In early summer, I finally arrived at Zhangguying Village accompanied by my literary friends. The ancient village is located in the mountains. Looking slowly, you can see a new green and blooming mountain flower. The gurgling Weixi River passes through the village, with pleasant scenery in all seasons. There are 58 stone bridges on the inland river in the village, which are ancient bridge landscapes of various colors. It is called a village surrounded by a "golden belt" and a unique land of geomantic omen. This ancient village is the best preserved village in China at present, which embodies the ancient buildings in Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are more than 600 families in the village, all of whom are descendants of Zhang in Ming Dynasty.
Standing on the ancient stone bridge near Zhangjiaying Village, I suddenly felt suddenly enlightened. The green hills rise and fall all around, suddenly like a huge barrier flashing fairy fog, which naturally isolates the village from the outside world. More than 600 years of history, stretching for more than 600 years, has created the glory and glory of Zhangguying Village. The houses in the ancient village stretch for miles, and there are dozens of big houses with high roofs in the village, just like a huge colorful scroll unfolding in front of people, which holds up the beauty of the ancient village.
There are two versions of the name Zhang in the history biography: First, it is said that Zhang was a senior master of Feng Shui during the Hongwu period of Ming Dynasty. When he passed through Hunan from Jiangxi, he took a fancy to this magical land, and began to build a village, working at sunrise and resting at sunset. Life is multiplied from generation to generation and has a strong natural color.
Second, there are records found on tombstones by later generations; Zhang was born in the first year of Zhengzheng (1335) and died in the fifth year of Yongle (1407). Zhang, originally from Jiangxi, was the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty (equivalent to today's military commander). During the Hongwu period, Wu Ruchu lived in seclusion at the foot of Bijia Mountain in Weidong, Yueyang, and sent his feelings to the mountains and rivers. After the village was built, there was a plan handed down from generation to generation. Left a beautiful dream of carrying on the family line and honoring our ancestors.
Anyway, Zhang is real. For more than 600 years, the descendants of Zhangguying Village have worked hard and thrived here for as many as 26 generations, forming a big family with a single surname of more than 10,000 people. The ancient village has more than 2,200 people and is a natural village named Zhang. The farmers in the village, old and young, are full of affection and sincerity; Men, women and children, decent and orderly, live a quiet pastoral life like a paradise.
The village has an ancient building area of 5 1 1,000 square meters, 206 ancient patios, 237 ancient halls and 732 ancient houses. The overall design of Zhang Mansion embodies the important philosophical thought of "harmony between man and nature" in China traditional culture. The big house is located in a scenic spot surrounded by mountains, with the dragon-shaped mountain in the north, which is the gathering place of the so-called "Long Mai" in Feng Shui. Building a big house by the water has become a jubilant Long Mai, and it is a model of good mountains and good water according to local conditions. Look at the big house carefully, it is as quiet and beautiful as an ancient castle, and it is like a maze covering this magical land. This is a quiet place, without the smoke of the Hundred Years' War and the disputes between the secular. For more than 600 years, people have followed their own life trajectory and lived naturally in the face of natural ecology.
Touch Zhangguying Village. There are ancient buildings on both sides of the high arch road, which is spectacular. Outside the gate of every household in the ancient building complex, the stone couplet wakes up, as if showing the world a historical picture of vicissitudes. On the roadside, clear streams cross the bridge, as if a thick history book is flowing, and it seems to be telling the great historical changes in the past six centuries. Zhangguying Village not only has beautiful natural scenery, but also has legendary farming and reading stories.
According to the data, the Zhang family has been adhering to the tradition of stressing morality, seeking unity, reading poetry, courtesy, martial arts and cultivating mulberry. They don't pretend to be famous families in the south of the Yangtze River, and they don't bully their neighbors with their big houses. Respect for filial piety, friendship with neighbors, "filial piety", and harmony is famous. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were 45 Jinshi, 33 students, 6 tribute students, 7 tribute workers 1 person, 7 juren, Jinshi 1 person, and Zhongxian doctor 1 person, among whom there were Tiger Brothers, and there were many people who won the Wen Kui between grandparents and grandchildren, leaving many beautiful stories and anecdotes.
The whole Zhangguying Village consists of more than a dozen gates, such as Dangdamen, Dongtouan, Xitouan, Julongwan, Shidamen, Wangjia, Shangxinwu, Changsha, Fengshuwu, Xiaxinwu, Hefeng and Panjiachong, which constitute a huge single-family residential compound. The buildings here are not only a close whole, but also bright and clear. Every building has rigorous gates, high walls, square bricks, blue tiles, cross halls and tunnels, which make the ancient houses full of incomparable magic.
The main gate of the ancient village is now well preserved. The cornice bucket arch is obviously different from the buildings preserved in other places in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, and has maintained a strong architectural style in the Ming Dynasty. There are fireworks pools on both sides of the gate, which can prevent fire and look spectacular. Stepping into the high stone threshold, the patio is coming. Along the central axis of the big house, there is a very spacious hall, with four wells and five entrances, carved beams and painted buildings, and finally entered the hall, which is solemn and majestic and is an ancestral hall. There is a statue of the ancestor Gu Ying Gong on the shrine. The east and west sides of the building are built on the ground, with 3-4 transverse branches extending symmetrically, which is a "Feng"-shaped structure, that is, a horizontal hall, consisting of 3-5 entrances. The hall is spacious and the patio is symmetrical. Each group of halls has obvious functions, and it is the place where the host holds sacrifices, marriages, celebrations, meetings and discussions or entertainments.
What is even more surprising is that the buildings here are magnificent, unique in planning and ingenious in design. From a distance, the eaves corridors are connected, and the pavilions are uneven; Close look at the patio, the roads are vertical and horizontal. The wonderful layout of the ancient village, the secluded lanes, the mystery of the patio, the beauty of carving and painting, and the god of materials are all five wonders. Its ventilation, coordinated passage and uniqueness, its lighting and drainage of the house are wonderful and amazing. The structure of each independent room is roughly the same. The main hall and the horizontal hall are composed of several units, and each unit consists of a patio, a semi-open hall and a wing with closed sides. There are screen doors, eaves galleries and alleys in the middle of the house. Divide it into your own courtyard, combine it into a whole, and walk through it, without exposure in sunny days or wet shoes in rainy days. The main hall and its wings on both sides are used by elders, and the side halls are occupied by small families of the younger generation.
Indoor and outdoor windows, door beams, screen doors, etc Most of them are decorated with traditional woodcarving and stone carving techniques in China, and some of them are old things from Wanli period of Ming Dynasty. Although they have been weathered for many years, they are still intact. There are many folklores carved in woodcuts and stone carvings of buildings, with concise strokes, clear lines and vivid images. For example, Shun Geng Li Mountain on the archway hangs a corner to attack books; On the girder, two dragons play with pearls, and the phoenix dawns; The Eight Immortals of Shamen crossed the sea, and Shiro visited his mother. Magpie, plum blossom, bat and pine crane on the window; On the stage, carp yue longmen, Kirin sent the son; Flo Xi Shou is on the stone surface of the patio, etc. Skilled and vivid. Among them, when the gate is connected to the hall next to the Guanting, the eight horses are the most atmospheric. The eight horses in the picture are plump and lifelike, or hold their heads high and scream, or play with each other, or hold their heads high. It shows the peace and prosperity of the stable south mountain and the vitality and prosperity of this big family.
All the buildings are connected by deep tunnels and corridors. The unique 62 tunnels are tortuous, extending in all directions and connected by households. The total length of the tunnel is 1.495 meters, connecting the whole house with each other, and you can drive to almost every household in the village without leaving the gate. After hundreds of years and many storms and floods, the big house is safe and sound. As for where the water is discharged, it is a mystery and a miracle. In addition to drainage, patio also has functions such as lighting and ventilation. You can bathe in the sunshine on sunny days, and you can invite wine to enjoy the moon at night, which is very artistic on the stage. You can experience the four seasons changes in the outside world without leaving home.
Walking on the deep ancient road covered with stone slabs, shuttling through the winding corridors, entering the room with high doors and open doors, touching the stone pillars weighing more than 10,000 kilograms, visiting the patio with direct sunlight, looking around the windows engraved with patterns, seeking a way to explore ancient love and trace its ups and downs for hundreds of years, we will unconsciously feel that the carved figures and immortals around the big house have drifted into a mysterious and illusory world, as if feeling the history.
In the evening, the sunset dyed the ancient village red, like wearing a red scarf with purple inside. When I was about to leave the ancient village, I was still so reluctant. Looking back at this old pet house that has been bred for more than 20 generations, I suddenly heard a long-standing pastoral culture calling. Yes, it is not only beautiful, but also unique and profound. It inherits and constitutes the "living fossil" charm of studying Hunan and Chu culture, and is a treasure in ancient villages!