The Cultural Folklore of Zhouzhuang

On the Lantern Festival every year, in the square of Niulang Temple in Dongcha Village, people erect a mast with a small bamboo pole across it and strings of colored lights hanging at both ends. At the top of the mast, circles of straw are tied, firecrackers are hidden, flammable materials are coated, and a layer of yellow paper is pasted, which looks like an ingot. This is "natural talent".

At night, people bring firecrackers, firecrackers and colorful fireworks from all directions to help the old and bring the young to the square to enjoy the night. When the candles in the lanterns on the mast were burnt out, people shot at the golden "Tiancai" hanging on the mast in turn with the moon cannon, the Kowloon Pearl Grab, the "500 Whips" and the "1000 Whips". Tiancai fell from the top of the mast and caught fire. Farmers rushed to take bundles of straw to the burning "Tiancai" to light it, waving it in the air and burning it in the corner of the field.

Rocking scissors

Zhouzhuang's clippers are very strange. Before the competition, skilled craftsmen put up a flower shed on the boat, which is called "Flower Fast". The flower shed is divided into shed, cabin shed and shed, and satin curtains are hung on the shed. Gorgeous decorations, colorful lanterns, and colorful flags in the shed. There are tassels hanging on the hut. Sitting on the gongs and drums band in the cabin. The tall shed provides shade for the paddlers. Each ship is equipped with a stem, a large paddle and a small paddle, which are placed on the left and right sides of the hull respectively. Put the springboard outside the boat and stick it out of the water. Each boat is equipped with fifteen or six strong rowers. Wearing tight clothes and embroidered sandals.

At the beginning of the game, the boat is better than the boat and the village is better than the village. Dragon and Tiger's rowers perform their duties, jumping out, stretching and helping the trough, and cooperate with each other tacitly. Jumping in the air, standing on the springboard and working hard. Stamp one's feet and reprimand. Try your best to push and pull the paddle. Stand upright at the bow of the pole, point the pole and command freely. The participating clippers are like arrows in the sonorous sound of gongs and drums, striving for the first place.

● Apocha

Zhouzhuang people have a long history of eating tea. They have always had the custom of eating "grandma tea", "talking about tea", drinking "happy tea", "spring tea" and "full moon tea". They have various names and are called "tea ceremony" in Jiangnan water town.

Zhouzhuang's "Apo Tea" is quite famous in Jiangnan water town. Xu Xiang went to Zhouzhuang and didn't eat granny tea, so he never really went to Zhouzhuang. In Zhouzhuang, anyone who has eaten Apo tea will taste the ancient water town. In Zhouzhuang, whether in the town or in the countryside, you can often see men, women and children sitting around a seat, drinking cups of green tea, dishes and refreshments, talking and laughing while eating, which is called "granny tea".

People in Zhouzhuang have a long history of eating granny tea. Nowadays, people in the Shenzhai compound still cherish the blue-and-white porcelain covered tea bowls with exquisite patterns in the Song Dynasty, exquisite small handles, elegant and quaint teapots and glazed tea trays. In the Yuan Dynasty, Chen Qubing's ancestors moved from Zhejiang to Zhouzhuang and made a living by hammering stoves and making copper and tin teapots. Today, Huizhou tea houses built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties are still preserved in the town, among which Greeny was opened in the early Qing Dynasty and Chengyitai was opened in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Huibang Tea House purchases raw tea from the place of origin. In order to meet the needs of tea customers, screening, redrying, adding fragrance, color, color and fragrance are all sold.

● Water town clothing

The girl's dress is elegant and exquisite: a red scarf is tied on her head and the back sides are put away. Two black and shiny red velvet rope braids are exposed on both sides, wearing a big-breasted coat with small flower heads, floral piping and small pipa buttons, wearing a small pleated apron of Shilin blue cloth at the waist, and embroidered with various exquisite patterns on the waist bag board (commonly known as waist board). The blue head is also dotted with red and green tassels, and the whole dress presents a pretty aesthetic feeling.

Wearing a long-breasted jacket made of pulp stone forest blue cloth, a shallow lake-colored piping lute buckle, a blue pleated apron at the waist, a small apron of the same color (commonly known as an official skirt) and plain cloth shoes on her feet, this is the dress of middle-aged women. Their headdresses are also different from those of girls. The towels used in Baotou are plain, some are wrapped in blue cloth, and the hair is combed with colored ropes (commonly known as hair handles). A silver lotus plate is inserted vertically on the bun, and a silver hairpin is placed horizontally. The decoration is simple and generous, presenting an elegant beauty.

Older women's clothes are generally dark, with black net towels on the hair handles and mostly black cloth skirts, giving people a simple and solemn aesthetic feeling.

● Sixian Xuanjuan

Xuanjuan is a unique folk art form in Zhouzhuang Village. Similar to the name of the guild hall, it also has the style of rap and pingtan. According to the number of artists and the simplicity of the performance, the announcement can be divided into two types: Sixian announcement and Muyu announcement. The former is generally composed of six people, playing erhu sanxian, flute, wooden fish, bronze chime and other musical instruments; The traditional singing method of Kunqu opera, the folk ditty "Four Seasons Tune" is a mixture of Qu Shen, traditional opera and other local opera tunes, and it plays beautifully. The protagonist's robe sleeves are wide, and he is dumbfounded with a folding fan in his hand. He is full of energy and laughs, and his plays are often butterfly lovers, Qin Xianglian, Gu Chen Ding and Bailuo Mountain. The latter is often a partnership between two people. One of them knocked on the wooden fish and sang white; The other party plays Buddha Qing and recites the Buddha's name in a simple form. Most of the repertoires performed are short repertoires such as karma and exhorting people to be good, such as Mu Lian's Saving Mother and Guanyin's Realizing the Way.

Xuanjuan Quyi has a history of 200 years, which originated in Zhouzhuang and later spread to Jinxi, Luzhi, Tongli and Qingpu. During the Republic of China, Zhang in panlong village, Xu Shiying in Long Ting village and Guo in the village were quite famous in the four townships. Every holiday and slack season, it is invited to perform and is deeply loved by the people.

With the development of tourism in Zhouzhuang, Xuan Juan and other folk arts are being gradually excavated and popularized. Whenever there are major celebrations and commemorative activities, artists such as Jin Xi are often invited to perform in the town. At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, Shen Wansan became the richest man in the south of the Yangtze River, and specially invited famous chefs to cook all kinds of delicacies, nicknamed "three thousand family banquets". Its banquet pays attention to seasonality, exquisite selection of materials, and excellent color, fragrance, taste and shape. The specialties are: Wansanti, Sanwei Tangyuan, steamed mandarin fish, steamed eel tube, water shield bass soup, ginger snail, oil-brewed meat, braised pork with white leaves, braised bean curd, stir-fried lotus root and so on. You can try the "Three Thousand Family Banquets" at Shenting Restaurant. Located on the edge of Fuan Bridge and Shenting Hall. It still retains the style of Ming and Qing dynasties, elegant and chic, and is a restaurant with local style.

Zhouzhuang has four seasons of precious aquatic products, the most famous of which is the "Three Treasures of the Yangtze River": perch, white clam and whitebait. Zhouzhuang also produces eels, and it is well known that "cooked eels compete for ginseng". In addition, there are soft-shelled turtles, river shrimps and so on. Pickled amaranth and green ball, which are special products of Jiangnan, are also deeply loved by tourists. Pastry cooked food includes sesame cake, peanut cake, walnut cake, salt and pepper cake, green cake and so on. There are pickles and other teas.

● Three hooves

Three horseshoes are a must-have dish for Shen Wansan, a rich man in the south of the Yangtze River, to entertain distinguished guests. "If there is a banquet at home, there will be a clear hoofbeat". After hundreds of years of circulation, it has become the main course of Zhouzhuang people's New Year holidays and wedding banquets, which means reunion and is also an excellent dish for entertaining guests. Three hooves are made of exquisite materials. Select pig hind legs as raw materials, add mixed ingredients, add water and put them in a big casserole. After a day and a night of simmering or steaming, the heat will last several times, mainly with slow fire. The whole hoof cooked is steaming and the skin is red. It is eaten by taking a thin bone from two long bones that run through the whole pig's trotters and gently pulling it out. The hoof does not move, and the bone is used as a knife. This is a difficult problem when Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of Ming Dynasty, took an examination of Shen Wansan. Shen Wansan used this bone as a knife to solve the problem, so Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Just call it a bone knife", which became the traditional way of eating in Zhouzhuang.

● Three thousand cakes

Zhouzhuang's specialty Wansanbing has a history of hundreds of years. The Zou family in the town inherited their ancestral business and produced all kinds of cakes. Due to the exquisite materials, a wide variety, thin, slippery and waxy, it melts at the entrance. Zou's ancestors started Gongmao Tea House as early as the early Ming Dynasty. On holidays, Shen Wansan, a neighbor, often ordered a large number of cakes to give to relatives and friends, which were later called "3,000 cakes". Zou's tea workshop became famous in this way. After the reform and opening up, Zhouzhuang vigorously developed tourism, and Wansan cake became a traditional tourist delicacy. The more you do, the more you gain. From the variety selection, process flow, specifications and quality are constantly innovating.

● Water deflector

Water shield is a pampered aquatic crop with mild nature, which is suitable for growing in Hong Kong and Han areas with pure water quality and calm waters. Water shield can be divided into red stems and green stems. Generally, it is planted around Tomb-Sweeping Day, and it can also be planted around the Millennium. Plants are picked after two months of growth. Leaves floating on the water, oval, very tender, with colloidal transparent substance on the back. Using tender leaves and stems of water shield to cook soup is delicious and nutritious. Hans Zhang, a writer in the Western Jin Dynasty, said that he was far away in Luoyang City, still missing this delicious food in his hometown day and night, and even didn't want to be an official. People can eat bottled or canned water shield all year round.

● Shrimp granules

In summer and autumn, crystal shrimp is common in Zhouzhuang, with bright color, full and tough shrimp meat and natural and delicious taste. The bad shrimp is a variety after beginning of winter. This shrimp is as thin as a sewing needle, less than three minutes long. When fresh, it is bent into a thin eyebrow, which looks like lead used by a peasant woman to arrange flowers, so it is called "inserting shrimp".

Generally, shrimp residue can not only be eaten, but also be used as "seasoning", such as "shrimp residue tofu". "Small fish and bad shrimp", small string of fish and bad shrimp braised in brown sauce, frozen for a while, unique taste, "bad shrimp soup".

● Sanweiyuan

Sanweiyuan, commonly known as soup gluten, takes water gluten as the skin, and the stuffing is made of chicken breast, fresh shrimp and pork leg, and finely chopped with seasonings such as onion, ginger and yellow wine. Cooked with chicken soup, the skin is thin and the stuffing is tender. Crystal clear, set snacks, dishes, fresh soup as a basin. In Jiangnan, Sanweiyuan is a very popular dish, and every family can cook it. Whenever new wheat comes on the scene in June of the lunar calendar, the dried wheat should be ground and crushed, sieved with a fine sieve, and the snow-white flour should be stored separately. Just mix the bran with proper amount of salt and water to make a paste, leave it for an hour or two, and rinse it with clear water. The washed dough has strong viscosity, that is, gluten, which can be used as the skin of three flavors and wrapped in various meat stuffing.