Nakata Ancient Village: The Largest Existing Military Village Fort in Hunan
The characteristics of the ancient residential buildings in Zhongtian Village are inseparable from the security situation in Changning history. According to the record of Tongzhi Changning Zhi Bing Fang, from the Song Dynasty to the early morning in the Qing Dynasty, unrest and bandits often attacked the government and army at that time and looted ordinary people. According to Li's genealogy, Fukugoro, the ancestor of Nakata Village, was born as a military attache. In the second year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, he was transferred from Chaling to Guiyang and then transferred to Changning. In the second year of Yongle, a military camp was implemented in Changning and production was developed. Because he fought for the imperial court for many years, he repeatedly made meritorious military service. After returning to his hometown, he settled in this beautiful place. "My ancestors lived in the city in front of the temple and kept it in the country for many years. When I was afraid of the lack of people's money and food and clothing, I ordered them to cultivate and keep their fields ... Zi Ronggong cooperated with Lei's four sons, and Chang Zhigong sent Ma Tian to this day." Therefore, in Zhongtian Village, people lived together, plowed and kept, and bred their descendants. Up to now, there have been more than 4 generations, which lasted for more than 6 years.
under the influence of the feudal patriarchal clan system, the biggest characteristics of the ancient village houses in Zhongtian Village are standardization, which are as follows: First, people live together, and the boundaries of ancestral halls and houses of all ethnic groups in the village are clear; Second, the village pays attention to the group layout, and takes the "Feng Shui" technique as the theoretical basis. If it does not meet the requirements, it will try to modify or make up for it.
Take the half-moon pond in front of the ancestral hall as an example. Looking at the whole village from the entrance, the overall layout is centered on the ancestral hall, and the residential groups are located on both sides and behind it. The ancestral hall is surrounded by stars and the moon, and its prominent spatial position is not only convenient for clan members to discuss, sacrifice and drive clan rights, but also shows the supremacy of patriarchal clan concept. Moreover, the scale of other folk houses can not exceed the ancestral hall, and it can not affect its feng shui pattern, so as to maintain the prosperity of the clan. The spatial layout of the interior of the houses is that the entrance is just the hall, with a courtyard in the middle, which is similar to the "hall" space in the northern houses. Bedrooms and miscellaneous rooms are arranged on both sides, and the left and right sides are not strictly symmetrical, and most of them are flexible, which is quite different from the northern houses, and also reflects that the patriarchal clan system has far less influence on the southern houses.
the most prominent feature of the ancient residential buildings in Zhongtian village is its strong function of defending the enemy. Tracing back to history, the ancestors of the ancient houses in Zhongtian Village came from the local army of the Ming Dynasty, who were brave and good at fighting. They were stationed in Zhongtian Village, plowing the fields in peacetime and waiting for their death. If there was a war, they would fight bravely. As a result, the villages that usually live will be built into fortresses that can be retreated and defended and attacked. Therefore, the ancient residential community in Zhongtian Village has a strong defensive function and exudes a strong military atmosphere everywhere.
instead of wooden windows, arrow holes have been set up layer by layer in the roadway, and organs for resisting foreign invasion are everywhere. The alley of the ancient residential building complex in Zhongtian Village is not wide, and it follows the same size very regularly. The function allows two or three people to pass side by side at the same time, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Every few meters away, there is a long stone on the slate road, which is covered with round holes and grooves. There used to be many wooden fences in the alley, and these long stones were the components for installing fences. In this way, a series of gates are formed in the alley, and the alley can be divided into sections of closed small spaces at any time, which plays a good defense function.
The architectural style of the ancient residential buildings in Zhongtian Village is somewhat different from that of other ancient villages in southern Hunan. The houses are basically without eaves and corridors, and the windows near the lane are very narrow strip windows with different thresholds. In fact, this unique architectural style has its role. The purpose of not exposing the eaves is to prevent foreign enemies from burning the house easily, while the narrow strip-shaped small window is to facilitate people in the house to observe what is going on outside. The threshold is a symbol of the identity of the head of the household. For those who have power, power and money, the threshold is higher, while for those who have no power, power and money, the threshold is lower.
Zhongtian village is a rare and scientifically planned village in central and southern Hunan, not a natural village. Like most villages, the layout of the whole village consists of entrance, ancestral hall, temples, streets, rivers, ditches, residential courtyards and other elements, forming a texture pattern in which streams run through the village, lanes crisscross, courtyards are adjacent to each other, and ancestral halls occupy the center. Streets and alleys are the skeleton, ancestral halls are the centers of cultural and entertainment activities, the moonlight pond and the square in front of ancestral halls are the open spaces, and stone bridges and geomantic trees are the rich village spaces with important geomantic points.
There are four existing ancestral temples in Zhongtian Village, which were built in the middle and late Qing Dynasty. Most of them are tall, three in depth, three in width, without eaves and corridors, and the stone and wood components are beautifully carved. Now the internal structure has changed slightly, and it has become a private house. It is the public ancestral hall that is well preserved and restored according to its original appearance. The public ancestral hall is the tallest and largest building in ancient dwellings. It is built on the central axis of the ancient village, facing the moonlight pond. There are two longitudinal main lanes on both sides of the ancestral hall, which connect the houses of the whole village. The ancestral hall covers an area of 12 square meters, with a stage. The first entrance is the front hall, the second is the middle hall, which is used for deliberation, and the third is the main hall, which is used for sacrifice.
Most of the houses in Zhongtian Village are surrounded by high walls, and the internal structure has no lifting beams and few buckets. Most of them are directly erected on the longitudinal wall with sandalwood strips to support the upper rafters, tiles and other roof loads. The height of the house is relatively high, mostly about 6m, almost all of which are solid walls without fighting walls. Most architectural decorations are stone carvings, because they are local stones and stone components can be preserved for a long time.
Under the warm sunshine, you walk under the Dayi Mountain in Changning City, and slowly walk into Zhongtian Village in Miaoqian Town. An ancient residential group with a history of more than 6 years was built along the mountain with water. Walking through the deep Gu Xiang, touching the mottled walls, hesitating in courtyards and cloisters, reading plaques and cornices, and chewing the unique culture of traditional villages. Wandering here, ancient villages, ancient buildings, and ancient family styles all reflect the martial spirit of the ancestors of Nakata Village.