The origin of the formation of Wazi Street

Wazi Street is an old place name in Shanghang County, Longyan City, the ancestral home of the Hakka people. It is still engraved in the hearts of the descendants of the Hakka who moved out of Shanghang.

There is no record of "Wazi Street" in documents such as "Shanghang County Chronicle" and "Shanghang County Gazetteer". The search for "Wazi Street" became a place of concern at that time. After discussion, experts and scholars proposed: According to folk oral legends, in the county there are Lingzitou (south of today's Taiyang Square), Leipingli, between Juren Lane and Hangzhong Road, and Gangbei Street (the middle section of today's Renmin Road). ), the area above the northern section of Renmin Road to Heping Road and the eastern section of Jiefang Road, etc., there are nearly 10 areas that used to be called Wazi Street (lane, flat). Now let’s take a look at how “Wazi Street” was formed.

There has been a local saying since ancient times: "Before there was Shanghang City, there was Guofang Village first." Guofang Village is located south of Xinjie (later changed to Gangbei Street and now Renmin Road), far opposite the old county government office. Beimen Street near the county government office was once a bustling commercial street, and people lived close to Beimen Street and Xin Street. When people build houses, they need bricks and tiles, and they dig kilns nearby to take soil and bake them. It is said that there were 13 brick and tile kilns around the county government at that time. However, "Broken bricks can be used, but broken tiles can be discarded." As more bricks and tiles come out of the kiln, more and more broken tiles accumulate. From then on, people stepped on the ruins for a long time, and it became Waziping. The Hakka people who migrated from the Central Plains settled in Waziping and built private houses, forming "Wazi Lane" and "Wazi Street". Thousands of Hakka people live here.

As the Hakkas settled in "Wazi Street", the county government moved to the main street (i.e. Main Street, now Jiefang Road), and it became the most prosperous commercial street in Shanghang. Residents around Gangbei Street, including Wazi Street, are also gradually developing around the main street. They used the old houses on Wazi Street as incense houses, and some renovated and expanded them into ancestral halls for their own surnames to set up spirits and worship their ancestors. According to the survey, there are 20 ancestral halls such as the Wen Family Ancestral Hall, the Li Family Ancestral Hall, the Zhou Family Ancestral Hall, the Zhang Family Ancestral Hall, the Ding Family Ancestral Hall, the Wang Family Ancestral Hall, the Tang Family Ancestral Hall, the Lei Family Ancestral Hall, the Liao Family Ancestral Hall, the Lan Family Ancestral Hall, and the Zou Family Ancestral Hall. Ancestral halls with multiple surnames. Many Hakka descendants set out from here to make a living in Guangdong, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan and other places, and even overseas. It is said that the number has grown to tens of millions. In this way, Shanghang became the cradle of the Hakka ethnic group. Starting from the Southern Song Dynasty, it spread to eastern Guangdong, southern Fujian and other places. It was another "ancestral home" after the Hakka ethnic group Ning Shibi.

The name "Wazi Street" has been passed down to many descendants who moved their surnames from Shanghang. They don't even know Shanghang, but they remember "Wazi Street". Therefore, this name has always been remembered by the descendants of Hakka surnames who migrated abroad. Now, following this name, they have traveled thousands of miles to Shanghang, looking for the footprints of their ancestors and remembering their ancestors' achievements in opening up territories. Shanghang was established as a county in AD 994 (the fifth year of Chunhua in the Northern Song Dynasty). It was one of the earliest counties in Tingzhou Prefecture to establish a county. The territory has beautiful mountains and rivers, fertile fields and fertile soil, criss-crossing rivers, convenient irrigation, abundant rainfall and a pleasant climate. The unique natural environment is conducive to the farming economy and is suitable for the Hakka ancestors to recuperate and live. The Tingjiang River and its main tributaries, Jiuxian River and Huangtan River, run through the entire territory, which is convenient for the development of shipping, and is suitable for the migration and development of the Hakka people. In the late Tang and Song Dynasties, it was a feng shui treasure land that the Hakka ancestors dreamed of.

From the Hakka genealogy, we learned that in the hundreds of years from the end of the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, dozens of surnames were established in Shanghang. The Hakka ancestors brought advanced farming technology and advanced Chinese culture from the Central Plains. With their hard-working hands, they relied on their own efforts to cultivate fields, build water conservancy projects, build homes, develop Shanghang's mountainous resources, and promote economic development. "The Jinshan Mountain in the city produced gold during Kangding (AD 1040). By the time of Emperor You (AD 1049-1053), Zhongshu prepared a tribute of one hundred and sixty-seven taels." In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, "cigarette paper" These two items were a major source of production, with a total annual income of hundreds of thousands in the old days." The population also increased year by year. There are no population records in Shanghang during the Song and Yuan dynasties, but the population of Tingzhou Prefecture can be used as a reference index for us: Tingzhou Prefecture had 81,456 households in 1085 AD (the eighth year of Yuanfeng, Shenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty), from 1253 to 1258 AD. (During the Baoyou Period of the Southern Song Dynasty) it increased to 223,432 households with 534,890 people, a 2.7-fold increase in the number of households in 170 years. Cultural and educational undertakings have also been greatly developed. When the county was established in the Song Dynasty, there was a Confucian Office. The government sent teachings and instructions to educate students. Private donations and the government allocated land for school rent. The rent collected was used to support poor students and reward outstanding students. The society also vigorously developed school cultural associations. education. Folk writing, poetry and painting, folk songs and dragon lantern puppets became popular, and Hakka culture became increasingly prosperous.

"Tingzhou Fu Zhi" said that Shanghang: "The clothing and cultural relics are comparable to those of a big country; the rituals, music, poems and books are rich and beautiful."