What is the building on Wanghumen in Wuxi?

Wuxi Wanghumen is a famous building in history, which has profound cultural connotation and represents the temperament and taste of literati in Jiangnan water town. This is the place that everyone yearns for. Here, I will share with you a detailed strategy.

In ancient Wuxi, there were four gates in the southeast and northwest. The only gate you can see now is Wanghulou, which is located at the south gate of Wuxi, next to the ancient canal, and faces nanzenji, one of the 480 temples in the Southern Dynasties, across the river. The origin of the name Wang Humen is because it can go to Taihu Lake along the ancient canal, so it is named. It's just that Wang Humen is newly built.

As the southern gate of the ancient city of Wuxi, Wanghumen has a history of more than 2,000 years. According to historical records, Wuxi was founded in 202 BC. At that time, Wuxi County was divided into inner city and outer city. The difference between the two lies in the inside and outside of the city wall, but the city wall at that time was still a mound.

In the past, the topographic map of the inner city of Wuxi was a bit like "tortoise shell" because it was rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty. In the 23rd year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1554), the "short bandits" along the southeast coast often came to harass. In order to resist the "dwarf bandits", the then Wuxi county magistrate led the people to rebuild Wuxi city and opened four gates in the southeast and northwest, which

At that time, four representative city gates were named Jinghai Gate in the East Gate, Wanghumen Gate in the South Gate, Shiquan Gate in the West Gate and Jiangmen in the North Gate. The city wall connected by four city gates is about 5.6 kilometers long, 7 meters high and 3 meters wide. This city wall played an extremely important role in resisting the invasion of dwarf bandits in the Ming Dynasty.

There used to be a folk song about the four city gates in Wuxi: tofu in the south gate and shrimp in the north gate, firewood in the west gate is as dense as hemp, and only the east gate is allowed to buy it, and gourd eggplant takes watermelon. The south gate tofu referred to here is because it is the most prosperous in Wuxi except Wanghumen. The shipping, ironmaking and kiln burning industries on both sides of the Nanmen Ancient Canal were quite prosperous, so the service industry that provided food, clothing, housing and transportation for these industries was born, and making handmade tofu was also famous at that time.

This tradition has been preserved until modern times. Speaking of South Gate Tofu, the older generation of Wuxi people have a deep memory. Tofu and other bean products produced here are of poor quality. Even today, if you go to the ancient canal street outside the south gate, you can still eat traditional tofu flower, which is said to be the best in Wuxi.

Next to Wang Humen is the nanzenji in Wuxi, which was built in Liang Wudi in the early Qing Dynasty. There is a wonderful light tower in the temple, which was once a landmark building in Wuxi. Looking out from the gate of the lake, the place separated by a river is the "Xishan Post Station" in Wuxi, which used to be a local post station set up by the imperial court for officials and envoys from south to north to rest. Together with Wang Humen, these three groups of landscapes constitute the "Three Scenes of the South Gate" in Wuxi.

Looking out of the lake gate, I arrived at the original Wuxi city. There are Wuxi ancient canal old street, Qingming Bridge which has entered the world cultural heritage, Dayao Road where Wuxi ancient kiln is located, and Ancient Narcissus Temple. You have come all the way, so to speak. Therefore, among the four gates in Wuxi, Wang Humen in the south gate is the most developed and important one.

Unfortunately, in the early 1950s, due to the construction of Wuxi Ring Road, the entire city wall and four gates of Wuxi were demolished, leaving only a few place names. The Wanghumen that people see today was rebuilt in different places in 2009, and the original site of Wanghumen is even in the west. The newly-built Wanghumen adopts custom-made blue bricks, trying to reflect the sense of history of the door.

Today, the word "Looking at the Lake Gate" on the city gate was written by Wen Zhiming, a famous painter in the Ming Dynasty. The couplet is the couplet of Wu Xingzuo, the former magistrate of Wuxi. There is a big place in the south of the Yangtze River, and Wuxi people sing the song "Peace in the World". This is just the newly-built Wang Humen, which is somewhat funny in any way. It stands alone on the edge of the ring road. If people pass through the city gate and find that it is only from the roadside to the ancient canal, there is no way. In addition, the towers are often closed, especially at night. If you want to go upstairs and see the nearby nanzenji and the "Xishan Post" on the other side, there is definitely no way.

When tourists visit the ancient canal outside the south gate from the city, they usually pass by Wanghumen, but few people will notice the newly built Wanghumen. It turns out that it is one of the four famous houses in Wuxi and the only one that has been restored. About the author: Lu Jianhua photography (photographer, traveler, self-media person)