History of Hengkou Town

Hengkou Town was founded in the Northern Song Dynasty and was called Hengkou in ancient times. It has a history of nearly a thousand years. Located between Ganges River and Sichuan Road crossing the river in Qinba Mountain area, 27 kilometers away from Ankang City, it is a transportation hub connecting Ziyang, Hanyin and Hanbin counties (districts). Ancestors lived here as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties, and there was a site of the Qin and Han Dynasties in Yongfeng between Xinjie, Yongfeng and Qingfeng Village. According to local county records, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were a large number of immigrants from lakes, Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi in the Yangtze River basin and Shanxi and Henan in the Yellow River basin, especially from Macheng and Xiaogan in Hubei, accounting for more than one third of the town's population.

Hengkou is famous because it has a well-preserved ancient street in the north of China with obvious cultural characteristics in the Yangtze River basin. As long as two kilometers, it is very rare in the northwest and even the whole country. There are more than 700 houses with historical features of Ming and Qing dynasties in the ancient street, which are connected by households. There are five old wells in the ancient street, and the water source is still flowing. The striking horse-headed wall on the ancient street stands upright, and the unique layout of multi-eaves quadrangles combines the architectural characteristics of Hanshui culture and North-South culture, which is unique. According to article 13 of Ankang County Records, Hengkou became a big town in the Song Dynasty, and the commodity trading market was formed earlier. During the Northern Song Dynasty, there were wars in the northwest, but the mountainous areas in southern Shaanxi were relatively stable, which made Hengkou economy develop greatly. Ming history records that there are Yulin Fort in northern Shaanxi and Hengkou Fort in Ankang. Unfortunately, today, the castle in the ancient town has only left a ruin of only twenty or thirty meters, which is regarded as the gable of every household.

Because the ancestors of the residents of the ancient town came from all over the country, the cultural remains here show the characteristics of north-south convergence. On holidays, there are dragon dances, fire lions and bamboo horses running in the south, and donkeys driving, canoeing and shadow play in the north. Some of the paper-cut and embroidery works of Luo Chongzhen, a paper-cut artist, were collected by Shaanxi Folk Exhibition Hall, which had a great influence. Zhang Zicheng, a famous Taoist shadow play artist in southern Shaanxi, can fly ten shadow plays with his hands, and one person can monopolize the ugliness of life, making people unable to open their mouths and shut their mouths. People in ancient towns are keen on pursuing cultural literacy. Many living 90-year-olds have stayed abroad and admired China culture.

In the ancient town, you can taste the food culture with local characteristics, among which the hot soup stew is delicious and unique; The bean curd in the casserole is smooth and clear, and tastes thick and fragrant; Sesame drum is crispy, better than yellow bridge; Glutinous rice wine is sweet and refreshing.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially since the reform and opening up, Hengkou Town has squeezed into the ranks of pilot towns for comprehensive reform of small town construction in China and key towns for small town construction in Shaanxi Province, and built the only township-level enterprise community in southern Shaanxi. Yang' an railway runs through east and west. The Sichuan-Shaanxi Expressway and the Ten-day Expressway under construction run through 65,438+09 villages in China. Their interchanges connect 365, 438+06 National Highway, 365, 438+00 Provincial Highway and Hengye Highway. They are the transportation hubs connecting Hanyin, Ziyang and Hanbin, and belong to the economic, transportation and cultural centers in the west of Hanbin District.