Jianshui, an ancient town in secular life

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In the winter of 20 15, the poet Yu Jian and the Belgian sinologist John Mai came to Jianshui, a small town in Yunnan. John Mai, who has studied China culture for decades, lamented here: "The China I have been looking for all my life is here."

This is the beginning of Yu Jian's Jianshui Collection. Yu Jian is from Kunming, but he fell in love with Jianshui from 1992 when he first came to Jianshui. In the book, he described the life and daily beauty of this small town in poetic language, and asked: "Why do humans have such a residence as Shuicheng?" Why is it behind the times? Why stand out from the crowd because of' backwardness'? "

I also came to Jianshui with the pursuit of answers.

Hide in Jiangnan, Yunnan

Although Jianshui is in Yunnan, it was called "Lin 'an" in ancient times. This stems from the establishment of Lin 'an Road in Yunnan in the Yuan Dynasty, which governs Jianshui. In the 15th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1382), after the Ming army pacified Yunnan, it diverted its government and moved it to Jianshui, also known as Lin 'an.

Jianshui East Gate was built in the early Ming Dynasty, and the Oriental IC has been preserved to this day.

Yu Jian feels that the name' Lin 'an' symbolizes the yearning for Hangzhou. "Jianshui people want to build a paradise like Hangzhou in their hometown, and it has also become. "

During the Wanli period, Xie, a right-wing politician in Yunnan, said in his book A Brief Introduction to Yunnan: "The prosperity of Lin 'an lies in the middle of Yunnan. As the saying goes,' Golden Lin 'an, Silver Dali' means tolerance. " In the 13th year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (1534), Yang Shen, a poet exiled to Yunnan, was dumped by the civilization and prosperity of Shuicheng, and wrote a poem "A Spring Club Tour in Lin 'an", which has been passed down to this day:

……

Wanluo scenery is like a dream,

My hometown brothers died in the west and returned to the east.

Drunk in the middle of the month,

Please don't sing sadness.

More than 400 years later, this small town miraculously retains the features described by Yang Shen. The Randeng Temple he said is still there, and the Fudong Temple where he lived is still there. In memory of him, the locals called the alley he walked through "Taishi Lane" and the horse washing hall similar to Gui Hu in his hometown of Xindu, Sichuan called "Little Gui Hu". These are also there.

More importantly, they have not become "landmarks" and "punching places". In the old alleys, fireworks are still alive. Yu Jian wrote in surprise: "Jianshui described in Yang Shen's poems is not isolated from the world. I almost thought that Yang Shengang left soon after writing ... The world written in Yang Shenshi has changed a lot, but the atmosphere can still be felt. "

The entrance of a typical Jianshui residence was photographed by the author, unless otherwise specified.

Today, the East Gate of Shuicheng built in Ming Dynasty still exists. Later, people rebuilt the West Gate, South Gate and North Gate. Inside and outside the city gate, Gu Xiang criss-crosses, carved beams and painted buildings, ancient houses dotted in Ming and Qing Dynasties, temples, Taoist temples and yamen scattered at will, and hundreds of ancient wells still nourish the daily life of local people, just as they have for hundreds of years.

Wandering around the city, don't follow the map too much. The alleys here are just suitable for strolling, and you can inadvertently bump into antique houses on the roadside, most of which are very imposing: the main entrance of the blue tile cornice, beautifully carved lintels, fresh red couplets on both sides of the door, and decorative paintings that faded decades or even hundreds of years ago. Sometimes one or two electric cars will be parked at the door, and some families like to put pots of plants outside the door. At first glance, you can know that it was carefully handled by the owner, showing the aesthetic taste between the door and the room.

The scenery under the Jianshui window

If you want to see the prosperous life of Jianshui in the past, you must go to Jia Zhu Garden. During Guangxu period, Jianshui became an important trade center in southern Yunnan. The Jia Zhu family of Jianshui sold pickaxes and shovels from Tonghai, flax fir from Yuxi, bamboo products from Shiping and indigo from Jianshui to Southeast Asia, thus becoming the richest man in Jianshui.

Jia Zhu Garden is a private residence, which was carefully built by two generations of Jia Zhu people for more than 20 years. Interestingly, just like the name "Lin 'an" in Jianshui, Jia Zhu Garden is also a Jiangnan-style garden with elegant courtyards and winding paths.

The Moon Cave Gate of Jia Zhu Garden

In addition to the small courtyard with unique charm, the most wonderful and magnificent building in the garden is the ancestral hall, where there are square pools, water tables and pavilions, which are hidden among the flowers and trees in the courtyard. There are also twelve reliefs, poems and calligraphy on the stone fence beside the pool. It is said that Zhu Guzhu often invites literati to gather here to talk about poetry and politics and sing songs about the moon. Every time there is a sacrificial ceremony, famous Yunnan opera actors will be invited to sing on the water stage.

The Stage of Jia Zhu Garden

If you wander around the Confucian Temple in Jianshui, you should be careful and prepare enough feet, because this Confucian Temple in a small town in the southwest is the third largest Confucian Temple in China, next to Qufu Confucian Temple and Beijing Confucian Temple, and the largest Confucian Temple in the south in terms of scale and preservation integrity.

The gate of Jianshui Confucian Temple is not necessarily magnificent, but after entering, everyone will be shocked by the rippling Chi Pan. After Chi Pan, there is the magnificent "Zhu Siyuan Garden" archway, which leads tourists into the stele gallery, Xingxingmen and even the magnificent Dacheng Hall, and the cypress forest behind the temple.

Corner of Chi Pan

This Confucian Temple was built in the 22nd year of the Yuan Dynasty (A.D. 1285), and it has been more than 700 years since then. In the Ming Dynasty, Li Yuyuan, the head of Hanlin, borrowed the palace-style architectural pattern of Confucius Temple in Qufu from Beijing, and Jianshui Confucius Temple was rebuilt according to this pattern, so there was a palace-style layout with today's scale and symmetrical north-south axis. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was the seat of Fu Xue in Lin 'an and Fu Xue in Jianshui Prefecture. It once hosted Fu Xue in Yuanjiang and became the cultural and educational center in southern Yunnan. Probably because of this, Jianshui was deeply influenced by Confucianism. Jianshui is a small town in the southwest, but the whole city has the same cultural features and life interests as the south of the Central Plains.

The magnificent Confucius Temple complex is hidden behind the archway.

If you want to know the modern history of Jianshui, you can go to Lin 'an Station outside the ancient city and see the Jianshui train. Jianshui small train is a meter-gauge railway, that is, a narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 1 m. The most famous meter-gauge railway is Yunnan-Vietnam Railway. Jianshui train has its own story.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the French built the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, which made many people of insight in Yunnan feel the loss of sovereignty. They jointly requested to build an An (Lao) Bi (Sezhai) Lin (An) Shi (Ping) Railway belonging to the people of Yunnan. 19 15, a Bishi railway invested and built by Yunnan businessmen started. In order to prevent the French from coveting Yunnan's mineral resources through the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, the builders decided to implement an inch track with a gauge of 600 mm.

However, when building Lin 'an section, Shabu, the chief engineer of Bishi Railway, suggested that it should be built by the meter rail, but the inch rail should be laid first. When the country is strong and the Yunnan-Vietnam meter rail is recovered, the Bishi Railway can be changed into the meter rail and connected with the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway. It was not until 1970 that the Bishi Railway was finally expanded into a meter-gauge railway.

Today's Lin 'an Railway Station still preserves the station building 100 years ago, which is different from the typical French building of Yunnan-Vietnam Railway Station with red tiles and yellow walls. The Bi-Shi Railway adopts "blue tiles with yellow walls" and uses blue tiles with the characteristics of China dwellings, which not only reflects the simplicity and generosity of China architecture, but also has the same effect as the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway.

Lin' an station building

Today, the Bishi Railway has opened a 13 km tourist route between Jianshui and Tuanshan Village, which can start from Lin 'an Station, pass through Seventeen-hole Bridge and Xianghuiqiao Station, and finally reach Tuanshan Village, which is famous for its well-preserved Qing dwellings. It can be said that, unlike the "exotic" feeling of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, the Bishi Railway has a stronger Chinese flavor, and the ancient bridges, ancient villages and lotus ponds along the way all have a touch of homesickness.

Nostalgic stop sign on the platform

Walk into Jianshui's family

In Jianshui Collection, Yu Jian lamented several times that we are in an era that is no longer attached to the concept of "home".

In the eyes of Jianshui people, home is not only a refuge, but also an excuse. "Excuse" means that this home is meaningful, not only practical, but also habitable, playable and teaching. Divinity, beauty, truth and meaning must be present all the time, and it can be enjoyed, cultivated and poetically inhabited.

The gate of Jianshui residential building

In the early Ming Dynasty, immigrants from the south of the Yangtze River took root here, which also brought their life world and lifestyle at that time.

Yu Jian said that these people include craftsmen, chefs, shoemakers, doctors, actors, craftsmen, teachers, architects, poets, painters, singers, farmers and monks ... There are gold and silver jewelry, silk, embroidery, porcelain, bamboo, Four Treasures of the Study, rice seeds, lotus seeds and flower seeds in the ditch ... Life is.

"I have been to hundreds of counties, but in the process of modernization, countless cities that used to be like Jianshui have disappeared and become so-called modern cities. Only Jianshui is still alive. In this city, people with families are really blessed. They can still live and work in peace and contentment like their ancestors 400 years ago, without worrying about the virtue of their neighbors. They are all family friends. " He has lived in Kunming for so many years that he can't see the old people on the street at any time like Jianshui. When walking, you can meet acquaintances and say hello to each other, so that everyone has a sense of existence.

Jianshui City has more than 500 quadrangles. Starting from 20 13, under the auspices of Ma Xinlin, a Jianshui person and known as the "leader of the Jianshui Ancient City Restoration Group", local restoration began.

Lao Ma is not an architect, but the paradigm of traditional life and the grasp of aesthetic feeling make everyone convinced. Ying Hui Road in front of Jianshui East Gate is an ancient road. In order to facilitate driving, the government widened it by 9 meters. Ma Xinlin thinks that the widened road facilitates driving, but hinders walking. Therefore, according to the tradition of the official road in the Han Dynasty, he added a dew pavilion in the middle of the road for pedestrians to shelter from the wind and rain, and also made the street less empty.

Zeng's courtyard was the first one he restored. The owner of this clause is Ceng Li, the 74th grandson of Ceng Zi, whose family still lives here today. Nowadays, the bonsai in front of the screen wall, the scroll under the porch window and the Ming Dynasty plaque in front of the hall all have a classical taste. In the evening, everyone gathered at the stone table in Chi Pan atrium to eat barbecue and drink corn wine. A young man who participated in the restoration of another hospital in Zeng was also present. He went to Anhui to study university architecture, but chose to return to his hometown to settle in Jianshui. There are many ancient buildings and jobs here, not to mention home. Jianshui people are reluctant to leave home.

Although the bonsai under the porch window of Zeng's courtyard is an ordinary sweet potato leaf, it also brings beauty.

Ma Xinlin and Zeng Li want not only to rebuild a home, but also to keep Jianshui alive. Huan Wen Academy was once a county school in Qing Dynasty and one of the four major academies in Jianshui. Later, it was changed to Jianshui County No.2 Primary School, which was once abandoned until it moved out.

"We are all born and raised in Jianshui. We are nourished by this soil and water and by culture. We have deep feelings for the college. " Ceng Li said that his grandfather was the last dean of Huan Wen Academy during the Republic of China and the first dean of New China. Therefore, after the college was abandoned, Zeng Li and his partners decided to settle in and repair it as private capital.

A corner of the restored college

They rebuilt the opposite gate, restored the ceremony gate, lecture hall and library, and now the courtyard is clean and tidy with flowers and trees. Ceng Li said that the ultimate goal of the old house renovation is to make it "alive" and continue our memories and homesickness. He hopes that by highlighting the functions of the academy, he can carry out some activities of Chinese studies, enrich cultural experience and realize cultural inheritance.

Lao Li, the owner of another quadrangle in Jianshui City, also has a name: Lu Jing. Four generations of Lao Li's family have lived here since his great-grandfather. In 2005, Lao Li renovated the quiet house and opened several rooms to make it more suitable for friends to get together.

This is also my favorite small yard in Jianshui. Compared with Zeng's other yard, it is smaller and untidy, but the trees in the small yard are mottled. The pond is decorated with stones collected by Lao Li from all over the world, hand-made bonsai and hand-fired teapot. Pucao flourishes by the water's edge, and there is a plaque hanging under the eaves of the main hall, which reads "Be kind to others". This is a relic that Lao Li's ancestors received during the Tongzhi period.

The night is quiet.

In many places, the old house may have become a folk museum, or a temporary residence for the owner and guests, but here, the owner of the old house is still in the old house, leading a similar life for their ancestors.

Jianshui people who love tofu.

The diet consumption of Jianshui people is closely related to this city. The ancient wells here support the life of the whole city, and also create the favorite tofu of local people.

When it comes to tofu, you can't help but mention Dabanjing outside the west gate. The well water here is the sweetest in this city. Every day, local residents come to fetch water in an endless stream, and they abide by strict established rules: the pumped water cannot be poured into the well again.

Local people fetching water in Ximen

Just next to Osaka Well, there is a Banjing Tofu Workshop, which is also called "Ximen Baked Tofu" by local people. It is unique in that tofu is made from the well water of Dabanjing. The Zeng family made tofu here, which was deeply loved by Jianshui people and has been passed down for six generations.

Banjing Tofu Shop sells tofu products downstairs, and freshly made tofu flowers and soybean milk are sold upstairs. Many Jianshui people start their morning here. 5 yuan is full, tofu flower and soybean milk are added casually, and the sauce is homemade, salty and sweet, with rich flavor. There are also fried dried tofu and tofu skin.

Jianshui people love tofu, but they are not the only ones. At night, there are barbecue stalls everywhere in the city. Unlike other places, there will be baked tofu, and every diners will definitely eat one.

Golden crispy baked tofu

Baked tofu doesn't need to be ordered, but a grill is set up on the table and baked in front of diners. Baked golden, bulging and fragrant. Whoever wants to eat it, put it in a bowl, dip it in some water and put it in his mouth while it is hot. The barbecue chef will pick up a soybean (or corn or peas) and put it in the diners' bowl, representing a piece of tofu, and finally settle the bill according to the quantity. The price of a piece of roasted tofu is about 50 cents, and it is only a few dollars to eat.

Eating barbecue under the lintel of Qing dynasty is probably the only enjoyment of Jianshui.

Want to taste more Jianshui characteristics, Yu Jian's favorite is Lin 'an Hotel on Lin 'an Road in the ancient city. It has been almost seventy years since it was opened, and it is almost a scene on Lin 'an Road, the central axis of the ancient city. Its decoration is not luxurious. The downstairs is like a snack bar, welcoming and noisy. The stairs on both sides go up, and it is also a private seat facing the porch window.

In Yu Jian's view, there is a Jianghu spirit in the water margin. "Chopsticks that move chopsticks, spoons that shake spoons, dry wine with dry wine, chewy muscles ... drag a stool to sit down and have a plate of steamed dumplings!"

The beauty of Jianshui is always like this, hidden in secular fireworks. In Jianshui Ji, Yu Jian always wants to find this secular feeling that has gradually become unimportant today. This does not mean the pursuit of material things, but a feeling of secular life. As Confucius said, "Xian Zai, come back! A scoop of food and a scoop of drink, in the mean lane, people can't bear to worry, and they won't change their fun when they go back. " This is how Jianshui people love life and have endless fun in a spoonful of food and a spoonful of drinks.

Proofreading: Shi Yan