Intangible cultural heritage that has disappeared or is facing disappearance in Jincheng City

Qutou Village is located in Bagong Town, Zezhou County. It is a large village with a population of more than 4,200 people and is also my hometown. I recently went back to take a look and listened to some elders talk about some of Qutou’s past and the problems it faces now. I thought a lot, and then decided to personally look for those old canal impressions that had disappeared or were disappearing. I rode an electric bike and wandered through the quaint old alleys (in fact, there are not many ancient alleys preserved now). Fortunately, I still found many historical sites.

When talking about the historical sites in Qutou Village, we have to mention the "Five Temples", "Seventy-two Pavilions", "Ancient Tombs", "Longqu Residential Houses", "Shadow Wall and Relic Pagoda" . I found most of these ruins and was deeply moved when I saw their dilapidated appearance. I suddenly thought that one day I would be forgotten by history like them.

[1] Let’s talk about the “Five Temples” first. The five temples are Sanguan Temple, Guandi Temple, Zushi Temple, Shanzongling Temple and Wangye Temple. Among them, Sanguan Temple, Guandi Temple and Zushi Temple are arranged in a straight line in the village. Guandi Temple is in the center of the village; Shanzongling Temple is in the northwest corner of the village, and Wangye Temple is in the northeast corner of the village. Among the five temples, Shan Zongling Temple has the highest status. Its main hall is dedicated to Guan Gong. I don’t know why it is called Shan Zongling Temple instead of the traditional Guan Temple. Every year on the sixth day of June, there is the Shanzongling Temple Fair in Qutou Village (now it has gone beyond the scope of temple fairs and is called a material exchange meeting). On that day, villagers from the surrounding villages such as Potou and Banqiao will also face Shanzongling (these villages are all Burning incense and kneeling around Shan Zongling). The most magical thing about every temple fair is the heavy rain that day. It rains every year on the day of the temple fair, which makes people wonder.

Next is the Wangye Temple, which enshrines the Dragon King, Nuwa Empress, and the King of Medicine. There is also a temple fair on February 12th every year. I found the four characters "Qinghe ~ Temple" (the third character is unknown, traditional Chinese) on the plaque on its door. The plaque was erected in the 32nd year of Qianlong's reign, and engraved with some information about the appointment of officials by the Ministry of Personnel.

Little is known about the other three temples. We only know that the Guandi Temple has been used as a place for the village to store public grains after liberation. The Sanguan Temple has now been converted into a residential building, and the Zushi Temple is about to collapse. When I went to the gate of Sanguan Temple to read the inscription on the stone tablet (the temple was built in the autumn of the second year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty and in the summer of the second year of the Republic of China. I really don’t understand that during such a national crisis, people spent all their energy building temples to beg for the blessings of the gods). , the sound of playing mahjong came from inside, which is really ironic.

[2] Let’s talk about “Seventy-two Pavilions”. The pavilions here refer to small towers. I know most of the Seventy-Two Pavilions from what I heard, because their information and entities were almost destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and only three pavilions remain. When I found these three pavilions, I felt both lucky and helpless. I heard from the old people that in ancient times, the seventy-two pavilions divided Qutou Village into seventy-two areas. The door of the pavilion was closed tightly at night, and people were not allowed to step out of the door. I think it is because of this management system that the safety of Qutou Village has been ensured for generations to come. However, it is also because it became the target of destruction during the Cultural Revolution. The first pavilion I found was "Ji Gong", which is three stories high. The ancient buildings here are still very complete. The other two pavilions will not be introduced in detail.

[3] "Ancient Tomb". To the east of Qutou Village, there are three tombs lined up in a northeast-southwest direction. Han Cemetery was established in the 30th year of Qianlong's reign. It should be very large. There is an archway ten meters in front of the tombstone. The second one is difficult to identify because the inscription is blurry. It can only be vaguely seen that it was erected during the Tongzhi period. Zhang Cemetery was established during the Xianfeng period. To the east of it is the Wangye Temple. Unfortunately, a robbery cave was discovered next to it.

In addition, when I was a child, I once saw an ancient tomb on the hill north of Han Cemetery. I threw the burning paper from the entrance of the robbery hole and clearly saw that the tomb was as big as a room. First, we saw a wax stand on the wall on the north side, and then we found a black coffin in the middle of the tomb. I was so frightened that I broke into a cold sweat. I got up and ran home. I was in panic for a whole week.

There is also a stone coffin made of sand and stone carved with patterns on the ground behind the screen wall in the west of the village because it is a coal mine goaf. The Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau came down to check and found that the coffin was empty, so the matter was dropped. That sarcophagus is now used by no one to build the foundation of a house. It’s sad!

[4] Qutou residential buildings. The geographical location of Qutou is excellent, with mountains to the west - Shanzong Ridge, hills to the north and south, and a river to the east - originating from Jushan, which is very consistent with the Five Elements Feng Shui theory. Therefore, people began to settle here very early, as early as the fifth generation. "History of the Five Dynasties" has detailed records: At the end of the Northern Han Dynasty, Liu Chong joined the Central Army and set up Qutou Village (i.e. the Battle of Bagongyuan); its prosperous period should be the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and most of the buildings in the village today were built in the Qing Dynasty. The highest five-story residential house ever appeared, and the central square built in Houqutou was demolished. Most of the residential buildings are set-style and single courtyard houses. There are three main types of facades (due to limited knowledge, we cannot discuss them in detail).

The most noteworthy thing among the houses is the stone archway below, which is a typical set-style courtyard. There are many small homes in a large archway, and most of them are lived by clan members with the same surname. The stone carvings of this archway are very beautiful and have high historical value.

The door stones in front of each house are different. Some are lions, some are round stone carvings, and some are directly engraved with the words "Fu Shou" and "Fu Shou".

[5] Screen wall. Qutou was originally called Longqu Town, named after the clear spring water in the village. Also shaped like an inkstone, it was a geomantic treasure in ancient times and was home to outstanding people. Jincheng TV once reported the legend of Qutou Shadow Wall and Dayang Relic Pagoda. The general idea is as follows: In the past, Dayang was poor but Qutou was rich. Dayang asked a Feng Shui master to take a pulse. The head of the canal is rich, and the center of the village is lower and the surrounding areas are higher. It is shaped like an inkstone pond. Mr. Dayang Feng Shui asked the people of Dayang to build a high tower at the head of the canal, and put a pen on the tower, which meant that the good Feng Shui at the head of the canal would be dipped away. Sure enough, after that, Dayang officials received generous salaries from generation to generation. And the canal began to decline. Also invite a Feng Shui master at the head of the ditch. The teacher said that if you build a screen wall facing Dayang Tower, if you put a sun on the screen wall, it will burn Dayang's pen. It really came true. Dayang learned that he locked the pen in a big pot.

Today, the Qutou screen wall and Dayang Tower are still standing. When the weather is clear, the Dayang Pagoda can be vaguely seen from behind the Qutou screen wall.

Reprinted, I hope it will be helpful to you. .