vaguely. The building is divided into three floors, and three or four small windows are reopened each time. Above it is the war shed, and weapons are piled up on it, thinking it is a tool to defend the enemy. " [ 18]

The above is probably Qu Dajun's description of the high-rise buildings in rural settlements caused by social unrest in the Pearl River Delta in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. By the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, Shunde and even Guangdong were once again in turmoil, and the problem of banditry was serious. In order to protect the environment and people, Shunde water town often builds tall towers at the entrance and exit, which becomes another unique landscape different from Jiangnan water town:

"If more high-rise buildings are built in the village, rich people will build high-rise buildings or do them in the middle of the water. Many buildings are famous towns. Looking into the distance, between the kapok banyan trees, smoke waves stand tall, square in size, similar to each other, like mountains, all tall buildings. The foundation of the building is solid stone, and the base is one foot, seven feet and eight feet; The wall is made of bricks or oyster shells and is five or six feet high. A building or a single building or a complex. The front and back floors of the complex are connected, and rainwater is injected from an open well. It is called "Huizi Mansion", covered with iron mesh and copper enamel, and faintly stretches out into the sky. The building is divided into three parts, and each part is three or four small in weight. Above is the battle shed, with weapons and cannon stones piled up on it, which are considered to be weapons against the enemy. When Kou arrived, a township woman climbed upstairs at the same speed, and the man struggled downstairs, but he couldn't win. Kou smashed the building with a huge wooden frame, or smashed it with a loud spear, or burned it with fireworks. People in the building can't be self-sufficient and struggle to fall from the window in order to delay their sudden death. It's terrible. Although the building is spectacular, it is also a thief's move, and there is no way to do it in this town ... "[20]

According to the author's investigation in 2003-2004, most of the water towns such as Longtan, Qingtian, Guanghui and Shangdi in Xingtan Town of Shunde still have such buildings.

3. Spacious and circuitous river landscape and green trees.

Revetment, wharf and stone road

There are many twists and turns in the rivers in Lingnan Water Town. The banks of the river flowing through the village are made of granite and red sandstone, and small piers are set at intervals. Some are steps when the river falls, some are protruding from both sides of the river bank, or stone steps with one side open. Generally, the alley opposite is convenient for villagers to get on and off the boat and wash clothes, and flows around the inland river wharf of the ancient villages in the Pearl River Delta. The difference is very strict. Every family and family use different piers and some piers. Every day, people burn incense and worship at these docks, especially on holidays [21]; Rivers flowing in the criss-crossing Pearl River Delta are the main channels for villagers to contact with the outside world. Parallel to the river are granite slabs, some on one side and some on both sides. Between the slate and the river, pomegranate, Metasequoia, banana and other tree species are generally planted to form a spacious and lush waterway landscape.