Essay about looking at earthen forts in central Fujian

A friend told me that there are many earth forts left over from history in Minqing, Youxi, Yongan, Datian and Zhangping circles in central Fujian. From April 4 to April 7, 2017, I drove myself with three winter swimming friends to central Fujian to see the style of the earthen fortress.

There are earth buildings in western Fujian, enclosed houses in southern Jiangxi, watchtowers in Kaiping in central Guangdong, and earth forts in central Fujian. At first I didn't pay much attention to it when I heard my friend talk about the earth castle. Since I have seen earth buildings, enclosed houses, watchtowers, etc., this earth castle may be just another name for these buildings I have seen. Unexpectedly, after seeing the first earth fort, we couldn't stop. In just four days, we visited 12 earthen forts, 1 ancient dwelling and 2 scenic spots. There have been many professional articles introducing and describing the Tubao in detail. I will write down the experience of this trip to describe a superficial self-experience.

April 4th

Meng Jiao, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote in a poem, "The spring breeze is so proud that the horses' hoofs are so bad that they can see all the flowers in Chang'an in one day." However, we are like "the spring breeze brings smooth traffic, but it is difficult to collect the earth forts in four days." The earthen castle is a native vernacular building. This kind of material culture comes from the folk, but it has a deep spiritual connotation. The poet Meng Jiao was "satisfied with the spring breeze" and went to "walk around and watch the flowers". Our trip was also in spring, and it was after paying homage to our ancestors during the Qingming Festival. Under the same spring breeze, we have not completely gotten rid of the fetters of remembering the past of our ancestors. But the fine weather after the lingering spring rain also gave us a good mood. Driving all the way, looking at the beautiful scenery of green mountains and green waters outside the car, each of us was speculating in our hearts about what the "earth castle" looked like.

On the first day, we visited three ancient buildings: Qilu, Silexuan and Maojingbao. When I saw the earthen castle Qilu, I thought of the locations of several other earthen forts, and realized that almost all of these earthen forts were in remote areas far away from towns. I have seen earth buildings in western Fujian and enclosed houses in southern Jiangxi. They are both huge community buildings. An earth building, or an enclosed house, may be home to several families, while a large one may be like a village. The earthen castle is basically a house where a family lives, but this kind of house is larger.

The earth castle does not look majestic and tall from the outside. Most earthen forts are built against mountains, so the front end of the entire fort is low and the rear end is high. The height difference is no smaller than those of earthen buildings. Moreover, the earthen castles are basically in the form of a square outside and a circle inside. The Maojing Fort we saw on the first day fully reflected this feature.

An earth castle is not earth. The earthen forts in central Fujian have profound cultural heritage. Qilu is also known as Pinheng Village. The owner of the earthen fort is Zhang Mingqi, who once served as the prefect of Jiujiang. "Qi" is the name of the owner, and "Lu" means the house. But then I remembered another incident from the past. A few years ago, I was on a trip to Huizhou. When I visited ancient residences in Qiankou at the foot of Mount Huangshan, I asked the tour guide what the place name of Qiankou meant. The commentator said that "Qiankou is the south exit of Huangshan Mountain". I always feel that this explanation is very far-fetched. Later, I heard the commentator say that Tao Yuanming of the Eastern Jin Dynasty once lived in seclusion here, and my heart suddenly became enlightened. Tao Yuanming, named Qian, lived in seclusion here. This place is also the south exit of Huangshan Mountain. Perhaps the name Qiankou came from this. When I saw Qilu today, I knew that Zhang Mingqi had been the prefect of Jiujiang and that there was Kuanglu in Jiujiang. Maybe the word "Lu" also had this meaning. In this way, the name "Qilu" is more intuitive.

Qilu is also known as Pinhengzhai. I have also asked the locals and checked the information, and I have no idea about the origin of the name "Pinhengzhai". The explanation is unclear and the truth is unclear. I thought carefully about whether "pinheng" was borrowed from the sentence "pinwuxianheng" in the Book of Changes. "Pingwu Xianheng" means "everything can be beautiful", and Shaoxing's "Xianheng Hotel" is famous for its writing by Lu Xun. The name "Xianheng" means prosperous business, prosperous business and abundant financial resources. So, does "Pinheng Village" mean "a village where everything is beautiful"? In the end, I can only say "maybe". From the perspective of the architectural structure of the earthen castle, which is low in front and high in back, square on the outside and round on the inside, it also implies the concepts of "rising higher and higher step by step" and "the sky is round and the earth is round". The ancient folk residence Silexuan still retains the ancient folk customs. It can be seen that the earthen fort does contain a deep cultural heritage.

April 5th

There are several people weaving short bamboo fences, and the wild gates are close to the water, which is green and shady. What is the meaning of Qingsha and the graceful swallows? The graceful and selfless flowers are everywhere.

The breeze from the Zhejiang Sea is gentle, and the old haze is quiet in spring across the mountains. I feel ashamed that I am not a guest seeking love, spending every night in the city guarding the city.

This song "Qilu? Spring Wilderness" was written by Qi Jiguang in the Ming Dynasty. It can be seen from the poem that the Japanese invasion was most rampant in the Ming Dynasty. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, it was difficult for the poor to make ends meet. These people were forced to rob the property of the government and the rich, so banditry broke out and the government suppressed it. Many people who were bandits turned to the sea and became pirates. The Japanese pirates took the opportunity to collude with these bandits, causing serious Japanese banditry along the southeast coast and causing great harm to the local people. As a result, these earthen forts came into being.

On this day, we visited Guangyu Fort, Ruiqing Fort, Anzhen Fort, Pipa Fort, Tai'an Fort and Anliang Fort in Xiaohua Village. These ancient castles can be said to be the highlights of the earth castles we saw this time.

The purpose of building earth forts is the same as those of earth buildings, enclosed houses, and watchtowers. In addition to housing, they are mainly used to prevent theft and floods. Not only does it have various defensive fortifications, but what impressed us more is that there is also a racecourse, a training ground, etc. in the fort. Fujian is located on the southeast coast.

Since ancient times, people have often said, "The sky is high and the emperor is far away." Precisely because Fujian is located in a remote area, Japanese pirates and bandits were serious in those days. Rich families or people in a certain place built this kind of earth fort. Although it was built by one family or clan, when Japanese invasion and banditry occurred, other villagers could also go in and hide. Several of the earthen forts we visited today are located in central Fujian. Although the Japanese invasion cannot occur directly, the banditry is serious. Therefore, the earthen forts here all have the function of defending against bandits, and Anzhen Fort embodies this most obviously.

As soon as we entered the walled gate of Anzhenbao, we saw a training ground in front of the main entrance. There is a couplet on both sides of the main entrance, "Safe and prepared for a rainy day, Zhenguan is quiet and quiet." This scene presents before us a vision of preventing troubles before they occur and praying for a peaceful and peaceful life. People praying for peace shows that the world at that time was indeed not peaceful.

The word "An Zhen" comes from "The Book of Changes". "Book of Changes" writes, "Kun, Yuanheng. The chastity of the female horse. A gentleman has a future, he is lost first and then gains the master's benefit; he gains friends in the southwest, loses friends in the northeast, and is safe and auspicious." It can be seen from this that from the scope of Feng Shui Generally speaking, "An Zhen" means "peace and stability". "The Book of Changes" also says, "An Zhen's auspiciousness corresponds to the boundless land." This further shows that "An Zhen's auspiciousness" contains the philosophy of being in compliance with the time, place, people and people, and is also what people all over the world pray for for survival.

However, when it comes to the effectiveness of the bunker in resisting bandits at that time, I got this information from a local. I asked if the bunker withstood the bandit attack? The answer was that the fort had resisted attacks by bandits, but bandits rarely attacked the fort. I asked why, and the answer was that every time the bandits asked for food or money, the people would try their best to satisfy them as long as they could. Only on the rare occasions when they could not be satisfied, they would attack the bunker. I asked why again, and the answer was that the common people always feel that as long as they have something to eat, they can survive, and they can satisfy the bandits to keep things at bay. Wouldn't it be better to do more than to do less?

Wow, I was deeply touched after hearing this. No matter whether what the local said is true or not, it shows the eternal and simple psychology of ordinary people. If it's true, I don't think the public is doing anything wrong. From a political perspective, banditry is intolerable to society. From an economic perspective, this is also a form of asset redistribution. Because the feudal system itself caused social injustice, this injustice could often only be solved through unofficial means. This kind of behavior of the people to put things aside and seek "safety and chastity" through aggrievedness may also be a kind of human nature.

April 6

When we visited Tai'an Fort, Fanglian Fort and Tan Castle today, we found that many legends about the castles can enlighten people's moral and ethical concepts. Especially the Tai'an Fort in Yiping Village, Lingdi Township, Zhangping.

In ancient times, teachers in private schools had the rule of teaching students by using a board. This kind of education method was authoritarian and rigid, and of course it was backward. With the development of society, modern advanced education methods have replaced backward education methods. The most fundamental difference between backward and advanced education methods is that teachers do not teach by indoctrination, but by heuristic teaching; students are not Instead of being taught by rote memorization, you should be taught by flexible understanding.

When visiting Tai'an Fort, some villagers told me that the owner who built Tai'an Fort encouraged his sons to leave home and make a living on their own. One year at the end of the year, the eldest son missed his elders at home and went home to visit. Just as he was approaching the door of his home, his father saw him. The stern father of his godson thought that he had no ambition and came back not long after leaving home. In a rage, he casually hit his son with a weight and injured him. Soon his son died of his injuries, and his father regretted it deeply. From then on, he often warned his descendants to be lenient and tolerant in dealing with others and teaching their children.

After listening to this legend, I remembered "The Wandering Son's Song" by Meng Jiao, a poet of the Tang Dynasty:

The thread in the hands of the loving mother, and the clothes on the wandering boy's body.

Before leaving, I am afraid of returning late.

Whoever speaks an inch of grass will be rewarded with three rays of spring.

It is human nature for a loving father and a loving mother to be afraid of a wanderer who will be late in returning home. But the father in the Tai'an Fort legend felt that his son's return was a sign of lack of ambition. Unable to control his emotions, he injured his son to death. Strict teaching, cruel. It doesn't seem to be the case. This is about an issue of education methods.

I remember that in the 1960s, there was turmoil in China. There was also a legend that has been passed down to this day. When talking about poor and lower-middle peasants receiving education, a poor lower-middle peasant walked up to the podium and gave a lecture intuitively. He walked into the classroom with cabbage, radish, and pepper, saying that college students under the old education system couldn't even tell the difference between leeks and wheat. Today, we are going to learn to identify different crops. Then he raised a cabbage and said loudly to the students, cabbage, this is cabbage. So the students read aloud, cabbage, this is cabbage. Next, the poor and lower-middle peasant taught the students about radishes and peppers. This so-called new education method seems to be down-to-earth, but in fact, this kind of education is a regression. Not only is it thin on the level of knowledge, but the education method is still indoctrination.

Neither of the contents in these two different legends can be recognized by modern people.

The owner of Tai'an Fort warned his descendants to be generous and tolerant in treating others and teaching their children. For education, being generous and tolerant is not enough. Education must have profound knowledge and teaching methods that inspire the wisdom of those being educated.

The Fanglian Fort we visited later was built by the descendants of Zhang Daoling, the founder of Taoism. There is also a legend about the construction process of Fanglian Fort. In this legend, the son also made a living outside and later determined to return to his hometown. Build a fort. Although his father objected, he did not oppose it excessively. Finally, the son used his own wisdom to build Fanglian Fort, and his father also greatly appreciated it. It can be said that the legend of Fanglian Fort is the correct answer to the legend of Tai'an Fort.

April 7th

We have seen all the castles we originally planned to visit. During the visit, I learned that there are many such earth forts in central Fujian. Due to limited vacation time, we had to temporarily stop visiting other earth castles.

In order to adjust to the fatigue after three days of intense traveling, today we decided to visit two tourist attractions, Linyin Stone Forest and Taoyuan Cave. Linyin Stone Forest shows abruptness, while Taoyuan Cave shows suspension. I was thinking, from the sudden rise of the earth castle to the point of being suspended in the air, isn't that the history of the earth castle?

The earth castle was born in response to the social unrest. With the development of society, the earthen castle lost its social function. Later, the earthen fort became an ancient cultural relic, leaving unlimited imagination to future generations. Indeed, as a kind of material cultural heritage, the earth fort is gradually losing its significance, but as the spiritual cultural heritage contained in it, it will be passed down indefinitely and continue to inspire future generations to develop towards a higher level of spiritual civilization.

After visiting Lingyin Stone Forest and Taoyuan Cave Scenic Area, we drove back on the way home. Thinking about the earth castle along the way, my understanding of the earth castle suddenly became blurry again. Yes, the earthen castle is closed, stagnant, and self-contained. Although it has many enlightening connotations for future generations, it also shows the eternal helplessness of the people. The earthen castle seems to have become a cry for social injustice in ancient and modern times. If I have the chance, I would like to learn more about the earthen forts in central Fujian.