The ancient town of Rencun in Linzhou City is a living ancient town with the Zhuangyuan Mansion, Hanlin Academy, and Haotian Palace.
On the afternoon of November 12, 2020, I rode a motorcycle into the boundary of Linzhou, Henan. Of course, the Hongqi Canal cannot be missed. After arriving at the Hongqi Canal scenic spot under the guidance of the navigation system, I learned that this is only the Hongqi Canal Memorial Hall, which is still 30 kilometers away from the actual Hongqi Canal scenic spot. This put me in a bit of a dilemma: I originally planned to go back to Yaocun Town not far away to stay after seeing the Red Flag Canal, but this messed up my plan. Obviously, after visiting the memorial hall, it is impossible to drive 30 kilometers to visit the Youth Cave in Hongqiqu. First, there is not enough time. Second, I am a little tired after riding more than 100 kilometers, and I just want to find a hotel to have a good rest.
After thinking for a while, I decided to visit the memorial hall first. "As you come, take care of yourself." After all, the plans on the road are always full of variability. It is precisely because of this that I met the ancient town of Rencun and gained a lot. If this plan had not been broken and my trip had not been delayed, I would have passed by Rencun Town and missed this ancient and beautiful town.
There is a saying that "a blessing in disguise is a blessing in disguise!" After many years of life practice, I think this saying can be a "magic weapon" to remain invincible.
It was already three o'clock in the afternoon when I walked out of the Hongqiqu Memorial Hall. I continued to ride north along National Highway 234, deciding to stay in the first town I encountered and go to Hongqiqu Qingnian Cave the next day. The first town we encountered was Rencun Town, which was right next to the national highway.
After entering the town, I quickly found a hotel to stay.
It was a three-story old hotel from the 1970s and 1980s. The corridor was deep and cold. The wooden door of the room opened with a creak, and a cold and gloomy atmosphere rushed in. The room is high and empty, with gray and mottled white walls. There is a flower quilt on each of the two old-fashioned iron beds. The bright red flowers have faded, making it look gray and old. The dust of history has accumulated on the white sheets. I subconsciously pushed the quilt with my hand. It was as heavy and solid as a brick, as if it were an old object sleeping decades ago at the bottom of the box.
I took a deep breath, sat down on the bed, looked up and saw the Internet password on the back of the door, and entered it three times, but failed. I thought: What kind of internet do I need for a hotel that costs ten yuan a night? Sitting on the bed, I didn't know what to do, so I had to get up and go to the toilet. The sound of my boots hitting the cement board sounded unusually hollow in the long corridor, making the building seem even more silent. Maybe I was the only traveler in the whole building.
As soon as I entered the toilet, I was greeted by a pungent, primitive smell. The toilet is an old-fashioned one blocked by a cement board. The contents in the narrow and deep rectangular pit have been deposited over time. The pungent concentration can make people feel their existence more clearly. After walking out of the toilet, I suddenly felt that the stuffy nose I had been having for the past few days was gone.
When I returned to the hotel, I found a thermos bottle beside the bed. The water in the thermos bottle was hot. It turned out that when I went to the toilet just now, the gentleman who checked in at the hotel brought me a pot of water to soak my feet in the evening. Looking back on the accommodation while riding, no hotel owner took the initiative to bring water to me, so I had to ask for it myself. At this time, I suddenly felt that the room was no longer so cold, so I decided to go to town and have a casual meal.
Of course, at this time, I didn’t know that there was an ancient town hidden in Rencun Town. I only walked around the new town and ate a bowl of noodles. Seeing that the sun has not yet set, I decided to go to Ren Village. In this way, I encountered this ancient town from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This unexpected surprise drove away all the wind, rain, frost and snow on the road. The ancient town still retains its original appearance, with the old supply and marketing cooperatives, photo studios, banks, and schools on the street appearing one by one in front of you. The ancient town is alive.
The ancient town of Rencun was built in the Zhizheng period of the Yuan Dynasty. It was moved from Taicang Village in Hebei Province by the three brothers of the Ren family. Time flies, and hundreds of years later, this place became a distribution center for materials in the border areas of Shanxi, Henan and Hebei provinces, forming a developed ancient commercial town. With the development and transformation of the commodity economy, the ancient town has long lost its former prosperity and looks a bit lonely and lonely. Walking in the streets and alleys is like traveling through time and space. The ancient buildings and old houses that fill your eyes seem to still tell the story of the past prosperity.
Rencun Ancient Town has four streets, east, west, north and south. Each street has a coupon gate. Now only the south gate and west gate are left. The south gate, like the Guandi Temple next to it, is still wearing the armor of time and is fighting tenaciously against time.
There are outstanding people in every village and town, and there are many talented people throughout history. There is a Jinshi Mansion on West Street. The owner is Wei Wukui. He was a Jinshi in the 13th year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty. He was named the garrison of Jingdu Tang and Jinying, and was awarded the title of capital of Zhili Letingying. He was 44 years old. Jinshi Mansion is large in scale, consisting of nine suites and several single courtyards, with brackets and overhanging eaves, and is ingeniously designed. During the Anti-Japanese War, Jinshi Mansion was used as the Linbei County Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Not far from the Jinshi Mansion, there is the Hanlin Mansion, which was the residence of Zhang Hongkui, a scholar during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty. Later, he served as the minister of the Ministry of Industry and the doctor of the Ministry of Punishment; in the second year of Xianfeng, he was appointed the magistrate of Yongzhou, Hunan Province. Zhang Hongkui's great-grandson, Zhang Jiajun, became a Jinshi during the Guangxu period and was granted the title of editor of the Hanlin Academy. Therefore, the house was renamed Hanlin Mansion.
In mid-1940, the Ministry of Social Affairs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China selected agents and sent them to the Hebei-Shandong-Henan border area and established the Eighth Route Army's Northern Henan Office in Ren Village. Its operations were under the General Intelligence Office and was directly led by Zuo Quan. After Zuo Quan's death in 1942, Teng Daiyuan took charge.
There is also a famous ancient building in Rencun, which is the Haotian Temple. Haotian Temple was built in the Ming Dynasty. The existing theater building, worship hall and Jade Emperor Hall were rebuilt in 1831 in the 11th year of Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty. The exquisitely carved Panlong stone pillars in the worship hall are a major feature.
It took me two time periods to visit Rencun Ancient Town, and the whole time was spent visiting several nearby ancient villages. In theory, traveling should be done with a let-it-take-the-flow mentality, but in reality it always requires planning. Especially when traveling alone, you generally need to make a plan. And beyond planning, there may be unexpected gains. For example, this encounter with Rencun Ancient Town is a kind of fate. Of course, in addition to Rencun Ancient Town, I also visited several nearby ancient villages and a historical site on the mountain.
Okay, let’s talk about this.
2020-12-9