Nanxijiang Furong Ancient Village

Furong Village belongs to Yantou Town, Yongjia County, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province. It is located on the west bank of the middle reaches of the Nanxi River, about 1 km north of Yantou Village. During the Taiping and Xingguo years of the Song Dynasty (976-983), Chen Gong, the founder, moved from Changqiao, Ruian, to settle down, and gradually formed a bloodline village, more than 1,000 years ago. Because there are three cliffs in the southwest of the village, which are red and white and look like hibiscus, the village was named Hibiscus. The village covers an area of ​​215 acres and currently has 443 households. More than 30 ancient dwellings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, 5 Ming Dynasty mansion ruins, and 18 large and small ancestral halls have been preserved. Furong Village is a village with a single surname of Chen. Today's Furong Village still retains the appearance of the settlement plan more than 600 years ago. The whole village is slightly square, facing east from the west. Surrounded by a wall made of pebbles, it is more than 2,000 meters long and 2 meters high. The entire village is like a small castle.

[Edit this paragraph] Introduction

Starting from Yongjia County, Zhejiang, not far from the county, you can see strange cliffs in the distance, like lotus flowers in bloom, among which there are three peaks. They are very close together, like the three petals of a lotus, and their shapes are very similar. Even people who have never heard of the "Furong Three Cliffs" cannot help but be attracted by the strangeness of the mountain peaks and think that they have arrived at the "Furong Village".

In fact, along the Nanxi River, many villages can receive the "patronage" of Furong Sanya: Xiayuan Village, Furong Village, Yantou Village, Xinan Village, etc. These villages all borrow their scenery from the Three Furong Cliffs: For example, the Furong Pond in Furong Village "water reflects the lotus", the Lishui Lake in Yantou Village "the water reflects the three cliffs"...

So many villages are named after the Furong Three Cliffs. Ya is proud of it, but Furong Village was the only one who could "register" it as "Furong" first. When people hear the name Furong Village, they think it must be full of hibiscus. In fact, there is no Furong in Furong Village, we just borrow the scenery on the mountain. But there is a certain reason for "squatting" here.

Furong Three Cliffs are located in the southwest of Furong Village. Every morning when the sun rises from the mountain, the rays of sunlight shine on Furong Peak. Its color is white and rosy. It not only resembles Furong in shape, but also in color. There is a large pool in the village called "Furong Pool". Because Furong Peak is reflected in the pool every evening, the village is named "Furong Village".

The east gate of Furong Village is the main entrance of the village, which is a bit like the gate of a park. Judging from the setting of this gate, the village is closed. Once the village gate is closed, there is no passage in this direction. Of course, there is more than one gate in this village, there are several gates. Historically, for the purpose of defense, there were seven village gates in Furong Village, with the east gate being the main entrance. Don't underestimate this door, it belongs to the "ancestral generation". It was built in the first year of the Yuan Dynasty (AD 1341). It is a two-story attic-style building with a hilltop. The top is the Qiao Tower (there is often a libretto in Peking Opera that goes "Listen to the Qiao Tower and play the fourth watch card again"), and the bottom is the gate. Since the gate is closed, one can imagine its strong defensive function back then.

Similar to Cangpo Village’s layout using “pen, ink, paper and inkstone”, Furong Village is laid out using “seven stars and eight buckets”.

Star refers to the square platform at the intersection of roads; Dou refers to the square pool at the intersection of water channels, which is symbolized by "Star Building Platform" and "Dou Chi Chi". The seven stars are distributed in the shape of wings and the eight stars are distributed in the shape of eight trigrams. Roads and water systems intersect and form a complete system. This system has many uses: it is used in all aspects of life during peacetime, and can also be used to prevent fires, regulate microclimates, beautify the environment, etc. During the war, the "star" can be used as a command platform, and the "bucket" can be used to store water to prevent fire attacks.

In addition, the seven stars and eight buckets also have a beautiful meaning: the future generations of Furong Village will have talents emerging in large numbers, just like the stars in the sky. From this point of view, the ancestors of Furong Village really took great pains to design the functions of the village. The reason why I thought of storing water to defeat fire attack is because Furong Village had a tragic history of being burned by fire.

[Edit this paragraph] Main buildings

Sima House

Built by local wealthy Chen Shiluan in the 15th year of Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1750), it is located in the northwest corner of the village. Three courtyards are combined side by side, with a total area of ​​70 meters wide, 15 naves, 6 patios, 24 altars, 58 houses, gardens, ponds, and wells, covering an area of ​​6,400 square meters. There are still 36 families of the Chen family living there. Each of the three courtyards has its own door, and the courtyards are connected by passages. The width from the main entrance to the front steps of the house is 18 meters, and they are divided into several large courtyards. The entire residence appears open and welcoming.

Chen Clan Ancestral Hall

The Chen Clan Ancestral Hall is located on the north side of Ruyi Street in the east gate. It is a ritual building with strict layout and complete form. It is the most unique building in Furong Ancient Village. One of the best. The Chen family's ancestral hall faces east and west, with a large courtyard in front. There are two gates in the north and south of the courtyard. The south gate is called "Guangzong Gate" and the north gate is called "Yaozu Gate". There is a small pool in front of the courtyard, called "Xiangcheng Pool". There is a screen wall on the east bank of the pool, with the "Eight Immortals Riding on a Chariot" carved on the screen wall. The main building of Chen's ancestral hall is a seven-bay, two-entry building with spacious corridors on the left and right of the main hall. Opposite the Xiangtang is the most exquisite grand stage in the ancestral hall, which protrudes into the courtyard and is open to the sky on three sides. It is convenient for the audience to watch the play in three directions. The roof of the stage is a hilltop, with high cornices and flying wing corners. The wooden structure has diagonal braces carved into fairy figures, exquisite flower basket columns, and lotus-like tops. The carvings are very special. Exquisite, buildings like this are rare in the country. There are many merit plaques hanging high above the main hall of the ancestral hall, and there are many couplets written on the pillars of the Xiangtang Hall. There is a pair of pillars that read: "The ground rests on three cliffs, and famous flowers bloom on the cliffs for eternity; the door faces four rivers, and the water is beautiful and prosperous for thousands of years." This is the relationship between Meirong Village's flourishing literary style and good Feng Shui. .

Sanxing Temple

Also known as Zonghu Ancestral Hall, it is located in the southeast corner of Furong Village. It was built in the Dingyou year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1598). It is the residence of Zonghu, the 28th ancestor of the Chen family. establish. It is a courtyard-style bungalow wooden building with a total area of ​​1,728 square meters. The layout is neat and symmetrical. The front hall and the back temple are seven bays, and the two sides are three bays. It has front and rear pavilions and a beam frame structure. It is a mixed structure of raised beams and through-tubes, with the roof forming a cantilevered mountain top. The building materials are thick, the structure is tight, the beams can be placed freely, and the shape is simple and simple.

Ruyi Street

Local villagers call it Changtang Street. The east end of Ruyi Street connects to Dongxi Gate, and the west end faces Furong Peak and extends to the center of the village, with a total length of 220 meters. The other streets in the village are paved with cobblestones. Only the center of Ruyi Street is paved with blue bricks. Paved with stone strips. This was obviously rebuilt by later generations, but judging from the worn and uneven blue bricks, it was probably built in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Ruyi Street is the most prosperous place in the village. It is a good place for villagers to gather and hang out in their free time. There is a local folk song that says: "Heaven in the sky, hibiscus on the earth, whether you have something to eat or not, take a stroll on Changtang Street."

Furong Pavilion

The pavilion is built to the east of the pool. It is a two-story pavilion-style square pavilion on the top of a mountain. hibiscus flower. There is a beauty chair in the pavilion. People enter the pavilion through two long stone bridges from the north to the south. It has become a good place for the elderly to gather and chat. Especially in the evenings of summer and autumn, villagers come here early to enjoy the cool air and rest. Rest and chat.

Minglun Hall

Located in the center of the village, adjacent to Ruyi Street to the north and Furong Pond to the east, it is a closed inner courtyard building. The entire academy has an orthodox layout and regular shape. From east to west, there are Panchi, Yimen, Xingtan, Minglun Hall and lecture hall. There is a pair of flagpoles in front of Yimen, and there is a rectangular apricot altar 3.2 meters wide and 6.4 meters long in front of Minglun Hall. Both the Minglun Hall and the lecture hall are three bays with a depth of 9 meters. There is a shrine dedicated to Confucius in the center of the back wall of Minglun Hall, and some quotations from Confucius are hung on both sides. There are two windows on the back wall of the lecture hall, which let in light through a very narrow lighting patio at the back to facilitate students' learning. On the south side of the academy, there is a three-bay Shanzhang residence. In front of the house, there is a large garden about 12 meters wide and 50 meters long. The garden is densely planted with bamboos, undulating rockeries, and a winding stone path and water stream pass through it. There is a small gate in the garden connected to the lecture hall. So this is also a good place for students to rest or play.

General House

This house was built during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty and was named General House because it was the former residence of Chen Yuxiu, chief of staff of the Major General of the Fifth Army of the Kuomintang. The general's house is surrounded by high walls and has a large courtyard, all paved with pebbles. The main building is a large-scale triple courtyard-style building with nine bays and two horizontal pavilions, two entrances to the front and back, ten horizontal pavilions in the front and six horizontal pavilions in the back. It has a two-story attic, a gabled roof with double eaves, and is covered with gray mandarin duck tiles. . The whole building has unique ingenuity and exquisite craftsmanship, with hollow carvings and exquisite lattice windows. The pumpkin hanging columns on the eaves make the whole building airy and elegant, integrating artistry and practicality.

The General's House not only has luxurious architecture, but also the doorstep is extremely exquisite. The doorstep is a mountain-style roof with double eaves, decorated with kissing phoenixes. The brick carvings are exquisite and exquisite. There is a couplet made of bluestone on the doorway: "Limen Yilu Family rules; ancient paintings of Renshan, Zhishui. The horizontal batch is: "Hongxi Yanhe".

Nanzhai Gate

This is a common stone gate in Nanxi River. It is made entirely of raw stones and is very heavy. There is a canal passing under the village wall, and the water comes from the west. The canal outside the gate is a good place for village women to wash clothes and vegetables. The water flow here is large and clear. Therefore, it is very lively all day long. At the gate of the village is a small and exquisite Qiao Pavilion, which enshrines the statues of Tianguan (Yao), Diguan (Shun) and Shuiguan (Yu), so people call it the "Three Officials Pavilion". There is also a pavilion for beauties to rest on, especially when it rains, for women doing laundry and the children who are following them to take shelter from the rain. The doors form a strong contrast and fully reveal the characteristics of Nanxijiang architecture.

The ruins of Simadi House

It is located in the northwest corner of Furong Village. It was built during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. It has 36 whole rooms and seems to be composed of three identical courtyard houses with two entrances. It is composed of screen walls, gates, courtyards, and halls along the central axis. The halls are divided into primary and secondary halls, with the main court in the front. Each hall has a small court. The structure of the big house adopts the traditional six-frame, three-column eaves and beam-lifting wooden frame. The roof is a cantilevered mountain top. The wood used is exquisite, mainly catalpa, which makes it appear It is dignified and solid, with little use of paint to reveal the natural beauty of the unique texture of wood. The decorative art is exquisite, such as the stone carvings on the green-striped stone lintels and column foundations, as well as the wood carvings on beams, rafters, rafters, and door and window panes. A masterpiece carved with thousands of carvings. The courtyard wall and archway at the first entrance of Simadi House were destroyed during World War II and have never been restored. Only the dilapidated empty walls and exquisite brick stained windows are left to remind people of the past glory.

Memorial Hall of Chen Yuzhi

Chen Yuzhi (1225-1278), courtesy name Yunweng and Haozhisuo, was a native of Furong Village. He was born into a poor peasant family. Due to his hard work and study, he became a Jinshi in the first year of Xianchun (1265) of Du Zong in the Southern Song Dynasty. He was good at painting and calligraphy and bamboo craftsmanship. He has successively served as professor of Yangzhou Fu Xue, Huaidong Shuai Gan, Liang Zhejiang Cao Gan Gan, the Second Department of Punishment and Work, Jigewen Jiwen, a member of the Guangwang Palace Record Office, secretary of the Ministry of Education and collation of the National History Academy. In February of the first year of Jingyan of the Song Dynasty (1276), the Yuan army captured Lin'an. Zhao Xian, Emperor Gong of the Southern Song Dynasty, was captured. The Yuan soldiers marched down and invaded Wenzhou. In response to the call of Prime Minister Wen Wangxiang to fight against the Yuan Dynasty, Chen Yuzhi led more than a thousand people from his tribe to Wenzhou to fight against the Yuan Dynasty. However, because the enemy was outnumbered and we were outnumbered, Chen Yuzhi led his troops to retreat while fighting, and went to the Green River in the middle and lower reaches of the Nanxi River. When they were in Zhangyang and Jiuzhang, they fought fierce battles with the Yuan soldiers. In the end, they were outnumbered and retreated to Furong Cliff behind Furong Village in their hometown. They held their positions and continued to fight against the Yuan soldiers for three years. Finally, with no ammunition or food, Chen Yuzhi jumped off his horse from the south cliff of a thousand feet high and died for his country. The remaining 700 to 800 members of the clan followed closely behind, all of them jumped off the cliff and sacrificed their lives. Later generations In order to commemorate Chen Yuzhi's heroic deeds, the Erfang Ancestral Hall was changed into the Chen Yuzhi Memorial Hall for people to visit and pay their respects.

Eighteen Gold Belts

The people of Furong Village respect etiquette, simple folk customs, and a popular culture of farming and studying. "The Genealogy of the Furong Chen Family" records that 34 members of the clan were Jinshi, Juren, and Shengyuan in the high school entrance examination, and 18 of them have served in Beijing in the past dynasties. They are known as the "Eighteen Golden Belts" in the world. Today, the "Eighteen Golden Belts" are treasured. Wat, court clothes and sacrifices, imperial edicts, gold bottles, plaques, etc.

[Edit this paragraph] History

Furong Village was founded in the late Tang Dynasty. According to the "Chen Family Genealogy" compiled by Ding Wei, Hongzhi of the Ming Dynasty (1497): "I Chen After the iron tomb, he moved to Kaifeng from Yingchuan and moved to Ming'ao in the early Tang Dynasty. The ancestor of Furong was the fifth grandson of Zhao Gong. ), more than 600 years ago. "There are also legends from villagers that at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the eldest wife of the Chen family moved north from Yongjia City to escape the troubled times. She followed the Nanxi River to the deep mountain col and reached the foot of Furong Peak. She only saw this place:" There is belt water in front, Houlun Shamao Rock, three dragons holding beads, and four waters. "It is a rare Feng Shui treasure place, so I built a house and settled here."

At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, Yuan soldiers went south. Chen Yuzhi, a villager from Furong Village, became a Jinshi in the first year of Xianchun. He responded to Wen Tianxiang’s call and led more than 800 righteous men in the village to defend Furong Peak for three years. Finally, they all Martyred, Chen Yuzhi committed suicide and martyred his country. The village was burned down by Yuan soldiers.

Therefore, when the village was rebuilt at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, people merged the original small villages into a large village, built seven gates and two stone walls, and built eight buckets to store water.

The main street of Furong Village is different from other Nanxijiang ancient villages. The main streets of ordinary ancient villages are perpendicular to the village gate, but the main street of Furong Village, Changtang Street, is directly connected to the entrance after entering. It takes a corner to get there, and its main street doesn't go all the way to the end. This may be from a Feng Shui perspective. The east end of Changtang Street is the first of the seven stars. The west end was originally one of the eight buckets. Nowadays, houses have been built, and only half a square of the pond remains.

Furong Village has a long history, which can also be said to have gone through many vicissitudes of life. According to the "Chen Family Genealogy" recorded in the 10th year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty (1479 AD): "At the end of the Tang Dynasty, in order to escape the troubled times, the Chen family moved north from Yongjia County, along the Nanxi River to the deep mountain depressions, to the Furong Peak. , I saw water on the side of the belt, Shamao Rock on the back, three dragons grabbing pearls, and four waters returning to the pond, so they built houses and settled in Furong Village to this day.

Furong Pond is located on the south side of Changtang Street. It is 43 meters long from east to west and 13 meters wide from north to south. The pond is not too big, but the Furong Pavilion located in Furong Pond is very comfortable. Furong Pavilion is a hilltop-style building with an attic. It has 4 pillars, 12 eaves columns, and is surrounded by beauties. It would be very comfortable for the villagers to sit in the pavilion after dinner in midsummer after the sun sets. If you just look at this waterside pavilion, it is similar to the one in the park. You can enjoy the cool air and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

But this is a village after all, not a park. Since it is a village, it is impossible to regard the waterside pavilion as just a place for viewing. It also has a living function. Furong Pavilion is built in the middle of the water, with stone bridges on both sides connecting the two banks. On one side is Changtang Street and on the other side are private houses. On the side of the private house, there are stone steps leading to the waterside. You can do laundry and vegetables on the bottom level of the stone steps. Not far to the west is Furong Academy. Small towns in the south have a strong cultural atmosphere. Such a small village also has an academy, which can be regarded as a pursuit of culture.

Wandering in Furong Village, you can experience the tranquility and vitality of small village life. Although the house is old and full of vicissitudes of life, its connotation cannot be concealed. History itself is abandoning the old and starting with the new, but the traces of history are profound.

[Edit this paragraph] Related content

Seven Stars and Eight Dou Furong Village

There is a Furong Village in Yongjia County, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province.

More than 1,500 years ago, a poet named Xie Lingyun was born on this land. Xie Lingyun once served as the prefect of Yongjia. Later, he was impeached by his political opponents, hunted down by the court, and killed.

Time flies and it has been more than 1,500 years since the poet left, but this landscape is still beautiful.

The history of Yongjia was mainly formed in the late Western Jin Dynasty. At that time, the war situation in the Central Plains was chaotic, causing a large number of people to migrate southward. The combination of Central Plains culture and Ouyue culture promoted the civilization of Yongjia area.

After more than a thousand years of vicissitudes, these ancient trees, ancient wells, and ancient village walls left on the land of Yongjia have become witnesses of the wars and prosperous times in Chinese history. Behind these ancient trees, wells and ancient village walls are ancient villages.

Furong Village is located south of Yantou Town. There is no hibiscus in the village. Just because there are three peaks in the southwest of the village, the rocks are red and look like a budding hibiscus. Every time the sun sets, it is particularly moving, so it is named Furong Village.

Furong Village has a current population of 2,031 people and 481 households. Most people in the village have the surname Chen. The east gate of Furong Village is where the village owners came in and out in ancient times, commonly known as Ximen. Entering the east gate, there is a platform about 80 centimeters above the ground. In ancient times, it was the podium where high-ranking officials in the village returned to their hometown and received the villagers. Stepping off the podium from here is Changtang Street, the main road in the village, also known as Ruyi Street. The public buildings and residential buildings in the village are distributed north and south with Changtang Street as the central axis.

On the north side of Changtang Street is the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall. The main entrance of Chen's Ancestral Hall faces east and was built in the Ming Dynasty.

Opposite the main hall is the stage. To this day, every second day of the second lunar month, the village invites theater troupes to perform. The usually silent ancestral halls and empty stages are a different scene.

The middle section of Changtang Street is the center of the village. Back then, the reflection of the three peaks of Furong could be seen in the pond. So it is called Furong Pond.

Inside this wall covered with moss and weeds was the village academy. In ancient times, Furong Village used the clan's public property to pay tuition for poor students to cultivate talents for the family.

After the Southern Song Dynasty established its capital in Hangzhou, it advocated farming and reading. In addition, two famous literati in Chinese history, Xie Lingyun and Wang Xizhi, served as prefects in the Yongjia area where Furong Village is located. Their character of caring about the mountains and rivers and worrying about national affairs, It had a great influence on the folk customs at that time. It was believed that farming could make you rich and reading could bring you glory. Furong Academy is also very prosperous.

The origin of Furong Village can probably be traced back to the late Tang Dynasty. The genealogy of the Chen family in 1497 records that the Chen family of Furong Village migrated from Kaifeng, Henan to Yongjia several times. In the late Tang Dynasty, the ancestors of Furong Village came to this deep mountain depression and saw three peaks of Furong like a crown, and a belt of clear water at the foot of the mountain. Like Lian, there was a vast plain that could be cultivated and grazed, and they had enough food and clothing, so they settled here. Based on this calculation, Furong Village has a history of 1,100 years. The Southern Song Dynasty was the heyday in the history of Furong Village. Today's Yantou Town and Tanxia Village both belong to Furong Village, which is a scattered pastoral mountain village.

The portraits treasured by the villagers show that at that time, eighteen family members were officials in the same dynasty in the capital, and their titles were prominent.

In the late Southern Song Dynasty, Yuan soldiers went south. Furong Village, led by Chen Yuzhi, a tribesman, fought fiercely with the Yuan soldiers. The battle was fierce. When they ran out of ammunition and food, Chen Yuzhi took the lead in covering the eyes of the horses with black cloth, and others followed suit, jumping off a cliff and dying. The genealogy records this: When the soldiers of the Yuan Dynasty arrived in Wen, the Duke and his nephew Gui Gong led more than a thousand of his nephews and fellow villagers to fight against Luzhang, retreated to Furong Rock, and stayed there for three years. When Wuyin heard that the emperor had drowned, he cut his own throat and collapsed. Gui Gong was arrested and died unyieldingly. At that time, more than 800 people died and more than 50 were captured. Anyone who hears this will weep and pray.

After Yuan soldiers entered the village, they set fire to and looted the village, and Furong Village was almost destroyed.

After several generations and hundreds of years, it was not until the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty that Furong Village gradually recovered its vitality and began to rebuild its homes.

Drawing on the lessons of the devastating disaster caused by the war, the idea of ​​rebuilding the homes of Furong Village focused on defense against the war. The main material of the building is stone. Stone wall foundations and cobblestone roads form the foundation of the village; the six village gates with different shapes are very similar to European medieval castles, but more humane. There is a Qiao Pavilion outside the south gate, which forms a strong contrast with the rough village wall. The walls protecting the fortress have the functions of defense, defense and resistance. There is a water channel outside the village wall like a moat. The heroic historical relics of Chen Yuzhi's death in the anti-Yuan war and the planning and layout of the strategic defense in the village injected masculinity into Furong Village. However, beneath the foundations of these stone walls and deep within the cobblestone paths lies a rich accumulation of ancient Confucian and Taoist culture.

The soul of Furong Village’s internal planning lies in the “Seven Stars and Eight Dou”. The so-called star refers to a square platform about 10 centimeters above the ground. Most of them were set up at road intersections, which not only marked road turns, but also served as command and contact points for street battles. The so-called bucket refers to the large and small pools scattered in the village, which have functions such as fire protection and water storage.

Furong Pond is the largest pond in the village. It is 43 meters long and 10 meters wide, commonly known as Big Dou. The Seven Stars and Eight Dou, which are set up according to the theory of Kanyuology, imply that the big star in the sky has landed in the mortal world, which can make the village healthy and auspicious and bring forth talents in large numbers. Later, the descendants of the Chen family did not live up to the expectations of their ancestors and actually produced many talents.

At the foot of the three peaks of Furong, there are four mountain streams flowing eastward. The villagers diverted water into the village, dug many ditches in an orderly manner along the wall foundations and roads, and poured it into large and small water buckets across the streets and gates.

Changtang Street runs east-west along the stream. The north-south roads and Changtang Street intersect in a T shape, and the twists and turns of roads and water channels form a labyrinth-like activity space.

Most of the ancient residences in Furong Village were built in the early Ming Dynasty. The layout is basically a courtyard style. The open room of the main house is the main room, and the side room is the porch. The front porch is connected to the front porch of the main house, forming an enclosed shape on three sides. The ridge is curved, the roof is gentle, and the eaves are far-reaching. Every house has low stone walls and every house is shaded by fruit trees, making the whole village feel comfortable and nourishing.

Located in the northwest corner of the village, there is an incomplete big house, but it is very famous, called Simadi Big House. It was built during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. It was a merchant's residence, but it had an official title.

The big house originally had three courtyards combined side by side to form a large courtyard, covering an area of ​​24 acres, with a total of 46 main rooms and wing rooms. The three courtyards have their own gates, and there are passages between the courtyards. The house originally had three entrances. The first entrance is a bungalow, and the second entrance is a two-story building. There are waist eaves between the floors, and the eaves extend gently, making the roof of the large house look gentle and considerate.

The first entrance wall and archway of the big house were burned down during the Republic of China. It was the owner of the big house who set the house on fire. It is said that the owner of the big house at that time participated in the Agrarian Revolution led by the Communist Party, and the Kuomintang armed The forces threatened to rebel by burning down his house. In order to show that he would never look back, the owner of the big house personally set fire to his home. Today's big house has faded from its former glory, and there are still more than 20 families living in the big house. They hope to knock down the big house and build a new house here. However, the big house is a key cultural relic protection unit and is not allowed to be demolished. A pair of contradictions confuse people here.

According to village cadres, there is little land and many people in the village. After the reform and opening up, 60% of the labor force left the village to work in the city. Most of those who stayed were women, children, old and young. Life has improved a lot from the past. City people like our old houses, but what people in the village yearn for is to live in buildings like city people.

In Houcun, Zhongtang Township, on the edge of Yongjia County, live the direct descendants of Chen Yuzhi, the anti-Yuan hero of Furong Village.

On April 15, 1999, the work of updating the Chen family tree in Zhongtanghou Village was completed. At the same time, the clan ancestral hall was also renovated.

According to traditional customs, the villagers held a grand celebration ceremony, and Furong Village also sent representatives to send them gifts to celebrate.

Ancient music sounded again on the stage of the ancestral hall. The five-flowered faces and the beautiful women in green clothes walked onto the stage and performed an ancient opera that was loved by the villagers and passed down from generation to generation.

In the Yongjia Holy King Temple south of the ancestral hall, for three consecutive days, there was a village party and a group meal.

Bursts of ancient singing on the ancient stage blended into the night sky above the fields along with fireworks and fireworks.

However, the night cannot swallow up tradition, because tradition is a long river that cannot be disconnected.

In these thousand-year-old villages, reality and history are always closely intertwined and extended...