Sanming City Hakka Culture Questions and Answers

1. "Heavy Golden Urn"

In 1988, the Fujian Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeological Team came to Jiulong Lake in Qingliu County and discovered in a cave called Fox Cave by the locals. A large number of ownerless gold urns were also discovered at an ancient human cultural site. The golden urn is a pottery urn used by the Hakka people to hold the bones of their ancestors.

Qingliu is a county where Hakkas live together. It, together with Ninghua, Changting and Shicheng in Jiangxi next door, is called the cradle area of ​​Hakkas. In particular, the Shibi Town in Ning, a hundred kilometers away, is the first stop for the ancestors who migrated south to Fujian in the eyes of the Hakka people. It is a paradise in their minds and the ancestral place where Hakka culture began to form.

Since the end of the Han Dynasty, people from the Central Plains whose ancestors lived in the Yellow River Basin have migrated southward to escape the protracted war in the north. Many people got sick along the way and died on the way to Fujian. Their corpses were hastily buried, forming a special burial custom called "secondary burial". The long-term migration has not changed the Hakka people's dietary customs of adapting to the environment. The film reflects the good cultural heritage of the Hakka people, from the Hakka tea to sashimi, to the recognition of old trees as parents.

Although the lives of the people who came to Shibi gradually stabilized, the bones of their fathers were still scattered on the way to escape. So the Hakka ancestors went back to the south to find the bones of their ancestors, put them in pottery urns and carried them back to the stone wall for burial. They equated these inconspicuous earthen pots and urns with expensive gold and called them golden urns. They entrusted the Hakka people with an unforgettable emotion. Take what is described in the film. In fact, the golden urn in Qingliu Fox Cave is not ownerless. It may be that the descendants did not come back to take away the bones of their fathers due to inconvenience.

2. "Twelve consecutive levels"

In the 1980s, Taining Chengguan residents discovered a piece of official kiln porcelain while cleaning the foundation of their house. People speculated that The appearance of this kind of porcelain specially produced for the palace is closely related to Li Chunye, the Minister of War during the Tianqi period of Taining.

During his tenure as Shangshu, Li Chunye built a large-scale Shangshu Di in Taining. Shangshu Di is a well-preserved Ming Dynasty residential building complex south of the Yangtze River in my country, covering an area of ​​more than 5,000 square meters. At that time, Li Chunye's annual salary was only 152 taels, and it would cost more than 200,000 taels of silver to build such a compound. This huge gap caused many people to speculate.

According to historians, the money mainly came from the emperor's rewards and Wei Zhongxian's selling of official positions. According to historical records, when Li Chunye and Wei Zhongxian met, it was when Wei Zhongxian was in danger. With Li Chunye's help, Wei Zhongxian escaped the death penalty, and Li Chunye became Wei Zhongxian's savior. After Emperor Tianqi ascended the throne, he ignored the government affairs and Wei Zhongxian took the opportunity to monopolize power. Li Chunye also began to advance by leaps and bounds, jumping from the seventh level to the first level in just three years, rising to 12 levels in a row.

Emperor Tianqi passed away, and Emperor Chongzhen dealt with Wei Zhongxian after he came to the throne. When the Wei party was severely punished, Li Chunye, who had a high degree of political sensitivity, found no evidence and "made friends with close servants and was inferior." The crime was given a lighter sentence, and the minister's title was not confiscated. He seems to be a microcosm of that special era, representing the living conditions of that era and even the entire Chinese feudal society under the bureaucratic system.

3. "Tracing the Cave"

Yuhua Cave is one of the famous caves in China and was developed during the Western Han Dynasty. Xu Xiake, a great traveler of the Ming Dynasty, recorded in detail his visit to Yuhua Cave in "Xu Xiake's Travels". Among them, "This cave is dazzling and full of wonders, and is full of secrets" is the most wonderful description of Yuhua Cave. In Jiangle, there are actually two more mysterious caves, namely Jinhua Cave and Yinhua Cave. The three natural ancient caves of Yuhua, Yinhua and Jinhua formed by karst landforms were called the "Three Hua Scenic Spots" at that time. However, due to the passage of time, Jinhua Cave and Yinhua Cave can no longer be found. In order to confirm the records of the ancients, reporters from "Across China" participated in the exploration and search of Jinhua and Yinhua Cave with geologists, and encountered many mysterious things. story.

In 1980, during the census of place names, staff and local people discovered the back cave of Yinhua Cave, and excavated a copper coin from Tang Tianbao (742-746) one meter away from the cave entrance. This proves that Yinhua Cave has a long history of tourism.

Jinhua Cave is a karst landform dominated by towers and terraces (or box-type), but its location is still a mystery. How did people discover these caves far away in the mountains at that time? In the film, senior engineers from the Fujian Institute of Geology borrowed special equipment to re-determine the location of Jinhua Cave. The test results show that Jinhua Cave is not an independent cave, but there are holes in the cave, staggered up and down, and connected by bends.

The Sanhua scenic spots in history finally have the opportunity to appear in front of people again.

4. "Floating Castle"

In Yong'an City, there is a Hakka earth fort named Anzhenbao, which looks like a giant ship floating on the soft swamp land.

The owner of Anzhen Castle was named Chi. They had accumulated some experience in the timber business and built an earthen castle with more than 300 rooms that could accommodate more than a thousand people. There are also rice fields cultivated around the earthen fort, which makes people doubt that Anzhen fort was built on a swamp. If you stick a bamboo fork at the highest point near Anzhen Fort, you can see the mud. It is possible that Anzhen Fort was built on a swamp. It turns out that in the 1970s, the mud around the earthen fort was more than two meters tall. In order to facilitate farming and transportation, the Chi family cut down a lot of pine branches and thatch and spread it on the mud to create rice fields.

Chi Rensheng explained that the choice of the swamp was due to Feng Shui issues. Zhang Chengzhong, director of the Yong'an Museum, believes that this is related to the fact that the Chi family was still a minor surname in Yangshang Village at that time and had low prestige. To this day, the best location in the basin is still occupied by families with big surnames in the village. Perhaps the fortune teller at that time noticed the difficulties of the Chi family and chose this swamp.

The spring water emerging from the well in Anzhen Castle often contains a lot of oily floc, which is related to the construction of the castle. In order to stabilize the foundation, the Chi family used greased pine wood to separate the soft soil. Eighteen layers were laid at the deepest point so that the wall base could sit firmly on the pine wood. According to many years of observation by the Yong'an Cultural Relics Research Institute, the turret on the north side shows signs of sinking, which may be due to the dual effects of groundwater and the fort wall squeezing the foundation. The Yongan City Cultural Relics Protection Department is studying treatment plans to protect this floating castle from sinking.

5. "Secrets in the Rock Cave"

A few years ago, an ancient rock cave tomb was discovered in Taining County, containing the mummy of an ancient Han man. The discovery of this tomb revealed The mystery of cave burial customs for more than a thousand years.

According to expert analysis, the reason why the owner of this Ming Dynasty tomb was buried in a cave was most likely left behind by the Central Plains people when they migrated south. Archaeological experts found pottery and porcelain with typical traces of Central Plains culture and customs during the archaeological excavations. They believe that Taining served as a post station for the southward migration from the Central Plains. The Hakka people from the Central Plains who were forced to move south passed through Taining, and settling in caves became their only choice.

In Zhangdi Village in Dalong Township, Taining, the whole village is passed down from generation to generation with the Zhang surname. The ancestors of the Zhang surname came from Henan to Taining during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty. The coffins of the Zhangdi villagers were also placed in the cave. There were more than 100 coffins neatly arranged under the cave. This is the mysterious burial custom of the Zhang family that has been entrusted with 600 years of incense. What we can see is that the Hakka people live together in life and are buried together in death. They are inseparable in life and death. strong sense of tradition.

To better understand the life of the Hakka people, the cave temples in Taining are a must-visit. In the past, temples were places where Hakka people prayed for peace and rest on their way south. As time goes by, when the original people settled in this cave with red cliffs and clear water after going through untold hardships, their lives, beliefs, and funeral customs a hundred years later were all deposited in this landscape.

6. "Strange Sapphire"

There is a village called Lindi in Mingxi County, which was once an ancient volcano crater. After erupting 15 million years ago, the volcano cooled down and formed a circular depression about one kilometer in diameter. Villagers' houses were built in this crater.

In the 1950s, the Fujian Provincial Geological Survey Team discovered this ancient crater. Since there are many gemstone companions on the river bed near the crater, which is similar to the geological conditions of diamond origins in South Africa, the provincial geological survey team established a gemological geological team to look for diamonds. None of the villagers thought that the small river that they used to play in and bathe in as children and used to irrigate the fields as adults would have treasures falling from the sky. The kind of blue stone that is common in rivers is a fortune that can change their destiny. Three or five local villagers only needed a few shovels and a sieve to start hunting for treasures. Sifting out gems became the main income for farmers at that time.

Hou Jimei is the first person engaged in sapphire processing in Mingxi County.

One day in 1997, he discovered a sapphire among the gemstones he purchased in Woodland Village. After cutting it, he found that the sapphire had beautiful patterns under the light, reflecting colorful colors. After the sapphire insert was processed, he checked online and found that similar gemstones were priced at around 2 million yuan. Today, Mingxi sapphire has become a well-known gemstone variety in China. It is famous for its pure color, moderate grain size, high clarity, few cracks, and numerous strange gemstones. This smallest administrative county in Sanming has also changed its development destiny because of its rich sapphires.

7. "The Secret of Shaxian Snacks"

In Shaxian, snacks are common meals in people's homes. Every household can make flat pork, fried tofu, and red chicken soup, and now they are all over the country. of large and medium-sized cities. The word snack first appeared in literati novel notes during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and snacks, a convenient and exquisite popular food, have a long history.

Shaxian County was founded during the Eastern Jin Dynasty. At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, Wen Tianxiang escorted Zhao Bing to flee south, and dismissed the accompanying palace people in Shaxian County, including the palace's imperial cook. With the immigration and increase of Han people from the Central Plains, especially after the Southern Song Dynasty, Shaxian County experienced its first prosperous period. The Han people who immigrated brought the food customs from the Central Plains with them, which have been inherited and preserved for thousands of years, becoming a living fossil of Chinese food culture. Later, with the development of water transportation between western Fujian and Fuzhou, Shaxian County served as a dock for water and land transportation. Naturally, there were many merchants traveling from south to north. The high-quality and convenient Shaxian snacks naturally became the favorite food of merchants and flowed to other places with the merchants.

Shaxian snacks are divided into two schools: Chengguan and Xiamao. Xia Mao snacks pay attention to the original flavor. Tasting Xia Mao snacks is to recall the folk customs of Xia Mao Hakka people. Because Chengguan is close to Shaxi, a tributary of the Min River, the snacks are influenced by Fuzhou and other places, making them exquisite and light. Shaxian snacks are a product of the Central Plains food culture. For example, the famous flat meat snacks, that is, wontons, are made of wheat flour as the outer shell material in the Central Plains area. However, the Han people who fled here could not find wheat, so they used local taro flour instead. Nowadays, taro flour is still mixed with flour. , the resulting skin is translucent. It can be said that Shaxian snacks are a living dictionary that confirms the history of Hakka people’s migration to the south.