The history and culture of Xiadong Town

Xiadong Bean Cake

Xiadong Bean Cake is different from other bean cakes and has a history of more than 1,000 years. It is famous for its excellent material selection, fine production, fresh color and tender texture, crisp and refreshing taste, etc. It is one of the famous specialties of western Guangdong. There is a local legend about the origin of Xiadong bean cake: During the Sui Dynasty, Xiadong Fort was often invaded by foreigners, and the people's lives were in dire straits. In early summer this year, it was the season when the beans were ripe, and the fields were full of gold. One day at noon, people were busy harvesting soybeans in the fields. They saw a group of demons approaching in a menacing manner, trying to snatch the soybeans with their teeth and claws. At this moment, the army led by Mrs. Xian came, they drove away the devil and took back the soybeans. In order to thank Mrs. Xian Tai for her great kindness, every household in Xiadong ground soybeans and made bean cakes to express condolences to Mrs. Xian Tai's troops. From then on, Xiadong's bean cakes became famous all over the world, and guests from all over the world came to Xiadong to taste them.

Lychee, the best fruit in Lingnan

In May 2002, "Guangdong Science and Technology News" reported on Xiadong Town, Dianbai District, as the "No. 1 Lychee Town in the World" in a full page The situation of Xiadong lychees was introduced to people, and there is a sentence in it: "Look to Guangdong for global lychees, and look to Xiadong for lychees from Guangdong."

The main varieties of lychees in the town are: white grain poppy, white wax , black leaves, cinnamon flavor, glutinous rice cake, cinnamon flavor, Feizixiao, etc.

At the end of the 1980s, Xiadong was named "Li Ying Danxia" and selected as one of the "Eight New Scenic Spots of Dianbai" for its Baili Li Forest, Xia Fei Fu Mountain and Dan Li Ying Cui. According to the 1982 census of cultural relics in the district, there were human activities in Dianbai District as far back as 7,000 years ago. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the ancestors of the Baiyue people lived and multiplied here. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the eastern, northeastern and central areas of the county were mainly inhabited by the Yao people. From the southwest to the northwest coast, the areas along the river were mainly occupied by the Li and Zhuang people.

It is difficult to verify when the Han people first immigrated. However, large numbers of Han people immigrating to the country should have started in the Song Dynasty. From the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty (1101-1125) to the reign of Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1398), there were frequent wars in the Central Plains. A large number of Han people migrated from Putian, Jinjiang, Minxian, Fuzhou, Tingzhou and other places in Fujian and the northeastern region of Guangdong. enter. In addition, there are also descendants of the officers and soldiers stationed in the Shendian Guard (mostly from Zhejiang) and merchants who came here to do business. Some officials who served in Gao, Lei, Lian, Qiong and other prefectures and counties chose to live here after retiring. ——They multiplied here one after another, so the number of Han people in the territory became more and more dominant, and the original indigenous peoples had to move to places such as Guangxi and Hainan, and some of them assimilated with the Han people.

People in this town rarely move out. According to the data on the proportion of people with surnames in each town in the county, Cui and Wang have the highest proportion. The unique harmony between the two major ethnic groups and multiple surnames has been preserved to this day. Get along well. "Nian Li" is bigger than "Nian". Since the beginning of historical records, Maoming and its cities, counties (districts) and villages have mostly been popular in doing "Nian Li", and it is quite grand and lively. It also allows us to trace the connection between its culture and the legendary figure in history-Mrs.

Xiadong Town’s Big Nian Lian

The seventeenth day of the first lunar month: Daoguang’s "Dianbai District Chronicle" records that there is a "Nian Lian" in Xiadong Town called "Seventeen People Watch" , that is, commemorating Mrs. Xian on the "17th day of the first lunar month". The event is large-scale and the festival atmosphere is strong. It is held regularly at Kanrenpo from the 16th to the 19th of the first lunar month every year. This is a plain landform with an area of ​​about three miles. In the Tang Dynasty, it was a village where the grandchildren of Mrs. Xian lived together. There are two "annual events" in a year, one is the birthday of Mrs. Xian, and the other is the day of Mrs. Xian's death. , is closely related to the "County Chronicle" record of Mrs. Xian's habit of traveling during the Lantern Festival and the anniversary of Mrs. Xian's death. It can be seen that the local people regard "Nianli" as the "Lantern Festival" and there are traces of its evolution to be found.

Every February 2nd is the annual donation for Xiadong community, which has been larger in scale over the years. Mrs. Xian of Qiao Guo in the Sui Dynasty was the first heroine in ancient China. She is a model of patriotism and has dedicated her life to safeguarding national unity and the reunification of the motherland. She suppressed rebellions and punished rebels, maintained the stability of more than ten Lingnan states, protected the environment and people, and developed production. She contributed to the people and the people respected her. To commemorate her achievements, a statue was built in the temple. Before liberation, there were more than 100 Xian Tai temples in various places in western Guangdong, but the Yan Gong Temple in Xiadong, Dianbai County, was the most magnificent. Yangong Temple is built on the sunny slope of Shiziling at the northern end of Kanren Slope, facing south, covering an area of ​​about 1,000 square meters, and is built according to the mountain. It is divided into three halls. The back hall is on a high ground and has two clay Bodhisattvas.

The middle hall is the largest in area, with painted pillars and carved beams, and is solemn and solemn. There are two statues of Mrs. Xian, exactly the same in form and spirit. The front hall is the lowest, close to the temple gate.

The temple was built and managed by Mr. Cui and Wang. There is a couplet in front of the temple: On the left is: Unite the hearts of all, worship one statue, sincerity can last forever, and respect can last forever; On the right: Divide the law and protect the two clans, the king will live for ten thousand years, and Cui will live for ten thousand years.

Every year on the 17th day of the first lunar month, Cui and Wang set up a stage on a flat slope called Hanren Slope three miles in front of the temple, and hired famous Cantonese opera troupes from Guangdong and Guangxi to sing operas and compete with each other. See whose stage tower is taller and whose opera can sing louder. At the same time, a race called "walking the public" by locals is held. Every year, the commemorative activities for Mrs. Xian last from the 16th to the 19th of the first lunar month. At this time, businessmen and spectators coming from the north and south gather here. People watching theaters and doing business are bustling with traffic and people. It was very prosperous for a while. In 1957, a million people from the four provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan and Qiong came to visit Yan Gong Temple in Xiadong to pay their respects to Mrs. Xian Tai. Unfortunately, the Yan Gong Temple was burned down during the "Three Antis and Five Antis" catastrophes in the 1950s, and the inscriptions of Su Dongpo and other poets of the past dynasties have also disappeared. In the late 1990s, the local people raised funds on their own and simply rebuilt it on the original site. The nearby villagers took care of it, and the incense continued all year round.

Among the activities in various places, the Christmas activities in Fengjia Village in Xiadong have the largest scale and the widest influence. Every year on the birthday and death anniversary of Mrs. Xian Tai, the county organizes related activities, collectively known as the Dianbai Mrs. Xian Tai Cultural Festival. Before Gao Lishi and Yang Guifei, the fourth-generation granddaughter-in-law of Mrs. Xian who came to Xiadong from afar and was buried in Shiziling in Xiadong (as evidenced by the existing tomb) of Shunzheng County, Mrs. Xu, may give her His father, Xu Jingzong, the prime minister during the reign of Wu Zetian, and the emperor brought lychees from Xiadong and were the first to open up the "lychee road" from Xiadong in Lixiang to the ancient capital Chang'an.

"The concubine riding the red dust laughs, but no one knows that the lychees are coming." It is said that the delicious lychees from Gao Lishi's hometown that Gao Lishi presented to Yang Guifei should be the Xiadong lychees from Fushanlingzhiyang. Rongxia Village Committee has a "Jinfeng" (also known as "Zhengfeng") garden village, and many ancient bricks remain around the village. Thirty-seven churches were built in Xiadong Village in one day. Folks often say that it has thirty-six and a half (meaning seats), including twenty-six and a half for the Cui family. Most of these ancestral halls are oriented north to south (there was an ancient architectural habit of "Ancestral Hall along the water and temple against the water").

East: Deming Temple

Middle: Cui Family (i.e. Fu Gong Temple in Changfang Town), Jingxuan Temple, Yungu Temple, Qianting Temple , Zhenyi Gong Temple, Duan Ning Gong Ancestral Hall, Lanshi Gong Ancestral Hall, Dehua Gong Ancestral Hall, Cui Ancestral Hall (i.e. Cui Ancestral Hall, Jiujiu Gong Ancestral Hall - Cui Ancestral Hall), Zhuxuan Gong Ancestral Hall, Fengji Gong Ancestral Hall .

To the west: Weinan Temple, Shenshan Temple, Zhenxia Temple, Zhenchun Temple, Biaofan Temple, Genwei Temple, Jingyi Temple, Zhiyuan Temple, Yi Qun Gong Temple, Siyuan Gong Temple, Qingquan Gong Ancestral Hall, Hui Du Gong Ancestral Hall, and Baiyun Gong Ancestral Hall (half of the hall was destroyed by the strong wind, leaving half of it remaining)

Among the more than twenty ancestral halls of the Cui family, the seventh generation ancestor Most of the following. Because there are few people in the third room, there are not many temples. In the second room, only the 7th generation ancestor Jingyi (Zhenzhu) ancestral hall was built on the west side of the field, and the 8th generation ancestor Zhenchun (Zeming) ancestral hall was built in the upper left corner of the Genwei ancestral hall. *** occupies three seats. The remaining Cui family ancestral halls were built at the head of the four-bedroom and eldest-house houses with multiple people in them.

The Jingyi (Zhenzhu) Temple of Cui's second house was built in the auspicious year of Daoguang Bingshen (1836), Bingshen month, Bingshen day and Bingshen time of the Qing Dynasty, which is a unique feature. The Eighth Generation Ancestor Zhenchun (then named) Ancestral Temple was built with money from the steaming of good materials and good materials from the Sixteenth Generation, which is also different from other ancestral temples. (Cui) Zhenyigong Temple is named after the posthumous name of Cui Zeqian, the eighth generation ancestor, rather than his ranking name, surname, and title. The names of other ancestral halls often have this situation.

Each temple hangs a plaque (with gold characters on a red background) honoring the Jinshi, Juren, Jieyuan and other chronological achievements and honoring the ancestors. In the Qing Dynasty, Xia Fa, a calligrapher of the Cui family, took his calligraphy to a pawnshop and pawned it in exchange for money. In a certain year, a Wang family ancestral hall was built, but the banner on the gate was left hanging, and the ideal plaque was still not hung. Cui Xia Fazhongji, who was drunk, wrote to the right side of the word "ancestral hall". She still had to draw a stroke within the word "si", so she suddenly woke up and stopped writing. Later, other people who were also slightly famous for writing made up for the missing strokes. Compared with his writing, there was a huge difference in all aspects of writing power. Later, there were banners written by Cui Xiafa in Cui's ancestral temple, including "Xingju legacy emblem", "Shize is long", "Jiaoxia Zhuchi", "Zicanyuemu", etc., but the fonts on each forehead appear to be It's different.

The general layout on the axis of these ancestral halls, which are independent of living rooms, is: gate - hall - bedroom. The Xiangtang, also known as the sacrificial hall, is a place where ancestors and gods are worshipped, sacrificial ceremonies are held, and clan reunions are held; the bedroom is where the ancestors and gods are placed. Some famous eunuch families have screen walls or archways in front of their ancestral halls, with painted pillars and flying rafts, which is really spectacular. These ancestral halls of famous families often have dedicated personnel to manage them. There are those who collect rent, those who keep family trees and genealogies, those who guard ancestral halls, and those who prepare sacrifices. The Wang family has a Huaiyin Hall, which specializes in handling disputes within the clan. The Cui clan has a board of directors, which is also a similar organization. The main economic pillar of the ancestral hall is sacrificial fields (commonly known as steaming). The sacrificial field is the public property of the whole family under the ancestral temple. Its income is mainly used to pay for various expenses for ancestor worship in the ancestral hall and to provide compensation to the clan members. It is also used for scholarships and for filial sons and grandsons who have made great contributions to the glory of the clan. rewards.

Why were so many ancestral halls built in Xiadong Village during the Ming and Qing Dynasties? Some local elders said: This place is one kilometer east to west, north to south, and surrounded by many ponds in front and on the left and right sides. It is a geomantic treasure place for "fairies to cast nets" and "net governors". Ancestors of past dynasties believed that every time more ancestral halls were built here, they would become more prosperous and developed. So competing is like investing. Funds were raised and donated to build new ancestral halls (branch ancestral halls) through the rents of ancestors or other methods, and to establish sacrificial fields in order to pray for new development. However, putting aside the superstitious color and looking for deeper reasons through the phenomenon, we can see that it is related to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The patriarchal system was in a mature stage of development. As an important activity of the family, people attach great importance to sacrifice. The ancestral hall has become a centripetal force for the family. As a symbol of cohesion, in family rules and mottos, sermons such as "establishing an ancestral hall" and "emphasizing sacrifices" occupy a prominent position, which is very relevant. The local Cui and Wang surnames are from well-known families. There are many rich merchants and famous Confucian officials. There are also many upper- and middle-level people who read Confucian classics and are deeply influenced by Neo-Confucianism. It is impossible for other tribesmen to spend so much money to build so many ancestral halls, but the two famous Xiadong Cui and Wang families can do it, and this is also an important reason. Moreover, the Qing government had no restrictions on this, so the construction of numerous ancestral halls became the common dominant consciousness of all their tribesmen. From the middle and late Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, ancestral halls were built all over Xiadong Village. Thirty-seven were built in total, and the actual number was thirty-six and a half. This has naturally become a historical phenomenon that people can understand. Legend has it that a long time ago, there was a severe drought in Xiadong, Dianbai County, and there was no rice harvest. Many people were so hungry that they fled to the southwest. At that time, there was a doctor Lin Huailan in Xiadong, a native of Wuchuan. He also followed the victims to flee the famine and treated many victims on the way.

When Dr. Lin and the victims arrived at the pass of Jiaozhi (now northern Vietnam), they were cured by a general at the pass. The general was very grateful.

In the palace of the Kingdom of Cochin, there was a princess who had been ill for a long time and had failed to cure. One day, General Guankou came to the palace and reported: "There is a doctor Lin in China who fled to Guankou with the victims. He cured many of the victims' diseases. He also cured mine. The princess has been ill for a long time, so you might as well ask him to take a look." That's good." The king thought for a while and ordered the general to invite Dr. Lin to the palace to treat the princess. Sure enough, the princess took the medicine prescribed by Dr. Lin and her condition improved after a few days. In order to thank Dr. Lin, the king presented him with boxes of gold, silver and jewelry, but Dr. Lin politely declined.

The king set up a banquet and treated Dr. Lin with the national treasure cooked sweet potatoes to show his highest respect. After dinner, Dr. Lin asked the princess: "Can you give me a raw sweet potato on the table?" The princess agreed and gave Dr. Lin a raw sweet potato. He ate half of it, left the other half tied up in his hair, put on a round melon hat, said goodbye to the princess, and returned to China.

Not long after Dr. Lin left the palace, for some reason, the king suddenly received a report: the national treasure sweet potato had been stolen out of the country. The king was furious and immediately sent General Guankou to hunt him down. Dr. Lin went to the border and took a boat to the middle of the river. At this time, the pursuing general rowed up and stopped Dr. Lin and said: "You stole the national treasure sweet potato and left the country. I am ordered to arrest you." After hearing this, Dr. Lin said that he wanted to help the victims. Survive and get your heart back to sweet potato cultivation. After hearing this, the general was deeply moved and ordered the soldiers to let Dr. Lin take the sweet potatoes back to China. Then he committed suicide by throwing himself into the river.

Dr. Lin returned to Dianbaixia Cave and planted half of the sweet potatoes. Soon the leaves grew and the potatoes grew. This sweet potato can withstand drought and grow rapidly. As the news spread, farmers from all over the country came to get potato seedlings and tubers and planted them extensively. They now have sweet potatoes as a cereal to satisfy their hunger. Since then, sweet potatoes have spread from Xiadong to various parts of Guangdong and to many provinces in China.

During the Qianlong period, Cui Tengyun, the vice-president of Xiadong, led the people to build the "Sweet Potato Lin Gong Temple" beside the Dianbaixia Cave Fair in order to commemorate Dr. Lin Huailan's merits in saving the people from famine. After the temple was built, every year during the sweet potato harvest, local farmers selected large strips of sweet potatoes and hung them in front of the temple door to express their gratitude to Dr. Lin for his kindness and to pray for good weather, a good harvest of rice and sweet potatoes, and a good life for the people. Unfortunately, this temple was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.