The ancient town Niujie, the secrets hidden under the cloak of thousands of years of history

(All the pictures and texts in this article are original) 1 In Zhaotong, Niu Street is undoubtedly ancient. The most common saying is that Niujie Ancient Town has a history of more than 1,600 years. But this statement is obviously exaggerated. Of course, people have been active in Niujie since the Western Han Dynasty, namely the Bo people. Of course, the Bo people are not the natives of Niujie. They are a nation that is constantly migrating and making concessions. They migrated from the Minjiang River Basin and retreated into the depths of Wumeng. However, they had no choice but to disappear. Therefore, now we can no longer see any trace of the ethnic activities of the Bo people. We only vaguely know that there is something called a hanging coffin hanging on a high cliff. That seemed to be the only evidence that they had ever been alive. As for the various legends they left in the folk, they are just pastimes for future generations. When we explore the history of a place, we are actually exploring the human history of that place. Some data show that the people in Niujie moved here from Sichuan in the mid-Ming Dynasty. At that time, Bo people made up the majority in Niujie. Judging from the legends about the Bo people in later generations, the people at that time had a huge sense of fear of the Bo people. It was not until 1515 (Ming Dynasty) that the Bo people popularized the law and led the ethnic minority uprising, which was later suppressed by the imperial court. This situation changed. The natives in Niujie were killed, and "there were no residents within dozens of miles." From then on, the majority of Niujie residents were the Bo people, while the Bo people gradually disappeared in the following years. But what puzzles me is that from the Han Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, the Bo people lived in Niujie for more than 1,000 years. Why didn't they leave any evidence in Niujie? At least, there is no archaeological discovery of this area. , this mysterious nation, have you really lived in Niujie for more than 1,000 years? It seems that a few key pages have been torn out of the history book. 2 Therefore, it may be said that the Bo people are not much different from the ancient town of Niujie. Relationship. Or objectively speaking, the ancient town Niujie was not built by the Bo people, but by the Communists. Since the people in Niujie moved from other places in the mid-Ming Dynasty, that is to say, there are people in Niujie. ***, which is five or six hundred years ago. We can also find some evidence from the genealogy of Niujie residents, including the surnames Huang, Wu, Le, Wang, Zeng and Chen. Residents with surnames such as Xu, Wen, Wang, Xu, Gao, He, etc., their ancestors only moved to Niujie during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In other words, they cannot be found yet. *** There is some evidence of moving to Niujie before the middle of the Ming Dynasty. So, even if there are people living in Niujie market town now, it is doubtful whether it was a market town at that time. Or, we can also start from Niujie. Architecture to explore its shadow hidden in the depths of history. The earliest record of building a house in Niujie is that in 1730 AD (the eighth year of Yongzheng reign), a man named Mao Qiufu built his own house in Niujie. No record can be found. An interesting historical fact is that in 1515, the year when the Bo people promoted the law and led the ethnic minority uprising, Longshou, the Tushe of Mangbu Prefecture, petitioned to file a lawsuit against Tunchouba. The ministry established the Baishui Jiangtanchou Chief, a sixth-grade military post. "Wuzong Shilu" records that the reason for setting up such a military institution was because ethnic minorities often had uprisings. Niujie was too far away from Zhenxiong, and Zhenxiong was beyond the reach of Zhenxiong. . Guochouba is now Guochouba in Niujie Town. To get there from Niujie Market Town, you need to climb a steep long slope and climb over a box factory. Pass. Compared with Niujie Market Town, it is relatively open. Today, even the local residents of Guochou know the specific location of the old lawsuit. Rubble. In just five hundred years, the mulberry field has turned into a sea. I don’t want to talk about the extraordinary significance of Mangbu Prefecture’s establishment of such an institution to Niujie. What I want to say is why Mangbu Prefecture established the administrative office of Changsui. Is it located in Guochouba instead of the current Niujie market town? Does this mean that Niujie had not yet formed a relatively prosperous market town at that time? 3 There is only one truth in history, and we may not be able to find out the truth, but We can keep getting closer to the truth. Twenty years ago, only the ruins of the then prosperous Niujie Prefecture’s Governor’s Office, General Administration and Military Officer’s Office remained. Wenchang Palace, Wanshou Palace, Chenghuang Temple, Cengong Temple, Wangye Temple, etc., which are landmarks of Niujie architecture, Some monuments such as the Martial Arts Temple still exist, while others have long been destroyed. They were first built 200 years ago, and buildings older than them have disappeared. In other words, we have no way of knowing whether there are any landmark buildings older than them. Niujie is ancient, but maybe not as old as we heard. In the thousand-year-old ancient town, this may be a gorgeous coat that Niujie puts on, but it is definitely not put on by itself. Before the 1990s, the phrase "Millennium Ancient Town Niujie" was still hidden in dusty dictionaries, separated by thick pages. At that time, Niujie was quiet, peaceful and graceful. The Baishui River ran through the middle of the street. Passing, soothing, and clear. Rows of old wooden houses rise from the river, with brown earth tiles on the roofs. The narrow streets and smooth stone streets are all things that have been deposited by the years, simple and simple. It's true. Those old houses are indeed very old, but they have not lasted for thousands of years. The wooden houses cannot survive the wind and rain for thousands of years, and the buildings that have survived to the 1980s and 1990s will not survive until the end of the Qing Dynasty even if they try hard.

From the Republic of China to the early days of liberation, the houses of residents on Niujie Street were a mixture of tile-roofed houses and thatched houses. Obviously, for local residents at that time, tiled houses were more expensive and higher-grade than thatched houses. Therefore, Those thatched cottages were gradually transformed into tile-roofed houses. By 1992, there were 57 newly built reinforced concrete buildings on the street. What kind of house to build and how to build it? Niujie at that time was unorganized. At that time, Niujie had its own little world. 4 Later Niujie was discovered, just like the Wuling fisherman discovered the Peach Blossom Spring in Tao Yuanming's novel. They discovered the ancient meaning of Niujie folk houses. With the development of social economy, most of the world's old things are replaced by new things, but there are so many old houses, old streets, and old things remaining in Niujie. Every step they took on the ancient streets, they heard the echoes of history beneath their feet. They discovered that Sichuan culture and Yunnan culture intersect here, and the collision revealed that Niujie has a unique cultural atmosphere. The uncles who speak well, the aunts who sit at the door to collect the soles of their shoes, and the white and clean cows who are fashionable but naturally harmonious with this small town. Street girls, and groups of innocent children bathing in the Baishui River. They looked at the history of Niujie and found that it had extraordinary revolutionary significance in the entire county and even the entire city. As a result, Niujie became known as a thousand-year-old ancient town. Open Baidu, and it describes the history of Niujie like this: "" Niujie ancient town was founded during the Eastern Han Dynasty, first flourished during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, and reached its peak during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. "The older the ancient town, the better. Therefore, the history of the ancient town has been written as more than 1,600 years ago. There seems to be nothing wrong with this. In the Western Han Dynasty more than 1,600 years ago, Niujie must have been inhabited. So, let’s start from that time. In the more than ten years after the mid-1990s, Niujie experienced its most famous period in history. At that time, Niujie appeared in newspapers and television, and became a tourist attraction. Scenic spot. At that time, when dignitaries and celebrities came to Yiliang, Niujie was a must-visit place, even though they had to go through a bumpy road of 90 kilometers to get to Niujie from the county seat. Part of the scenery. People like the scenery of Niujie, the local specialties of Niujie, and the feeling of walking on the winding stone road. Among them, there are female tourists holding oil-paper umbrellas and enjoying the ancient town. Ancient. They seemed to be dreaming that this place seemed to be the Jiangnan of Xinghua Chunyu. It was a small town from the Tang Dynasty that was left behind by history. At that time, a Niujie man who was a leader once gave a speech. It has been said that although Niujie has a long history and a prosperous past, it was really prosperous after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. In fact, this sentence expresses the real historical facts. There is no other era that can compare with Niujie. Is Niujie so prosperous today? 5 As we can see, Niujie Ancient Town later implemented the transformation of the ancient town. The transformation of Niujie Ancient Town is "renovating the old town as before", a person who once participated in the transformation of Niujie Ancient Town once said. I told you. We have seen many so-called ancient towns, with antique houses, antique streets, antique corridors, plank roads, bridges, lanterns... But when some people look for the ancient ideas, they actually see the same thing in Niu Street. . Gray tiles, white walls, neat brown lines on the waist. Neat lanterns hung on both sides of the street, with dim electric lights hidden in the lanterns. You can tell at a glance that she is not herself. Does it look good? Some people say it doesn’t look good, and some people say it looks good. But there is no doubt that the business of cosmetics stores on the street is better than before. Eight out of ten women passing in front of you are wearing lipstick. For many people in Lao Niujie who miss their makeup, they have mixed feelings. They say that the ancient town is no longer what it used to be. However, the past is just a concept of time. They miss the Niujie of their era, but the Niujie at that time was different from the Niujie in the early days of liberation, and the Niujie in the early liberation was also very different from the Niujie in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. Of course, it was different from the Niujie two hundred years ago. The Niujie of the past is very different. Ancient is a relative term. Those who miss Laoniu Street will definitely remember the past of Laoniu Street, which originated from the Baishui River in Maogu Village, Jiejiu Township, Hezhang County, Guizhou Province. The land has been flowing for thousands of years. When it passed through Niujie, a flat dam was formed here because of the gentle terrain. People built their houses here. Over time, a market town and a river were formed. , so we became connected. Because it is located at the junction of Sichuan and Yunnan, it is a transportation hub, so it became a famous and prosperous commercial town for a time. But Baishui River is not a quiet river. For example, in August 1931, the river surged, and the crops and houses on the riverbank were flooded. About 30 houses in the small street in front of the Jiangbei County Government Office were swept away by the flood, and no tiles remained. The houses on Main Street, Heba Street and Xia Pai Street were washed away, with only the frames of some houses left. Before the 1990s, almost all the buildings in Niujie were wooden houses. In 1937, a fire broke out in the Chen Bingxing Hotel on the first street when a frying pan caught fire while cooking. More than 100 houses on both sides of the 200-meter-long street were burned to rubble. In 1950, a fire broke out in Wen Yuxian's dojo on the first street, burning down 12 houses. In 1958, a fire broke out in the Niujie Service Group Baked Pork in the center of Yijie Street, burning down 12 houses in 12 government agencies and 31 private houses, and injuring 104 fire fighters. When the fire broke out, it also caused social problems such as robbery. In 1992, a fire broke out when a resident burned an electric stove in his home on Erjie Street, burning down 1,800 square meters of the house on the street. One person was burned to death and another was seriously injured.

Fire has become Lao Niu Street’s biggest safety hazard. After the renovation, Niujie has avoided this hidden danger to a large extent. Is this a disaster or a blessing for the Niujie people who have lived here for generations? This goes without saying. 6 People miss Lao Niu Street, perhaps because of the fact that when people talk about Zhaotong tourism, few people mention Niu Street. Even when Yiliang people talk about tourist attractions in the county, few people mention the name Niujie. In people's eyes, Niujie is just a market town, an ordinary place. This is somewhat sad. Where has the vigorous Niujie tourism gone? After all, for a while, Niu Jie was like an ambitious runner. He stood on the track and was ready for the exercise. However, the starting gun did not go off; and the audience in the stands gradually left the field, Dispersed, leaving only a lonely figure on the field. Noisy and quiet, glorious and lonely, Niujie seems to be experiencing the phantom of the human world. In a person's life, spring goes and spring comes, the tide ebbs and flows, isn't it just like Niujie? But what the heck, this is the most real state. Even if you run on the track forever, it is impossible to stand on the podium every time. More often, you sit in the stands and enjoy it slowly, and the frequency of your heartbeat is the most normal. When you walk through the streets of Niujie in the ancient town, you will find that apart from the houses, Niujie is still the same Niujie as before. She just put on some makeup and changed her clothes. She is still her. Niujie residents certainly understand this. You read it, or you don’t read it, you go or you don’t go, Niujie is always there, unfazed. What's more, Niujie's centuries-old culture is still there, and the spirit of Niujie is still there. The Baishui River that passes quietly through Niujie Town is still there.