Never dreamed that the weather in Huizhou in March, the most beautiful is the rainy season in Jiangnan. Under the gentle breeze, the new green all over the mountains is ups and downs, as if it were a clean sea, flapping back and forth on the earth carrying it. Colorful flowers, decorated into all kinds of boats, boating in this green ocean, wandering happily and beautifully.
There are often misty raindrops floating in the sky, but I can't hear any sound of raindrops falling. I only see the little drops of water on the newly developed green leaf safflower, which makes this natural green and red look so delicate. The drizzle lingered and refused to leave, and the whole earth was wet, and the wet water vapor stayed in the mountains. When it meets cold air, it is as thin as cicada's wings. The rain and fog around the castle peak, like a thin gray veil, covered the wonders of the mountain, but also added a bit of mystery to the original beautiful scenery. From a distance, white rain and fog are floating and undulating, and dark green mountains are looming, but they are also like the mythical Penglai fairyland.
I don't know how many talented people and beautiful women are entangled in unparalleled scenery. For thousands of years, I don't know how many amazing legends this mysterious land has created.
Huizhou people have lived in this fairyland for generations.
From the perspective of modern people, it is an enviable blessing to live in such a natural beauty. But thousands of years ago, people here had no time to cherish the beauty here. The ancient society of China, with a highly developed agricultural civilization, always seemed to value only those fertile fields that could support themselves. However, there is only a poor small basin in the seemingly vast land of Huizhou, but it is difficult to grow golden rice in the beautiful mountains.
Hard-working ancient Huizhou people carefully cultivated every inch of land on the narrow flat land where rivers and lakes passed, but the annual harvest was only enough to make ends meet. "Food and clothing has become a luxury."
If generations of Huizhou people really just live this life of "working at sunrise and resting at sunset", they will never create a stunning and splendid local civilization. Ancient Huizhou people never gave in to fate, because what they had in their bones was not only perseverance, but also fierce and enterprising blood. People don't want to bury themselves in the mountains and forests all their lives to cultivate barren land. They want to pursue wealth and a happy life. So they decided to travel, or study, or do business, or other business, in short, out of the mountains. The last fact is that the indomitable Huizhou people have created brilliance in all industries.
Anyone familiar with history knows that Huizhou merchants once dominated the country for 400 years in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which is an immortal legend. Until now, that glorious past has not become a passing thing of history because of the precipitation of time. When you come to the land of Huizhou, you can still feel the strong atmosphere here in Washington, a mansion left by Huizhou merchants.
The ancient buildings in Huizhou reveal a kind of beauty in China. Perhaps it is because Huizhou merchants never like to show off their wealth, so the luxury houses we see are generally uniform in appearance, such as the "blue brick horse head wall". What is revealed in this simplicity is a different kind of majesty and splendor. Different indoor layout and decoration directly reveal the owner's wealth and taste. The exquisite craftsmanship of carved columns and painted buildings, the display of jade and gold wares, the elegance of pavilions, and the embellishment of flowers, birds, fish and insects all project the exquisite life interest of wealthy businessmen. Gorgeous interiors will never make you feel a bit tacky covered in gold and silver makeup. This is not only because Huizhou merchants like elegant things, but the most important thing is the cultural atmosphere revealed in their bones.
China's ancient thought of attaching importance to agriculture, restraining commerce and advocating reading also left a deep impression on ancient Huizhou. But unfortunately, the cultivated land in Huizhou is too little and precious, so that the life of "ploughing early and studying late" has gradually become a happy ideal.
There is a long-standing ballad in Huizhou that goes like this: "I was born in Huizhou in my last life, and I was untrained. I was thirteen or fourteen years old and lost it abroad." The indomitable Huizhou people have no choice but to complain. They know that if they are conservative, it means a lifetime of poverty. Therefore, they believed in the motto of "good study, good business, good effect and good convenience", and ignored the disdain of public opinion at that time, went out of the mountains, opened up business routes, and silently cultivated this only way out of poverty.
Ancient Huizhou people cut thorns with frost dew between cliffs for fear of death and injury, making way for the size. And this narrow path, from Suzhou and Hangzhou to Fujian and Guangdong, finally reached an unprecedented situation in which merchants came in an endless stream, and the trade became increasingly developed, becoming a gold trade route for Huizhou merchants. Later generations praised it as the success of Huizhou people's unique creation of the "emblem camel" spirit. "Perseverance, not afraid of suffering" is the most important part of this spirit. Behind the success of Huizhou merchants, blood and tears are sad. Maybe only people who really know this land can know.
In a sense, Huizhou people are forced to do business, but what they always yearn for in their bones is a scholar's life. From ancient times to the present, this magical and ancient land can be described as Zhong Ling with beautiful scenery and outstanding people. Many famous people in Anhui history came from this land of geomantic omen, including Zhu, Dai Zhen and other literati.
Since the Song Dynasty, the number one scholar in Huizhou Prefecture has been everywhere, so that the world has the reputation of "Southeast Zou Lu" and "the hometown of the number one scholar", with a general reputation and a temporary shock. Compared with the wealth of heroes in the world, Huizhou merchants value the glory of their ancestors. Even in the Ming and Qing dynasties, when Huizhou merchants were prominent, the success of literati envied even wealthy businessmen.
In feudal society, the social atmosphere of "all inferior, high education" is a profound imprint that no matter how much money is spent. Huizhou merchants advocate cultural calligraphy. They are not only satisfied with leisure in the business world, but "reading" is something they have been insisting on for a long time. Huizhou merchants are often obsessed with books, and they are also businessmen and Confucianism, and they work in calligraphy and painting, just like literati. What's more commendable is that wealthy businessmen began to run schools in their hometown, advocating Taoism and pushing themselves, which made Huizhou's land style prevail. This is also an important reason why Huizhou merchants and literati have always been the first in China.
Huizhou ancestors relied on hard work and talent to create a brilliant mark of civilization in the mountains. Time flies, things are different. Today is different from the past, and any glorious past may turn into dust and be washed away and buried by the long river of history. Walking here, stepping on the ancient road paved with bluestone slabs, looking for winding alleys, vicissitudes of stone bridges, and still standing creek piers, these ancient relics are telling the heavy historical precipitation here. Perhaps every stone, every alley, every stone bridge and every pier will have a touching story behind it.
Thousands of years have passed, but these things left by our ancestors have never changed. People still live in the environment created by their ancestors, only increasing the lifestyle of modern people. The village is lined with rivers in an orderly way, and every building in the village is still row upon row. Although it is impossible to live like the ancients now, tradition has never been abandoned. Today's Huizhou people are still as diligent and tenacious as in the past.
The barrier between mountains and mountains also allows Huizhou to retain a complete ancient flavor. Without the hustle and bustle of the city, only the elegant and quiet natural charm is left. There is a long-standing philosophical attitude of harmony between man and nature, which ensures the harmony between man and nature.
Living in it, we suddenly found ourselves in the pastoral of China's traditional Chinese painting, just like the freehand brushwork left by the pen tip, free and unrestrained. We gradually understand why there are countless literati praising the beauty of Huizhou with pen and ink. This kind of beauty is not only the natural scenery, but also the people living in this beautiful scenery. Therefore, it is not difficult for us to understand that Tang Xianzu, a great dramatist in the Ming Dynasty, would send out such feelings as "I have never dreamed of Huizhou in my life".
Walking into Huizhou is not that you don't want to go to Anhui, nor that you don't want to go to Anhui; There is no reason to go to Anhui and no reason not to go to Anhui; But I went to Anhui anyway.
The unit should organize a trip. Some say they are going to Anhui, some say they are going to Shanghai, some say they are going to Nanjing, and some say they are going to Jiangxi-"Then go to Anhui!" I think. When I said this, I didn't seem to think about it, but I seemed to think about it.
In the spring of April, flowers are everywhere. Spring sky, green through Shan Ye, filling the sea; Spring has entered the countryside and slipped into the city. Spring is written on people's faces and sprinkled on tourists. I am also among the tourists, relaxing, feeling the breath of spring, smelling the flowers, shaking the dust on my body and discharging a row of depression in my heart.
I slept for two hours from Quzhou to Tunxi. Twenty-eight colleagues, twenty-eight kinds of feelings, those who have been to Anhui say Anhui, and those who have never been to Anhui miss Anhui. Three years ago, I went to Lujiang from Shanghai at night, stayed for two days, and then went home from Hefei overnight. I have been to Anhui, but I have no image of Anhui. I just think Anhui people are hospitable and Anhui food is delicious. Although I have never been to the famous mountains and rivers in Anhui, I yearn for Huangshan Mountain, love Huizhou architecture and admire the wisdom of Huizhou merchants, especially the women behind them. In fact, Huizhou can be found in the south of the Yangtze River, in the north and anywhere in China. My old house is also a Huizhou building, with white walls and blue tiles.
Anhui is the collective name of ancient Anqing mansion and Huizhou mansion. Now southern Anhui is ancient Huizhou. Huizhou merchants ranked first among the top ten merchants in China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Huizhou merchants ruled the business world for 300 years. "No town, no emblem" and "Huizhou merchants are all over the world". Huizhou architecture is one of the most important schools of ancient architecture in China. The aura of Huizhou mountains and rivers, the wisdom of Huizhou craftsmen, the wealth and culture of Huizhou merchants have created Huizhou architecture and made Huizhou a museum of Huizhou architecture. Huizhou's beautiful geographical location, developed Xin 'anjiang river system and rich wood and tea products have made Huizhou merchants from generation to generation.
Walking into the "People in the Peach Blossom Garden" is like walking into the Ming and Qing Dynasties residential museum; Walking into Hongcun, an ancient cow-shaped village, is like walking into a "water town in Chinese painting"; Walking into the mysterious Nanping is like walking into a maze; We didn't know the strength of Huizhou merchants until we entered the Millennium Pass. Approaching the Tang Yue archway, the cold, hard, cold and mossy stone archway tells a mysterious and profound story-Jixi Longchuan, which explains the "land of geomantic omen" of 1600 years. Longchuan Village has Feng Long in the east, Fengshan in the west, Dengyuan River in the north and tianmashan in the south. Overlooking from a height, Longchuan Village is surrounded by green mountains and clear water, and Longchuan Water flows eastward around the village. The village is like a boat. There are ancient covered bridges, a thousand-year-old ancestral temple of Hu, an ancient memorial archway for three ministers, a charming water street and a garden entrance where the three rivers meet. The memorial archway is the spiritual home of Huizhou people, and ancient villages and buildings are the prosperity and wealth of ancient Huizhou.
While admiring the wealth of Huizhou merchants, the art of Huizhou architecture, the cleverness of Huizhou craftsmen and the natural scenery of Huizhou, we should remember the Huizhou women behind those successful businessmen.
A woman, a dream, a husband and wife for three and a half years; A braid, a pair of cangue, bite all elegance. According to the tour guide, there is a local tradition: when a boy reaches the age of 14 or 15, he will go out to do business for more than ten years, during which he may come back once and marry a wife chosen by his parents. After the wedding, the man has to leave his hometown and go out to do business. Next time I come back, it will be about decades later. And his wife can only stay at home to wait on her in-laws, have children and study-the sun is setting, and she has no mood to dress up in front of the mirror. The wind is gone, the long skirts swaying in the evening breeze are fluttering, the pipa is exciting, sad and choked, winding and lingering. I don't know if it passed through the layers of cornices and spread thousands of miles away, but the crescent moon seemed like yesterday-until my husband returned to his hometown in his later years. The ancient houses in Huizhou have one thing in common, that is, there is only a small window one foot square on the high horse's head wall. Because men are absent for a long time and worried about the "affair" at home, they are not allowed to peep outside, which of course prevents men from peeping at their lonely wives in the deep house compound. Leaning on the bar for a long time, just to recall the beautiful days when it was just green, when the affection was lingering and the pulse was the concern of this life. Just when the flying flowers can no longer enter the fundus, from a distance in the small building with white walls and tiles, the bright moon is still overflowing, and four points are different. Only the solitary lamp remains, the annual rings of the years and the dreams of a thousand years are still lost and erased.
The left-behind women in Huizhou are not depressed because of emotional suffering, sexual repression and bitter silence of life, because their eyes never give up hope. Women who live in such an atmosphere naturally have a persistent and wonderful way of explaining life derived from gender. Perhaps this is due to their eternal love for their husbands; Perhaps it is the traditional ethics and isolated backcountry that keeps women ignorant of life and freedom. It is precisely because of this glory and belief that a group of virtuous, introverted, tenacious, heroic, loyal and hardworking women have emerged here, infiltrating the essence of ancient Huizhou culture. Huizhou women played an important role in the heyday of Huizhou culture a hundred years ago.
Huizhou merchants, Huizhou architecture and Huizhou women are not the whole of Huizhou culture, but they interpret Huizhou culture. But that's not why I want to come to Anhui. I miss Anhui with inner anxiety; I am fascinated by Anhui with incomprehension.