It seems that the horseshoes of caravans on the ancient Silk Road in the south that crossed the Gaoligong Mountains are still there; in the laundry kiosks of Fangfo Heshun Ancient Town, there are still women looking at men who have traveled far away; The witty singing sounds in the village; it seems that the strong figures of the Chinese soldiers and civilians in the Western Yunnan War of Resistance are still upright, and the years of war are still moving in our hearts; The mark has endowed Tengchong with too many stories.
Heshun Ancient Town: You can touch the mottled years with every gesture
I was standing in front of the archway entering Heshun Ancient Town at this time, the moonlight was just rising, and I could see the sky full of stars. The ancient town is immersed in the dark blue night, with stone-paved roads under the feet, a peaceful town, without noise and noise, only the occasional footsteps of people passing by in the air. The upturned eaves of the house and the quietness of the small bridge made me feel an unprecedented tranquility. It was the breath brought by time, which was ethereal but clearly audible.
Heshun Town is located 4 kilometers southwest of Tengchong City. It was named "Yangwendun" in ancient times. Because a small river flows around the village, it was renamed "Heshun". Heshun Town, with a population of more than 6,000, and more than 12,000 Heshun people living overseas, is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese in Yunnan. Its closed, traditional and stable environment fully retains the characteristics of Chinese Ming and Qing culture.
There are more than 1,000 traditional dwellings here, including more than 100 Qing Dynasty dwellings, known as the living fossils of ancient Chinese architecture; its architectural styles include "three squares and one screen wall", "siheyuan", "sihewutianjing" Wait, here you can appreciate the charm of Huizhou architecture with white walls and black tiles, and you can also find elements of Western architecture. Especially the door and window wood carvings of the old house, all kinds of carvings are lifelike. What is particularly characteristic of the region in the house is the stone steps piled up with volcanic stones, which can play a good anti-skid role in rainy weather.
Heshun used to be an important town of caravans and a necessary place for the ancient "Southwest Silk Road". Various foreign cultures blended here. This ancient town was built in the Ming Dynasty. Most of the local Han people came to Yunnan in the early Ming Dynasty to work in military and civilian settlements. The descendants of people from Sichuan, Jiangnan and Central Plains. In the fifteenth year of Ming Hongwu (AD 1382), "Lan Yu and Mu Ying attacked Dali, and divided their troops into Heqing, Lijiang, and Jinchi." ("Ming History Taizu Benji")
These people are deeply influenced by Confucianism, and some of them have high cultural quality. Although they are forced by life, their backgrounds leave their hometowns, and they are located on the extreme edge of the plateau, but the harmonious village style, residential buildings, and folk crafts all infiltrate and preserve the culture of the Central Plains. At the same time, it is an "extroverted" society. The wanderers absorb the essence of foreign cultures, communicate and integrate with traditional local cultures, and create a regional culture with harmonious characteristics.
At 4:30 in the morning, I got up to do something I had to do in Tengchong: taking pictures of the stars.
The air in Tengchong is good, the visibility is high, and it is a good place to take pictures of the starry sky. Unfortunately, there is a bright moon hanging in the sky, which makes me very depressed, but I soon discovered that the town under the moonlight exudes strange beauty, so I was on the shore of Wild Duck Lake in the small town, and captured the first bright moonlight and wonderful moon since I took pictures. Walking, it seems as if you can feel the sound of horseshoes of those caravans along the Southwest Silk Road, over Gaoligong Mountain, and into Heshun. The perception brought by time is so clear, stories that I never knew are clearly presented when you touch those mottled years.
Just like the vigorous and powerful characters on the plaque of Heshun Library, Heshun Library is the largest rural library in China. After donations and books from overseas Chinese and villagers, it was expanded into a library in 1928, and the new building was completed in 1938. Celebrities from all over the world wrote congratulatory inscriptions. The famous mathematician Xiong Qinglai wrote the inscription "the source of people's wisdom", and Zhang Tianfang wrote the inscription "the number one in China's rural cultural circle". So far, there are more than 70,000 volumes of books, more than 10,000 volumes of ancient books and rare books, and there are inscriptions of many cultural masters such as Hu Shi, Xiong Qinglai, Liao Chengzhi, and Li Shizeng. The building of the library is a traditional Chinese building with a garden in front, which is beautiful and elegant.
Climbing up the stairs, there are the gate, the middle gate, the garden, and then the library building, Zangzhen Building, Jingshan Garden and so on. The iron gate used in the middle gate was custom-made in England in those days, and it was transported to Burma, where horses and camels were used to reach Heshun. After working, I went to the library to study knowledge and culture. Based on this strong cultural atmosphere, Heshun has produced many celebrities, such as the philosopher Ai Siqi, etc. Today, Heshun still retains the former residence of Ai Siqi for everyone to visit.
On the banks of the Heshun River, there is also a unique building called a laundry booth. Walking along the small river and the lotus pond, there will be a simple and elegant pavilion at every interval, standing by the water, where the village women wash their clothes. There are six seats. The laundry kiosk can be used for washing clothes, enjoying the cool air, and looking into the distance, expressing lovesickness. Heshun men are both Confucianists, businessmen and farmers, and they have traveled all over the world. In order to protect the women at home from the wind and sun while washing clothes, they built such a pavilion (built in the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty). The easiest gift for your own woman.
In the town, there is still a well-preserved General Military Mansion, where you can experience the ancient manufacturing method of Tengxuan, one of the three treasures of Tengchong, and experience the excitement brought by a gambling stone, one knife for poverty, one knife for wealth, and one batch of linen. In a word, the most attractive place of Heshun Ancient Town, besides the idyllic landscape, is the cultural precipitation. There are also its well-preserved traces of the years. You can touch the mottled years and rich cultural atmosphere with every gesture, and feel the waste of time imprints. No matter who you are, you will sincerely sigh-in this extreme place. With such a splendid village.
Western Dian Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall: Respect the glorious years of blood and fire
From February 1942 to January 1945, in the early 1940s, in Baoshan, Dehong, Nujiang, Lincang and other places in the southwestern border of our country, a war broke out to defend the Yunnan-Myanmar international passage and safeguard the national territorial sovereignty. This is the world-famous Anti-Japanese War in Western Yunnan.
From mid-May 1944 to late January 1945, the Chinese and American allied forces counterattacked western Yunnan. In order to break the Japanese blockade and reopen the international transportation line between Yunnan and Burma, the reorganized Chinese Expeditionary Force of 200,000 headed by General Wei Lihuang took advantage of the turning point of the International Anti-Fascist War to fight against the American Allies and various ethnic groups in western Yunnan. With the full support of the people, they forcibly crossed the Nu River in good time and launched a comprehensive counter-offensive against the tens of thousands of Japanese invaders occupying western Yunnan. He was driven out of the country and won the final victory in the Anti-Japanese War in western Yunnan.
After the restoration of Tengchong, at the initiative of Mr. Li Genyuan, the inspector of Yunnan and Guizhou, various parties raised funds to build the National War Cemetery at the foot of the beautiful Laifeng Mountain and beside the majestic Dieshui River to rest the souls of the faithful. Work was completed on July 7, 1945.
The Western Dian Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall was built in 1944 and is located at the foot of Laifeng Mountain in the southwest of Tengchong County. It is a martyr's cemetery built by the people of Tengchong to commemorate the fallen soldiers of the 20th Group Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Army during the Anti-Japanese War and the people who died during the Second World War. It is mainly composed of gates, corridors, martyrs' shrines, martyrs' tombs, exhibition halls, and memorial towers. It is the earliest anti-Japanese martyrs cemetery established in the country during the Anti-Japanese War, and it is well preserved and unprecedented in scale. It is now a national key cultural relic protection unit.
The site of the museum is the former site of the headquarters of the expeditionary force counterattacking Tengchong. The Yunnan-Burma Anti-Japanese War Museum is my country's first non-governmental funded construction, private collection, and anti-Japanese war-themed museum. There are more than 6,000 cultural relics and 1,000 old photos, and there are many treasures and masterpieces. The museum is divided into 5 parts: broken mountains and rivers, tragic expedition, years of occupation, swords sweeping the beacon smoke, and the sun and the moon. Through a large number of old photos, documentaries, historical facts, oil paintings, comic strips, etc., together with the cultural relics in the museum, that period of history is truly reproduced. The museum opened on July 7, 2005, and CCTV's "Face to Face" column made an exception and produced three programs here. More than 50 American veterans who participated in the Anti-Japanese War in Yunnan and Burma were received. had a wide-ranging impact across the country.
When visiting the National Cemetery, I ran into Lu Caiwen, a 94-year-old veteran of the Expeditionary Army. The old man was full of energy and healthy, and told us about the past of that period. There is nostalgia and respect.
Tengchong shadow puppets: a good show about Tengchong from ancient times to the present
Tengchong has always been famous for its jade and emeralds, and it is also unique in the world for its hot springs. The beautiful natural scenery is also one of people's impressions of Tengchong. However, in addition to these, Tengchong also has a very interesting old handicraft, which is also very good, that is Tengchong shadow puppetry. Shadow puppets are mostly popular in the Central Plains or most places in the north, but why does Tengchong, which is located in the extreme edge, have shadow puppets?
This has a lot to do with the history of Tengchong. Tengchong was called Tengyue Mansion in ancient times, and it was an important border guard town. Immigrants from Jiangnan, Huguang, Sichuan and other places stationed in the frontier brought different cultural customs to Tengchong, forming a unique Tengchong. Cultural integration, which also includes shadow puppetry.
Shadow puppetry has a history of more than 2,000 years since there are written records. Mrs. Li, the concubine of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, died of illness. Minister Li Shaoweng went out one day, and he met a child playing with a doll in his hand, and the shadow was reflected on the ground vividly. Li Shaoweng's heart was moved, and he cut Mrs. Li's image out of cotton and silk, painted it with color, and installed wooden poles on the hands and feet. At night, surround the square curtains, light up candles, and respectfully invite the emperor to sit in the tent and watch. Emperor Wu couldn't put it down after seeing Longyan Joy. This love story recorded in "Hanshu" is considered to be the earliest source of shadow puppetry.
Tengchong shadow puppetry is a traditional art form that is popular among the people of Tengchong, Yunnan, and has been passed down for a long time. It is mainly spread in Tengchong County, Yunnan Province, where it is called "Deng Ying Ying", "Leather Man Opera", and some people call it "Native Film". Most of the shadow figures are made of cowhide. They are relatively large, about 50 cm high, and simple in shape.
The most influential in Tengchong is Gudong Liujiazhai in the shadow puppet troupe. Under the teaching of Mr. Liu Dingzhong, an old artist, this troupe has made breakthroughs and innovations in singing, performance, music, images, and leather man. They have participated in folk art performances in counties, cities, and provinces for many times, and have been praised by audiences and experts.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the art of shadow puppetry in Tengchong reached its peak. At that time, many large gentry families of the Wang nationality were proud of hiring famous teachers to carve shadow figures, stocking up with exquisite shadow boxes, and raising shadow classes privately. In folk villages and towns, large and small shadow puppet troupes can be found everywhere. No matter during festivals, festivals, harvest celebrations, praying for blessings and worshiping gods, wedding banquets, birthday celebrations, there are always stage and shadow play troupes.
Different from the loud and bright singing in the northern Central Plains, Tengchong's shadow puppet singing is humorous and interesting, which can make people laugh. In addition, the screen is large and colorful, with Yunnan dialect, it tells local humorous stories and historical anecdotes, which looks very interesting.
Like most shadow puppets, Tengchong shadow puppets usually go through eight processes including skin selection, leather making, drafting, drafting, engraving, coloring, sweating and ironing, embellishment and synthesis, and more than 3,000 hand-carved knives. process. The artistic creativity of shadow puppets has absorbed the techniques and styles of silk paintings, stone portraits, brick portraits in the Han Dynasty, and temple murals in Tang and Song Dynasties, which are delicate but rough.
Nowadays, when you travel to Tengchong, you can go to the local shadow puppet experience store. In the store, you can watch shadow puppet performances, experience shadow puppet making, and buy shadow puppet souvenirs. I watched one, and it was about the famous snack in Tengchong, "Big Rescue". ", listening to the Tengchong dialect singing shadow puppets, is really good.