How about Shiquan Ancient Town? Travel guide to Shiquan ancient town

Shiquan Ancient Town, located in Ankang City, Shaanxi Province, is a thousand-year-old town full of humanistic feelings. It not only retains many excellent traditional cultural elements, but also inherits the Millennium Songkran Festival, attracting a large number of tourists' attention.

Brief introduction of Shiquan ancient town

Speaking of "Water-splashing Festival", I believe everyone is familiar with it. Whether it is Thailand, Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries, or Xishuangbanna, China, the Songkran Festival is a long and grand traditional festival. Every year in mid-April, when the Dai Water-splashing Festival comes, many tourists even make a special trip to explore this folk activity.

Perhaps many old Shaanxi people don't know that there was a tradition of "Water-splashing Festival" in a thousand-year-old city near the Han River in southern Shaanxi, which has been circulating for thousands of years.

This is Shiquan County, Shaanxi Province.

Shiquan County, located in Ankang City, Shaanxi Province, is a small town hidden between Qinba and Hanjiang River. I came here last winter and was attracted by the comfort and beauty of this town. I always want to come back in summer. After all, the charm of green hills and beautiful waters can show the most beautiful side in summer.

When I came last year, I got a preliminary understanding of Shiquan. You should know that this small town has a long history. "Shiquan" has been named since the Western Wei Dynasty (AD 552), and it has never been renamed for nearly 1500 years, leaving many cultural relics and interesting stories. Today, the Ming and Qing old streets in Shiquan ancient city are still the most intact in Shaanxi.

This time, I planned a two-day leisure summer vacation, visiting the old streets of Gucheng and eating Hanjiang stone fish. I didn't expect to meet the Songkran Festival in Shiquan. Only then did I know that there is actually a "water splashing festival" in Shiquan, and this folk activity is also related to Dayu!

Shiquan was once the residence of Dayu when he was in charge of water control. Now there is a Yu Palace in Shiquan Old Street to commemorate Dayu. After the death of Dayu, the local people in Shiquan commemorated Dayu by dancing grass dragons and splashing water on his birthday on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, and gradually formed a folk tradition that lasted for thousands of years.

Fellow villagers told us that after liberation, the custom of splashing water for blessing was interrupted because of the concept of "man can conquer nature". Folk customs such as "dancing the grass dragon" and "burning the lion" in Blessing are listed in the intangible cultural heritage protection list, which has become a unique cultural accumulation of Shiquan.

This time I met the "Water-splashing Festival" in Shiquan, which was an unexpected gain of my trip. We experienced the interactive experience of dancing grass dragons and splashing water in a traditional folk performance, which was fun and interesting.

The whole performance ceremony started from the east gate of the ancient city, accompanied by a huge invisible grass dragon dance. Go around the city, enter from the west gate, and walk along the old street to the square in front of Yu Palace. The ranks along the way are more and more spectacular, and new tourists and fellow villagers are constantly joining.

If the previous performance links let us feel a kind of cultural heritage, then the last splashing link is the carnival of big friends and children. On a sunny day, a group of tourists rushed to the center of the square to enjoy themselves. Screams came and went at the scene. On a hot summer day, what is better than having a calm heart? More importantly, it also contains the beautiful meaning of prayer!

After a hearty carnival, our party felt exhausted and quickly found a place to fill their stomachs. When you come to the ancient city of Shiquan, the most important thing to miss is the famous stone fish. There are stone fish shops around the old street, all of which are delicious. Maybe it was too high that day. This stone fish rice is especially delicious.

After eating the stone fish, it was already evening when the light was turned on. Walking on the plank road beside the Han River, blowing the wind, I feel the comfort and leisure of this thousand-year-old city.

Shiquan ancient city is a very suitable place for family leisure travel. You can go shopping, eat and play with water! The summer vacation in July is especially suitable for children, because it is the Water-splashing Festival.

: shiquan ancient town travel guide

1. Shiquan County is about 4 hours' drive to the west. If you come to play, I will.

3. The specific time of Shiquan Songkran Festival is from July 26th (the birthday of Dayu on June 6th of the lunar calendar) to August 26th. There are no tickets for the ceremony. If you want to take part in water splashing, you need to make an appointment to buy tickets in advance because the number of people is limited.

4. Go to Shiquan. Don't miss local stone fish. There are many interesting places around Shiquan, besides the ancient city and old street, there are also Liu Shui ancient town, Zhongba Grand Canyon, Pingdu ancient town, Xiangyandong and so on. If you have enough time, you can plan the route in advance.