What city is Guangzhou?

Yangcheng. Everyone may have heard of the legend of Wuyang. Guangzhou has several beautiful nicknames. I'm going to test you now to see if you can tell it all. Yes, everyone is right. Guangzhou is also known as Huacheng, Yangcheng and Guangzhou. The Flower City has been briefly introduced to you in front, but most of your understanding and memory of the Flower City comes from Huo Mu's famous essay "Flower City", one of the four great essayists in China. This well-known essay has been included in middle school Chinese textbooks, and generations of China people remember that Guangzhou is eleven cities named after flowers. Then, why is Guangzhou also called "Yangcheng" and "Guangzhou City"? There is a very beautiful legend in it.

According to legend, one year, due to successive years of disasters, Chuting farmland was barren, agriculture was completely harvested, and the people were hungry and cold. One day, five auspicious clouds appeared in the sky. There are five immortals dressed in red, orange, yellow, green and colorful clothes, riding five fairy sheep of different colors, each with a rice with six ears in its mouth, and slowly landing in this city. The fairy gave the rice to the people, leaving five sheep, hoping that there would never be a famine here, and then flew away.

Since then, Guangzhou has become the richest place in Lingnan, and it has also begun to have a "Yangcheng". Known as the "Five Yangcheng" and "Guangzhou City". Later, the people of Guangzhou also built a "Five Immortals View" on Huifu West Road to commemorate these five immortals who benefited Guangzhou. If you don't believe me, you can go to the east of Wuxian Temple. There is still a huge red sandstone footprint cave, which is the "immortal thumb print". If you still don't believe me, you can go to the foot of Yuexiu Mountain again. There is a famous archway "Guchuting", which tells people that the oldest name in Guangzhou is "Chuting".

People who like to use their brains and are good at thinking may think: in this myth and legend, why do immortals ride sheep instead of other animals? Why are the clothes of the five immortals colored and the clothes of the sheep colored? Is there any mystery in this?

Yes, behind this myth and legend, it also contains very rich historical and cultural connotations. In other words, it's no accident that the immortal rode a sheep. It is no accident that the gods count five times, clothes are colored and sheep are colored. Let's start with why it's a sheep. Here, I tell you a basic fact. Animal husbandry experts proved that the sheep in Guangdong came from the north, indicating that Wuyang myth is a prehistoric colonial myth. As early as the Zhou Dynasty in the 9th century BC, people from the Central Plains began to move south, bringing the culture and civilization from the north to Lingnan people. At the same time, it also proves that Guangzhou was an immigrant city very early. Maybe someone will ask, ancestors who moved to Yangcheng can also let dogs go. Bring pigs or something, why only sheep? This may be because the distance is too far. Pigs move slowly, so it is not convenient to drive them in batches. In addition, in ancient legends, the image of pigs is not good. Dogs, the totems and ancestors of many ancient nationalities, were rarely raised as livestock with economic value. Compared with dogs and pigs, sheep have strong reproductive ability, strong adaptability and high economic value. Today, there is still a saying in Guangdong that "planting ginger and raising sheep will benefit from less capital" and "the sheep will never leave the fetus". Plus, it moves fast and is easy to drive away. It can be seen that the fairy riding sheep in Wuyang myth not only symbolizes that he is from the north, but also has psychological, moral and economic considerations. There is a certain scientific reason that sheep became the ideal livestock carried by the ancestors who moved south that day.

Today, Wuyang has become the symbol of Guangzhou. Careful tourists will find that the nickname "Yangcheng" has penetrated into every aspect of Guangzhou's life: books include "Yangcheng Ancient Banknotes", publications include "Yangcheng Ancient and Modern", and newspapers have "Yangcheng Evening News" with "Eight Scenes of Yangcheng" on it; Even many trademarks, companies, societies and places of interest are named after "Yangcheng"; The "Five Immortals View" still exists today, and the "immortal thumb mark" is still visible; Huxian Street, Xianlin Lane, Infinite Gate, etc. There is also a little "fairy" flavor-the myth of "Wuyang fairy", which has far-reaching influence.