The present, past and future of Longdong Castle
Longdongbao is located in Nanming District, Guiyang City. Although it is part of the urban area, it is actually a suburb. Its organizational structure is not even a town, it is just a street in a district.
Many, many years ago, my family moved here due to my father’s job transfer and my mother’s transfer. At that time, Longdongbao was an old street that was only half an hour away. There is a primary school and a secondary school with several units.
Legend has it that in ancient times (I don’t know how old it is), a senior official and his subordinates were chased by bandits. They ran all the way here and found a hole. There was no way out. If he could escape, he dived into the hole. The hole is very, very deep and branches off into many smaller holes. After the bandits caught up with him, they saw the deep hole and perhaps the bright eyes looking outside, so they didn't dare to go in. As a result, the official's life was saved. After coming out, I asked the local people and found out that this was a dragon cave (there was a dragon at that time?), so the place was named Longdong Fort. We knew this hole existed when we were children, but no one had ever dared to go in. It was said to lead to a very far place.
Although Longdongbao is not far from Guiyang City, its altitude is hundreds of meters higher than the urban area. It is composed of high mountains, so transportation is extremely inconvenient. There is only a winding and steep national highway connected to the urban area. Union. Going into the city was a big project when I was a kid. Therefore, more often than not, we live in Longdongbao.
At that time, Longdong Fort was closed to the outside world, but the scenery was beautiful. Especially in winter, the mountains are often covered with heavy snow, and long icicles often hang under the eaves, crystal clear. There are many sweet-scented osmanthus trees planted on the campus where my parents work. During the winter festival, there is a thin layer of ice on the leaves. We will carefully remove it, which is a complete ice leaf with the veins clearly visible.
There is a river passing through the valley. The name of the river is Sancha River, also called Yuliang River. This river is the upstream of Nanming District, the mother river of Guiyang City. The water is green and crystal clear. It used to be a paradise for small fish and shrimps. The riverbed is curved and changing. In some sections, the riverbed is steep and full of large rocks. During the high water season, the river flows down with great momentum. In other sections, the riverbed is as quiet as virginity, with a trickling flow. , dancing slowly along the river, the edge is not deep covered with soft water plants. Some places are very narrow, some are very wide, and some are still deep pools. On one side of the river bank are tall rocks. The layers of rocks have become beautiful due to the erosion of the river all year round. Long Tengshun rocks hang down, and the entire rock wall is covered with tough plants growing in the gaps between the rocks. On the other side of the river is a beach or grassland. These beaches or grasslands are where we play.
The river is only about ten minutes away from our home. Not far away there is an ancient stone bridge and a modern stone bridge. But when I was a child, I was not allowed to go to the river to play by myself. I had to be taken by my father to swim in the river. It was the happiest way to have fun as a child, but I couldn’t go there more than a few times a year: first, to check the weather; One depends on the father's mood, and the third depends on his time.
After work, we can finally go to the river to play by ourselves. I remember that in the evening, we often went to net fish, a kind of barrage net. Once the net was lowered and then pulled up, dozens of small fish were hung on the net. There were so many that we couldn't bear to leave. However, as more and more people came to catch fish, the number of fish gradually became less and less.
Every morning, many people living in urban areas take the first bus to come here to swim, all year round.
About a twenty-minute walk away, there is a very large forest, Tuyunguan Forest Park, only 2.5 kilometers away from the city. The mountains are rolling and the land is fertile. It is covered with pine and tea trees for dozens of kilometers, with a total area of 3,900 acres. Forest coverage accounts for 90%. Thrushes, owls, pheasants, squirrels, pangolins, hedgehogs, deer, hares, mud pigs and other wild animals live here. The park also preserves many cliff-carved steles. Nearby are the original Guandi Temple, Jieguan Hall, and Ji'en and Keqi Pavilions. There are more than 20 stone carving archways along the way, the most famous of which is the "Wanli Fenghou" archway that represents Yang Fang. Because of its many types of trees, long standing forest, vast area, gurgling springs, rare birds, chirping cicadas, and fragrant grass, it has the reputation of "one of the eight scenic spots in Guiyang" and ranks first in the country's urban forest parks. In 1999, it was listed as a "Famous Chinese Garden".
This place used to be a strategic chokepoint. It is said that if one man is in charge of the pass, ten thousand men cannot open it. When I was a kid, it was a place where ghosts were said to be haunted (actually, the adults were scaring the children so that they would run away and play on their own). However, there had been frequent robberies and robberies. After all, it was a remote place with few people around it. In recent years, the government has attached great importance to it and invested a lot of money to build many trails in the park and rebuilt the tombstones and statues of the martyrs who died here when the International Red Cross Society.
Many ornamental flowers and trees were replanted, and many wild macaques were diverted from Qianlingshan Park and released into the forest. The macaques must think this is their territory, and they often line up on the side of the road, waiting for food from passers-by. There are countless birds in the forest, and various small animals are gradually beginning to increase.
On weekdays or weekends, there are people exercising and walking on almost every trail. The forest park, which is said to be haunted by ghosts, has finally become a big oxygen bar for people to relax and relax. The scenery is beautiful and the air is so fresh.
As soon as you enter the forest area, the air will feel different. There is a faint fragrance of pine trees, and the ground is full of fallen pine needles. And spring is the season when all kinds of flowers bloom. Whether in the sun or in the drizzle, the Forest Park attracts people with a special charm. Delightful for the eyes! Whenever I go to the forest, I feel a sense of peace and happiness.
Around the end of the 1980s, a new bridge was built here, named Jianlong Bridge. This is a Ya Tofu Bridge. Why is it called Ya? Because I dare not be too tofu, after all, it is a bridge. But since it was built, it feels like the bridge is broken here one day and broken there tomorrow, and no one is managing it. For a long time, Longdong Castle was like a forgotten corner of the world, extremely dirty and messy. There is only one road, which is full of sand on sunny days and muddy on rainy days.
The surrounding highways are being built one after another, except for the Longdong Fort.
Finally last year, Longdongbao was developed. Named Shuanglong Airport Economic Zone, a provincial administrative area. The original residents and farmers of Longdongbao all became demolition households. The poor people suddenly woke up and became rich.
Now the entire Longdongbao area is like a huge construction site, with construction going on day and night. Modern high-rise buildings are rising from the ground, neon lights are flashing at night, and flowers are blooming and trees are shady along every newly repaired roadside road.
The original river is being transformed into a wetland park. Including the gates and walls of our community will be demolished and roads will be built.
After being dormant for many years, Longdong Castle will become a modern city.
However, the river that gave me so many beautiful memories is gone. The river where I can go down to the river to pick wild vegetables and wild flowers at will, the river where I can swim at will, and the willows sprouting by the river in spring. The river surprised me. From now on, it will all be part of the Wetland Park. The beauty is beautiful, but it is not so common and down-to-earth. Everything will be filled with artificial traces...
Today, while melancholy, I write this article to commemorate the once paradise that will become a city.