Poverty-stricken villages can also become internet celebrity attractions. In Jiexi, Guangdong, many tourists make a special trip to check in.
As a Chaoshan native, I travel all year round to see the beautiful scenery, but I always miss the beauty around me.
This summer, I decided to appreciate the scenery of my hometown.
My hometown is Jiexi County, Jieyang City, Guangdong Province.
Jiexi County is known as the "Tourism Center of Chaoshan". It has tourist attractions such as Jingming Resort and Huangmantong Waterfall.
In addition to the relatively well-known scenic spots, there are many beautiful villages in Jiexi. The new Internet celebrity villages - Torch Village and Fengnan Village are the main representatives. They were originally poor villages.
Torch Village is located in Nanshan Town, Jiexi County, backed by the Dabei Mountains and has an excellent ecological environment.
Because the surrounding vegetation is lush, coming here is like walking into a paradise of negative ions.
Our car drove along the road. Various flowers and fruit trees were planted on both sides of the undulating road, with two rows of torch-shaped lampposts dotted in the middle. Suddenly, it felt like "Dream in Wonderland" and "Mountain Village" The feeling of "seeking tranquility".
The Torch Village is now a tourist attraction, but it was not like this a few years ago.
Due to its remote location and lack of leading industries, the economy of Torch Village has been unable to develop, with as many as 47 poor households.
In the past, there were many dilapidated houses in the village, no decent roads, and no leisure and sports facilities. With the help of the Dongguan Party School, "Little Yan'an" at the foot of Dabei Mountain has gradually been lifted out of poverty and transformed into "Little Yan'an". "Hometown of Murals", "Colorful Village" and "Patriotic Education Base". In January 2020, it was also rated as one of "Top Ten Beautiful Villages in Jieyang" and "National Forest Village".
How beautiful is Torch Village?
Walking through the streets and alleys of the village, you can see various life scenes with a sense of age painted on the walls by the painter's pen. They are vivid and full of fireworks, making people feel like they are actually there. feel. For the new generation of tourists, these murals can help them understand the history of the last century, especially the glory days of Torch Village.
Due to their age and other reasons, the old houses in Torch Village originally had no aesthetic appeal. After the Dongguan Party School provided assistance, they went through unified planning and design, and invited professional painters to draw on-site, so that what we see now is possible. appearance.
The perfect combination of art and life requires a full understanding of the entire village's architecture, history, and people's sentiments. Each of the colorful murals you see now is combined with the building. Its own characteristics are unique and never repeated.
The Torch Village is not big and can be visited in less than half an hour. However, if you want to visit carefully, it is worth spending two hours to half a day.
For tourists who like to take portrait photos, almost every wall is an excellent background board. Standing in the streets and alleys, you can always take photos that are fresh, artistic, or full of age. photos.
In addition to the colorful mural area, the village's public halls, ancestral halls and other buildings are also very distinctive. The location near the river has a somewhat artistic conception of houses with small bridges and flowing water.
Travel strategy: Self-driving or chartered car travel is more convenient.
Fengnan Village is located in the middle of Fengjiang Town, Jiexi County. It used to be famous for its olives.
Fengnan Village is a traditional Chaoshan village with many ancient houses built in the last century. Fenghu Yang’s Ancestral Temple is also a county-level cultural relics protection unit, and Shun’s Ancestral Temple is a municipal-level cultural relics protection unit. .
There is a large lake at the entrance of Fengnan Village. Viewed from a height, it looks like a giant emerald inlaid on the plain. The locals believe that this is their Feng Shui lake, which embodies the architectural design wisdom of their ancestors.
Fengnan Village is one of the three ancient villages in Fenghu, adjacent to Rongjiang River. The buildings in the village are dense and regular, and the unique patterns such as the mountain tiger and the horse trailer in the Chaoshan area can be found here. It is no exaggeration to say that "Fengnan Village is the Chaoshan Residential Exhibition Hall" and "the Xiaohong Village of Guangdong". Its architectural pattern It is relatively similar to the palace architecture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and is in line with the saying that "Chaoshan houses began with imperial palaces".
Fengnan Village is surrounded by water systems. Rivers, fishing ponds, and lakes add aura to the ancient village, and it is even more atmospheric when viewed from a high altitude perspective.
In 1446 AD, which was the eleventh year of the Yingzong orthodoxy in the Ming Dynasty, Mei Xuan Gong, the third generation ancestor of the Yang family, came to the local area to establish a residence, opening a 574-year development chapter in Fenghu. The main historical buildings In today's Fengnan Village.
Viewed from the air, the topography of Fenghu Lake is like a "flying phoenix holding a book". The large lake in front of the ancestral temple has a strange painted body in the shape of a cloth bag. It is revealed when the water recedes and is submerged when the water rises. It has remained intact for hundreds of years and was listed as a key protected site during the reconstruction of Junhu Lake in modern times.
The Fenghu Yang Ancestral Temple in Fengnan Village is a classic example of Chaoshan ancestral temple architecture. The unique multi-entry courtyard structure is quite like an ancient noble residence, which reflects the large number of local talents.
The golden lacquered wood carvings and inlaid porcelain are the biggest features of Fenghu Yang’s Ancestral Ancestral Hall. The inlaid porcelain pattern is made up of colored porcelain pieces, with rich content, fine details and lifelike appearance.
The inlaid porcelain patterns of Yang's ancestral temple use the phoenix as the main form of expression, and also include various mythological figures and folklore.
Fenghu Township, represented by Fengnan Village, was once known as "one of the three prominent families in Fengjiang Town" in history. However, in modern times, due to its remote location and lack of leading industries, the transportation of Fengnan Village has become difficult. The economy has always been very backward and it was rated as a poor village. Before the targeted poverty alleviation in Qiaotou Town, Dongguan City, the road in front of the village was all mud, and it would become muddy when it rained. The big lake at the entrance of the village was not what it looks like now.
After receiving counterpart assistance from Qiaotou Town, Dongguan, Fengnan Village has now become a beautiful scenic spot, and the living standards of the 96 families who have been targeted for poverty alleviation have made a qualitative leap.
According to local people, the cultural square, sports center, pavilion and other leisure places and sports facilities in the village were built with the assistance of the poverty alleviation group. The large lake in front of the village was also funded and planned by the poverty alleviation group. , making it a tourist card of Fengnan.
Nowadays, the walls of a row of old houses in Fengnan Village near the lake have been painted white, with various auspicious patterns painted on them. The most eye-catching one is the colorful phoenix pattern, which coincides with the "phoenix" in Fengnan Village. Character. These colorful phoenixes are in the shape of flying, and each pattern has different colors and shapes, with peonies and other flowers as the main background.
These colorful phoenix-themed murals complement the ancient buildings and the Feng Shui Lake in front of the village, forming a unique landscape. Visitors always stop here for a long time.
The Shun Ancestral Temple in Fengnan Village is a product of Fenghu's heyday. The stone carvings and gold-lacquered wood carvings here are outstanding. The content they represent is complex and layered, including flowers, birds, insects, fish and Every detail such as the characters and figures is a test of the sculptor's skill, making it a truly priceless treasure. If you have time, you might as well visit Fengnan Village to see the cultural heritage left by these local ancestors.
Travel strategy: It is more convenient to drive, charter a car or take a taxi. After arriving at Fengnan Village, you can visit on foot. Fengnan Village is close to Mianhu Town. Mianhu is the transportation center of surrounding towns. There are buses to Huizhou, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Zhuhai and many other cities as well as Jieyang Chaoshan Airport, as well as buses directly to Puning High-speed Railway.