Lukeshe: The Earthly Hometown of Watchmen
When the car arrived at Gongchuan, it was already evening. There was no suitable accommodation, so we went straight to Yong'an City. Early the next morning, we hurried back to Gongchuan. Only then did I discover that the section of road between Yong'an City and Gongchuan happened to go north along Shaxi. This is a very beautiful stream, and Gongchuan is at the intersection of Shaxi and Hugong River.
The earliest ancient building in Gongchuan that I saw was the Zhengshun Temple located at the crossroads. Zhengshun Temple is a branch temple built in the Southern Song Dynasty. The ancestral temple is located in Sanming City and is dedicated to General Xie You of the Northern Song Dynasty. General Xie You is also known as the Sun and Moon Yingguang Emperor. The temple is dedicated to Zhang Shengjun, who holds a sharp sword in his hand and has a long snake wrapped around his neck. In the temple next to Anzhen Fort in Yong'an, Zhang Shengjun is wearing a long snake on his shoulders. Another thing worth mentioning about Zhengshun Temple is that there are six Qing Dynasty ink paintings in the temple, including four landscape paintings and one dragon and tiger painting. The painting skills are superb, and they seem to be done by painters.
Walking in after Zhengshun Temple, you will soon see another intersection. Here is a Sunbang Gongzhan built in the third year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty. When I come to Gongchuan, most of the time I come here for the Sunbang Inn. This is the site of the earliest bamboo shoot industry guild in China. Every year during the bamboo shoot season, bamboo shoot merchants from all over the world gather here to negotiate business and determine the price of this year's bamboo shoots. Unfortunately, the hotel door was locked. I saw that the museum next door had a phone number, so I called it. The other party was Ms. Zhang. She told me that as long as I paid 100 yuan for the tour guide fee, I could open the gate of the hotel and explain Gongchuan. After thinking about it, I really needed to go in and take a look, so I agreed.
Before Ms. Zhang came over, she decided to walk across the street.
The style of the alleys is completely different from that of the main roads. It is indeed the style of an ancient town. Here, there is a small Mazu temple. There is also a so-called Seven Star Ancient Well. It is said that the ancient town originally had seven ancient wells arranged according to the positions of the Big Dipper, but now only four remain. The bluestone railings of each ancient well are engraved with large Chinese characters, such as "clear and clear forever" and so on. Ms. Zhang arrived soon, so she visited the museum first. What impressed her most was the Qing Dynasty Gongbao map preserved in the Jiang family tree. From the ancient map, Gongchuan is a castle surrounded by water on three sides. In addition to a covered bridge next to the castle, there is also a pontoon bridge, which is a bridge that connects ships. I have seen such a bridge in Chaozhou.
The area of ????Zunbang Gongzhan is not large, it is just a living room with a patio, and there are two small rooms behind the living room. On the left is the kitchen, and on the right is a small room with a toilet, which should be the residence of the management staff. It is said that there were once compartments on which one could sleep. During the Republic of China, when the Gongchuan underground party was engaged in underground activities, they used to meet in this small compartment. There is a mirror and a blue and white vase on the table in the living room of the public house. On the ground in the middle of the living room, there is a square Danxia slate 0.6 meters long and 0.4 meters wide. There is a small stone on the slate, and "Fairness Stone" is engraved on the small stone. Before the bamboo shoot market opens every year, the leader of the Bamboo Shoot Guild will stand on the Fair Stone in front of all the bamboo shoot dealers and announce the prices of different grades of dried bamboo shoots that year.
Seeing that I understood it carefully, Ms. Zhang took out a mysterious object from the museum next door, a bamboo shoot statue (or bamboo statue) made from bamboo roots. It turns out that the Bamboo Shooting Gang has its own unique belief, which is the Bamboo Shooting God. This bamboo shoot god is usually not taken out casually by locals. The God of Bamboo Shoots holds a flute in one hand and an unknown object in the other, waiting to be tested.
Continuing forward from Sun Bang Gong Inn, you will find the famous Jinshi Alley in Gongchuan. The ancient town of Gongchuan has a very profound humanistic tradition. It once produced two Tanhuahua, more than a dozen Jinshi, and hundreds of tribute scholars. The fact that such a high density of imperial examination talents actually appeared in the deep mountains and dense forests of central Fujian is obviously closely related to the prosperity of Fujian studies in central Fujian and the development of ancient shipping in Shaxi.
Walking through the old houses that are gradually abandoned, you will occasionally encounter blue brick gatehouses that vaguely show the style of the past. Most of the floor tiles in the hall are old and broken into pieces. In most patios, there are still a pair of huge green vats, some are broken, and some are still intact. It was intact, and the owner of the house welded it up with iron bars out of caution.
Many of the courtyard walls have collapsed. Due to the lack of people walking around, all kinds of flowers and plants have grown, and there are "herb gardens" everywhere. It is in such an empty courtyard that you can occasionally find stickers on the front wall that were used to show off the good news of winning the imperial examination or being awarded a tribute. Some are blurred, while others are still as clear as yesterday. It seems that you can still hear the sound of gongs and drums, the noise of the crowd, and the screams of family members. Now, hundreds of years have passed, the courtyard is still there, but the personnel have changed. Only the swallows whisper in the lobby from time to time, and it is indeed the swallows in front of the hall in the old days.
Walking out of Jinshi Lane, you are facing the city wall.
According to the records of "Yong'an County Chronicle" (Wanli): "Gongchuan Fort is forty miles away from the city. In the 36th and 7th years of Jiajing, Guang bandits entered the country, burned, robbed and killed prisoners. The people were turbulent and there was no peace. The boss The village was ordered to build a fort for self-defense. The survivors of Gongchuan planned to build a fort, and asked the governor to report that it was possible. The magistrate of the prefecture commissioned an official to supervise the construction. " Judging from this passage, Gongchuan Fort was built during the Jiajing period, and its main purpose was to defend the Guangdong People's Army from the north.
The city wall stands by the water. Due to the siltation of the river mud, the city wall is no longer as tall as it was back then, but the bricks on the city wall are still from those days. Some of the city bricks are engraved with "Gongchuan", some are engraved with "Gongbao", and some are engraved with the name of the potter. This was a common practice on city walls in the Ming Dynasty and was used to indicate responsibility.
Walking south along the city wall is the ancient covered bridge - Huiqing Bridge - as shown on the ancient map.
In front of Huiqing Bridge is Linshui Palace, where Lady Linshui is enshrined. Judging from the religious beliefs and architectural features, it is obvious that the culture of Eastern Fujian has deeply influenced this place. The Shaxi mentioned earlier is one of the main sources of the Minjiang River. From the perspective of water system, the central Fujian area should belong to the branch of Minjiang Culture in a broad sense.
Linshui Palace faces Huiqing Bridge. Huiqing Bridge is the most unique covered bridge I have ever seen. The first is its bridge body, which is dark red and originally made of local Danxia stones. The bridge stretches out from the Gongchuan city wall to the Feijia River. Under the bridge is the Hugong River flowing in front of the bridge. The water is turbid and the color of the bridge is very harmonious. Not far from the Huiqing Bridge, the stream merges with the always clear Shaxi. After the confluence, the Shaxi is still green, but the turbidity of Hugong River has disappeared, so it is called "Huiqing".
I asked Ms. Zhang, has the Hugong River been so turbid since ancient times? The answer is yes. Ms. Zhang laughed and said that if the cattle in the upper reaches of the Hugong River spread their legs casually, the turbid current would roll downstream.
Walking on the Huiqing Bridge, I was shocked by the roughness of the bridge deck. Countless Danxia stones, large or small, which have been polished by the years, are laid directly on each other without any bonding. The entire deck of the covered bridge is like this. Looking from one side of the bridge, it emits a cyan light like fish scales.
There is a shrine in the center of the bridge, which enshrines God Xuantian, who is also the god of water. From a Feng Shui perspective, this bridge may not only be used by pedestrians, but may also be used to control the tail of water.
Drafted on April 26, 2020
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About the author: Lin Hongdong, born in 1976, is from Pinghe, Zhangzhou. He is the founder of Luke Society and works in Xiang'an, Xiamen.
LOOKERS Lu Keshe, watching over the earthly hometown of ***comrades