Old things in the new warehouse

Pinghu Edition of Jiaxing Daily published:

Written by Deng Photography Gu Xuefeng

It's interesting to hear the villagers sing "A New Story": "A new story, a new story, is like heaven. There are seawalls in the south and mountain ponds in the north; There are river piers in the west and white overflow in the east. Pipa pool in arm mountain, twelve squares in three temples and six streets. Good scenery! " The old residents of Xincang are full of narcissism, self-love and self-satisfaction. This ancient town with a history of 9 16 years has always been the most prosperous town in Pinghu, and it has been known as "the 18 towns in Dongxiang and the first town in Xincang" since ancient times. There are indeed many places of interest in ancient times, and there are also records of "Ten Scenes in the New Warehouse" in ancient books. In the past, there was also a saying in the neighborhood that there was "Hall 48, Lane 36, Bridge 24, Street 12", which showed its prosperity. The rolling flood of China's largest river brought a lot of sediment to the East China Sea, leaving a lingering and gentle accumulation of new land at the exciting exit. According to the theory of delta development stage, the "upper reaches" of the delta are often high in terrain, suitable for human settlement and developed earlier, followed by "middle reaches" and "lower reaches". Pinghu, located in this "downstream", is located at the edge of the Yangtze River Delta and belongs to the Taihu Lake Basin. A large number of fields have been formed due to siltation and regression. The vast surrounding land has also attracted many clans looking for fields to survive and develop.

It should be said that the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River were relatively backward during the Qin and Han Dynasties, including Haiyan, Pinghu, Jinshan, Fengxian and Nanhui. Qin Shihuang unified China and divided the whole country into 36 counties, under which there were counties. Twenty-six counties in Huiji County, one of which is called Haiyan County because of its "wide waterfront facing Yantian". Until the fifth year of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty (1430), Wuyuan, Qi Jing, Dayi and Huating in the northeast of Haiyan County were separated into Jianxin County, and the lake was named "Pinghu". Xincang originally belonged to Wuyuan Township, so the Dojo site was still called "Wuyuan Township".

In ancient times, Wuyuan township was a luli wetland, just like the situation described in the Book of Songs as "a lush, white dew like frost". Luli wetland is covered with criss-crossing drainage ditches, but more is a large reed. Of course, there are bigger rivers, and Lulipu is a very important and famous river for releasing water.

According to Gu Zuyu's Reading History, "Liulipu is located 38 miles northeast of the county seat" and "the water in the north of the county meets here, and there is Luli saltworks". When it comes to "Liulipu", we must mention "Dongjiang".

Dongjiang was abandoned in the Tang Dynasty, and Dongjiang, Songjiang and Loujiang were collectively called "Three Rivers" in history. According to textual research, Songjiang originated in Taihu Lake and is divided into three parts: the ancient Sanjiangkou, the west of Luzhi, Jiangsu Province and the north of Hucheng Lake. The southern faction is Dongjiang (commonly known as "Shangjiang"), which flows southward into Baixian Lake and Small Lake, around Dianshan Lake today. It is called "valley water" after flowing out from Baixian Lake and small lake. Downstream books have different records. Generally, one mainstream enters the sea in Ganpu, Haiyan County, one in Xiaoguanpu, Jinshan County, Shanghai, and one in Donglu Lipu, Pinghu County. Xiaoguanpu is equivalent to the present Zhangjing River, but Ganpu has long since ceased to exist, and its estuary section is equivalent to the present Changshan River entering the sea, leaving only the place name "Ganpu". Fort Lurie has long been abandoned, but it has also left the name of "Shuikou" (Shandong independence); "Shuikou" is the water inlet of Liulipu.

Because there is a river in Lulipu, the salt field is called "Lulipu Salt Field"; Because of Luli saltworks, this market is called "Luli City". Just because of the rows of spoony reeds and reeds on the banks of the river, and because of the magnanimous Ma Pingchuan planted in the hope field, it has become a vicissitudes name-Lu Chuan. Xincang was also called "Luchuan" in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and there is still an alley in Xincang Middle Street called "Luchuan New Lane". It is like a memory mottled house number, permanently nailed to the weather-beaten forehead of the new warehouse people. There are many old houses in Xincang Ancient Town. Most of the houses on the south side of the old street are relatively small because there is not much space when they are built by the river. Notable are barge stones and stone steps. However, there are many tricks hidden in the alley north of the street.

I went to those old alleys twice recently, and found that there are not many ancient houses with a history of hundreds of years, and what has not collapsed now is in ruins and in jeopardy. On the other hand, in Jia Zhu Lane on East Street, a long series of city walls on its east side are still well preserved. The yellow-brown stone foundation at the bottom is very conspicuous, which seems to record the prosperity and style of Dongxiang new warehouse. It turned out that there were several courtyards of large families in Jinjiaxiang, but they were all abandoned, leaving only the corner and cobblestone foundation to be shelved at will. Before building a house, lay a good foundation; Then put the foundation on the foundation, and then erect wooden columns on the foundation. The extended meaning of the word "foundation" comes from this. "The foundation is moist and silent." People in Xincang know whether the stone foundation is wet or not, so they can infer whether it is going to rain.

Lotus Leaf Lane in West Street is probably the most "tight" alley in Xinchang Town. It is "tight" because it is small and narrow, but it is deep inside.

Developed families in ancient towns in the south of the Yangtze River are bound to build courtyards and hide wealth from the people, so large-scale private houses are generally condensed in the depths of alleys. Xincang is the largest port in Dongxiang, and naturally there are many rich households. The first time I went, I passed by Yingjia Lane and didn't go in. Naturally, I didn't find anything. On the second visit, an old woman took the initiative to show me. It turns out that there is an old house hidden in the depths of Yingjia Lane, with a history of more than 100 years, two floors and a front yard and backyard. What surprised me was not its regulations, but its guardrail. I don't know what the previous owner of this house thought, and I don't know which owner made it so beautiful! On the high western wall, there are five square sculptures embedded. Five ornaments were placed on the wall with different patterns. Dragon and phoenix flowers, bats and tigers are lifelike. Although it has been damaged, it is still exquisite and vivid. This is the biggest gain I got when I went to the new warehouse to drill an alley.

It is worth mentioning that there are two houses on the south bank of Yanchuan River. First, the Yao family's house in West Street is also the residence of a big family. After liberation, he became a township government and later became a canteen of the town government. Its outer wall has been well preserved so far, and Shikumen has not been damaged at all, but the inside of the wall has been unrecognizable. The second is the Lujia house in Dongxiao Street. This is a two-story building with brick and wood structure built in 1935, with patio and cloister, which can be regarded as a small Happy Valley building. In the old society, there were several horse racing buildings in Xincang, but they were all demolished. Fortunately, this building was confiscated in the 1950s, and it was changed to "Xincang Regional Hospital", but it was preserved. Otherwise, it may be broken by "broken capitalism". But after vicissitudes of life, it has changed its original appearance, the east wall has been redecorated with cement, and the stones in the courtyard have been incomplete. Interestingly, on the white wall next to the south gate, the Chinese characters of red paint for schistosomiasis treatment popularized in the 1960s can be discerned, and on the west wall, Chairman Mao's poem "Send to the God of plague" is written.