Immigrate to ancient villages

When I first saw the word "si", many people were confused and asked, "What does this word sound like?" This word is pronounced "Cun" and the ancient sound is "chuàn". I know it started with a "walk-and-go trip" six years ago. In the early summer of that year, a few friends and I chartered a car to Xianxia Village, an undeveloped ancient village in Ximentougou, Beijing, for a two-day and one-night surprise gift trip. Because this word is so uncommon, some introductions even labeled it "Chuandixia Village" according to the ancient sound.

Sixteen years have passed, and many people and things have changed. This ancient village has changed the world and changed its face. Taking the architectural style of Ming and Qing Dynasties as the main body, it is the most complete preserved humanistic tourist attraction of ancient dwellings. Popular film and television dramas such as The warlords, Mobile Phone and Detective De Renjie have all been filmed here, which is also a good place for go on road trip in the west of Beijing.

Cuanxia Village is adjacent to Baiyu Village in the northwest, Shuangshi Village in the south and Caijialing Village in the east, with a total area of 5.33 square kilometers and an altitude of 650 meters, 90 kilometers away from Beijing and 65 kilometers away from Mentougou City. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the location of the ancient village was the most important ancient post road in western Beijing, which ran through the east-west artery in Zhaitang area. It is not only a military channel connecting the border with Beijing, but also a major traffic artery leading to Hebei and Inner Mongolia. This village has been built for more than 400 years. In the tenth year of Zhengde in Ming Dynasty (15 15), Gilian Pass, a military pass to defend the enemy, was set up here, hence the name of the village, which was under the jurisdiction of the garrison along the estuary. 1958, when the place name is simplified, it is changed to "Xiachuan". The ancestors, Han Fujin, Han and Han Fucang, were transferred from the "Sanchakou" in the area along the Yangtze River to defend the border here. Our village is one of the descendants of the ancestor Han Fujin. The guarding family is the army. If there is a war, you will go to war, and if there is no war, you will go to farm. With the multiplication of soldiers and the increase of population, a village has gradually formed, which continues to this day and has established this place where Han families live together. Han homophony "cold", cold and heat complement each other in the five elements, cold balances the fire in the marrow, reaches the balance of yin and yang, and makes the Han family continue from generation to generation.

According to the ancestral temple in the village, there are 20 generations of Han people in the village. Now the 70-year-old people in the village are basically "Xiao", and now they have spread to "Mao".

The explanation of "Cuan" is: 1, baked by fire; 2, the stove; 3. Last name; Because "Han" and "cold" are homophonic, cold is poor, so the ancestors of the Han family named the village "Xian Xia" in order to make their people rich. In order to write well and remember well, I also made up a jingle: "Xing prefix, Lin prefix waist, big characters under fire, big fire forest, the more it burns, the more it burns", which also contains the wish of Han clan people who have left their hometown to live a more prosperous life.

Mentougou district is a mountainous area, and there is no expressway from the urban area. 100 kilometers, two hours' drive. Out of the sixth ring road, it is basically a mountain road. You can see the viaduct being repaired along the way. It is estimated that the expressway will be open in a few years, and it will be more convenient to come over. This mountain road has all kinds of sharp turns, and the autumn forest is dyed, which reminds me of the self-driving trip in the Balkans in previous years. I found three gas stations along the way, and the road conditions were good.

Today, Cuanxia Village is located in Cuanbai Scenic Area. In May 2009, the integrated regional resources were officially opened to the outside world, including Cuanxia Village, Shuangshitou, Huanglingxi, Yixiantian and White. Cross Zhaitang Town along National Highway 109, and you will see the gate of the scenic spot not far away. Ticket office, adult 35 yuan, all-inclusive scenic spots, free parking of scenic spots.

Sixteen years have passed, and I have long forgotten what it is like here. I only remember that the mountain road in and out of Zhaitang is desolate. Today's village entrance has already been renovated, and the word "four" is engraved on the stone tablet.

Park the car and walk into the village. It was not a holiday when I came, and there were few tourists. The villages surrounded by mountains are full of smoke, just like Tao Yuanming's leisurely mood of "picking chrysanthemums under the east fence and seeing Nanshan leisurely" The ancient doors and windows and mottled stone walls are reminiscent of the prosperity and vicissitudes of the ancient road in Jingxi during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. If the villagers in modern clothes were not sitting at the door, they would really feel like crossing.

Nowadays, communication and transportation are developed, and you can drive with one foot on the accelerator. Tourism was developed as early as 1995, and the main street leading to Hongdong County in Shanxi Province was paved by 1998. For hundreds of years, the small mountain village has been proudly independent, just like a paradise. The whole mountain village now has a population of 35 households with 93 people and 656 quadrangle houses in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, which is the first time that a relatively complete ancient mountain village complex has been discovered and preserved in China.

There are several shops selling agricultural products and tourist souvenirs at the entrance to the village. Uncle Tan was very enthusiastic and chatted with me and said, "You came here sixteen years ago? Then you caught up. It was much more interesting then than it is now. There have been too many demolitions and changes in these years. " What he means is that it was not developed at that time, and many original scenes could be seen. It's a little commercialized now, entirely for tourism.

The whole village of Cuanxia Village is well-structured and patchwork. The quadrangle has good integrity and reasonable layout. The architectural style not only has the grandeur of the northern deep house courtyard, but also has the charm of Jiangnan water town in details such as windows and rooms. Stone walls, mountain roads, gatehouses, shadow walls, flower walls, etc. It can still be seen in careful construction; The stone carvings, woodcuts and murals left on the wall are silently telling the changes of the situation for hundreds of years; The heavy courtyard walls are dignified and dignified, and the gray tile cornices accumulate profound culture. The whole village is in the shape of an ingot, also known as Potala Palace in the west of Beijing.

Siheyuan should be one of the representatives of Beijing architecture. Compared with the quadrangles in the urban area, the quadrangles under the mattress are slightly pocket-sized and the layout is slightly different. The location of the main building, wing, gatehouse and central axis is completely determined by geomantic omen, and the architectural idea is the same as that of the urban area. The key points are Zuo Qinglong, You Baihu, Qiansuzaku and HouXuanwu, as well as the screen wall outside the door, the screen wall inside the door, the gatehouse, the horse nail and the stone. But perhaps because of the limitation of area and orientation, the east and west wing rooms are indented to the center of the courtyard to reduce the floor space; In order to improve the utilization rate of land, three halls with five purlins were built in the Second Hospital instead of hanging flower doors. A second door is opened on the east side of the hall, which is located in the southeast corner of the front yard, and rainwater is discharged from the hole on the left side of the door.

The Nanshan wall in the east wing of the front yard and the Nanshan wall in the east wing of the backyard of the quadrangle are made of "mountain shadow wall". It is a kind of screen wall, and a small wall cap is directly built on the gable of the wing, so that the screen wall is formed and the screen wall and the gable are connected into a whole.

The quadrangle gatehouses in the urban area are all located on the central axis, and most of the quadrangle gatehouses below are built in the southeast corner, moving eastward along the central axis, which means "making a windfall" and also conforms to the geomantic thought of "left Qinglong, right White Tiger".

The whole village is very small, and it only takes ten minutes to walk from one end to the other. Almost all courtyards have been opened as homestays, which can be visited for free, and you can also experience "farmhouse music" and eat farmhouse meals. But personally, I don't think it is necessary to look at every yard. It's almost the same, and it's aesthetic fatigue to see a few. And most of them are too commercialized and rigid, which is also the disadvantage of many destinations. The places worth punching in are the rich man's court, the master's court and the observation deck. , plus Guandi Temple and the golden toad looking at the moon.

This is a "two-store quadrangle". As the name implies, it is a combined courtyard with both shops and mule shops, which integrates residence, commerce, goods storage and stables, and the division of each courtyard obviously does not interfere with each other. The pavement facing the street is a three-bay, inverted-seat room, and the front and rear of the open room are composed of four gates, commonly known as "board doors", which are convenient for business travelers to enter and leave. In addition to the daily necessities of the villagers, there are also materials for the pack team, such as whips and ropes. Shopkeepers not only provide accommodation for business travelers in the past, but also drink horses and feed on behalf of customers, and have a lot of storage space to meet the needs of entrepot trade and futures trade. The setting of the gatehouse of the Roman shop is also very distinctive, which is not only for people to use, but also for animals to enter and leave.

The Fuzi Courtyard on the right hand side of the main street is one of the earliest courtyards in 1403 (Yongle period of Ming Dynasty). It is the most complete quadrangle in the village and the only quadrangle with two entrances.

Outside the door is called "Zhaobi", which is the only preserved Zhaobi in the village, corresponding to Gate No.2 and the screen wall across the street. It blocks people's sight from the outside, gives people a mysterious color, blocks wealth from the inside, prevents good people from going out and bad people from coming in, and also plays a role in making it difficult for the outside world to spy on the activities in the hospital. There is also a "horse-tying ring" on the zhaobi, which was used by businessmen and officials to tie horses in the past.

Entering the courtyard is a screen wall with a big word "Fu" in the middle. In the Ming Dynasty, Han Shoude wrote a blessing on the wall, wishing his descendants happiness and well-being.

Of course, the word "fu" we see now has been redrawn after numerous repairs. The upper point on the left looks like a bat from a distance, and there are five plum blossoms on it, which means "Five Blessingg holds a long life, and the fifth son is admitted to the Lord". From a low point, it looks like a sika deer with nine plum blossoms on it, which means "everlasting harmony for a hundred years". "Nine" is the largest number in the number, and it also means "the glory of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, the first of all things". From a distance, the radical looks like a guy with a long life, with sixteen plum blossoms on it and sixteen "jubilee" characters hidden inside. In the past, this was the door to doing business. I hope the business will be prosperous all the year round, and Fu Lushou will be rich and prosperous.

The host was very enthusiastic and introduced the courtyard and his family's delicious food to every guest. However, uncle is a bit "overexert" and his eyes are rolling around, which makes people feel a bit too commercial.

On the way up the mountain, there is a small "Wudao Temple", which is located at the most important traffic node in the village, representing the folk custom that the villagers value filial piety. It is a traditional funeral etiquette place for five Taoist priests. In the past, after the villagers died, their relatives reported to the temple and were taken in by the "underworld" to avoid being ghosts.

The "rich people's court" is at the commanding height of the village, and it can be reached by walking up the main street for about 5 minutes. The courtyard faces south, with unique feng shui, overlooking other villages. There are four rooms in the front yard, and the owner of the south yard keeps them for himself. Westinghouse Inn, East Room Kitchen and North Room are now exhibition halls.

Walking into the backyard, blue bricks and gray tiles, yellow mud walls, familiar scenes. More than twenty years ago, a TV series called Hero was filmed here. This is the first series of Yan. I occasionally glanced at it, and the main room was the residence of a bandit in the play.

"Big Five Rooms" is the intersection of fan-shaped houses in the village, and it is also the highest-standard and best-quality houses in the village. There is light and dark in the room, and the building structure is five rooms and five purlins, with bedrooms on both sides and living room in the middle. It used to be called a hall, with carved walls in the partition and a chessboard kang under the window. There is a cat hole on the steps outside the door and a kennel under the steps. There is a storage room under the west wing, with ventilation holes and drainage ditches, which is a typical representative of the clever use of space in mountain village residential buildings.

The villagers kept pets long ago and fully considered the living habits of cats and dogs. They set a dog hole in the space below the front steps, and set a cat hole at the wall root or threshold under the window to let cats in and out at will.

In order to increase the available storage space, most quadrangles in Cuanxia Village are equipped with cellars, which skillfully meet the needs of storage and preservation, and also ensure the integrity of courtyard space.

This mill also appeared in the TV series Hero. It is said that the earliest village built by Ming immigrants is at the old grave in the northwest of today's village. After that, the whole village was destroyed by flash floods, and only one young man and woman went out to survive. In order to continue the descendants of the Koreans, the two married through the intermediary of the mill and rebuilt their homes at the current site.

From the opposite side of the Confucius Institute, you can overlook the panoramic view of the Yuanbao-shaped village halfway up the mountain. Personally, I don't think it is necessary to climb the mountain again.

On the way down the mountain, there is also a "Niangniang Temple" dedicated to Bi Xia Yuan Jun. It is the patron saint of women and children, in charge of youth, fertility and poverty alleviation, and is one of the representatives of folk worship in Beijing.

Far away from the "Niangniang Temple" is the "Guandi Temple" in the ancient village, which is a comprehensive activity place integrating ethical education, praying for rain and worshiping heaven, and turning on the lights to pay homage.

It is the famous "first sight" to drive 1.2 km from Guanxia Village to the mountains. The mountains here are calcareous and washed away by water to form gullies. The cliff is more than 100 meters high, just like a tunnel, looking up at the sky like a line, hence the name "first sight". Many film and television dramas, such as Thirteen Sisters, Heavenly Army and Warlords, were filmed here.

Tips:

1, transportation:

Self-driving: In Mentougou District, drive along the G 109 National Highway, go straight to the Kanshui Reservoir Dam in Zhaitang Town (109 National Highway 84.9 km), turn right at the junction of Xianbei Scenic Area, go straight to the ticket office of Xianbei Scenic Area 1.5 km, and drive for 3.5 km after buying a ticket.

Public transportation: Take bus No.892 to the west at the exit of Apple Garden Station of Metro 1 Line: get off at the bottom of the mattress three times a day, and get off at the bottom of the mattress at 7:00 in the morning, and get off at Zhaitang at 15:05 and 18:40 in the afternoon. Return trip: it leaves at 6:50 every day and goes straight to the apple orchard. Buses at 9:35 a.m. and 15:35 p.m. all go to Zhaitang, and then change from Zhaitang to No.892 to return to the apple orchard.

The bus enters the Xibai Scenic Area and goes to the ticket office first. Visitors need to get off the bus to buy tickets, and then take bus No.892 for three kilometers to reach the village.

2. There are gas stations in Danli Tunnel and large towns along the way. The whole driveway and some roads are winding and rugged, so be sure to check the condition of the car before you leave.

3. Tickets: adult 35 yuan/person, student ticket 18 yuan/person. Free parking in the village.

4. Opening hours: open all day.

5. Navigation address: Zhaitang Town, Mentougou District, Beijing/Ganxia Village, 5 km north of KLOC-0/09 National Highway.

6. Personally, living in the village is not recommended. There are not many places to play around at night, so you can go back and forth in the city on the same day.

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Author: desert rose

Global travel expert, travel experiencer, freelance writer and guest host. He has been to nearly 50 countries and more than 200 cities on five continents alone.