Jincheng Town, Jinning County, is located in the southeast bank of Dianchi Lake, surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the lake is a hilly plain. On the hilly plain, criss-crossing buildings and criss-crossing fields, about five kilometers west of the ancient town, is the well-known national key cultural relics protection unit Shizhai Mountain. Shizhai Mountain is the graveyard of Dian kings or their families and servants. Today, Jincheng Town, Jinning County is the capital of ancient Yunnan and the birthplace and center of Yunnan culture.
Turn over the next page from the historical records. In the dynasties of more than 2,000 years, during the Han Dynasty, the famous Dianchi County in Jincheng was once the seat of Yizhou County, Jinning County, Ningzhou County and Jianning County. (During Nanzhao and Dali periods in Tang and Song Dynasties, it was the Ministry of Cuan and the Ministry of Yangcheng Insurance). No wonder Yuan Jiagu said in the modern Dian Lun that a metropolis is also the center of politics. The center of Yunnan is Jinning, which is now Jincheng, from the Warring States to the Tang Dynasty.
Jincheng, as the seat of Ningzhou County during the reign of Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty, was once expanded to Qili of Zhoucheng by the secretariat of Liang Pi, with nine gates and twelve roads, which shows the grand scale at that time. In the twenty-second year of Chenghua in Ming Dynasty (1486), brick city was built, and Longxiang, Nanxun, Fengdong and Gongcheng were built in the southeast and northwest. In the following hundreds of years, it was destroyed or repaired. 1954 During the field survey, the circumference of the broken original city wall was 4 100 meters and the height was 4 meters. It was not completely dismantled until 1958.
Fortunately, although the city wall was demolished, most of the houses and public buildings in the ancient city during the Ming and Qing Dynasties are now intact, which reminds us of the bustling scene of the ancient city. According to a recent report in Kunming Daily (May 20, 2003), the ancient city has a long history, and its unique courtyard, street pattern and exquisite architectural carving art have attracted great attention from experts of Zurich Cultural Relics Protection Bureau. A group of 20 people visited the ancient town three times, and they were amazed at the sight of the loss of civilization in Yunnan's ancient capital.
Jincheng ancient town has a special position in the history of architecture and urban construction. The layout of urban construction in Ming and Qing Dynasties still preserved today covers an area of about 600,000 square meters. It is said that there are dozens of alleys in the Tian-shaped pattern composed of eight streets, including Shangxi Street, Xiaxi Street and Guan Jing Street in the old city, which have been preserved since the Ming Dynasty. The residential courtyards preserved in the streets and lanes are mostly dry-column-type and sealed-type structures, with three quadrangles with four ears and two quadrangles with two ears. The beam-lifting span roof truss, the combination of double eaves and mountains, carved doors and windows, carved dragons and phoenix ornaments, and embossed flowers and trees are exquisite and diverse, which have been highly praised by Chinese and foreign experts. Once more or less dust on the house is wiped away, it will inevitably show dazzling brilliance.
In ancient rural towns in China, except those near rivers and streams, most towns had wells. However, the number of ancient wells in Jincheng was unexpected. In this regard, the local people have many anecdotes and legends. Whether these legends are credible or not, what is left to us today is the folk wonder that every household has a well with clear springs. Almost all the houses in the ancient town have an ancient well, which the locals call a private well. This well is not dug in the yard, but is located next to the kitchen stove, so it is very convenient to pump water. Contrary to private wells, there are also some scattered wells in the street outside the house. They are called Guan Jing, hence the name Guan Jing Street. Without exception, these ancient wells have different characteristics from other places. First, the wellhead is small, only about 20 cm; Secondly, there is a symmetrical hole on both sides of the well site. According to the explanation of the local elderly, the wellhead is small to prevent people from committing suicide, and the small holes on both sides of the well site are to lock the manhole cover and prevent thieves from poisoning! What thoughtful preventive measures, it let us appreciate the life creation of the ancient town people, causing us infinite reverie. Due to the long history, the deep traces left by people who carry water up and down with well ropes every day on the well field carved with purple sand stone or large bluestone are the traces of years, the aspirations and joys and sorrows of generations.
The natural landscape around the ancient town of Jincheng is very beautiful. The well-known five-character ancient poem, going to 23 Li, has four or five smoke villages and six or seven pagodas. Eighty or ninety flowers describe this landscape. According to the textual research made by Mr. Li, a scholar of local chronicles in Jinning, in 1989, this poem was written by Wang Shouzuo, a juren of Qing Shunzhi (AD 1625). Wang is from Jinsha, Jinning. The poem describes the spring scenery around Panlong Temple outside the East Gate of Jincheng. You see: in the first month of the Spring Festival, the author and his friends went out for an outing. The road outside the east gate is pink and green, full of spring. A line of two or three miles, a village called Chae Yeon by the roadside (this village is still there today, still called by this name), bamboo hedgerows and vegetable fields, smoke curling up, how beautiful the pastoral scenery in spring is! A few miles away, you will reach the famous Panlong Ancient Temple, where there are hidden terraces and colorful flowers.
Climbing Rizhao Mountain, the main peak of Panlong Temple, at an altitude of 2 174 meters, Lin Tao looked around, and got a close look at Shizhai Mountain, the tomb of the Western Han Dynasty, the Tiannv City built by Li Xiu, a rebellious heroine in Ningzhou in Jin Dynasty, the stone statue of the heavenly king in Song Dynasty, Bazaar thorn in Yuan Dynasty and Wang Liangshan buried in Valmy. Through the smoky Dianchi Lake, overlooking the peaks such as Taihua, Biji and Yuxia, the morning glow and the sunset glow, there are countless ups and downs in the ancient town throughout the ages!
There are many stone tablets that record biographies, events, inscriptions and epitaphs of historical figures, which is another feature of the ancient town. Such as the ruins of the Jin Dynasty, the former site of Mianchi County, the Temple Monument of General Guan, the Monument of Mrs. Zhong Lie Minghui (Li Xiu), the Preface Monument of Xiangshan Academy, the Monument of Jinning Mansion, the Monument of Baoyun Pagoda of Dajue Zen Master, the Monument of Saints Made by Emperor Kong Zan and Kangxi, the Monument of Leng Yangchun and the Monument of Returning Home. It is difficult to list them one by one. They are of research value in the history of Yunnan's historical and cultural development, Yunnan's religious history, and the history of calligraphy and sculpture art. Due to limited space, I can't review it here.
Jincheng has been the main road from central Yunnan to southern Yunnan since ancient times. Many avenues such as Kunming to Menghai and Kunyang to Jiangchuan meet here, and Dianchi Lake is also very convenient for water transportation. Local livestock, grain, vermicelli and other local products and commodities traveling to and from Kunming, Yuxi, Mengzi, Lin 'an (Jianshui) and Gejiu in southern Yunnan are all transferred here. Therefore, a prosperous fair was formed here a long time ago, commonly known as Zhou Jie (it still continues the old habit of going to the market on the 2nd and 7th of every month). It is one of the eight major market towns in Yunnan. Zhou Jie has many famous snacks with a long history, such as sesame cakes, crispy rice, rock sugar sand cakes, shredded pork sesame cakes, crispy rice rolls, tofu and so on.
Now there are Kunyu Expressway and Jinjiang Highway in Jincheng Town. After the proposed Dianchi Expressway is opened to traffic, Kunming can reach the ancient town instantly. Convenient transportation, beautiful smoky villages, ancient towns, ancient temples and Guzhou market. In addition to building a tourist and holiday city, why not take a one-day or two-day tour to enjoy famous flowers, explore ancient wells, taste local flavors and buy local snacks?