? It is not easy to see the true appearance of Jieshi Village. You have to climb over mountains and ridges, and go around the mountain col and winding mountain roads with eighteen bends. The small village is located in the deep mountains southwest of Yanchi Town, Mentougou District, Beijing. It is surrounded by mountains and has an altitude of more than 600 meters. The location is excellent and an absolute Feng Shui treasure.
? Jieshi Village was first called "Sancha Village" because there were many large stones lying down in front of the village. According to the saying "standing stones are monuments and lying stones are Jieshi", the village name became "Jieshi Village" ". It is unknown when the village came into existence, but it was no later than the Jin Dynasty, and it is a veritable ancient village.
? The "thorough thoroughfare" in the village is 200 meters long and runs east-west. It is called Zhongjie. Along the way, six alleys connected by the middle street appear one after another. These alleys run north-south, with ancient residential courtyards and numerous ancient wells scattered among them. The remains of Shengquan Temple, founded in the second year of Jin Mingchang, as well as religious relics such as Longwang Temple and Bailong Temple are also scattered in the village. The most interesting thing is the Guandi Temple, which is built on a platform, overlooking the village entrance.
? Walking through the streets, most of the old houses have their doors locked, but happy red lanterns are still hung at the door. It is worth stopping in front of every old house. The antique gatehouse is enough to make people think. There are 57 well-preserved courtyards in the late Qing Dynasty in the village, including 18 quadrangle courtyards and 27 triple courtyards. The various furnishings and carvings in the courtyards maintain a simple style, and stone carvings and inscriptions can be seen everywhere.
? Most of the old houses have ancient wells next to them. Jieshi Village is famous for its many ancient wells. 72 ancient wells are distributed throughout the village. There are actually 56 of them that still have water. Among them, Hanjia Well, Longwang Well, and Nanyuan Well all have a history of two to three hundred years.
? Turning left and right on the gravel road in the village, I found a dilapidated courtyard. After reading the introduction, I realized that this was the pharmacy "Yongsheng Tang" opened by the Li family, a famous medical family. The inheritance of traditional Chinese medicine in Jieshi Village is quite unique. The Li family in the village has successively produced 21 traditional Chinese medicine doctors and has detailed genealogy records. When we walked into the courtyard, we saw that although it was dilapidated, the layout had not changed (picture below).
To understand the history of the village, just look at the old trees. ? The founding era of Jieshi Village has been lost, but the growth rings of the old locust trees in the village will tell you how long the history here is. ?
? Among the old locust trees in Jieshi Village, the two oldest trees are both more than a thousand years old. They all have names, namely "Dingcun Sophora japonica" and "No. 2 Sophora japonica". It is said that they have "spirituality". One of them was struck by lightning and caught fire, but it is still flourishing. In addition to the old locust trees, the century-old walnut forest is also a scene in the village. The oldest walnut tree is more than 300 years old. Walnuts are famous far and wide.
? Jieshi Village lives up to its name, with a registered population of only 156. Excluding young people who work and go to school outside, there are not many people in the village, so no wonder it is very quiet. Even in the fields, there were not many people to see, because all farmland in the village had been converted into forests, and there was no cultivated land. The 17,000 acres of forest land were planted with poplars, willows, peaches, and apricots, and the main production was apricot kernels and walnuts.
? We stayed in a boutique B&B called "Huaijing Stone House". Huai, well, and stone highly summarized the characteristics of Jieshi Village.
? Nowadays, many small villages in the mountains have opened "homestays". Different from previous farmhouses, B&Bs are run by companies. They rent idle yards from farmers and then decorate them exquisitely, adding fashionable elements, and creating courtyards full of artistic flavor. Some B&Bs, like the Huaijing Stone House where we stayed, also hired villagers as chefs, which somewhat increased their income.
? Jieshi Village has a high altitude, lush vegetation, fresh air, and cool summers. In the evening, we drank tea and ate melon seeds in the spacious yard, chatted and looked at the stars, enjoying the vastness of the starry sky and the tranquility of the earth.
? Super beautiful.
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