There is a beautiful village in Huazhou Street, Haizhu District. Its name is Longtan.
This is a typical ancient town of Lingnan water town. The criss-crossing rivers divide the village into several pieces. Four stone bridges (Yinglong Bridge, Lipu Bridge, Huiyuan Bridge and Jikang Bridge) were built in the Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty and have been named after the bridges.
), connecting the original village head with the four directions of west, south, middle and east, and setting up the towering ancient banyan on the bank of the bridge.
There are many stories about dragons in this village.
Longtan village is located at the bottom of the ancient sea, and the "ancient coastal site" is only a few hundred meters away from Longtan.
More than a thousand years ago, it appeared as land, and rivers meandered through it. People moved here one after another, catching fish and shrimp, reclaiming farmland, and the "southward army" moved in one after another for development. ...
Our ancestors used "dragon" as a totem.
People who live and work here think this is a place where dragons haunt.
It is difficult to prove when Longtan Village was built, but there are several "Redmi Stone" columns with a thickness of several tens of centimeters in the village, which were identified as "relics" of "Ming Dynasty architecture" by people in the cultural relics department in the early years.
What building was it in the Ming Dynasty? It's hard to check now.
Now the west of Longtan is opposite Huiyuan Bridge, and there is a "Hongmiao", which was built in Qing Dynasty.
The cloisters and other buildings on both sides of Hongsi Temple have been demolished, leaving only the main hall. The mural "Dragon" is painted on the front wall of the main hall. Although this painting was painted in ink more than 100 years ago, it has been damaged and partially covered, but the leading parts of the two lifelike dragons can be clearly seen.
Behind Hongsi, there used to be a huge ancient banyan tree, and many people hugged each other. The top is broken and the middle is blackened (possibly by lightning). According to legend, the "dragon" ascended to heaven from here.
Until the 1960s, this ancient banyan tree still existed.
Although the middle is empty, there are still some bark and branches in the west, which are growing tenaciously.
Later, this ancient banyan tree was cut down and a house was built here.
In the past, it didn't rain for a long time in winter, and the salt tide in the Pearl River surged. Longtan people who lived by drinking river water were too salty to drink, so they dug a hole outside the stone ridge opposite the underground palace in front of Hongsi, and the cool and sweet "dragon mouth water" would come up.
Every household holds buckets (crocks) and mussels (water tools) in line here to get water and go home to cook and make tea.
Speaking of salt tide, it happens every year.
Everyone thanked Lord Lang for his kindness.
In the southeast of Longtan village, there used to be a "Zhang" temple decorated with dragons and octopus, but it was demolished during the Great Leap Forward in 1958.
Although this temple has been demolished for decades, the dragon boat in our village has to beat drums to show its respect every time it passes by. ...
It was named "Long Ting" and later renamed "Longtan" because it was said to be the residence and haunt of dragons.
It is understood that the dragon boat activities in Longtan Village began in the Qing Dynasty.
The earlier dragon boat in Longtan should be the "Hong Shenggong" dragon boat originally buried on the west side. It was built in the middle of Qing Dynasty.
This ship is made of alder. Because the wood is poor (not Kundian wood), this dragon boat has basically withered and abandoned before liberation.
When Japan invaded China, the soldiers were in chaos and everyone was in danger. Who is going to get the dragon boat? After Japan surrendered, dragon boat activities resumed, but the activities were controlled by some powerful people, who carried long and short guns to show their prestige and prevent conflicts: many people were on pins and needles at that time.
After liberation and land reform, people turned over and became masters of their own affairs, and their lives tended to be stable, "full of warmth and entertainment."
So people spontaneously organized themselves. In the early 1950s (last century), the dragon boat originally belonging to Guangyuan Hall (the dragon cable (tendon) was stolen in the war) was turned over (i.e. rebuilt) to become a "new boat" for villagers. The dragon boat originally belonging to Shanqing Hall was called "old boat", which provided a pair of boats for the whole village.
These two dragon boats were first built in the late Qing Dynasty, and have a history of more than 100 places since their initial construction.
The "new ship" is mixed with some castanets, while the old ship is pure "Kundian" wood.
According to legend, the old boat was built by excellent masters, and it is one of the best 23 dragon boats in Xinjiao area.
1956, the old boat won the championship for the first time on behalf of the village in the dragon boat race held in Guangzhou "Cape Red House".
Dragon boat rowing has always been a patent for men, and female compatriots are not in contact, especially the traditional dragon boat. Even if the dragon boat passes under the bridge, pedestrians on the bridge should avoid it, and onlookers on the bridge often have unpleasant incidents of being driven away.
However, I have occasionally heard of a woman's phoenix boat in recent years.
dragon boat
On April 8, the dragon boat dug low.
Every year on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, dragon boats are prepared.
Driving a dragon boat is to dig out the hidden dragon boat after the Dragon Boat Festival last year and clean it up for this year's Dragon Boat Festival.
A few days before driving a dragon boat, find a sunny day to dry the drum of the dragon boat and use it when driving a dragon boat.
When lifting the dragon boat, move the gongs and drums to the shore of the hidden dragon boat, burn incense first, then set off firecrackers, and then dig the dragon boat with them.
After some efforts, the dragon boat can surface, clean up the silt on the boat, support the boat to the boat bay built with bamboo in advance, fix it when the water rises, let the boat dry, and then repair it.
Repair the dragon boat with tung oil ash first, then tie the dragon root with a dragon cable, and finally smear the dragon boat with tung oil or lard once or twice from beginning to end, and then you can wait for the launch.
Dig the dragon boat out of the mud. This is the first song before the Dragon Boat Festival every year. First, a worship ceremony.
Burning incense and setting off firecrackers is even more indispensable. Looks like Sanlong will be digging for a long time.
After the ceremony, the young people in the village couldn't wait to get off the boat.
In the southeast of Haizhu District, there is an ancient village that lasts for hundreds of years: Longtan Village.
For a long time, it has been quietly hiding in the neon corner of the city.
Time is like water, quietly flowing across the bridge and bypassing the eaves.
The blue walls are peeling off and there are many halls. Even if the world is troubled, it is still as calm as running water.
Until one day, experts in literature and history came here and were surprised to find that under the slightly modern appearance of this village, there were even ancient academies and exquisite ancestral halls.
Pushing open that heavy door seems to push open a new world.
There are also several memorial archways that are rare now, hiding the little-known past in the village. ...
Wandering in Longtan village, in the flowing water, under the verdant ancient banyan tree, touching the mottled blue bricks and crossing the ancient stone bridge, time seems to stand still in an instant.
Listening to the villagers who have lived here for hundreds of years telling the story of this ancient and modern village, telling the story behind every antique, it was a beautiful time like a song. ...
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Unique custom "mother's birthday"
Longtan village used to be a rich land with beautiful scenery. There is a saying: "When a woman marries Longtan, lemons turn into oranges", which means that life is as sweet as oranges.
The simple Longtan villagers have established many ancestral temples and temples, which continue some ancient customs, among which "Mother Ma's birthday" is a unique one.
The "mother" in the mouth of Longtan villagers is Tianhou.
In the past, no matter what happened in the village, weddings and funerals, we had to burn incense in front of our mother and throw the holy grail to ask her for advice.
Legend has it that at the beginning of Longtan village, a piece of wood floated on the river and lingered for several days.
A busybody took a closer look and found that it looked like a woman. The villagers decided that it was sacred, so they invited skilled craftsmen to carve the wood into women and burn incense and worship.
Every year, "Mother Ma's Birthday" is a big festival in Longtan Village.
From March 19, the villagers will take their mother out to travel to the countryside, and each household will take turns to worship.
On March 23rd, the birthday of Bodhisattva Nima will be re-selected, and the pre-selected candidate villagers will decide who will welcome Nima back and put her there by throwing the Holy Grail.
Later, due to various reasons, mother was placed in the ancestral hall of Longtan village. Every year before going out for the Dragon Boat Festival, the villagers will give incense to their mother and pray for her blessing.
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The beauty of this water town was once famous far and wide.
The sea turned into fertile land.
Orchids and white lilies are everywhere.
Thousands of years ago, Longtan village, two kilometers away from the ancient coast site of Qixinggang, was still sleeping in the vast smoke.
The long Pearl River and the rippling South China Sea are changing the vicissitudes of the ancient Yangcheng.
I don't know when it started. With the southward movement of the coastline, Longtan Village gradually surfaced, and the original reef became a hill, gradually forming several large-scale islands, that is, the embryonic form of the East, China and the West.
These small islands are densely covered with streams and separated by clear rivers, with green grass and delicious fish and shrimp. The first people who came here were some boatmen. They caught a lot of fish and shrimp here.
The history of people settling in Longtan village began at the end of Song Dynasty.
The ancestors of this village were either demoted by the Central Plains or fled, or joined the army and went south to Guangdong.
They first settled in Zhuji Lane, Guangdong Province, and then moved to Longtan Village.
People with three surnames, Yang, Che and Ma, first came to Longtan Village. They reclaimed a village near the head of Longtan village in the old society and settled there. They named it "Sanshengwai" and later "Sanshengwai".
From Yuan Dynasty to Ming Dynasty, other surnames such as Huang, Bai, He, Li, Du, Wu, Chen and Liang moved in one after another, but the original surnames moved away.
These eight surnames were born in this land, lived by the water, built ancestral halls, jointly opened up thousands of acres of fertile land, and lived in harmony for hundreds of years.
With other surnames moving in one after another, "three surnames around" has lost its meaning.
Because it is surrounded by water, which is the habitat of dragons, it is said that there was a fine dragon in this area, so it was renamed Long Ting Village.
Later, perhaps because of avoiding the emperor, and because the villages were constantly fighting at that time, thirteen nearby towns often came to provoke and make trouble, so it was renamed Longtan Village, which means "Dragon Pool and Tiger Cave" is not easy to get, hoping to play a deterrent role.
Orchids and white lilies are everywhere.
The great ship of time, moving forward slowly.
In the quietness of the flowing water of the small bridge, time quietly flows away like water in the ancient Longtan village.
In the Qing Dynasty, Longtan Village was under the jurisdiction of Henan Fort, Jiaotangsi, Panyu County, guangzhou fu, and gradually developed into a famous water village on the south bank of the Pearl River.
There are abundant fruits here, such as carambola, Eichhornia crassipes, longan and plum trees all over the village, and the scenery is particularly beautiful.
If surrounded by water, mountains are like screens, on both sides of a river, ancient banyan trees are towering, white lotus is everywhere, and lotus leaf fields are everywhere.
Now, in Xingren Academy in Longtan Village, there is still a piece of "Inscription of Xingren Academy to Help Silver", on which there is a passage that vividly describes the beautiful scenery of Longtan Village in the past: "The mountains are beautiful, the water is gurgling, the hibiscus is dripping, and the orchid is fragrant in Bai Baihe ..."
Today, the iconic arched gatehouse in Longtan Village stands proudly in the wide Xinjiao Middle Road, and another old gatehouse is located in the northwest of the village.
However, according to the memories of the older generation of villagers in Longtan Village, the early gatehouse in Longtan Village was tens of meters away from the old gatehouse.
The lost gatehouse is antique, the blue bricks on the wall are polished by years, and the tile surface on the roof of the gatehouse is mottled by wind and rain, which shows its simplicity more and more.
The gatehouse is inlaid with a stone, and the words "Longtan Golden Boy" are engraved on the forehead.
It turns out that there used to be a water network in Longtan village, so it was very inconvenient to get in and out.
If you have to go to the village by land, you have to take the winding muddy field path belonging to Datang or Xincun.
Therefore, most of the shuttles in the village are squeaky wooden boats, hence the name "Longtan Golden Boy".
At that time, after entering Longtan Village from the gatehouse at the head of the village, Yinglong Bridge was not far away.
It is a small bridge more than two meters wide, paved with six or seven meters long linen slabs.
The clear river flows slowly under the bridge and rises and falls with the Pearl River twice a day.
Near the bridge, there are intertwined ancient banyan trees, tall red cotton trees, tall and straight water pines and a bamboo forest. The wind blows through the bamboo forest, making a rustling sound, and the bamboo shadows are dancing. The scenery is very charming.
Until the 1980s, many people went to Longtan Village and entered from the northwest entrance, and were immediately attracted by the scenery here.
Due to the special geographical location of Longtan Village, for a period of time, the villagers in Zhou Xiao, Tuhua and Xiaoguwei Nanbei Erting Village had to leave the provincial capital, which was the only way out.
Villagers in these places often take a boat to a place called Xinli in Longtan Village, Mouse Mountain, Tuhua Village, then walk to Zhangmiao, take a boat in front of Zhangmiao, cross the "Charity" archway and Longtan Xiyue, and come to the village gatehouse.
After coming out of the gatehouse, pass through Datang Village, Dunhe Village and Lujiang Village, reach Xiadu Village, and cross Hebei by boat at Xiadu.
Looking for the old days
"Charity" archway
Lunsheng Baigong Temple
One morning in midsummer, under the bright sunshine, we came to Longtan Village.
In the process of urbanization, gray reinforced concrete gradually replaced the old blue bricks and gray tiles, and a large number of migrants began to live in this ancient village.
However, the ancient and profound beauty of Longtan Village is still flowing inadvertently.
From the roaring highway to the village, it seems to have entered another world.
The river flows slowly, although it is not clear, but it outlines the unique layout of the village: a herringbone waterway surrounds an island, which is the Covenant of the village.
Riverside, stone fence revetment, a row of verdant ancient banyan trees, like a crown, all the way down under the shade, long fibrous roots hanging into the water, complement each other with the water color, people can not help but think of the ancient times that happened here.
Between the land and the island, there is a stone bridge on which people walk leisurely. ...
The classical temperament of Longtan village goes far beyond this.
He Liqian, the old village head of Longtan Village, has worked and lived here for most of his life. He took us through the village and learned about a real and ancient Longtan village.
"Charity" archway
Not far from the village entrance, we saw a granite archway with three rooms and four pillars. He Liqian said that it is one of the most precious cultural relics in Longtan Village: the "giving" archway.
This memorial archway is the only memorial archway used by the emperor in Guangzhou to commend philanthropists, which is related to the legendary celebrity Bai Lunsheng in the history of Longtan Village.
Bai Lunsheng, No.1 Jinxian, was born in a poor family and had a kind heart since childhood. 15 years old, working as a handyman in a foreign firm opened by my uncle in Guangzhou.
Because he is naturally smart and eager to learn.
Bai Lunsheng's life took a turning point at 184 1
He was fired by his cousin for helping a troubled British businessman sign a contract.
The British businessman felt guilty when he learned about it. He took out 10000 silver as an order and gave it to Bai Lunsheng to encourage him to start his own business.
Bai Lunsheng first set up a village to manage straw mats, and later set up a luxury firm to manage firecrackers and groceries.
As a result of good management and abiding by credit, business is booming.
After more than 20 years, he became a famous wealthy businessman in Guangzhou.
After becoming rich, Bai Lunsheng actively donated money to the society for disaster relief.
During the ten years of Tongzhi (187 1), I founded the Aiyushantang Hall in Guangzhou with several wealthy businessmen, giving medicines, clothes and coffins to the poor.
Aiyushantang was the first folk good hall in Guangdong Province, which was quite influential, and later became one of the nine good halls in Guangzhou in the late Qing Dynasty.
Besides, Bai Lun also donated money to the convenience hospital, Miao Shan Church, Guangji Hospital and other charities, and became a famous philanthropist in Guangzhou in the late Qing Dynasty.
In the 16th year of Guangxu (1890), there was a big flood in Hunan, and Bai Lunsheng donated huge relief funds, which was commended by the government and awarded the title of Taoist.
In February of the following year, Governor Li of Guangdong and Guangxi played in the imperial court, and Emperor Guangxu granted his parents an imperial edict, inscribed a plaque and built a charity archway.
Today, on this archway, which is about 8 meters wide and 8.6 meters high, the word "imperial edict" is still clear, and the four characters "charity" are very eye-catching.
On the forehead of the second door, you can see the words "In February of the seventeenth year of Guangxu, Li played the Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi".
He Liqian said that it is not easy to preserve this archway after wind and rain.
During the Cultural Revolution, in order to protect the archway, the villagers covered it with lime and sand, and changed the words "farming for the revolution" to preserve it.
Today, there are still some yellow edge lines on the memorial arch, which are traces left by the restoration of the original appearance.
Lunsheng Baigong Temple
Farewell to the archway, He Liqian took us across the ancient bridge and shuttled through the cobweb-covered alleys in the west.
There are different accents floating in the ear, and there are many floors of handshake buildings on both sides. Looking up, I can only see a blue sky.
Just when you want to regret its change, you suddenly find that the stone slabs that have been gone for hundreds of years are still under your feet, and they carry countless dreams of generations in Longtan Village.
In this gray matchbox, turn left and right. We soon came to a flat land, and a grand ancient ancestral temple appeared in front of us.
It is located next to Longtan Primary School. From a distance, the colorful herringbone sealed volcanic wall and the beautifully carved gray plastic Bo Gu Ridge stand out.
Approaching, I saw the heavy door of the ancestral temple locked tightly at the moment. On the top of Shimen, five golden characters of "Lunsheng Baigong Temple" shine brightly, with a pair of couplets on both sides: "Qingfen Evergreen Collection, Love Hoonji".
He Liqian told us that this is the only preserved Bai ancestral hall in Longtan Village, and it is also the most beautiful one.
In the 11th year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty (1872), Bai Lunsheng invested in the construction of this ancestral hall, which lasted for 27 years and was not completed until the 25th year of Guangxu (1899).
When it was completed, Bai Lunsheng had died, and the villagers remembered this great good man, so they called this temple Baigong Temple, commonly known as Baijia Temple.
There are four entrances to the Lunsheng Baigong Temple, which are divided into left and right roads. We go in through the door on the left.
I never thought that a rural ancestral temple could be built so beautifully.
Polished blue brick walls, after a hundred years, are still flat, as if they had been ironed with an iron; The white mud terrace bricks on the ground have been baptized by years. Although there are small holes in some places, the unusually straight combination line can clearly see the painstaking efforts of the craftsmen of that year.
What is even more amazing is the exquisiteness of the details: whether it is a bucket arch, a column beam or a column base, there are exquisite stone carvings, wood carvings, brick carvings or gray carvings. The shapes are vivid, complicated and not chaotic, and you look at them carefully, as if you are enjoying a work of art.
In particular, the golden wood carving of the eaves curtain in the center of the room, with smooth lines and decorated with colored glass, was rare at that time.
"Listening to the old people in the village, it is rare to have such a good master built on the south bank of the Pearl River with such good materials." He Liqian said.
During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, the Japanese army broke into the ancestral temple and looted it. There was a stone lion with beads on the railing at that time. The Japanese army wanted to take the stone beads inside, so they knocked out the lion's teeth with bayonets. But the various parts of the stone lion are so well combined that they can't be taken out after a lot of effort.
In the eyes of the villagers in Longtan village, this ancestral temple, like a temple, has a faint mystery.
It is said that after Bailun's death, some elders in the village dreamed that he was sitting in court in official clothes to persuade people to be kind, so people passed him on as a god after his death.
At that time, Pan Wei, a famous person, wrote an inscription to congratulate the completion of Lunsheng Baigong Temple. The next couplet is: "Born as a righteous man, married as a wise god, it is said by word of mouth that the old man presided over the ghost law, came to sue in his dream, and advised the good as if he were alive."
It tells the legend that Byron became a god after his death.