Huzhou is a place where the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal runs through. I want to see what this once prosperous ancient land has become.

At 6:00 in the morning, I opened the window and walked to the balcony wearing my coat. The temperature was higher than expected - compared to what the weather forecast said. Daybreak is approaching, and the sky is white in the distance, and the dark outlines of the houses are the last darkness before dawn.

The noise from the market surrounded people like the rustle from a suddenly turned on radio. On the left is the announcement of the "Double Eleven Limited Time Special" from a small commodity market, and on the right is the shouting of a child in a Taekwondo training class.

The melodious sound of harmonica could be heard from the square below.

1. Hubi Shanlian: Does "eternity" really exist?

Shanlian, a small town once famous for its Hupen production, has the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal passing through the town, bringing with it a lively charm. A hundred years ago, every household along the street made a living by making pens, earning an income several times higher than farming.

Now, walking into the oldest street in the town, there are maternity and baby products stores on both sides.

"Wow, the decoration on the outside of that building is very beautiful." Walking on the old street, I suddenly noticed the carved windows on the building, layer upon layer, each household is different, with intricate patterns and decorations. It must be neat and orderly, and it must be a long-standing inheritance.

"That one is newly installed. Didn't you see that they are all made of aluminum alloy?" The elder brother who made the pen ruthlessly interrupted my fantasy.

Awkward silence.

From prosperity to desolation, the old memories come back again. There was a lot of people's voices, and finally it turned into charcoal.

There is a shop called "Shi Ji Noodle House" on the old street, which sells wontons with Huzhou characteristics. While eating wontons, I heard the boss talk about how their fathers and even their ancestors had opened shops on the street, and half of the wonton wrappers in Huzhou City were made from their wonton wrappers.

Romantic people always look forward to eternity when traveling, just like the cathedral and obelisk in the holy city of Rome, like the poems written on the stone spire houses in Alberobello village, like People in red cloaks and roaring herds in the Masai Mara. But is there really anything eternal in this world?

This is an ancient town that has been famous for its pens since the Yuan Dynasty. It has a commendable and glorious history - "If you encounter Yutang waving his hand, you will not hesitate to ask for a price like a pearl." In ancient times, people paid a thousand gold Looking for a writing brush from Huzhou.

In Hubi Cultural Town, we saw the ancient production method of Hubi. Although they live in specially planned antique buildings, the pen makers are scattered in various shops in family units. In the front hall are display cases of various brushes, pen holders and inkstones, and in the back are the small workshops of the pen craftsmen.

It was very quiet - except for the occasional big yellow dog running across the street, it was quite quiet, and the writers' hearts were also quite quiet.

The ancient method of making Hubi is divided into eight major processes and more than 120 minor processes. The elder brother who made the brush said that Jiangxi, which is also famous for its brush making, requires each brush worker to make a pen from start to finish. They can make hundreds of ordinary brushes per day, while Shanlian's brush workers only specialize in brush making in their lifetime. in one process.

Each process, including pen materials, poufs, water basins, knots, assembling, inlaying, brush selection, and lettering, has different heirs.

New and shiny things, such as writing brushes in gift boxes in ordinary stationery stores, are placed in a prominent position, carved with golden characters, and decorated with various intricate patterns and lines - cheap and rough. The wood is the base material from which they are constructed.

The irregular patterns, simple curves and dull colors on the pen barrels, the unassuming subtlety and the resounding honesty, symbolize the wear and tear that can withstand years of use.

"Most calligraphy training classes now teach simplified regular script, which is not suitable for finer brushes, so most of them are from Jiangxi. Mass-produced brushes are replaced more frequently.

"Maybe after practicing for a few months, the students can write a fairly beautiful calligraphy, but the simplified regular script lacks changes and it is difficult for the students to continue to improve. No one of ten people can write a word that is beautiful. People are different. This cannot be said to be 'good', and the potential is being stifled."

The elder brother who made the pen told us.

The aunt at the entrance of the pen factory is doing the "water basin" process alone, soaking the pen hairs in the water basin, and removing the stray hairs over and over again. We wanted to go up and experience it, but we were stopped by the elder brother:

"Be careful not to touch that water. This process is the most complicated step. There are many chemicals in the water that will corrode your hands. Make a basin 'People who work in the process are already used to it."

When I left the town, I couldn't help but think of the sentence in "Flying to the West at Night": "In the world. There are many different kinds of silence, each with a different meaning." If the time spent alone has made people develop the habit of silence, why does the tip of the pen convey warmth?

Although the scenery has changed, people’s rural character still remains. Let time carve your eternal appearance.

2. Bamboo Forest River Pavilion: Still Time

I heard that the Datang Tribute Tea House in Huzhou is very famous, so I drove to visit the nearby Guzhu Village. .

The moment I got off the bus, I seemed to have an hallucination: What I walked into was not a village, but a lively market with people shouting and selling food, and the vegetables I remembered shopping with my grandparents in the morning when I was a child. The markets are incredibly similar.

Uncles and aunts came and went in an endless stream, each carrying two or three bags of local products. After asking, they found out that they were on vacation with a tour group from Shanghai.

According to people in the village, there are more than 400 B&Bs and farmhouses in Guzhu Village. Almost every household has built a three- or four-story building decorated with wooden fences, wall-climbing vines and wooden doors. rockery.

A few hundred meters further up is the Tang Gong Tea Garden. It was burned down in the 1930s. The Bamboo Sea Green Pavilion, pavilions and pavilions that we see today were all rebuilt according to historical data.

Thousands of years ago, there were more than a hundred baking houses and more than a thousand tea makers here. The literati of the Tang Dynasty made inscriptions on the cliffs here, and horses galloped to the capital carrying tea leaves. What is covered up by the newly built cement road are the old ruts that have been going back and forth for many years.

The Gongchayuan, which has been protected as a scenic spot, is surrounded by mountains and rivers. Although it does not have the fairy atmosphere of the mountains and mist that filled the air in the early morning because it is already afternoon, the majestic atmosphere of the pavilions, mountains and rivers is still the same. You can still feel the charm of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

So, we then drove into the mountains. There is a stream in the valley, which has dried up so much that the rugged gravel at the bottom of the water is exposed. In summer, there should be gurgling water here, carrying green moso bamboo - so it also has a nice name, "Jiangpai Village".

After walking through many villages in China, I was no longer surprised by what I saw: three- and four-story European-style buildings with high walls and iron gates. , the style is comparable to the villas in the suburbs of Shanghai.

However, there is no one in this village. It was obviously a Saturday afternoon, and the dense bamboo forest blocked the sun, making it cool and comfortable. What filled our ears was not the sound of children playing, but the sound of big white geese flapping their wings and glaring at us "viciously".

Electric cars and cars whizzed past, and only one parked in front of a slightly outdated old house. The middle-aged man in a suit was helping the old man chop wood - he probably didn't even have time to change his clothes. There were no street lights in the mountains, so he had to continue his journey before the sun set.

In He Xuefeng's "The Last Mile Village", he pointed out that the villages in the central region, typical of the Yangtze River Basin, are "dispersed villages". Each household lacks the ties of clan and blood. They act independently, and because of their business tradition, they travel all year round. The only thing that can show their local imprint is probably the villas in the village.

"They built such a nice house, why don't they come back to live in it?" asked the young lady who was traveling with them.

She felt that this place was different from the countryside she imagined - with light smoke from the firewood gate, pastoral farming, and paths, and people chatting under the big trees, instead of a mixture of farmyards and modern architecture.

"Because it was not built for people to live in permanently. People who come from the countryside have a complex of returning to their hometown with honors and fine clothes, so if they develop well in the city, they will go home and build a house. Big houses, the bigger and more imposing they are, the more they can show their presence in the village, and it is also the only way for them to keep in touch with their homeland."

I said, "So, this is the countryside. . After taking off the outer shell, you can still see the spirit and temperament of the countryside. What rural people miss is the land, because their roots are in the land. Whoever you see in the city lingers on the land, not once they have money. Move to a more luxurious area quickly? ”

Just like the author’s mother in “Skins”, her husband died of a disability while her son was still in college. Even when they learned that the government was going to demolish the house, they still built a four-story building. She said, "No one around here has built to the fourth floor. When we built it, we really stood up." The purpose of building a house is to "have a family to return to in this life."

In Jiangpai Village, time stands still. The firewood gate is gone, but the outline of the "home" is fixed in the clear stream of the bamboo forest that is quiet during the day.

3. Xinshi Ancient Town: This is a life worth living

The last stop is the two ancient towns in Huzhou - Nanxun and Xinshi.

When it was daylight, we arrived at the new city. It is said that this was once the largest water transport terminal on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and was known as the "Millennium Little Shanghai, Broadway in the South of the Yangtze River". Nowadays, even if three people walk side by side on the street, they will feel a little cramped.

Beside the old bridge, an older brother was sitting on a small bench weaving bamboo art.

Walking towards the water, there are teahouses. The owner of Hubi Shop was making tea and reading a book.

There is a tea cake shop next to the bridge. At first glance, you are attracted by the four big characters "Century-old Shop" hanging on the door sign.

Generally, stores that claim to be a century-old store will always have an antique decoration on the storefront, with some calligraphy and paintings from unknown origins, but this store is different. In addition to the four "hundred-year-old stores" There is nothing else besides the words, and even the facade is very simple - a tray, a few pieces of fresh tea cakes, and a stack of business cards.

"The art of making this kind of tea cake has been passed down for four hundred years. We have been doing it here for more than 30 years." The shop is opened by a couple. He noticed my confusion and started chatting.

Tea cake originated in the Southern Song Dynasty. It was originally a snack that people ate with tea while listening to books and watching plays. Nowadays, there are no places to listen to books and watch plays. The cultural center in the ancient town displays brick carvings, eggshell paintings and other traditional folk customs and celebrity calligraphy and paintings, which are hidden in the attic. Most tourists abandon it because they find it troublesome to climb the stairs.

“There are very few tourists, mainly residents. The mutton there is pretty good, and it’s an old shop. You can try it. There are also many ancient bridges and temple ruins that are worth visiting. Let’s go shopping.” My elder brother enthusiastically pointed me in which direction to go and what I could see.

The ancient town is also the filming location for "Lin's Shop", "Silkworm Girl", and the opening credits of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala for the Year of the Sheep. Walking along the river, residents were doing laundry below, and the old man was leaning on a wicker chair to bask in the sun, blinking his eyes and pressing the shutter.

"This is a life worth living."

4. Scholarly Nanxun: On the River of Time

Leave Xinshi and go to Nanxun in the afternoon.

If you just read the information on the Internet, you may regard it as a commercialized "fake" ancient town because of the label of "five-star attractions". But when you actually walk on the plank road next to the Baijian Building, you may have this thought:

"Compared with the villas in the mountains, this is what the Jiangnan countryside should look like."

Behind a row of buildings, there is a large vegetable field with radishes, sweet potatoes, and embroidered brocade, a local specialty.

Interestingly, brocade only grows within a ten-mile radius of Nanxun, but not many people continue to plant it now.

The Baijian Building was originally a house built by Dong Fen, the Minister of Rites in the Ming Dynasty, who retired to Nanxun. In order to accommodate the 100 maids who came with his grandson when he got married, 100 buildings were built along the river.

The three-fold firewall, arched entrance door, water column eaves, and the water in the river reflect the time when boats used to travel along the old route of Diitang.

"We used to go out by boat. When we went to buy vegetables, we would row the boat to other people's stores. They would use baskets to hang the vegetables down. When we went to Shanghai, we would also row the boat. Yes, it only takes two people to row the boat in three days," said the boatman. He is 59 this year and will be able to retire peacefully in a few years.

People who live by the water use boats not by rowing, but by shaking the "oar", just like a fish wagging its tail. The oar cannot produce water and is more labor-intensive than an oar. The boatmen use their bodies to fight against the river and "shake" the ancient path of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in this water area.

If the new city is filled with the bustling market atmosphere of the old days, then in Nanxun, you can smell the aroma of books in every brick and tile. The history here is all written in the architecture.

As early as the Tang Dynasty, Huzhou was famous for its "Lake Silk Road". The Maritime Silk Road opened in the Ming Dynasty started from the Lake Silk Road. In the Qing Dynasty, Huzhou people called some wealthy businessmen who made their fortune from Husi silk "four elephants, eight cows and seventy-two golden dogs". Their houses are still well preserved in Nanxun Ancient Town.

Liu Yong’s Xiaolianzhuang and Chen Xiong’s Yingyuan each have study rooms and courtyards for reciting poems and painting. The forty-five-square stone carvings of "Wisteria Collection Collection" and "Plum Blossom Fairy Collection Collection", as well as plum stone pictures by calligrapher Wang Li, generations of literati have left their own style and imprint on Nanxun's architecture.

Perhaps this is the "Confucian businessman" spirit of Jiangnan. Regardless of whether I have read books or not, I always attach great importance to the cultivation and edification of culture, making it a tradition inherited by the family.

I originally thought it was just nonsense written in history textbooks and academic circles, but I didn’t expect that it was only when I actually visited the former residences of the families of these wealthy businessmen that I truly experienced the cultural atmosphere of “cultivating oneself” first and then doing business.

Epilogue

"The valley in Jiangpai Village, the pastries in Xinshi, and the fishing lanterns in Nanxun. I seem to be beginning to miss it, like missing an old friend . ”

Among all the scenes in the world, the most heartwarming thing is drinking and drinking under the moonlight before leaving, watching the fireworks fill the sky, the wind chimes jingle under the eaves, and the fishermen on the river put away their poles. People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait lit up lights. Even the majestic sunset on the prairie, the colorful Inuyama cherry blossoms, and the bustle of the cave bars on the seaside of Positano are not enough to compete.

There is no word that can replace "warmth".

A cup of tea in the ancient town, a scripture on Guzhu Mountain. The restless heart gradually calmed down.

A three-day trip is more like a short trip home for a traveler.

What is the true sense of the countryside? Someone once said that "earth" and "primitive" are "countryside". When I first arrived in Xiangxi last year, I thought that a village that could only be accessed by a half-day car ride, a half-day boat ride, and climbing a mountain was called a "village."

But these descriptions only scratch the surface. Later I discovered that China is really big. Some villages are so isolated that it takes six hours to walk into the mountains, while others are less than 20 or 30 kilometers away from the city, or even hidden in the city. There is no difference in the native nature of people living in different parts of the world.

Just as Tao Yuanming's classic poem said: "The house is in a human environment, without the noise of carriages and horses. How can I ask you? Your heart is far away and you are biased."

"Village" is different from "countryside". The latter is a concept based on many factors such as the modern economic model, productivity, and population, while the former is the foundation of the Chinese cultural tradition that has existed for thousands of years. It is the aggregation of homesickness and attachment to people, culture, markets, skills, and old local scenes and lifestyles.

As long as these attachments still exist, as long as the land still exists, as long as this heart's desire is the old forest and abyss where birds, ponds, and fish miss, they will have a home to return to in this life.

After dinner, a little later, when the square dance song ends, there will be harmonica music. I wandered through Nanxun’s thousands of lights in search of the source of the music, and Orpheus’s golden harp could not bring me back.

There is no bridge in the farthest place

The most beautiful scenery cannot be shared

The deepest feelings do not wait for a response

Because we set out

not to arrive