The origin of the village name "Zhujiaba"

A long time ago, Zhujiaba was originally called Jinji Village, as evidenced by the Jinji Bridge to the east of the village. Why was it later renamed Zhujiaba? It is said that in the early years, the population here was not prosperous enough, there were many frail and sick people, and the feng shui was not good enough.

One day, a Feng Shui master passed by here. Out of curiosity, the villagers asked the Feng Shui master, why are the people in my village so weak and sickly? The Feng Shui master walked around the village and said, you villagers drink stagnant water, no wonder there are so many patients. If the village wants to develop, the best way is to let the water in the river in the middle of the village move. When the water is alive, the population will naturally flourish. You might as well build a dam on the river to the west of the village to block the water and let the water in the city river flow. If the water is clear and people are safe, the feng shui will gradually improve.

? The people in the village listened to the Feng Shui master and sent people from every household. Everyone used boats to load the broken bricks and tiles discarded by people in front of and behind the houses to the west of the village and threw them into the Xitiao River. By the river mouth of the village. Everyone gathered firewood and the flames were high. As time went by, they slowly filled in a brick dam along the river. It was said to be more than 20 meters long at its longest. The dam is still there, but it is not as long or wide as before. It has long been submerged in the water.

When I was a child, every summer, the men in the village liked to take their children to the brick dam in the river to learn swimming and play in the water, because the water there was very shallow and waist deep. The dam surface is relatively wide, which is especially suitable for children to learn to swim. The dam has always been a good place for villagers to swim and spend the summer, dig clams and touch shrimps.

According to the memories of the elders, since the dam foundation was filled in the Tiaoxi Port in the west of the village, the fruits in the city river have really flowed. The wind has been smooth and the water has been smooth. Less and less. The population is booming and the population is getting larger and larger. At most, there were more than 360 households in the village, housing several thousand people, and it became a famous small market town outside the south gate of Huzhou Prefecture in the old days.

? Murakami people are quick-thinking, hard-working and down-to-earth. Not only do they plant mulberry and raise silkworms, raise fish and farm, but many people also start small businesses. The villagers opened teahouses, restaurants, fish shops, rice shops, wood shops, cloth shops, wine shops, etc. The villagers in Gangnan District built many wooden buildings, especially Yucheng Liquor House, which had ten rooms for brewing. "Yucheng Baijiu" was sold all over Sujiahu, and it became the brewing center of Huzhou Prefecture.

Several elders in the village told me that Zhujiaba is indeed a geomantic treasure land. In the early years, it produced prime ministers, Jinshi, and many officials. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, many descendants of Zhu Xi also moved here because of their reputation. Gradually, the surname Zhu became the common surname here. In addition to the famous "dam" in the water on the west side of the village, the name "Zhujiaba" became known.

? The old village name was gradually forgotten by the villagers.

Edited by: Zhu Shuiqiao (descendant of Zhu Xi, descendant of Dunya Hall in Zhujiaba)

First draft in June 2002, revised draft in July 2019