The people of the past have gone with the smoke, leaving behind a mansion that is now old - a chance visit to Mao Zhentian’s ancient house in Yandun Town, Lingshan County, Guangxi

Have the people of the past gone with the smoke? The mansions left behind are now old

——A visit to the ancient house of Mao Zhentian in Yandun Town, Lingshan County

April 25, 2018

? There is an ancient house in Sheshan Natural Village of Maozhen Village Committee, Yandun Town, Lingshan County, Guangxi - Tian's Ancient House, which is said to have been built in the 27th year of Qianlong (1762 AD) ), has a history of more than 250 years (some say more than 300 years). On April 20, I went to Maozhen with my friends. I heard about it from local friends, so I went to check it out. It was not far from the intersection of Maozhen Street and only a few minutes' drive away.

Legend has it that the owner of the house, Tian Fengshan, was originally from Fuzhou, Fujian Province. He ran small groceries, cosmetics and other businesses in Guangdong in his early years. When doing business, he came to Yandun Maozhen Village and his business became smoother. Perhaps he felt that the Feng Shui here was good. A mound of earth was piled on the foundation of the main house as a mark, and then the family moved from Fuzhou to settle here. They first built the main house to live in, and later, after several generations of hard work, they built a large-scale building complex. The building complex consists of the Taigong Temple, the main house and the side buildings. The side buildings were gradually built by Tian Fengshan's descendants and still follow the architectural style of the main house. The building complex was greatly damaged during the war and the changes of the times. Some buildings have been demolished, and some only remain in ruins. The preserved main house, Taigong Temple, and side seats are connected together to form a relatively complete whole. The main building of Taigong Temple was rebuilt on the original site by the Tian clan in the 1990s, and many original objects are still preserved. It is said that the Tian family has reproduced for 17 generations, but most of them no longer live in the ancient houses. Only a few middle-aged and elderly people still guard them.

Standing on the grassy ground in front of the ancient house and looking around the entire group of ancient houses, you can still clearly feel the proud aura of the ancient house in the past. Although the house is not very high, it looks very majestic when it is built on a high base made of thick granite stones. All houses have traditional triangular roofs, and they still use Qin bricks and Han tiles. The white and gray bricks give the green brick walls a neat and beautiful pattern. The long black and white dotted granite (commonly known as sesame stone) steps are majestic, thick and stable. , can bear almost ten thousand years of trampling. Climbing up the stairs is like walking through the tunnel of time. Many people have walked on the hard stone steps, but they have not left any footprints.

Whether it is the main house, the Taigong Temple or the nearby house, the doors are opened on the side. The front is a protective blue brick wall more than two meters high, with three gun holes on the wall. The gate of a house is actually to build a small house where the walls are closed. A wall is built in the middle of the house, and a large door is left in the middle. The door is covered by the eaves inside and outside, and it can be protected from wind and rain when entering and exiting. There are two layers of granite stone door frames. In addition to two doors, the inner door frame also has a thick square wooden drag dragon installed outside the door. In that era, it was generally difficult to pry open, and the security was very tight. In fact, no matter how strict the security settings are, it is not as safe as a harmonious neighborhood environment!

Inside the courtyard is a house with a three-entry structure. Each entrance is separated by a patio. Each entrance is three tile-roofed houses connected side by side. The middle of the first two entrances is used as a gate and passage. The third room in the middle is the bottom of the hall, which is a place for worshiping ancestors. Incense is constantly burning, and the houses are on both sides. On both sides of the patio are houses for kitchens and other purposes, which are relatively low and can reach the eaves. Looking in from the gate of the house, the main house and the gate are at an angle of about 60 degrees. The steps in front of the house and the stone pillars and beams are all visible, forming a wonderful composition with the gate.

The houses have carved beams, lattice windows, and relief murals. All room doors are made of sesame stone door frames, lintels and thresholds, which are luxurious and stable. The most eye-catching ones are the two square sesame stone pillars in the front room, which are beautiful and elegant with meticulous craftsmanship. There are also blue brick floors that are laid very smoothly with beautiful patterns. After hundreds of years of vicissitudes, they are still as smooth as ever. All buildings are meticulous and very strict from the selection of materials to the construction process. Regardless of whether we use the current market value or modern cost estimates, the cost of building such a large and luxurious house is quite huge. Did the owner of the house do business well, or did the business officials collude and plunder and accumulate wealth? I don't know, I just feel the luxury of the former owner's life.

We looked around from the side seats to the Taigong Temple and then to the main room, and had a brief conversation with the people left behind, but we didn’t learn much. Yes, seventeen generations have passed, and who can clearly explain the history that has been dusted for a long time? We looked up at the big plaque above the door of the main house for a long time, carefully distinguishing the inscriptions on it, trying to get some historical information from it. I saw four large cursive characters written in the center of the plaque: "Lanyu Yingjie". The inscription on the right: "Inscribed by Quan Qing, the right minister of the Imperial Ministry of Punishment, Zheng Hongqi, the deputy capital of the Han Army, Guangdong Supervisor of the Academy", the inscription on the left: "**Liu Pin'an, five generations of the same family Toyota Laushi**, Daoguang II In the eighteenth year of the Wushen season, in the summer month, Huanji and Hitachi stand." The twenty-eighth year of Daoguang reign in the Qing Dynasty was 1848 AD, which has a history of 170 years. Although a few words are not clear, it can still be seen that this is a birthday plaque for the old lady of the Tian family, an official of the sixth rank, who was commended by the imperial court in the 28th year of Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty. It seems that the Tian family was indeed powerful back then, and it is not surprising that both officials and businessmen became rich.

The merits and demerits of the predecessors have long been settled and lost in the smoke of the long river of time. As a witness of history, the old house left behind is not only the ancestral home of the descendants of the Tian family, but also the ancestral home of the Tian family. The most unique historical relics in the whole society carry a lot of non-renewable historical information for experts and scholars to study and utilize and benefit the times. Therefore, they should be loved by future generations and protected by governments at all levels. Inheriting excellent historical culture can educate and inspire future generations to forge ahead, while bad historical relics can also be used as negative teaching materials to warn latecomers. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty once warned his ministers: "Use copper as a mirror to correct your clothes; use people as a mirror to know gains and losses; use history as a mirror to know the rise and fall." What's more, historical monuments can also be used to promote the development of local tourism. It can even be used as a film and television shooting base, bringing real economic benefits to today's people.

Here, as a member of Lingshan people, I suggest that the county government organizes experts and scholars to conduct a comprehensive survey of the county’s cultural monuments and revolutionary relics, register them, allocate special funds for repairs and utilization, and formulate a Local regulations protect it, and the introductory article is written with rigorous historical research, without exaggerating or minimizing, beautifying or belittling, and objectively and truly restore the true face of history, so that future generations can get education, warning and enlightenment from it, and also Enrich the cultural content of Lingshan and let people better understand the history of Lingshan. Those with ornamental value can be incorporated into county tourist attractions. I think this is a great thing that will benefit the present and will benefit the future. I hope the county government will pay attention to it, and I also hope that all walks of life and the people of the county will strongly support it, so that the revitalization of Lingshan will benefit all people!

The people of the past have gone with the blue smoke,

The mansions left behind are now old.

The carved beams and painted pillars are still there,

but the beauty is less lustrous.

The prosperity is gone forever,

The old house is empty and quiet.

There are always lychee trees in Qingcun,

The grass is so lush that there are no walls.