? Longzhu Shen
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? The first time I heard about the Eight Scenic Spots of Lutian was at the end of 1979. At that time, a large number of Guangzhou teachers who taught in Lutian returned to Guangzhou, and there was a shortage of teachers in the school. After I took the HKCEE in 1978 and ranked second in the local area, the relevant leaders thought that I was qualified to teach in primary and secondary schools, so they asked me to teach instead of learn, and I was assigned to Lutian Primary School. The next year, he was transferred to Shuipu Primary School, which was even more in need of teachers. At school, I met Li Chengcheng, the former teacher at Huanxi Bookstore in Shuipu Village. He was the father of Li Lijian, a teacher at the same school. Teacher Li Lijian was my second sister’s classmate when she was studying in agricultural secondary school. In this way, we have more and more topics to talk about and have more and more interactions.
Although Mr. Li was relatively old at the time, his thinking was still very active. During weddings and other festive events in the village, most families ask him to write couplets and horizontal scrolls. Most of the couplets he wrote have the owner's name or hall number at the beginning, so they are very popular. When he has free time, he likes to chat with teachers at school, talking about poetry and couplets. Sometimes I can't help but lengthen my voice and sing and read ancient poems loudly. He wrote new poems and preferred to take them to schools to share with teachers. When the teacher is in class, he will fill the basin in the teacher's dormitory with half a basin of water so that the teacher can wash off the chalk dust on his hands after class. We felt embarrassed to bother him. He said that people in private schools used to do this. During the chat, he talked about the Eight Scenes of Lutian and said that he wanted to write poems about the Eight Scenes of Lutian. What he showed me were two and a half poems, two of which were about Shixiangyan, and the other half, which only contained two sentences, was about Zhongguyan. The first poem is: "The rock is called a lion and the elephant is pure and strange, and the hatred is unknown to the predecessors; the country has changed and the dynasty has changed, and now it is discovered that the gods are prominent and seated in the south." The second poem is: "The lion was originally made of stone, and the body of the elephant is Standing in the gate, the strange scenery in the rock is endless, and the scholars are happy and prosperous. "The two poems about Zhongguyan are: "The bell hangs on the rock for eternity, and the drum stands on the rock for thousands of years." This is about Shixiang Rock and. The earliest source of Zhongguyan poetry materials. It may be that the relevant personnel of the cultural station misremembered it during the interview. These poems were said to be engraved on the cave, but in fact they were not engraved on the cave.
Shuipu Village is located near Shixiang Rock, and the whole village's surname is Li. The ancestor Li Anzheng is buried in Lutian Middle School. He is the ancestor of most Li families in Conghua and Guangzhou. The villagers in Shuipu are tough and tough, and some people jokingly call it the Valley of the Wicked. But Mr. Li was very polite and always spoke with poetry. When I asked about other poems about Six Scenes, he always said "it should be followed up". When I talked with Teacher Li Jian, I learned that Mr. Li had not been to the other six sceneries, which may be the reason why he did not write poems about the other six sceneries.
A year later, I was transferred back to teach in a middle school near the county seat. I have never let go of Mr. Li’s talk about the Eight Scenes of Lutian. During holidays, I often go back to Lutian to chat with Mr. Li. He gave me his collection of couplets and poems, and I copied most of them. He knew that I was a thoughtful person and told me a lot of information. The story of the Lion Elephant Rock Temple and Yanzhu was what he told me. He once saw the complete Lion Elephant Rock Temple and the grand scene of drawing lots in the temple. He had never been to Lion Elephant Rock since the Japanese burned down the mountain temple, raped women inside and outside the cave, and killed many people. He hoped that I could complete the poem about the Eight Scenes of Lutian. For this reason, when I went to Lutian to teach for the second time, I often climbed Guifeng Mountain, Junzi Peak, Bell Drum Rock, Lion Elephant Rock and Ma'an Mountain with local literary youths. Before Ma On Shan was destroyed, it was a local landmark with unique charm. Unfortunately, it was destroyed for the sake of small profits, and now it no longer lives up to its name. Also destroyed was the Shishan Cave in Xinlian near Guifeng Mountain. No matter how much money and effort you spend, you can't make up for the stupid things you do driven by profit.
Last year, I climbed Jifan Mountain, the most dangerous of the eight scenic spots. Now, only the not-so-difficult Triangle Mountain is left. Although climbing Triangle Mountain is not difficult, it is a bit inconvenient, but there is still a lot of information. I've been retired for five years and I don't want to wait any longer. So I wrote a collection of poems about the Eight Scenes of Lutian. Data collection continued intermittently for more than 40 years. Because the two and a half poems on Shixiangyan and Zhongguyan were written by Mr. Li Cheng, and he also told me a lot of information, I will just say that I collected and compiled this set of poems! It originated from Mr. Li and was completed in my hands. There are still many related materials left. I don't understand the rhythm of poetry, so I can't write it in the form of verses and quatrains, so I can only write it in the form of free verse. I hope these verses can comfort Mr. Li. When I learn the rhyme, when I write in rhyme form, it won't be like this.