What I said about the geography of China.

Not long ago, the popularity of the large-scale documentary "The Forbidden City" once again aroused the interest in the ancient city of China at home and abroad. Because of its excellent design and magnificent momentum, the Forbidden City has become a master of urban architecture in China. But few people know that in Shantou, China, there is also the smallest pocket-sized ancient city in China-Dahao Ancient City.

Today, the ancient city of Dahao has been surrounded by developed cities, and the tall and solid walls of the past have long been forgotten by the surrounding high-rise buildings. People who don't know the inside story have no idea that there is a city in the city. The aborigines here have long turned a blind eye to the ancient city, and even researchers rarely patronize it, so the ancient city is gradually forgotten by people. It is against this background that, in the surprised eyes of the residents of Dahao ancient city, our "All over China" film crew went into the ancient city to uncover that little-known history.

The ancient city of Dahao was built in the 59th year of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, that is, 17 17, with a history of nearly 300 years. However, the total area of the ancient city is only 14000 square meters, which is equivalent to the size of half a standard football field now. Its walls add up to only 429 meters long, and it only takes 15 minutes to walk around the city along the alley under the walls. No wonder the residents in the ancient city jokingly said, "You can visit the ancient city with a cup of congou tea." So why build such a small city in Dahao?

Dahao, located in the southeast of Shantou, is an island with an area of 80 square kilometers. It borders inland in the north and Guang 'ao Bay in the south. It is a golden waterway for maritime ships to enter Haojiang from the South China Sea and reach Shantou. At that time, many ships would dock in Dahao, or take shelter from the wind and waves, or conduct maritime trade.

Chen Kunda is the chairman of the Literary Federation of Haojiang District, Shantou City. Over the years, he devoted himself to the study of the local history of Dahao and published many articles.

Chigang, Tai Po and Qinglan are commonly known as "Dahao three townships". Speaking of their history, it is even earlier than the ancient city of Dahao. Now we can still see stockade walls as strong as the ancient city of Dahao in these villages. Moreover, each Zhaimen has many square stone troughs. What exactly is it used for?

Although the unique geographical location has brought prosperity to maritime trade, pirates have also extended their evil tentacles here. According to local records, in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Xiawei Port on Dahao Island was once occupied by pirates and pirates for several years. At one time, bandits caused disasters and fishermen suffered greatly.

In a nun's home in Xiawei Port, Dahao Island, the abbot of the temple burns incense and recites scriptures every day, praying for the Buddha to bless the people to travel safely. But after chanting, the abbot always lights three sticks of incense in the incense burner in front of buddhist nun and silently prays at the sea. The local people told us that in Dahao, only the incense here should face the sea. Why?

Led by Chen Kunda, we came to a stone trough next to a nun. Chen Kunda said that there has been a terrible story of "stabbing blood trough" in the local area.

On that day, when the afterglow of the sunset dyed the sea level red again, what people saw was not the lively scene of fishermen returning from fishing in the past, but the pirates took off, leaving only hundreds of empty small fishing boats on the sea, and the owners had already returned to the sea.

It is said that pirates killed more than 1000 people at that time, and there were only more than 20 thousand residents in Dahao Island at that time. In order to pay homage to the fishermen who died this time, people built this nun statue on Dahao Island, burning incense and praying for the sea, which has never stopped for hundreds of years.

In order to strengthen coastal defense and combat pirates, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, Lynn Yang, Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, wrote to the imperial court, requesting to build a city along the coast of Dahao. The task of building the city fell to a local official named Xu Ying in Dahao at that time.

According to the city defense plan at that time, Dahao City was to enclose all the three towns of Chigang, Tai Po and Qinglan in Dahao. However, after a visit to Dahao Island, Xu Ying made an amazing move. He decided to build a pocket town, which was a capital crime at that time. Why did Xu Ying cheat the imperial court at the risk of being beheaded? Does he have any other plans?

Dahao Island has many mountains and few fields. The residents here have been fishing and producing sea salt for a living. However, fishing at sea can only make a living. Due to the vagaries of the ocean, shipwrecks often occur. Whenever men go fishing, women will come to the gods and pray for peace.

In Qingzhou saltworks on Dahao Island, today we can still see the scene of mass production of sea salt by traditional methods. Every morning, salt workers will introduce seawater into the salt field, and then sprinkle brine to make sea salt. Salt-making workers expect good weather to make sea salt dry quickly and well, otherwise a heavy rain will make many days of hard work go down the drain.

The hardships of residents' life in Dahao made Xu Ying realize that if the city was built according to the original plan of the imperial court, it would be inconvenient for fishermen who worked by tides to enter and leave, and the residents who lived on fishing and salt were extremely poor. The city construction project was a waste of people and money. In order to explain to the boss, he came up with a solution and built a pocket town, which was small and inexpensive and could be handed over to the court. So in less than a year, a square pocket city appeared on Dahao Island.

Although the ancient city of Dahao is small, it is "the sparrow is small and complete." The ancient city is actually the political, military and economic management center of Dahao Island. In the west of the city, there is a "Navy Left Camp Garrison House", which is equivalent to the current regimental military region; In the east, there is the "Zhao Ningsi Procuratorate", which is now the Public Security Bureau; There is a "salt field" in the north of the city, which is equivalent to the current salt bureau. The three institutions in the east, west and north form a zigzag layout.

The ancient city wall is 5 meters high, 1.3 meters thick and 429 meters in circumference, so far it has been well preserved. Local residents told us that the walls of the ancient city are very strong, and even now, it is very difficult to nail a nail. We did an experiment on the courtyard wall of a residential building, and the building materials were the same as the ancient city wall, which really happened. What material was the ancient city of Dahao built with? Why can shells often be seen on the walls of ancient cities and the walls of surrounding houses?

Dahao has a unique building material called shell lime sand. Its manufacturing method is very simple. Dig a hole 8 meters square in the ground, then lay bricks on the bottom, and the collected shells are piled on the bricks. The lower one is ignited and calcined with straw. After the shells are burnt into powder ash, coarse sand and clay are added to make bricks. The ancient city of Dahao is made of this kind of shell lime sand and cooked glutinous rice pulp, so it is very strong.

At the seaside of Shantou, not far from the ancient city of Dahao, there is a stone castle built during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, almost as big as the ancient city of Dahao. The battery is divided into two layers, each with 18 emplacement. The bottom blasting roadway is 4. 1 m wide and about 300 m long, which can be deep and circuitous. The protection of a fortress is still so meticulous, but we find that there are no artillery positions on the walls of the ancient city of Dahao. So how did this ancient city resist the enemy?

What we see is the only waterway in Guang 'ao Bay that enters Dahao Island. Because there are two small islands, Dongyu and Xiyu, between Guang 'ao Bay and Haojiang, the sea surface suddenly narrows, so it is also called the "doorway" by the locals. We took a boat from Guang 'ao Bay to Dahao Island along this waterway, but found some city wall relics on Yingpan Mountain in the southwest of Dahao Island. Is there an ancient city there?

The local escort told us that the ruins of the city wall on Yingpan Mountain are actually an ancient fort. At that time, according to the topography of Dahao Island, Xu Ying built more than a dozen forts and flood control camps in dangerous places. Now they are all outposts, and together with the ancient city of Dahao, they have formed three-dimensional fortifications. In order to find out, we decided to go to that island. After walking along the winding mountain road for about ten minutes, we saw a stone tablet engraved with the words "mighty village".

According to historical records, Du He Fort originally had 1 1 barracks, with 22 soldiers and 6 cannons guarding the gateway of the South China Sea to Dahao Island. Along the path of the battery, we climbed to the top of Yingpan Mountain.

Because the ancient city of Dahao is so small, there is a strange phenomenon. Soldiers are stationed in the city, and the protected people live outside the city. Encountered with pirate harassment, in order to deliver news in time, local fishermen in Dahao invented a seaside beacon tower-burning tower.

Towers are usually built on the open seashore and made of tiles. Towers are big and small, and the big ones are more than ten meters high. The tower is ventilated, and there are two opposite doors under the tower, one for putting fuel and the other for discharging wood ash. The upper end of the tower is provided with air openings for flame and smoke. When the Watt Tower burns, people scatter coarse-grained sea salt into the tower, and the Watt Tower crackles like firecrackers, then scatters sulfur and emits a blue flame. The flame at the mouth of the tower soared into the sky, and the tiles on the tower were burned red and bright, which was very spectacular. Nowadays, tower burning has evolved into a folk activity, which continues to spread among local people. The time to burn the tower is set at the Mid-Autumn Festival evening every year. On the beach outside the CITIC Holiday Hotel in Shantou, you can see the spectacular sight of burning towers every Mid-Autumn Festival night.

The establishment of the ancient city of Dahao and its related coastal defense facilities has greatly strengthened the defense capability of Dahao Island. Since then, the residents of Dahao Island have lived a quiet and stable life, and have not been harmed by pirates. According to the original plan, the court allocated a lot of silver to build the ancient city of Dahao, but Xu Ying built a pocket town. So some people suspect that Xu Ying embezzled the rest of the money, so what is the truth?

It is said that after the establishment of the ancient city of Dahao, it has become a downtown area in Fiona Fang for several miles. Merchant ships come and go every day on the Haojiang River, where fishermen trade seafood that has just been salvaged. Very lively. For a time, Dahao was famous in the southeast and became the first of the four famous towns in Chaoshan area. Today, there is still a saying in the local area that "it is better to get into a saddle than to go anywhere."

Today, Suzhou Street is less than 100 meters, and the former Jiangnan water town has long since disappeared. Perhaps only the eaves and planks left in the old house can make us want to see the lively scene of pedestrians shuttling and jostling in the old street. There is a poem that says, "The ancient old street is wider than Zhang, and it is a port on holidays; Carry the green shoulder to meet the road resistance, and the bridge stone goes through the concave to ask the fish ball. "

Speaking of fish balls, it is the most famous local snack in Dahao, which is said to have a history of hundreds of years. Dahao fish balls must use "eel" and "arowana" caught in Dahao fishing port as raw materials. Fresh fish are peeled, boned, cut into sauces, put into special wooden barrels, added with seasonings, and then slapped quickly with the palm of your hand until gum is spit out, then kneaded into lychee-sized balls by hand, poured into cold water for solidification, and cooked with strong fire. It is said that every time the residents of Dahao Island beat the pirates' harassment, the fish balls of Dahao are a must-have dish at the celebration banquet. Nowadays, in the local area, we can still eat Dahao fish balls made in this traditional way.

Xu Ying has done many good things for the people of Dahao, but his behavior of deceiving the king and keeping secrets still aroused the dissatisfaction of Lynn Yang, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. Xu Ying knew that her sins were unforgivable, so she committed suicide. However, Xu Ying's demeanor as an official and a citizen is highly appreciated by the local people. In memory of Xu Ying, Dahao spontaneously built the "Xu Gongsheng Temple" for him.

Today, the ancient city is bustling and has become the center of cultural activities in Haojiang District of Shantou City. There are theaters and basketball courts in the city, and some important activities are held here. Although the buildings in the city have changed beyond recognition, the wall of more than 400 meters still stands tall. The only street in this city is full of stalls and excitement. In their spare time, people like to gather here to listen to Chaozhou music and drink congou. People are waiting for their ancient city and their life.

This is based on information. See for yourself. I don't know what you need more. See the excerpt.