Dialogue｜Zhang Ye: Preserving the thousand-year-old culture of the ancient town of Sijing is not just about restoring the old.

Speaking of ancient towns in the south of the Yangtze River, many people are familiar with the ancient towns in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. In Songjiang, located on the outskirts of Shanghai, there is also a quiet and simple thousand-year-old ancient town - Sijing. This ancient town formed a village as early as the Song Dynasty. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, it attracted the famous scholar Tao Zongyi to live in seclusion and compile it into "Nancun Stops Farming Records". In modern times, Shi Liangcai, a newspaper giant and general manager of "Shenbao", Ma Xiangbo, a great educator of the generation and founder of Fudan University, has his former residence here.

Such a thousand-year-old town with boats running along the river, bridges across the river, streets along the river, and towns along the river not only preserves the complete street and river pattern and traditional water town style, but also retains Rich in historical buildings, with the restoration of historical areas, this ancient town is regaining its vitality and vitality. Zhang Ye, a member of the Party Committee of Sijing Town in Songjiang District, recently said in a dialogue with The Paper, "Sijing Ancient Town has a history and culture of thousands of years. In the subsequent reconstruction and utilization, we have always tried our best to avoid the homogenization of ancient towns, focusing on 'vital ancient towns' and introducing ancient towns. The business format has always adhered to the cultural nature, and is initially preparing to combine the relationship between Shi Liangcai, Ma Xiangbo and Sijing to present media culture and education in depth, as well as the display of intangible cultural heritage. ”

Located in the "Roots of Shanghai". Sijing Ancient Town in Songjiang has been known as "the eighteenth town in the east of the county and the first town in Sijing" since ancient times. Walking into the historical area of ??the ancient town, the restored ancient houses are as old as before, with elegance and ancient charm, which is surprising. What's more, there aren't the noisy bars found in many ancient towns, nor are there a large number of shops. In addition to intangible cultural heritage, ancient building restoration, water town visual design, and the former residences of celebrities that are being restored, there are also displays.

The restored riverside scenery of Sijing Sanzhai

Zhang Ye (second from left) waits at the "Exhibition of Ancient Architectural Wooden Craftsmanship" at Sun Shilin's House in Sijing Ancient Town

" The shadow peaks of the lake come in, and the water is as green as a mat; the secrets touch the secluded interest, and are no longer among the crowd; the flowers on the bank stand up, as if they contain late love; the autumn window can be planted with bamboo, and the cool shade will gradually turn..." This is This is a poem written by Tao Zongyi, a beginner in the late Yuan and Ming dynasties, who lived in seclusion in Sijing, Songjiang, Shanghai, to avoid war, and built the "Nancun Thatched Cottage" south of Sishui.

The ancient town of Sijing, which gave birth to celebrities such as Tao Zongyi, a great Confucian in the Yuan Dynasty, Ma Xiangbo, the founder of Fudan University during the Republic of China, and Shi Liangcai, a giant in the Shanghai art world, once had a history of "diversity of industries, prosperous household registrations, and streets and alleys". Vertical and horizontal, bridges facing each other” grand occasion. With the development of economy, the historical district of Sijing Ancient Town, which has lasted for thousands of years, seemed to be abandoned in a corner of history for a long time. At the beginning of 2013, after evaluation by six national ministries and commissions, Sijing Xiatang Village was included in the first batch of 646 villages with important protection value in the country.

Sijing is the place where four rivers meet

Agricultural production in Sijing

Sijing’s stone-walled river port

For more than ten years, The local government has been promoting the protection, renewal and utilization of Sijing Ancient Town, including the protection of the former residences of Shi Liangcai and Ma Xiangbo at that time. However, due to the objective conditions at the time, a lot of work was done to protect the historical buildings and the subsequent revitalization Exploitation has not been carried out in depth. Entering 2017, with the strong support of the Songjiang District Committee and District Government, the cultural preservation work of Sijing’s ancient buildings has been further promoted. The three ancient houses built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, namely Cheng House, Guan House and Sun Shilin House, located at the entrance of the ancient town, have been restored. Completed the relocation, renovation and business introduction work. The newly restored and updated old houses in the old streets of Sijing Ancient Town are also named "Three Houses Another Life". In fact, they have become "model houses" for the renewal and reuse of historical buildings in Sijing Ancient Town.

Interior view of the restored Sijing old house

Zhang Ye, a member of the Party Committee of Sijing Town, Songjiang District, recently said in a dialogue with The Paper that "preserving nostalgia" is the key to restoring the historical style of Sijing Ancient Town. The original intention is that "the restoration of cultural relics buildings has been fully launched. On the basis of the completion of the restoration of Shi Liangcai's former residence and Ma Xiangbo's former residence, the renovation of Sun Shilin's house, Cheng's house, Guan's house, Ma Xiangbo's second phase, and Ding Jianglu's three houses has been completed. Another four sites have been built, the ancient town planning exhibition hall has been basically completed, and the survey and design work for all other cultural relic protection sites has been started. The Sijing Town Party Congress recently proposed the goal of "technological innovation oasis, vibrant ancient town, and livable new city". .

The ancient town is the root of culture. Renovating the old town is only the first step. The vitality and revitalization of the ancient town is a big article. We hope to achieve "a culturally vibrant ancient town and a quiet and charming water town." ”

Dialogue:

The Paper: Sijing Xiatang Historic Area was listed among the first batch of 646 villages with important protection value in the country many years ago. What are the characteristics of the district?

Zhang Ye: The characteristics of the Sijing Xiatang Historical Area are relatively obvious in Shanghai. On the one hand, our historical and cultural buildings are relatively concentrated, mainly in the Xiatang core area. , including some nearby areas, there are about fifty cultural protection buildings, including cultural protection units and cultural protection points.

On the other hand, Sijing Ancient Town has a profound cultural heritage. The town began to be built during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty. It has a history of more than a thousand years. The ancient town of Sijing is worthy of its name. Since the Northern Song Dynasty, Sijing Ancient Town has had two cultural peaks: one in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, and the other in modern times. Period.

Zhang Ye

In the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, Tao Zongyi, who lived here at that time, was a very famous writer. We were very familiar with the fable "The Cold Horn Bird" when we were studying. "" comes from his "Nancun Stops Farming". Another familiar idiom "Perseverance" also comes from the allusion of Tao Zongyi who accumulated leaves in Sijing Nancun at that time. In the allusion, Tao Zongyi insisted on studying hard even when he was working in the fields. There was no paper in the field. Whenever he thought of something, saw something, or heard something, he would immediately pick the leaves and record them, and store them in a large earthen jar after returning home. When it was full, he buried it under the tree. Day after day, year after year, he accumulated more than a dozen jars of leaves in ten years. Someone asked Tao Zongyi why he did this. He said: "Studying should be persevering. ”

In addition to "Records of Nancun Stopping Farming", Tao Zongyi also wrote a very important book called "History of Calligraphy", which systematically and exhaustively catalogs calligraphy from ancient times to the Yuan Dynasty. Tao Zongyi lived in seclusion in Nancun for decades, with concise and accurate comments. They had contacts with Shao Hengzhen and Sun Daoming, and Tao Zongyi often went on boats with them to drink tea and write poems.

In the modern period, famous people living in Sijing included Ma Xiangbo and Shi Liangcai. He is a famous educator in China, the founder of Fudan University, and the first president of Aurora University. The outstanding educator Yu Youren and Shao Lizi are his disciples. Ma Xiangbo's ancestral home is Danyang, Jiangxi. He moved from Zhenjiang to Shanghai and settled in 1900 (August of the 26th year of Guangxu). Ma Xiangbo donated all his family property - 3,000 acres of land in Songjiang, Qingpu and other places to the Catholic Jiangnan priest for the establishment of "Chinese and Western University". "Tang" fund, and established a "document for donating family property to promote education", stipulating that the property should be used as student scholarships after the establishment of the Central and Western University.

Ma Xiangbo (1840-1939)

Guangxu 30 One spring, with the support of celebrities such as Zhang Jian, Yan Fu and Yuan Xitao, Ma Xiangbo prepared to build Fudan Public School (now Fudan University) in Jiangwan, and it officially opened on the Mid-Autumn Festival (September 13, 1905). During the Revolution of 1911, Ma Xiangbo became the principal. Ma Xiangbo, who was 70 years old, was appointed as the first mayor of Nanjing by Sun Yat-sen. When the September 18th Incident occurred, Ma Xiangbo was 91 years old. He was deeply aware of the serious national calamity and ran for salvation. He published a "Letter to the People for Japan's Disaster". , advocating "stopping internal strife and resisting foreign aggression", and is recognized as "the auspiciousness of mankind" and "the light of the country"

The former residence of Ma Xiangbo located in Sijing Ancient Town

Another. One is Shi Liangcai, a giant in the Shanghai art world. Shi Liangcai was born in Jiangning County. After his mother passed away at the age of 7, his father Shi Chunfan ran Shi Taihetang Pharmacy in Sijing Town, so he brought him to Sijing in the first year of the Republic of China. Cai entered into a joint venture with Zhang Jian and others to purchase Shenbao with a huge sum of 120,000 yuan, and Shi Liangcai became the general manager. Three years later, Shi Liangcai returned the shares to Zhang Jian and others and changed it to a sole proprietorship.

Shi Liangcai (1880-1934)

In the management and operation of "Shenbao", Shi Liangcai hired patriotic democrat Huang Yanpei as the design director of "Shenbao" and Li Gongpu to preside over it "Declaration" circulation library and business tutorial school. In order to change the appearance of "free talk", Li Liewin, who had returned from studying abroad, was hired as the host. He abandoned mandarin ducks and butterflies and talented men and beautiful women, and often published new literary and artistic works, such as Ba Jin's "Sardine", Mao Dun's "Lin's Shop", and Lu Xun's essays and other works by left-wing writers. Not only that, "Shenbao" often made circumstantial criticism of the Kuomintang's actions. For example, Lu Xun's essays and Tao Xingzhi's articles, including "Chao Bandit Commentary", opposed Chiang Kai-shek's attack on the Red Army. Shi Liangcai once said: "People have personality, retribution has a retribution status, and a country has a national status. If the three divisions do not exist, the person will not be a human being, the retribution will not be repaid, and the country will not be a country!" In 1934, Shi Liangcai was talking to his wife Er and others were shot dead by Kuomintang agents on their way back to Shanghai from Hangzhou.

There is also a very famous person named Wen You, who maybe not many people know about. Wen You was rated as one of the three major linguists in modern Chinese history, the other two being Chen Yinke and Qian Zhongshu. There is an example when Wen You went to teach at Southwest Associated University. At that time, Chen Yinke said: "Teacher Wen is here, and I am so humble." Of course, there is an element of self-effacement, but it also shows that Chen Yinke very much recognizes Wen You. of. This is the humanistic history of Sijing.

In addition, Sijing’s folk culture and intangible cultural heritage are also relatively unique in Shanghai. Sijing now has seven intangible cultural heritage items at the national level, Shanghai municipal level, and Songjiang district level. In particular, the ten brocade fine gongs and drums are national-level intangible cultural heritage items.

The Paper: Sijing Xiatang History When did the protection, renewal and utilization of the Sijing Scenic Area begin? What is the approach from the initial development to the present?

Zhang Ye: As early as 2007, the Sijing Xiatang Historical and Cultural Area was listed as a Shanghai historical and cultural area. In 2013, Xiatang Village was listed as a national historical and cultural village, one of only two in Shanghai. In terms of protection, renewal and utilization, in fact, Sijing Ancient Town started not too late. It has been started one after another since the 21st century, including the protection of the former residences of Shi Liangcai and Ma Xiangbo at that time. However, it was limited to the objective conditions at the time and was just out of consideration. Some work has been done from the perspective of protecting historical buildings, but some aspects of subsequent revitalization and utilization have not been fully considered.

Entering 2017, with the strong support of the Songjiang District Committee and District Government, we launched the cultural protection and renewal of Sijing, including relocation, repair of ancient buildings, introduction of business formats, etc. It can be said that today it has initially shown a little shape. For example, the "Three Houses Another Life" where we are today turned out to be three old buildings built in different periods from the Ming Dynasty to the Republic of China: Guan's House, Cheng's House, and Sun Shilin's House. Each building has a traditional wooden structure courtyard layout, with two floors and a double-slope roof with small green tiles. The building faces the south to the north, facing the street to the south and the river to the north. It is a typical example of Shanghai's traditional residential buildings. Before the renovation, these three old buildings were severely damaged, including leaking roofs, damaged maintenance structures, signs of fire on some wooden beams, and incomplete tiles and windows.

The business in Sijing Ancient Town is in decline, and the arcade street corridor has been cut off by additional buildings

The old houses in Sijing Ancient Town during restoration

After the overall renovation, we introduced some business formats. At present, Sun Shilin's house has become the teaching practice base for architectural heritage protection of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Relying on its scientific research background, it has set up a traditional wooden structure laboratory to carry out research projects, and has become a base for the detection and restoration of local historical wooden components.

At present, Sun Shilin's residence has become the teaching practice base for architectural heritage protection of Shanghai Jiao Tong University

The "Exhibition of Ancient Architectural Wooden Craftsmanship" planned by the International Research Center for Architectural Cultural Heritage Protection of Shanghai Jiao Tong University was held in Sun Shilin's residence

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The first and second buildings of Guan’s house have become the physical store of Xinhua Bookstore “Nancun Yingxue”. They are new concept cultural bookstores based on the ancient house. They are named after “Nancun Thatched Cottage”, the residence of Tao Zongyi, the ancestor of Sijing humanities. " and the two words "Yingxue Zhai" for the study of Mr. Sun Daoming, a bibliophile in Sijing.

Exterior view of "Nancun Yingxue" bookstore

The interior decoration of Cheng's house mostly uses relatively simple log furniture to ensure the overall coordination. In addition to displaying the tea ceremony, the cooperative Yunjian Cottage Some interesting art sketches are also exhibited from time to time; the second floor is used as a relatively private and quiet space in the house, and is used as a teaching space for the Guqin Club. By introducing these business formats, our old buildings have been revitalized, so we named it "Miyake Another Life".

The Paper: Therefore, in terms of cultural preservation buildings in Sijing Ancient Town, it is not only about repairing, but also about revitalizing and utilizing them.

Zhang Ye: Yes, from the perspective of the future of Sijing Ancient Town, especially focusing on the use of cultural heritage buildings, we have been adhering to the following points:

First, the nature of the times. We feel that a culturally protected building cannot simply be restored to its original state. What is the purpose of repairing it? It is activation and utilization. We now find that many ancient buildings, including those in Sijing Ancient Town, have been renovated and then some internal tours are conducted. I think this is a pity. How do cultural heritage buildings reflect the characteristics of the times? It is to inject new connotation and content. For example, our "Miyake Another Life" is a unique site in Sijing's local new era civilization practice.

Partial exterior scene of "Yasei Miyake"

The second is locality. The ancient town of Sijing belongs to Sijing. When we build the ancient town, we don’t build a studio or photography base on the ground. Instead, we want to retain our nostalgia, preserve the original things, and pass them on.

The third is cultural nature. The business formats we introduce into ancient towns must adhere to cultural characteristics. Some cultural projects and formats, including cultural and creative industries, even if they are commercial, must be well integrated with culture and not be perceived as low-end or noisy.

Exterior view of old buildings in Sijing Ancient Town

Sijing Ancient Town Shanghai Jiao Tong University Architectural Heritage Protection Center Picture

The fourth is public welfare. We do not want to make the ancient town a purely commercial or tourism project. We invite some universities or artists to participate, provide them with studios, and let them give some exhibitions, forums, and lectures. But our requirements for them must be open to the outside world. You cannot become a closed organization, hold several art exhibitions a year, and conduct internal visits and studies. This does not meet our positioning. Therefore, our "Three Residences and Another Life", including some new renovated heritage buildings in the future, are completely open to the public. We don't want to lock the gate, and there is no lock in the deep house compound.

Generally speaking, the overall protection, renewal and utilization of Sijing are based on the functional positioning of "classical, elegant, beautiful and fashionable" to protect historical and cultural heritage, sort out the historical and cultural context, and inherit historical and cultural genes. , empowering the high-quality development of Sijing in the new era as the main line, integrating innovative business formats, and building Xiatang into a cultural tourism and leisure area that embodies the historical and cultural characteristics of Sijing and cultural inheritance through cultural and creative tourism, brewing workshops, folk B&B and other initiatives Exhibition area and cultural industry consumption area. This is also the "culturally vibrant ancient town, quiet and charming water town" proposed by our party committee and government.

The Paper: There are many well-known tourist ancient towns in China, but many of them seem to be similar. How can Sijing avoid the problem of homogenization of ancient towns in the process of renovation and revitalization?

Zhang Ye: Among ancient towns, I think Wuzhen has been very successful. Starting from the initial version, commerce and tourism, to the blessing of cultural themes such as Internet conferences and drama festivals, it has not only created cultural IP , has its own characteristics, and also promotes tourism. Dali and Lijiang in Yunnan are different. It is mainly a combination of natural customs and ethnic minority customs. Compared with these places, although Sijing Ancient Town has just started, we can learn from some successful experiences of other ancient towns, or avoid taking some detours.

Of course, Sijing Ancient Town will also try its best to avoid the homogenization of ancient towns in the subsequent transformation and utilization. Because there are so many ancient towns, it is easy for everyone to get aesthetic fatigue.

A corner of Sijing Ancient Town

So what is the core competitiveness and recognition of Sijing Ancient Town? Judging from the historical features of Sijing, I think the Jiangnan culture, Shanghai culture, and red culture proposed by Shanghai are all possessed by the ancient town of Sijing.

For example, Shanghai-style culture, whether it is Shi Liangcai, the head of the newspaper Shenbao, or Ma Xiangbo, the founder of Fudan University, they all show the character that pioneered Shanghai-style culture in modern times. Another example is the red culture. The red culture of Sijing has profound connotations. Shi Liang was a patriot. Because he was dissatisfied with the reactionary rule at that time, he was assassinated by Chiang Kai-shek and was buried in the Longhua Martyrs Cemetery after his death. Ma Xiangbo is known as "the glory of mankind" and "the light of the country". He is highly recognized by both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. He is a master, the backbone, and a very patriotic old man. He once wrote, "Read without forgetting to save the country. To save the country, never forget reading."

Considering the advantages of Sijing, we believe that it can be considered to position it to present the history and present of media. Through cooperation, Shi Liangcai's former residence will be open to the public at the same time as it prepares to present exhibitions related to "Shen Shen". Although "Shen Shen" is no longer available and many domestic newspapers have ceased publication, the DNA of the newspaper has not disappeared, it has just been changed. One kind of media continues to develop. In the past, it was television, radio and television, or newspapers. Now it is mostly read on mobile phones, computers, etc. And we also have this historical origin, which is unique among ancient towns across the country; the second is Sijing’s intangible cultural heritage, including ten brocade gongs and drums, shadow puppetry, etc. We connect with relevant resources and display them in a centralized manner, which is very attractive to us ordinary people, but it is not a relatively low-end, more general concept of snacks and small commodities.

Food packaging design in Sijing Ancient Town

At present, we have cooperated with universities, bookstores, newspapers and other institutions, and have achieved certain results. Among them, Shi Liangcai’s former residence is cooperating with the Shangbao Group. The renovation of the former residence can basically be completed after the Spring Festival. The official opening is expected to be in the second half of the year, because there is still work to be done for exhibitions in the later period. Ma Xiangbo’s former residence is a collaboration with the planning team of Chen Wangdao’s former residence at Fudan University. It has now entered a relatively in-depth stage of advancement, including the subsequent introduction of some resources. In terms of design, we also cooperated with the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts to create a project called "Sijing Pattern", which extracted some architectural elements of Sijing and made some image recognition things, including cultural creations, posters, food packaging, etc. Of course, there will be more considerations in exploring some connotations in the future.

Cultural and creative products in Sijing Ancient Town

It is worth mentioning that in terms of transportation location, apart from Qibao Ancient Town, Sijing Ancient Town is the closest to the center of Shanghai. So from these aspects, we believe that Sijing Ancient Town has the potential to become a tourist and leisure destination in Shanghai and even the Yangtze River Delta region. Everyone finds it very convenient, just a few subway stops away, and invites friends over for tea and chat on weekends. Chat, or bring friends over for a vacation.

The recently held Party Congress of Sijing Town, Songjiang District put forward the goal of "a scientific and technological oasis, a vibrant ancient town, and a livable new city". The ancient town is the root of culture, and restoring the old as before is only the first step. The ancient town The revitalization is a big article. By introducing cultural projects and injecting vitality, we hope to achieve "a culturally vibrant ancient town and a quiet and charming water town."

Proofreading: Luan Meng