How about Shiquan Ancient Town? Travel guide to Shiquan ancient town

Shiquan Ancient Town is located in Ankang City, Shaanxi Province. It is a thousand-year-old town full of humanistic feelings. It not only retains many excellent traditional cultural elements, but also inherits the Millennium Songkran Festival, attracting a large number of tourists' attention.

The introduction of Shiquan ancient town mentioned the "Water-splashing Festival", which I believe everyone will be familiar with. Whether it is Thailand, Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries, or Xishuangbanna, China, Songkran Festival is a long and grand traditional festival. Every year in mid-April, when the Dai Water-splashing Festival comes, many tourists even make a special trip to find out to experience this folk activity.

Perhaps many old Shaanxi don't know that in a thousand-year-old city near the Han River in southern Shaanxi, there was a tradition of "Water-splashing Festival", which has been circulating for thousands of years.

This is it-Shiquan County, Shaanxi Province.

Shiquan County, located in Ankang City, Shaanxi Province, is a small town hidden between Qinba and Hanjiang River. I came here last winter and was attracted by the comfort and beauty of the town. I always wanted to come back in summer. After all, the charm of green hills and beautiful waters can only show its most beautiful side in summer.

When I came last year, I got a preliminary understanding of Shiquan. Knowing that this small town has a long history, "Shiquan" was named after the Western Wei Dynasty (AD 552) and has never changed its name after nearly 1500 years, leaving many cultural relics and interesting stories. Today, the Ming and Qing old streets in Shiquan ancient city are still the best preserved in Shaanxi.

This time, I originally planned to spend two days in the summer vacation, visit the old streets of the ancient city and eat Hanjiang stone fish, but I didn't expect to meet the Shiquan Songkran Festival unexpectedly. Only then did I know that there is actually a "water splashing festival" in Shiquan, and this folk activity is also related to Dayu!

Shiquan was once the residence of Dayu when he was in charge of water control. Now there is a Yu Palace in Shiquan Old Street to commemorate Dayu. After Dayu's death, the local people in Shiquan danced grass dragons and splashed water on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month to commemorate Dayu and pray for a bumper harvest for thousands of years.

The villagers told us that after liberation, the custom of splashing water for blessing was interrupted because of the concept of "man can conquer nature". The folk customs such as "dancing the grass dragon" and "burning the lion" in Blessing have been included in the intangible cultural heritage protection list and become the unique cultural accumulation of Shiquan.

The accidental discovery of Shiquan's "Water Splashing Festival" was an unexpected gain of my trip. We experienced a traditional folk performance+dancing grass and dragons+splashing water, which was fun and interesting.

The whole performance ceremony started from the east gate of the ancient city, and the huge non-legacy dance grass dragon entered from the west gate after a week around the city, and walked along the old street until it reached the square in front of Yu Palace. The queues along the way became more and more spectacular, and new tourists and fellow villagers joined in.

If the previous performance links let us feel a kind of cultural heritage, then the last splashing link is the carnival of big friends and children. It was a sunny day, and a group of tourists rushed to the center of the square to play. Screams came and went at the scene. In the hot summer, what is more refreshing than having a cold heart? What's more, it also contains the beautiful meaning of blessing!

After a hearty carnival, our party felt exhausted and quickly found a place to fill their stomachs. When you come to the ancient city of Shiquan, the most important thing to miss is of course the famous stone fish. There are stone fish shops everywhere around the old street of the ancient city. Any one tastes good, maybe it was too high that day. This stone fish is particularly delicious.

After eating stone fish, night falls and the lights are on. Walking on the plank road by the Han River, blowing the wind, feeling the comfort and leisure of this ancient city with a thousand years.

Shiquan ancient city is a very suitable place for family leisure travel. You can visit, eat and play with water! Summer vacation in July and August is especially suitable for taking children to play because of the Water-splashing Festival.

Shiquan Ancient Town Travel Guide 1, Shiquan County is about 4 hours' drive from Xi 'an. If you are visiting, it is recommended to stay for one night. There are all kinds of accommodations around the county seat, which can be selected according to the actual situation.

2. Shiquan ancient city is in the center of the county, and there are no tickets for the ancient city.

3. The specific time of the "Water-splashing Festival" in Shiquan is from July 26th (the sixth birthday of Dayu in the sixth lunar month) to August 26th. There are no tickets for the ceremony. If you want to take part in the water splashing session, you need to make an appointment to buy tickets in advance because of the number of people.

4. Visit Shiquan, don't miss the local stone fish. There are many interesting places around Shiquan, besides the ancient city and the old street, there are also Liu Shui ancient town, Zhongba Grand Canyon, Ironing ancient town and Xiang Yan Cave. If you have enough time, you can plan the route in advance.