Prose of Hougou Village in Xanadu
That autumn, I walked into Hougou Ancient Village, a "Xanadu", a pearl inlaid in the Loess Plateau. The ancient village has beautiful scenery. The afternoon sun shines on the hills, and when we look around, we can see nothing but Hosta yellow and sorghum red. The roadside apple orchards are fruitful, and the intersection is a large jujube forest, full of ripe red dates. All autumn crops are conveying the message of harvest to people.
Hougou Village was built in Yongle period of Ming Dynasty, with a history of more than 6 years. Although the village is small, its temples are quite large, including 18 temples including Kuixing Pavilion, Wenchang Temple, Zhenwu Temple, Guandi Temple, Sanguan Temple, guanyin temple, Bodhisattva Temple, Mountain Temple, River Temple and Wudao Temple, and one ancestral hall. These temples and ancestral halls have entrusted the dreams of generations of Hougou people, and at the same time condensed and preserved the traditional classics of farming civilization on the Loess Plateau for thousands of years. The ancient buildings here are scattered and self-contained, which are quite distinctive in the ancient village, such as the Yimen Courtyard and the Suspension Bridge Courtyard.
The Guandi Temple at the entrance of the village contains a statue of Guan Gong reading the Spring and Autumn at night. In the small and exquisite temple, a clove leaf that has been flourishing for more than 3 years. On the highland on the south side, guanyin temple is sitting in the south and north. The exquisite bell and drum tower eaves are tall, facing east and west, and it looks very imposing; Although the painting on the beam of the main hall has gone through hundreds of years of vicissitudes, through the dust and floating soil, its glory of that year can be faintly seen. In the hospital, an ancient cypress with more than 8 years of branches and lush green leaves shows strong vitality.
When you leave guanyin temple, you will walk eastward into the Longmen Stone Bridge in the center of the ancient village. The Longmen River flows through the village, and the gurgling sound of running water seems to play music. After crossing the bridge, the upper slope is a relatively flat site, next to which is an ancient pavilion hall with old trees standing upright in the garden. In the center of the village, there is an ancient stage that has been eroded by wind and rain for more than 6 years. The red velvet curtain is very eye-catching under the sunlight. The front shed and back room of the ancient stage are all civil structures and look beautiful. The ancient stage is a witness to the vicissitudes of the years in Hougou Village. On the back wall of the stage, there are some repertoires performed by the troupe. It is said that this ancient stage is put to great use in the first month of every year, and the village often invites foreigners to sing a few Shanxi Jin operas; With the same interest, the villagers occasionally come to the ancient stage for entertainment. Opposite to the stage is the Bodhisattva Hall with carved beams and painted buildings. Turning from the left, we walk uphill along the winding stone path into an open area in the village. An ancient stone mill grinds rice in the creaking rotation. This is the original rice milling instrument, which will make all tourists curious and try to turn around involuntarily. Here, there are still some old wine shops, old vinegar shops, ancient tea houses, bean curd shops and cake shops ... They are close together, and they are also telling people about the self-sufficient farming life that Hougou people once had.
people in hougou village have a tradition of planting trees. Pears, dates, Sophora japonica, mulberry and Chinese toon are planted in front of every house, which can be said to be everywhere. There are lush trees here. Through the forest belt, you can see three loess beams, like three yellow dragons, all around. It is said that the Jade Emperor took a fancy to this geomantic treasure, and specially sent three jade dragons to guard it ... which became the possession symbol of the geomantic treasure in Hougou Village.
The suspension bridge courtyard with unique scenery is a cave in the west cliff of Hougou Village. Visitors can get in and out by setting up a suspension bridge, which connects them when they fall off the bridge and ends when they get off it, so it is also called "suspension bridge courtyard". Most of the houses in Hougou Village are unique independent caves built in Shanxi during the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, which are quite strange. The main room is an upper and lower kiln structure, and the entrance is the lower kiln. The space is relatively narrow, and there are stoves, water tanks, etc., which are used as kitchens; All the way in, there are several steps leading to the upper kiln, and a large skylight is opened on the front wall of the upper kiln above the top of the lower kiln to solve the lighting problem of the upper kiln. Parallel to the right side of the entrance of the lower kiln, another kiln is connected with the lower kiln, which is really a bit of a modern "building in the building" structure charm. The kiln houses in Hougou are very unique. Most of them are located on the cliffs strewn at random, and they are strange buildings with families and houses. The roof of your house is his yard; Your family's fruits and dates can be picked by reaching out in his yard. However, the villagers pay great attention to harmony. Everyone is polite and courteous, and each kiln is very clean. The chicken nest, the horse house and the sheepfold belong to their own places, and there are all kinds of mountain flowers around them, which are fragrant and fragrant every flowering season.
Hougou Village is located at an altitude of more than 9 meters, and the difference between the highest and lowest houses built in the village is about 1 meters. But strangely, every household has well water to scour, and the ancient village has a mysterious underground drainage system, which runs through the village from the heights in the northeast and northwest of the village and connects all households, forming the drainage system of Huanglong and Black Dragon. It flows through the southwest and southeast inlets of the village and finally falls into Longmen River. Waterways are deeply buried underground, and there are water intakes in each courtyard, which will not collapse in case of mountain torrents and be muddy in case of light rain. The mystery is still a mystery. According to experts, the drainage system in ancient villages can be compared with the projects designed by first-class water conservancy experts today.
There is also a glimpse of Wangquan under the Longwang Temple in Hougou. The gurgling spring water has been surging for years, and it is extremely cool, containing many minerals needed by human body, which is very beneficial to human health. It is said that Longmen River originates from here. In Hougou Village, most of the 7-year-old people are red-faced, not only have good temperament, but also can carry dozens and hundreds of kilograms of burdens, and walk as fast as young people in the rugged village lanes, which is related to their drinking this water for many years ...
Walking through the tall old Toona sinensis trees, passing through the mountain temple in the northern highland of the village along the stone trail, you can reach the Zhenwu Hall, the highest place in the village. In the evening, standing on a high place, you can see the ancient village in the sunset: the small farmhouses, quadrangles and three courtyards with different characteristics extend in turn, and they become red in the sunset. This kind of red and loess are different from other places. It will evolve with the sunset, from deep red to light red, and from light red to light red, like a scarf covering the whole village, like a fairy. The exquisitely-built stage of the ancient temple, the wind-eroded stone steps, the towering old trees that have experienced many vicissitudes, and the red dates basking on the roofs of every house have all turned into a faint brilliant red.
When the night falls and a crescent moon hangs on the willow treetops, the archway at the entrance of the village lights up with golden lights, which complement the red lanterns of different shapes in the ancient village, forming a harmonious and peaceful "Xanadu" picture. Hougou is a natural village, a village where you can see the head of the village but not the end, but you can hear the barking of chickens and dogs but not the noisy people. Hougou village is splendid, humorous, magical and charming, and a paradise in the modern loess plateau. The back ditch is beautiful!