Visit Cuoxia Village, an ancient village in the west of Beijing.

Among all the ancient villages in western Beijing, Gaixia is the most famous. The ancient villages in Sichuan are well-preserved ancient residential buildings in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Cuanxia village skillfully combines traditional courtyards with rugged mountains, showing its unique historical and cultural value. Despite the vicissitudes of hundreds of years, the village under Cuanchuan still maintains the original style of residential buildings. The mountain quadrangles, historical remains, local culture and natural human landscape in the ancient village of Cuanxia can be regarded as a model of the architectural history of mountain villages and rural social culture in China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Yaoduoxia Village is an ancient Ming and Qing village in the west of Beijing, located 90 kilometers west of Beijing. It is an administrative village in Zhaitang Town, Mentougou District, Beijing, and belongs to the municipal cultural relics protection unit in Beijing. The ancient village of Cuanxia was excavated in 1984. In April 2006, 5438+0 was designated as the key cultural relics protection unit in Beijing, and in September 2003, it was listed as the second batch of historical and cultural protection areas in Beijing. From June 5438 to February 2003, it was listed as the first batch of famous Chinese historical and cultural villages with the approval of the Ministry of Construction.

Cuanxia Village is famous for the most complete and unique mountain quadrangle architecture in the north of China. Cuanxia Village, located on the ancient post road in the west of Beijing, was founded in the Ming Dynasty. The whole village faces south and is built on the mountain. The overall layout of the village is in the shape of an "ingot", which means "gold and silver" to gather wealth. At present, there are more than 70 well-preserved quadrangles and more than 500 houses in Ganxia Village. Most buildings are brick structures, with rigorous structure, good integrity, reasonable layout and gorgeous decoration.

There are many legends about the origin of the name of Cuanxia Village. Cuanxia Village was named Cuanxia Village because it was located under the dangerous gorge of the military pass "Cuiliankou" in Ming Dynasty. There is also a saying that the residents of this village are descendants of an immigrant named "Han" in Shanxi in the early Ming Dynasty, because Han and Han are homophonic. Cold people are poor.

In order to make the family prosperous, Han's ancestors named the village "Cuanxia" because the cliff behind the village looked like a big stove. In order to make this hard-to-write and hard-to-recognize word "Cuan" known and understood by others, the villagers also made up a jingle: "Xing prefix, Lin prefix waist, big characters under fire." Take it as "the fire burned two trees, and the surname of Han (Leng) was Chang." Some people think that the name means "Cuan" as a "stove" to cook with fire, and the ancient village uses "Cuan" as a symbol of family unity, and "stove" as a symbol of "warmth", which corresponds to the "cold" sound of the Chinese surname, symbolizing the village's cold resistance and "warmth", and embodies the villagers' views. By 1958, the words of place names were simplified, and people changed the word "township" to "Sichuan", where there was a village, which has been used ever since. In recent years, in order to revitalize rural tourism, "Cuan" has begun to "fire" again.

Starting from Beijing, drive more than 90 kilometers west along 109 national road, and arrive at the ancient village of Yaoxia in Beijing in Ming and Qing Dynasties. In February, there was just a heavy snow in Beijing. The valleys, streams, Woods, Yuan Ye and villages in the west of Beijing are all covered with snow. After the snow, Cuanxia village presents a landscape surrounded by deep, bright, simple and quiet mountains, full of unique charm and emotional appeal.

In the valley near the imperial city, this famous ancient village of Ming and Qing dynasties. The ancient house built on the mountain relies on ancient rhyme. The roof was originally blue-gray and continuous with the pine trees behind it. It's snowing, and the blue-gray eaves of every roof are covered with crystal white snow. Clusters of green edges and white patches make up the whole village.

Kuanduoxia Village is located on the gentle slope on the north side of Jingxi Gorge, and is built by the mountain. It is one of the well-preserved ancient mountain village buildings in China. The ancient dwellings face south as a whole, and they are quadrangles in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The overall layout of the quadrangle dwellings in Cuanxia Village is adapted to local conditions and built on the mountain, forming a complex pattern with quadrangles as the main part and three courtyards as the auxiliary part. . A winding street divides the village into upper and lower parts.

The village houses are built according to the high and low mountains, and they are stacked on top of each other. The village is divided into two floors, which looks like an old castle and a mountain city. It's patchwork, reasonable layout, ingenious use of space, rigorous structure and extremely high architectural art. The unique folk houses have grey tile cornices, high courtyard walls, strict grade of gatehouses, exquisite carving of doorpiers and unique brick murals. The overall architecture of Cuanxia Village is harmonious and elegant, and brick carving, stone carving and wood carving contain ancient national culture. The alleys paved with stone slabs in the village are elegant and quiet. There are Guandi Temple, Niangniang Temple and Wudao Temple in the village. The architecture of Cuanxia Village is simple, elegant and full of interest, which embodies the extreme of traditional architectural style in Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Cuanxia village is surrounded by mountains, with an altitude of 650 meters, belonging to Taihang Mountain and Qingshui River basin. The climate belongs to temperate monsoon climate. Good natural vegetation, rows of pine and cypress trees, and a sense of "Xanadu". There are rich natural and cultural landscapes around Cuanxia Village, such as Yixiantian, Wohuling, Bijia Mountain, Golden Foot Watching the Moon, Bat Offering Blessings, Shenju Tiwo, 999 Stone Array, Jingxi Ancient Road Site and so on, which are beautiful.

Cuanxia Village, which was founded in the Ming Dynasty, gradually flourished in the Qing Dynasty. In the past, business travelers settled in this small village that must pass through the ancient road, and the bustling past businessmen made it a distribution center for goods. In the period of Kangxi and Qianlong, many shops such as Ruifutang, Ruiqingtang, Sanyitang and Baoquanxing emerged in Cuanxia Village.

The alleys paved with stone slabs in the village, the blue-purple stone slabs have been polished with the years, crystal clear and colorful. The winding path is secluded, the stone is blue and purple, which just means "stepping on the clouds" and "purple gas coming from the east". Generally speaking, the gatehouses of residential buildings are all wishful doors, with hard tops and clear water ridges. The door is located between the eaves columns, and both sides of the door frame are made of ground bricks. The ceiling outside the door is painted with patterns, the lintel is decorated with door nails, and there are exquisite patterns of brick walls with water mill between the door and the wall. In addition, many houses have cellars under them and flower walls above them. The quadrangle architecture integrates brick carving, stone carving and wood carving, with different shapes and outstanding styles, such as family happiness, magpies climbing branches, hope for success, good luck and so on. Wall leg stones and threshold stones are exquisitely carved with various patterns, and most of them are birds and animals symbolizing good luck, such as magpies, bats, peonies, lotus flowers, lotus flowers and so on.

The unique folk houses include grey tile cornices, high courtyard walls, strict gatehouse grades, beautifully carved doorpiers, unique brick carvings and murals. The whole village is criss-crossed, with houses strewn at random and high and low. Often we walk through an alley and have a very different hole, just like in a maze. A winding street divides the village into upper and lower parts. The courtyards of Cuanxia Village, which can be called typical ancient houses, include Liang Guangyuan, Shuangdian Courtyard and Shiyong Mansion. 1998, the Mentougou district government announced Guangliang Garden, Shuangdian Garden and Shiyongju as the fourth batch of cultural relics protection units.

Cuanxia village has a strong local culture, and the villagers' cultural and recreational activities are rich and colorful. The folk culture handed down from generation to generation has continued to this day, such as the temple fair with lights on on the fifteenth day of the first month, playing tricks, swinging, singing and dancing, folk rap and so on. Colorful folk customs, local operas and the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month are also the most festive moments for the villagers. On such a day, if you accidentally walk into the village, the rich local culture and human landscape will attract you for some time.

The beautiful natural environment, unique style and unique residential buildings here are definitely not lonely. It has long been a natural base for shooting TV series and movies. Dozens of TV series, such as Thirteen Sisters, Kanto Hero, Westbound Cixi, Tai Chi Master, Silent Love and Mobile Phone, have chosen this place as the location for shooting. Nowadays, there are many tourists, painters, photographers, writers and poets in the village, which has become a good place for people to visit ancient times.

Strolling through the alleys, the old houses, stone mills and ancient pagodas in the village seem to tell people their long history. Generations of villagers here live together, work together, entertain together and live an idyllic life. The decoration, sculpture and painting of quadrangles also reflect folk customs and traditional culture everywhere, and the pursuit of happiness, beauty, affluence and auspiciousness is quietly released.

Whether it is mottled old houses, eaves beams, or exquisite brick carvings, stone carvings and wood carvings in ancient houses, even if they are broken, they still cling to the exquisiteness and elegance of the past. The ancient houses in the village are well-built, simple and elegant, and the quiet temperament of the mountain quadrangles is the ultimate beauty.

Sun Keqin writes articles and photographs.

refer to

Sun Keqin, Sun Bo, 2005, 100 1 expression of ancient villages in western Beijing. Planning and Construction of Beijing, (6):128—151.

Sun Keqin, Sun Bo, 2006, an ancient village in Zhaitang Town, Beijing. Beijing: People's Fine Arts Publishing House.

Sun Keqin, Song Guanya, Sun Bo, 2006, visiting ancient villages in western Beijing. Beijing: China Pictorial Publishing House.

Sun Keqin, 2007, Interpreting the Cultural Heritage of Ancient Villages in Western Beijing. Planning and Construction of Beijing, (1):166—169.

Sun Keqin, 2008, Investigation on Regional Culture of Ancient Villages in Western Beijing. China Local Records, (7): 54-58.

Sun Keqin, 2008, a model of mountain village architecture in Ming and Qing Dynasties-Chuandixia Village. China Folk Houses (2): 24-27.

Sun Keqin, 2009, Protection and Development of Ancient Village Heritage Resources in Mentougou District, Beijing. Regional Research and Development, 28 (4): 72-76.

Sun Keqin, Sun Bo, 20 13, visiting the most beautiful ancient village in China. Beijing: Metallurgical Industry Press.