Tangshi Town at Spring and Autumn Wharf, known as "Little Nanjing" in Ming and Qing Dynasties

When you come to Huaihua in western Hunan and visit the ancient city of Qianyang, you must visit the Hongjiang Ancient Mall not far away. It is the intersection of Yuanshui River and Wushui River. The ancient streets, ancient buildings, ancient lanes, and ancient houses are all authentic. There are businesses, ticket offices, guild halls, escort agencies, taverns, teahouses, opium dens, theaters, and brothels. They are all in Yunnan. It is a material distribution center for the five provinces of Guizhou, Guizhou, Hunan and Shu, and the economic, cultural and religious center of southwestern Hunan. It is known as the "Pearl of Western Hunan", "Little Nanjing" and "The First Capital of Chinese Commercial Civilization".

When Nao Zhang and his party arrived here, they first drove across the Yuanjiang Bridge and took in the whole view of the ancient shopping mall on the mountainside on the other side. Then they turned back and entered the "Qichong, Baxiang and Jiutiao Streets". In the streets where things are different and people are different. , looking for the relics of ancient times and listening to the dreamlike legendary stories of this important commercial port town.

When viewing the tour map, you can proceed step by step and travel around the winding streets and alleys that follow the mountains. You can calmly and reverently read the ancient city.

The historical Hongjiang Mall originated in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, took shape in the Cao Market in the Tang Dynasty, and flourished in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. Due to its convenient waterway transportation, it was initially famous for its trading of oil, timber, and local medicines, and later developed into the earliest, largest, and most complete trading town in the southwest. The maze-like "seven lanes, eight lanes and nine streets" were gradually formed by connecting some docks in the past.

During the prosperous period, Hongjiang was known as "Five Prefectures, Eighteen Gangs and Forty-eight Wharfs": Outsiders from Jiangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Sichuan, Chongqing and other provinces and people from the province poured into Hongjiang and formed gangs at the wharves. ; Foreigners integrated Jiangnan culture, Bashu culture, Baiyue culture and Jingchu culture, so that major dock theaters and teahouses came into being. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, there was a proverb circulating in western Hunan: "Thousands of pigs, hundreds of sheep, and tens of thousands of loads of rice in Hankou are not as good as the plowshares of the Hongjiang River."

It is said that the layout of Hongjiang wharf is quite particular. According to the corresponding principle of yin and yang, it is distributed as follows: water wharf, dry wharf, long wharf, short wharf, high wharf, short wharf, large wharf, small wharf; Its functions are further subdivided into: living terminal, guild hall terminal, industrial terminal, such as vegetable terminal, rice terminal, oil terminal, etc.

The street layout of the ancient city is divided into two types: the flat, slightly straight and long ones are called "streets", and the ones built along the ravine are called "chong". The resulting walkway is called an "alley". The streets are densely intertwined, with stone steps all over, and they are narrow and winding. The long street is only more than 500 meters, usually about 300 meters, and is about 2 to 4 meters wide. The roads are all paved with stone slabs.

Time flies, the years pass by, and the prosperity turns into smoke. The ancient shopping city we have seen today has preserved more than 380 ancient buildings such as trading houses, banks, brothels, opium dens, hotels, workshops, temples, newspaper offices, inns, theaters, and schools from the Ming and Qing dynasties and the Republic of China. During the booming years, the mall once had 23 banks, 34 schools, 48 ??and a half stages, 50 brothels, 60 opium dens, and more than 100 shops), with a total area of ??nearly 300,000 square meters. It is like an intuitive frame of Ming and Qing society. "Along the River During Qingming Festival" in the market. It was praised as "China's first ancient shopping mall" by Mr. Luo Zhewen, a famous ancient architecture expert, and as "a living fossil of the budding period of Chinese capitalism."

The architectural feature of the ancient city is that there are many "cellar houses" that combine commercial and residential buildings. The written explanation of "Xiang" is a cellar, which is warm in winter and cool in summer. These cellar houses are a fusion of Huizhou architecture and Jiangnan folk houses. They integrate trading, living, and warehousing. The doors open along the street: the first floor is mainly used for trading and business, and is spacious and accessible; the second floor is mainly used for storage, considering the need for storage. The beam material is extremely solid for the load-bearing capacity of the cargo.

The maze-like streets are dotted with the houses of many wealthy businessmen and gentry. Most of them are two-storey or two-storey, surrounded by high fire-sealing walls made of blue bricks, and the central hall is extremely high. open. There are dry patios and wet patios in the house, and the corridor steps are paved with large bluestone slabs.

There are many businessmen coming and going here, and the atmosphere of gangs is strong. In order to connect the clan friendships and nostalgia, and safeguard the interests of the fellow villagers, many guild halls have been established spontaneously: some are located in deep lanes, or some are built on high slopes. There is a palace name. For example, the Jiangxi Pavilion is called Wanshou Palace, the Fujian Pavilion is called Tianhou Palace, the Baoqing Pavilion is called Taiping Palace, and the Seven Pavilions are called Guansheng Palace. There are main hall, side hall, main hall, living room, guest room and stage in the museum.

Walking through the streets and alleys, going in and out of big houses and famous shops, and floating in the ancient shopping malls of Hongjiang River, the steps stopped, but the boat of thoughts wanted to anchor here.

Therefore, I simply stayed as a casual guest, made an in-depth investigation of the rise and fall of the ancient city, and recorded the historical past of this important commercial port in categories. The name is "The Legend of Hongjiang Ancient Shopping City".