Reporter Wu Xuan
Ten thousand mu of fertile land, witnessing the culture of going up the mountain for ten thousand years; Jiu Feng is covered with mountains and mountains, and it is a thousand years old; White walls and tiles, experiencing a hundred years of historical changes … In Jinhua Economic and Technological Development Zone, Zhejiang Province, the “tolerant and slow culture” watered by strong tea is the original life scene of local people for thousands of years.
An ancient city
“Mother-in-law, when you went to the mountainside, you told her that you would go back. She looked at that road every day, and never saw you back … The kiwi fruit on the back of the mountain is ripe, and the chestnuts on the tree are empty; How much water is empty in the stream pond? Why are there fish and frogs? “
Anyone who has heard the folk song “Old Grandma” will be attracted by the lyrics like gibberish. This popular dialect ballad was written by Zhang Guangtian, a well-known drama director, screenwriter and musician in China. The song adopted the tune of Tangxi folk song. Few people know that Zhang Guangtian’s grandmother’s home is in Tangxi, an ancient city with a history of over 500 years.
Tangxi County Records of the Republic of China recorded: “Tangtang Mountain … has a pond on its side. It is said that Ming Taizu washed his hands here. Because the water and heat couple refers to its pond as a soup pond, its land is named after it … Chenghua moved to the northern corner of its land in the eighth year. Because of the name of Tangtang, it was named Tangxi. “
Tangxi Ancient City, located in the “Golden Triangle” of Jinhua, Quzhou and Lishui, is the county seat of Tangxi County, one of the eight counties in ancient Wuzhou. The ancient city has a history of more than 500 years, and its construction layout is basically the same as that at the beginning of the establishment of the county in the Ming Dynasty. There are many outstanding people here, including Long Qiuli, a talented person in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xu Anzhen, a minister of etiquette in the Tang Dynasty, and Feng Zikai, a famous painter, and Chen Shuangtian, a national model worker, who shine in the long history.
Tangxi ancient city has beautiful scenery and superior ecological environment. There are simple and elegant Siping Ancient Village, beautiful and magnificent Jiufeng Mountain, comfortable and pleasant Jiu Feng Hot Springs, and Chenghuang Temple, which is known as the “First Temple in the South of the Yangtze River”. In the Neolithic Age, people lived here. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the capital of Gu Mi was built at the foot of Jiufeng Mountain. Later, in the twenty-fifth year of Qin Dynasty (222 BC), Taimu County was established, and the county administration was also at the foot of Jiufeng Mountain. According to Qing Qianlong’s Tangxi County Records, “its city street address is still vivid.” It can be seen that it has a long history and profound precipitation.
An ancient street
In Luobu Town, there is an old street that has been “sleeping” for many years, and it is also awakened by people. It is Luobu Old Street.
Luobu Town is an important town in Tangxi County. From the word “port” in the name, it is not difficult to find that the water transportation here is developed and it was once an important commercial port. “Tolerance and slowness” is the most typical cultural feature of this town.
According to records, as an important commodity distribution center, Luobu’s shipping business activities continued from the Qin Dynasty to the founding of New China. Water transport drives business development, and commercial streets have sprung up along the docks. Businessmen gather, shops are everywhere, shouting and hawking, bustling. By the Qing Dynasty, shops and workshops from all walks of life became famous firms one after another. Jiangxi, Fujian, Yiwu,.Merchants and businessmen in Quzhou and Huizhou have injected new elements into Luobu’s culture. “Miles of Jiang Tao wear the north shore, and thousands of fireworks turn south. Fish and shrimp are shipped to the city, and the song and dance venues are noisy at night. ” The poem of Xu Chuanxuan, a Qing dynasty, described the scene at that time properly.
Luobu Old Street, which started in Ming and Qing Dynasties, has a history of more than 400 years, with a total length of more than 400 meters, and is divided into Shangjie, Zhongjie and Xiajie. Since ancient times, Luobu has gathered every day, and there is a saying in the old street that ten households and nine businesses do business. People come and go here every day, which is lively but comfortable.
Today, Luobu Old Street has the same style and rich commercial forms, with barbershops, tea shops, wonton shops, soy sauce factories, blacksmith shops, watch repair shops and grocery stores. Walking into the old street, people can still feel the almost stagnant time and the traces of once prosperous business.
A grain of rice
The stream under Jiufeng Mountain is long, and the rice and flowers are fragrant by the lake. On June 29th, 2022, on the first day of the sixth lunar month, the “Shangshan Culture and Xiayibao Rice Festival” was held in Xiayi Village, Tangxi Town. Speaking of uphill culture, most people first think of Pujiang Mountain Site. In fact, Shangshan culture has excavated 18 sites one after another, most of which are located in Jinqu Basin. Qingyangshan site, located in and around Xiayi village, is a cultural site on the mountain found within the scope of the city level, and it is one of the earliest areas where human activities have taken place in Jinhua.
A small grain of rice connects ancient civilization and modern civilization in series, connecting up the mountain and down Iraq. Local chronicles record: “On the first day of June, farmers prayed to the god of grain with sacrificial rites, which is called rice protection.” On the first day of the sixth lunar month, it is the time for heading and filling of rice in one season. In order to pray for good weather and good harvests, Xiayi Village will carry on the rice protection festival to express its beautiful vision for the future.
In order to make traditional folk festivals lively, Xiayi Village has made many useful attempts. On the day of the rice protection festival in 2019, Xiayi Village started cooperation with universities. The Art College of Jinhua Vocational College conducted research and visits in Xiayi, deeply explored the local history and culture, cartoonized and personified the five-grain god and Yuexi, designed village logos, derivatives, rice protection festival costumes, etc., and drew hand-drawn maps of the village’s scenic spots to help Xiayi carry out tourism and cultural promotion. The characteristic folk culture related to rice, as well as the “head-grabbing pestle” in Houda Village, Tangxi Town. According to Tangxi County Records, “grabbing the head pestle” is a blind date activity held by the Fan family for their unmarried children during the Qingming Festival, which began in the Southern Song Dynasty and never stopped until the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.
What is the power that makes the development zone span a thousand years and still maintain its unique soul and vitality? The unique geographical location gives birth to a unique cultural temperament, which is quiet and endless, just as Wang Jianzhong, secretary of the Party Working Committee of Jinhua Development Zone, said: it is our respect for history, the inheritance of culture and the integration of resources..Make sure to move later and make “latecomer” an advantage.