Main scenic spots in Shaxi ancient town
As a main channel outside the three Silk Roads for China's foreign exchange, the Tea-Horse Ancient Road is called "Tea-Horse Ancient Road" because the transportation process of trade mainly passes through caravans and the main trading objects are tea and horses. Shaxi, located between Dali and Lijiang, is a land pier on the ancient tea-horse road in Yunnan and Tibet. Coupled with the excavation of Nanzhao and Dayiguo Grottoes, Shaxi has become a business distribution center and a Buddhist cultural activity center in Nanzhao Dali. It is an ancient town integrating business and Buddhist culture, which can be said to be remarkable for a time. Maybe God has a soft spot for Shaxi. After the Tang Dynasty, four salt wells with Shaxi as the center were gradually built-Misha Salt Well, Qiaohou Salt Well, Yunlong Nuodeng Salt Well and Lanzhou Raj Salt Well, which added icing on the cake to the development of Shaxi. As the market closest to Sijing on the ancient tea-horse road, the ancient town has become the salt capital of the ancient tea-horse road and the distribution center of salt supply in Tibet and northwest Yunnan. The discovery and exploitation of salt wells made Shaxi, as a land terminal on the ancient tea-horse road, undergo a qualitative change and become a pivotal salt capital, thus further promoting the economic and cultural development of Shaxi, making Shaxi one of the most developed areas in agriculture, industry, commerce and transportation on the ancient tea-horse road. The rise and take-off of economy will inevitably promote the development of ethnic and religious culture, and Shaxi will become a gathering place of Buddhist culture for a while, thus promoting Shaxi area to become the main area of Buddhist tantric religious activities in Erhai area and making Shaxi an ancient town with developed economy and trade and prosperous culture.
Shaxi, an ancient town, experienced a process of development, growth, glory and decline, leaving only silent stone bridges, ancient roads and ancient streets, quietly telling its past. Only the Heihui River silently brought the glorious course of Shaxi on the ancient tea-horse road into the distant sea. Sideng Sifang Street is the soul and core of Shaxi and the place where Shaxi trades. It is located at the top of Aofeng Mountain in the center of Shaxi Dam, at the top of the "S"-shaped big bend ring of Heihuijiang River, close to mountains and waters, and it is an excellent land of geomantic omen. This is a thousand-year-old market with complete functions, including temples, ancient stage, shops, horse shops, open red sandstone slate street, century-old trees, Gu Xiang and Zhaimen. It was praised as "the only surviving ancient market on the ancient tea-horse road" by experts from the World Memorial Building Foundation!
Historically, Sideng Sifang Street was called "Nantang". In the late Ming Dynasty, it was named Sideng Sifang Street because of Xingjiao Temple. Temple refers to Xingjiao Temple; Deng is a white language, which means place. Located next to Xingjiao Temple, it is a square street, which is also the origin of the name of Sideng Square Street.
Walk past the Yujin Bridge, an ancient stone bridge on the Heihui River, and walk along the ancient road for about 100 meters. In front of you, a stockade gate made of adobe appears. The villagers call it "Jiezi Gate", which means that entering this gate is the market. Compared with the tall and mighty stone gates in other places, this village gate looks a little shabby, rustic and narrow, but it shows the world what the market gate of the ancient tea-horse road looks like-an adobe wall gate that only allows two horses to pass at the same time. The fourth-class ancient street has three gates-Dongzhaimen (leading to Dali), Nanzhaimen (connecting Yanjing in western Yunnan to the south and west of the ancient town) and Beizhaimen (leading to Tibet).
After crossing Zhaimen, a narrow and deep ancient roadway came leisurely, and dilapidated ancient shops on both sides stood quietly on both sides of the roadway. The strong commercial atmosphere is reminiscent of ancient caravans entering Zhaimen and crossing the roadway. Now, there are three fourth-class Gu Xiang, which the locals still call "streets", which means that the first business in the history of fourth-class was done in the alley. Today, the three lanes are basically intact, and being in them is like returning to the lanes of the ancient tea-horse road yesterday, giving people a feeling of remembering the past and cherishing the present.
At the end of the narrow lane is Sifang Street, the economic and trade center of Sideng. Sifang street looks like a square ruler. The main street is about 300 meters long from north to south and 100 meters wide from east to west, in which the north street is about 100 meters long from east to west and 50 meters wide from north to south. The whole street is paved with red sandstone slabs, and there are two ancient locust trees in the middle of the street. There is an ancient stage facing east in the east of Sifang Street, and Xingjiao Temple facing east in the west. The two echo each other from a distance, dividing Sifang Street into two parts, surrounded by shops and horse shops, and the three Gu Xiang roads extend to all directions of the ancient town.
In the past, there was a market every three days in Sideng Sifang Street, which was very lively. Caravans from all over the world came to the ancient street and stayed in the afternoon the day before. The performances of classical music, Bai overlord whip dance and folk songs on the stage started from the afternoon before yesterday and stayed up all night for two consecutive days. Locals call it a "two-night and two-day play". Sideng Sifang Street has the most commercial flavor, which shows that the buildings of the ancient tea-horse road market are densely distributed around the street market and laid in front of and behind Madian on both sides of the driveway. It is the guarantee that the whole street will last for thousands of years. To put it simply, the front shop and the back horse shop are houses facing the street and in the alley, which are mainly used for doing business or renting out to others. The back house and yard are open as horse shops for caravans and businessmen from south to north to stay, stock up and store horses. This commercial layout is all around Sifang Street and on both sides of three Gu Xiang, and it is basically well preserved, becoming the only surviving market town in the ancient tea-horse road market.
The ancient stage is the most distinctive building in Sideng Square Street. It is located in the central frontage position of buildings in the east of Sifang Street, and forms a central axis with Xingjiao Temple and Temple Gate in the west, which divides the ancient Sifang Street into two halves, thus providing a physical symbol for the business scope of various businesses. The main architectural structure of the ancient stage is Kuixing Pavilion, and the stage is only its auxiliary function. It is a place where local Bai people worship Kuixing. Its building is three stories high, with a stage in front and a shelf behind it. The building structure is exquisite, 12 corners, and the wings fly. Although it has been repaired, it basically maintains the original architectural style. The ancient stage and Xingjiao Temple echo each other from afar. On national festivals, the sons and daughters of the Bai nationality in the town wear festive costumes, play the leading three strings, gather in Sifang Street and sing and dance on the stage. Sifang Street is crowded with people, and Xingjiao Temple is full of joy and good luck. Among them, the most lively is the annual "February 8" prince party in the lunar calendar. It is said that Shaxi has always had such a rule that you can't be called Shaxi people unless you perform on the ancient stage in Sifang Street. It can be seen that the square street ancient stage is in people's minds, Shaxi ancient bridge.
Everyone in Shaxi is proud of being able to perform on the ancient stage and regards performing on stage as an important symbol of Shaxi people. This tradition has created generations of artists, singers and dancers, and made Shaxi music talents emerge in large numbers, becoming the "hometown of singing and dancing" in the eyes of outsiders. The Bai people in Shaxi are a "nation that can sing and dance well". The phrase "the water in Shaxi is beautiful and the girls are beautiful" circulated among the caravan tells the story of Shaxi in the caravan's heart.
Stroll through the red sandstone slabs in the ancient street, board the ancient stage, take a look at the pavements and horse shops in Sifang Street, take a walk at the Yujin Bridge on the Heiyu River, experience the temples where various schools of Buddhism are integrated in Xingjiao Temple, listen to the ancient music in Shaxi Cave, experience the charm of ancient music, take a look at the traditional overlord whip of the Bai people, dance a traditional little dance of the Bai people, and listen to Shaxi girls sing a Bai tune and taste.