First visit to Ciyao Village
The van drove into Ciyao Village along a neat cement road. There were lush trees on the left side of the road, and it was close to the highway on the right side, giving it a very fashionable feel. This is the only administrative village in Dongshan County named after a workshop. As the name suggests, the village is named after the production of ceramics. According to expert research, ceramic production here began in the Southern Song Dynasty, which is about 200 years earlier than the ancient city of Tongshan. It is the oldest village on Dongshan Island. The old gentlemen from the Tongling Cultural Promotion Association like to dwell on history and decided to visit this ancient village. It was my first time to visit, and what I saw and heard was more fresh.
Secretary Zeng of the village party branch received us at the village headquarters. Mr. Sun Yongchuan from the Cultural Promotion Association explained our intention. Secretary Zeng welcomed us, gave us a general introduction, and gave each of us a copy of "The Ancient Village Ci Kiln of the Southern Song Dynasty." 》. The medals on the wall show that Ciyao Village is one of the top ten rich and beautiful villages in Dongshan County, and has also won the title of "Zhangzhou Forest Landscape Village".
Secretary Zeng took us on a tour. Walking out of the village is the low Houbi Mountain. This is a beautiful hill, covered with lush greenery, mostly planted with fruit trees. After walking for a short distance, you are faced with a huge and old banyan tree. There is a shrine under the tree for the villagers to worship at all times. There are piles of ceramic fragments on the hillside, and a section of the path around the mountain is actually paved with fragments. It is said that half of it was paved at that time, but the relevant departments stopped it. They thought these were cultural relics, so they paved them with stones instead. Secretary Zeng said that all the digging in the mountain was filled with ceramic shards. He gestured with his hands, and found that the thickness of the fragments was almost half a meter. One could imagine the scale of porcelain firing back then.
The entire mountain has been developed into a park, and there are stone boats made of stones on the hillside. It is said that ceramics were transported to various places by sailing boats in those days, and there were eighteen such sailing boats. Not far away is the renovated kiln pavilion, which is unique. Every time the kiln is fired, one has to worship and pray for success. A replica of a Song Dynasty kiln was also built to visually reproduce the kiln-firing process. On the mountain, Secretary Zeng pointed to two raised earthen beams covered with flowers and grass and said that these were the ruins of kilns in those days. There were eight such ruins. This shows how big it was back then. There is a brand new public toilet on the mountain. The walls are made of ceramic shards inlaid with rectangular patterns, which is quite unique.
All this shows the long history and cultural heritage of Ciyao Village. These fragments carry a once glorious history and are one of the oldest cultural relics on Dongshan Island. Nowadays, in many tourist areas, if there are no antiques, they have to find some fake antiques. However, we have real antiques but they are left to be exposed to the weather. It is really a pity.
I think Dongshan Island has a short history of civilization, and there are ceramic fragments that have existed here for nearly a thousand years. A small museum should be built for collection and exhibition. Interested parties are invited to study the ceramic process, output and scale. , interpreting the life scenes of that year. For example, the carrying capacity of eighteen large ships and the level of productivity needed to match it can be used to calculate the size of the Ci Kiln and the approximate population of that year. In addition, has Ciyao Village experienced changes? Why does a village that has flourished for nearly a thousand years only have more than 180 households and a population of more than 700?
Ciyao Village is located in the northwest of Dongshan Island, close to Bachimen Ferry. It is an important transportation link between the island and the mainland. Before the rise of Tongshan City, this area contained military shops, temples, villages and Ciyao villages. Kiln, it is said that a governor in the Song Dynasty once lived in the temple in Xishanyan, which shows that this area was quite active at that time.
A place where a kiln can be used to fire porcelain must have high-quality clay. Jingdezhen is famous because it is rich in kaolin clay. The mud in the northwest of Dongshan Island is relatively fine, which is a prerequisite for the existence of porcelain kilns. To this day, that area is still an area with a concentration of brick factories. In the 1970s, Ciyao Village once again opened a kiln to make some wine jars and household utensils, but it was closed shortly after.
According to expert descriptions, the shape and glaze color of the vessel have the characteristics of Longquan kiln. The body is blue-gray, and no exact date has been found. Experts compared it with kiln sites in Zhangpu, Tong'an and other places and determined that it belonged to the Southern Song Dynasty. No Ming and Qing dynasty vessels featuring blue and white porcelain and colored porcelain have been found, indicating that ceramic firing probably stopped in the early Ming Dynasty or before.
According to village history, large wooden boats loaded with large quantities of porcelain set sail from the ancient ferry outside the village and were exported to Penghu, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, most of the above-mentioned areas were barren lands, and almost no ports were opened except for a few places in Champa, Vietnam.
From ancient times to the present, foreign trade has not been possible anywhere. How can a village trade with foreign countries without government approval, no trading organization, and no agreed medium of equivalent exchange? Not even now.
Because Ci Kiln is said to be "one of the starting points of the Maritime Silk Road in southern Fujian during the Song Dynasty", this view lacks further historical evidence. It may be more consistent with the facts to say that it is a production base.
During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the southern economy developed rapidly, and municipal shipping departments were established in Quanzhou, Guangzhou and other places to be responsible for foreign trade. Quanzhou was the largest foreign trade port city at the time, and its export commodities included ceramics, tea, and silk. For bulk. It is very likely that many porcelain kilns in the surrounding areas of Quanzhou, including Dongshan, serve as production bases, continuously supplying goods to Quanzhou, and then Quanzhou distributes them overseas.
Why did this business model come to an abrupt end? The village history records "the legend of Luo Yin's defeat of the Ci Kiln". Luo Yin, the local dialect changed it to Lu Wan. He was from the late Tang Dynasty. Since it is a legend, it is of course allowed to be attached to it across time. Lu Wan, a beggar, has the mouth of an emperor, and his words are efficacious. He often went to the Ci Kiln to beg. As time went by, the workers got tired of him and refused to give him food. Lu Wan was angry and said: "Ci kiln porcelain, burn it and make a hammer." This meant that the porcelain was burned into a ball, but unexpectedly it was really burned out, which eventually led to the closure of the cikiln. Perhaps because later generations could not explain the reason for the discontinuation of production, they borrowed legends to deify it and express the villagers' nostalgia and regret.
The reason for the suspension of production is unknown. It may be war or the adjustment of the court's foreign policy. It is most likely that in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang implemented a maritime ban policy and strictly prohibited overseas trade. As a result, Quanzhou Port stopped foreign trade and declined, and the porcelain kilns in surrounding areas naturally stopped production. You can do a survey. If the conditions of other kiln sites are the same, then this conclusion may be true.
Walking under the shade of trees is cool and comfortable. The villagers take good care of the mountain and prepare to build a hundred acres of orchard area and Chinese herbal medicine tourist area. It is said that He Banxian practiced medicine here for the workers of the porcelain kiln. The county annals wrote: "This is the beginning of medical records in Dongshan." It was the longan season when we came. Many longans fell on the corridor. Everyone would reach out and pick them and they would have a feast.
Unknowingly, we have walked around the mountain. We walked from the cement road beside the village to the front of the village. A large pond appeared in front of us. Secretary Zeng said that dragon boats are raced in the pond every Dragon Boat Festival. Planning Build a park with the pond as the center, so that there are two parks in front of the village and behind the village.
Ciyao Village is located near the mountains and the sea, with a broad view and a strong sense of hierarchy. Mountains, ponds, and the sea are arranged in descending order. The village is surrounded by roads on both sides, and it feels like Feng Shui is very good. Everyone laughed and said that this is a good place to retire. Most of the buildings in the village are newly built, and there are also a few B&Bs, some of which have beautifully decorated exteriors. The neat village road was completely free of crows and dogs, and almost no villagers were seen walking around. They might have gone out to work. I was a little surprised. It is rare to see such a quiet and comfortable place. It seemed that our arrival disturbed it. I think there are still many secrets here that are still shrouded in the smoke of history.
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