There is a river that runs through the ancient town of Zhou Tie. This river is called "Hengtang River". One end of it is connected with the inland plain, and the other end plunges into the vast Taihu Lake. At that time, Zhou Tie Town was a "big port" near Taihu Lake. It was once an important harbor for fishermen and merchant ships, while Zhou Tie Town was an important fulcrum on land and water. That ancient ginkgo tree 1800 years old stands at the entrance of Zhou Tie Town on the east bank of Hengtang River.
This ancient ginkgo tree, which witnessed the history of Zhou Tie Town, is 23.7 meters high, with the thickest trunk and a bust of 3.4 meters. The shading area of the whole ginkgo tree is about 400 square meters, which is about equal to the area of a standard basketball court. Below the tree is the "City God Temple" that Zhou Tieren is proud of. It is said that this temple was built in the second year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1369), or was ordered by the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty. There is a saying that the scale of Zhou Tie City God Temple is quite large, and the ancient ginkgo tree is in the courtyard of the City God Temple. Among the famous "Twelve Scenes of West Zhu" in Zhou Tie, "Autumn Rhyme of Town God" ranked first from the beginning.
According to folklore, this ancient ginkgo tree 1800 was planted by the mother of Sun Quan, the king of Wu who dominated the south of the Yangtze River during the Three Kingdoms period. This statement is not groundless, because in the first year of Jian 'an (AD 196), Sun Quan, aged 15, was named "Yang Xianchang" by his brother Sun Ce. Yixing was called Jingyi in ancient times, and Qin was called Yangxian. Now the tea produced in Yixing is also called "Yangxian Tea". Because Sun Quan was only 15 years old when he took office, Sun Quan's mother did not trust her youngest son, so she followed Sun Quan to Yixing.
Sun Quan's mother, Wu, was born in Wuxian (now Suzhou, Jiangsu) and died in 202 AD. Twenty-seven years later, Sun Quan officially proclaimed himself emperor and established the State of Wu. Later, Sun Quan addressed his mother Wu as the "Empress Dowager". Wu Yi has two sons, Sun Ce and Sun Quan. According to legend, in memory of Sun Quan, Wu Wei planted this ginkgo tree specially after becoming a "Yang Xian Chang". Also planted together are the ancient ginkgo biloba in Dushi Village of Zhou Tie Town and the ancient ginkgo biloba in Wusidu of Xinzhuang Street of Yixing.
What can prove this statement is the inscription of "Xiangrui of the Three Kingdoms" collected in Fu Sheng Temple in Yixing, and the record in "Records of Ancient Towns in Ming Dynasty": this tree was planted by the mother of Sun Quan, the emperor of Soochow. It is difficult to find the original text just by searching for information on the Internet. In some introduction materials about Zhou Tiegu Ginkgo, there are no pictures of stone carvings, and no related images of "Dongshan Zhifeng Dance Test" have been seen. In addition, the Chenghuang Temple in Zhou Tie is nearly 20 kilometers away from Dushi Village in Zhou Tie and du cun in Wu Si, Xinzhuang Street. During the Three Kingdoms period, people traveled by horse on land and by boat on water. In these three places that were not lively in those days, it was difficult for Wu to grow all kinds of ginkgo trees.
However, the ancient ginkgo trees in Zhou Tie, including the other two trees, are indeed 1800 years old according to experts' testing, and according to their age, these three trees should have been planted around the Three Kingdoms period. Therefore, it is not unreasonable for ordinary people to take all the good things to Wu. After all, these three ginkgo trees are alive and well now. One tree can bear the scenery of a town and a village and arouse people's attachment to early winter.
Zhou Tie, an ancient ginkgo tree, looks very strange. Its trunk is thin and thick, a bit like a vertical vase, and its belly is round. The thick part is actually a "tree tumor" that grows on the trunk of ginkgo trees. It is said that only trees over 500 years old will grow a tree tumor on the trunk. The upper part of the tree tumor is like a flat-topped mushroom, which is called "aerial platform" by the locals with light green moss on it. It is said that in summer, green leaves are full of trees, and at night, "white smoke" will appear above the platform. When the villagers saw the white smoke rising, they knew they were going home to cook dinner.
Zhou Tie Town, an ancient ginkgo tree, is extremely tenacious in vitality. It is a female ginkgo tree, which can bear many ginkgo fruits every autumn. Ginkgo biloba is a cash crop in Yixing, and many farmers will specialize in planting ginkgo biloba. In the past, when ginkgo bears fruit, children in the village beat the fruit with bamboo poles. Now everyone pays attention to the protection of ancient trees, and this phenomenon no longer exists. A few years ago, when dredging the Hengtang River, the town was surprised to find that the root of this ginkgo tree extended from the mud in the river to the other side of the river.
Zhoutie Ancient Ginkgo biloba and Chenghuang Temple are open to tourists free of charge. After seeing the ancient ginkgo, you can also visit the old streets in Zhou Tie. The west bank of Hengtang River is Zhou Tie Old Street. The whole old street is cross-shaped, divided into four streets in the southeast and northwest, alleys paved with blue bricks and yellow stone boards, and old-fashioned houses with Ming and Qing flavors, just like the scenes in the "old movies" in the 1950 s and 1960 s, simple and sincere. There are some indigenous people and many old shops in the old street, but it is a bit deserted now.