Prose of Changmei Village beside the Ancient Banyan Tree
Changmei Village is located in the middle of the convex projection in the west of Yuhu Peninsula in the lower reaches of Rongjiang River. The cool and clear Rongjiang tributary flows slowly in front of the village, and the banyan trees are in harmony. When the morning dawns and you approach Changmei Village, you will sigh in front of the green trees in the dark sky. I saw the banyan trees towering in front of the river, and the old banyan trees reflected in the center of the clear water were quite clear under the flashing sunshine, swaying like swimming in the water, and the fish rejoicing with the river would come to accompany the shadows on the water. They played happily, and sometimes there were waterfowl egrets flying, which made them feel poetic and lingering.
Changmei Village has a wide range of natural water networks. People here often go in and out by boat when they are in trouble, which is very convenient. It is a land of "harmony between man and nature" that can be fished and cultivated. Lift the veil of Changmei Village, look out along the ancient buildings beside the towering trees of the ancient banyan trees, and stretch along the winding roads under the trees, and the houses look patchy in the sun. On the roof, the shadows of trees shine in the dancing, which has a strong scenery of Rongcun in the south of China.
Most people living in Changmei Village are Yuan people from Chaoshan and Taiwan Province, and it is also the birthplace of Yuan people in China. According to legend, Yuan's ancestor was Yuan Chen, a scholar and minister of the Ministry of War in the Northern Song Dynasty. Yuan Chen was relegated to Chaozhou as a secretariat in Yuanfeng, Song Shenzong in the sixth year because of the party's partisanship, and since then he has settled in Chaozhou. Yuan Xi, his son, went to the fishing lake in Jieyang during the reign of Zong Shaosheng in Song Zhe, and has a history of more than 9 years. Yuan's ancestors lived by farming in this beautiful place, cooking at sunrise and returning at sunset, and lived a self-sufficient life. Nowadays, it has become a good place to visit.
The village is rich in cultural relics and historical sites, and every place shows the profound cultural accumulation of the ancient village. There are many ancient houses in the village, and traces of historical wind and rain can be seen from the mottled doors and windows; There are many sculptures and patterns on the wooden beams of some big houses. In addition to exploring the ancient houses of different heights, the Yuan family temple and civil buildings in the village are still well preserved and worth seeing. Yuan's family temple is a building with three entrances, three doors and five bays. It was built in the Yuan Dynasty, and its scale is extremely rare in ancient villages. In the local area, there has always been a saying of "Chaowei Ancestral Hall Gangwei Palace". The ancestral hall is divided into three halls: the front hall, the main hall and the back hall, which is very heroic.
According to the information, the ancestral hall was built between the Yuan Dynasty and Shunfeng, with a history of more than 66 years. Rebuilt in the fifty-first year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, it still maintains the architectural style of Yuan Dynasty. Above the three main halls of Yuan's family temple, there are exquisite buildings with horn-shaped or crescent-shaped inlaid porcelain ridges, which seem to have a unrestrained and heroic feeling. Although the palace-style wall has been washed away by hundreds of years of wind and rain, it is still intact, and its exquisite construction technology can be seen.
The plaque of "Yuan Family Temple" is a calligraphy stone carving by Zhang Ruitu, the prime minister of Wanli in Ming Dynasty. Zhang Ruitu, a native of Jinjiang, Fujian, is famous for his calligraphy in the world, and has the reputation of "opening in the north and opening in the south" with Dong Qichang, a great calligrapher in the Ming Dynasty. The plaque of "Chongting Auditorium" was written by Shi Yizhi, a scholar of Wenyuange and a senior official in Qianlong period. According to legend, at the invitation of Yuan, Shi wrote Yuan's Genealogy "Yuan's Grand Preface and Song" for Yu Lake. It is said in the article that Yuan's hometown in Chaoshan wins "the distant axis is covered with green, the Hengjiang River is surrounded by a thousand fireworks" and "the names of families continue to rise, and talents come forth in large numbers, which is the hope of the capital". In addition, the plaques of "Chongyuan Hall", "Geju Hall" and "Pro-Grace Gangji" are all famous books of past dynasties.
in the ancient temple in the village, the exquisite wood carvings on the beams of the three main halls are magical. E Long, a woodcarving fallen off the beam, and a woodcarving couplet are still preserved in the temple. The couplets are part of the couplets written by Yuan Wei, a scholar of the B&E Department in Qianlong, Qing Dynasty. Jiqing Hall, an ancient house in the Yuan Dynasty, located more than 1 meters west of the Yuan family temple, is a typical courtyard building in Chaoshan. Fine products are big roofs and low eaves. The main hall is about 5 meters wide, and there is a single room on the left and right, about 3 meters wide. There are two rows of wings in the main seat, with people living on the right and stables on the left. There is a spacious courtyard in front of the hall, and the gatehouse faces west and is connected with the stable. So far, the stone manger is still there.
According to legend, at the beginning of the village, Yuan and his people lived in the "origin" of Changmei Village. The villagers reclaimed land and built houses. It was the first to choose a place to create a "Jiqing Hall" in the form of "children sitting in a sedan chair", which worships the gods of ancestors from the first to the sixth generation, and is the place where Yuan's descendants worship their ancestors.
Summer and weekends in the shade of banyan trees are also a good classroom for students to study and exercise, and also a paradise enjoyed by children and the elderly. People do morning exercises, read books and communicate here, and enjoy the family happiness in the cool world. The villagers here are diligent in farming, paying attention to culture and education since ancient times, and have nurtured groups of talents. With the gradual increase of the population in the village, people moved from here to more than 1 places such as Chaoshan to create new villages, which made great contributions to the development of Chaoshan. Some people here later moved to Taiwan Province, Hongkong and Southeast Asia. Changmei Village became the birthplace of Yuan surname in Chaoshan area, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Every year, groups of adults and children are always welcomed here to seek their roots. While enjoying the scenery, they recall the great achievements of their ancestors.
In Changmei Village, there is still a legend about Wu Jinshi Yuan Nuo: it is a story called "Yuan Xia Ye died at the noon gate", which became the oral literature of the masses. According to legend, Yuan Nuo, a warrior, was a general like King Kong. He was not only superior in martial arts, but also loyal to honest and frank by nature. He didn't shy away from treacherous men and was not afraid of powerful people. He won the appreciation of Emperor Qianlong and named him "Blue Ling bodyguard". Such a Zhongzhi general was killed by Dorwin, the treacherous prince, and died unjustly at the meridian gate. According to legend, the masses deeply revere "Master Yuan Shrimp" and grieve for it. In memory of him, there are more than 3 pairs of flagpoles left in the past dynasties in the village, and there are lettering on the first pair in front of the ancestral hall to express people's nostalgia for their ancestors.
On the vacant land in many homes in Changmei Village, and in the square space under the big banyan tree, there is also a kind of moving stone called "Martial Arts Stone", which is a sports tool used by villagers in past dynasties to keep fit. Some of these tools are shaped like weighing weights, others are shaped like stone grinders, weighing about 1 kilograms, and the larger ones are more than 2 kilograms. The villagers will try them on whenever they have time. It is said that it is this kind of martial arts stone that cultivated the courage of Yuan Feng, Yuan Wurong, Yuan Fu, Wu Jinshi, and Yuan Wu, the general manager of Wu, etc ...
When villagers in Changmei Village talk about their ancestors' stories with relish, they often see some young people and middle-aged people can't help showing their talents under the ancient banyan tree. They will throw stones at each other in the air and enjoy their performances, making you feel their own. Especially in the summer, young people are not afraid of the heat. They often gather under the big banyan tree to compete for high and low, and show their skills in lifting stones with bare hands. Their arms and arms have bulging muscles, and they all look very handsome.
in changmei village, there are more than 1 banyan trees in their 3 s, which cover the sun like handfuls of umbrellas, blocking the scorching sun and bringing people a natural cool world. here, even if the weather is hot, they will lose their prestige in front of them.
On the oldest banyan tree in Changmei Village, the branches are luxuriant and covered with thick bearded roots, some thick and some thin, which are very beautiful in the air. The longest is more than 2 feet, from top to bottom until it takes root on the ground. First, the beards on some trees have become chairs with different shapes and heights after landing. There are long tables and chairs, round and square, and there are many artistic landscapes with beards landing. There is a 6-year-old banyan tree that is more like a dragon, which makes people linger and forget to return.
the ancient banyan trees are swaying and lush. Through the ancient banyan trees and ancient buildings, it is like wandering in a paradise, which is really a unique and attractive landscape in Changmei Village.