Ancient Towns in Jiangnan
Yang Guomin
To study the culture and history of Jiangnan, you must read the ancient towns in Jiangnan. If the whole of Jiangnan is compared to a piece of music that is euphemistic, soft and flowing, then the ancient town is a very wonderful piece.
When you visit the ancient towns in the south of the Yangtze River, you will be surprised to find that the layout of these ancient towns is so regular, with a clear stream flowing elegantly from a distance, and then flowing away gracefully from here, lingering. The lingering place is an ancient town. If the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers are the cradle of Chinese civilization, then the meandering streams are the clear springs that nourish the civilization of ancient towns. The boats going back and forth, sails raised and lowered, and oars raised and retracted, intertwined an ancient town with the entire cultural background of Jiangnan in an extremely harmonious way.
The streets are all paved along the river, and two rows of crowded houses sandwich a slender strip of sky. One row of houses is simply half a stilt building built on the river, which shows that it is close to the water. The bluestone street surface has been polished by thousands of pairs of feet until it shines, embodying a distant history without leaving a trace. Although the ancient street is narrow, it does not lose its straightness and simplicity. The deep alleys are connected to the ancient street at one end and extend zigzag at the other end, causing twists and turns in the entire ancient town. The rhythm of music. "The small building listens to the spring rain all night, and the deep alleys sell apricot flowers in the Ming Dynasty." The long and beautiful poetry should be extracted from the alleys of the ancient town. And lying on a stilted building in the ancient town at night, listening to the sound of the oar "Ai Nai" drifting from afar, and then drifting from under your pillow to the distance, carrying your reverie and longing. The ancient arch bridges that are "like drinking water from a rainbow" are cleverly constructed, just like a frame of cursive calligraphy. Between the dripping pen and ink, there is a wisp of ink rhyme connecting them, forming the overall rhythm and perfection.
For the wandering boats, the ancient town is a stop. During the day, they experienced the struggle between wind and waves in the river. When the sun set and the clouds spread out, they sang late fishing songs and soaked in the droplets from the waves, and moored into the calm harbor of the ancient town. The boss at the helm or the man pulling the strings slowly walked up the narrow stone steps and took a stroll on the ancient street to relax his tired body. Then sit down in a small hotel near the river, buy a pot of wine, buy two dishes, drink slowly, dip your remaining energy into the strong wine, drink until you are slightly tipsy, and then take a pillow Sleep soundly for a night in the tranquility of the ancient town, and build up your energy for tomorrow's wind and waves to erode. The end of tomorrow's journey may still be an ancient town, just drifting past mountains and rivers. The ancient towns are connected to their today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. On the coordinate axis of time and space, the ancient towns outline their path. The curve of life. The character of Guzhen is extremely docile, like a simple and pure village girl who is shy about expressing herself, but she still cannot hide the tenderness in her brows and mannerisms. The quiet water below the stilted building is her sincere feelings. The wooden windows facing the river catch the shadows of sails hurriedly coming and going when they are opened and closed.
In the flow of people in the ancient town, if you stop and listen carefully, you will find many accents that have not yet been completely assimilated. Their ancestors may have come from the vast sea of ????Gobi and the desert loess, because the barren land is difficult to bear. They sighed heavily at survival, and gradually became weak. After suffering from displacement, they finally decided to make the ancient town their permanent residence. I just use the language of preserving that homeland to express my eternal longing for it. There are many ancient towns in the south of the Yangtze River. Although they are not amazing in appearance, they may have produced a generation of world-famous literati and scholars and professors who will be remembered for generations. You see, the ancient town is surrounded by vast fields, a lingering clear stream, and a touch of undulating mountain shadows, highlighting such a quiet place... In a deep alley, in a courtyard with hanging vines , separated from the noise of the outside world, avoiding the temptation of the market, facing the wall for ten years, studying and thinking deeply, but once it is exposed, how can it not make the world shocked and pay attention? ! Each splendid masterpiece, each piece with rare ink rhymes, is full of cultural confidence, and its pages are unfolded from here.
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