Traveling is expensive for modern people, but did it cost ordinary people in ancient times to travel?

In ancient China, long-distance travel required adventure or the support of a certain amount of economic strength. This has a lot to do with factors such as underdeveloped transportation and social and political instability in ancient times. For most people, their lifetime activity radius may only be a hundred kilometers centered around home, but they still have many opportunities to travel around the surrounding cities and markets.

Today’s temple fairs in China are mostly legacies left to us by the ancients. 1. The rise of folk temple fairs

Farming and raising in traditional agricultural societies require regular updates of a large number of agricultural and sideline products. The transaction formed a fixed market, and over time, the custom of going to the market was formed.

If there are festivals or nearby sacrificial activities, the market will be even more lively and crowded. Not only are agricultural and sideline products and daily necessities traded here, but there are also fixed shops and street merchants for food, fortune telling, juggling, opera performances, etc. During the New Year and festivals, the large market has gradually become a temple fair.

Every year, it’s the time of the Lunar New Year, the Lantern Festival, the second day of February when the dragon raises its head and other festivals. Various gatherings are held in villages across China to welcome the New Year and festive days. At this time, farmers who have been busy for a year begin to go out of their homes to relax at the market. Over time, the temple fair became an annual custom.

According to records, temple fairs first appeared in the Qin and Han Dynasties, but the early temple fairs had a single function, mostly offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors, and had strong folk beliefs and religious qualities. Until the Ming Dynasty, with the development of commercial economy, a large number of fairs appeared in rural areas, and many temple fairs began to transform into entertainment-oriented ones.

By the mid-Ming Dynasty, it was the custom to hold temple fairs every Spring Festival in large and small market towns in rural China. By the Qing Dynasty, temple fairs had become more prosperous and prosperous with the development of social economy.

Scenes of temple fairs in market towns in the early Republic of China

With the rise of temple fairs, it led to the development of a number of folk customs, such as folk arts such as social fire, stilt walking, Yangko, and land boats. It continues to rise, which also provides a place for entertainment and play for the people who have worked hard for a year.

Today, as one of the features of the Spring Festival every year, temple fairs are still active in rural areas of China, especially in the north. The atmosphere of temple fairs is more intense, and they generally last from half a month to a month. wait. And this is the wealth left to us by the ancients.

Today, temple fairs in villages and towns are still a must-visit item for us during New Years and holidays 2. Urban travel of the ancients

Compared with rural markets, urban travel in China since the Song Dynasty It also began to rise. In the Northern Song Dynasty, with the prosperity of the city's commercial economy, the restrictions of the Lifang system were completely broken, the city's economy was further activated and citizens' lives were greatly improved, as urban travel gradually began to rise. Take Jinmingchi in Bianliang, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, as an example. Although Jinmyeongji is a royal garden, it is open to the common people at specific times of the year.

Jinmingchi will be open to the public for more than one hour from March to mid-April every year. At this time, Jinmingchi is in the spring season, and various activities will be carried out throughout Jinmingchi. Flowers will be available for visitors to enjoy. On March 20th, the emperor and the royal family would also walk out of the palace and visit Jinmingchi in person to watch the bid competition, various military performances and other events. At this time, the entire Jinming Pond will usher in the climax of admissions in the past month, and there will be even more tourists.

As for other days, the Jinming Pond is mostly filled with "the corridors above and below the palace, where people gather money and goods, eat and drink, and perform tricks and crafts, all listed on the left and right." From this, it is not difficult to imagine the grand outing of Bianliang citizens that day.

Zhang Zeduan's "Jinmingchi Bidding Picture"

In addition to Jinmingchi and Qionglin Garden, city visits to Bianliang were also an essential activity for residents of the Song Dynasty. Because of the developed water conservancy and water transportation in Bianliang, boat racing competitions are often held on the Bianhe River. People often gather on the Hongqiao in the city or on both sides of the Bianhe River to watch the grand spectacle of the competition.

The development of water transportation led to the development of urban commercial economy

In the Southern Song Dynasty, as the north was occupied by the Jin people after the Jingkang Incident, the southern government had to move the capital to Lin'an (today's Hangzhou), although Lin'an was intended to be a temporary settlement, under the management of several generations of the Southern Song Dynasty government, Lin'an's commercial economy became more and more developed. Compared with the previous Bianliang, Lin'an's one-lake-one-river pattern provided a better place for the citizens of the Southern Song Dynasty to live. The most famous thing in Lin'an urban area should be the West Lake. After the previous governance by Bai Juyi and Su Shi, the West Lake's Not only was the flood well managed, but it also began to slowly become a model of Jiangnan scenery. The West Lake is right next to Lin'an City, which provides great convenience for people's daily browsing. The name of "Ten Scenes of West Lake" was also praised by people at this time.

The biggest feature of West Lake is that it can present different scenery in each season. During the Southern Song Dynasty, China entered a Little Ice Age, and the climate was much colder than in previous years. However, the snow scene of West Lake became Lin'an every winter. It is a must-visit place for the citizens of the city, and this is where the "broken bridge with remaining snow" comes from. In spring, citizens can also enjoy the scenery of spring dawn on Su Causeway and wind and lotuses in Quyuan.

The scenery of the broken bridge in the West Lake with remaining snow

While urban development not only satisfies people’s daily lives, it also continues to enrich people’s spiritual entertainment world. A large number of urban literary genres after the Song Dynasty also Such cities as Yuan Zaqu, Pingshu, Kun Opera, etc. came into being. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, tourism in such cities became more and more developed. At this time, it was also accompanied by the emergence of a large number of operas, such as Peking Opera, Qinqiang Opera, Huangmei Opera, etc. These literary genres and dramas not only left artistic wealth for future generations, but also fixed the beautiful moments of entertainment for the ancients.

Wen Shi Jun Shuo