The Original Green
Old State is a word that one might easily think of as the opposite of a new state, or hometown, and since there are several places in the country called Old State, I have to state that I'm talking about the Old State of Jingxi.
In fact, I suspect that the old state of Jingxi got its name after the Jingxi government moved away, because it was first called "Na Zhang", and at its peak it was called "Guishun Zhou". In 808 AD (the third year of Yuanhe of the Tang Dynasty), the chief Huang Shaoqing was appointed as the assassin of Quishun Prefecture and opened the government of Na Tiao, and it was not until the seventh year of Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty (1650) that the state government was relocated to the present-day town of Xinjing.
In the era of national photographer and regional tourism, the old state of Jingxi is a wonderful "card" place, and the photos definitely have a unique ethnic flavor! The ancient brick buildings, mottled mahogany doors, the vicissitudes of the green stone road, hanging all over the alleys of the embroidered balls and lanterns, as well as the ingenuity of the Zhuang handicraftsmen, all highlight the deep cultural heritage. That deliberately dressed up the history and culture of the Zhuang people, that for tourism and the planting of large swaths of rapeseed flowers, sunflowers ...... including the transplanted Chinese "Fu", "Shou" and "He" characters here. "and" word culture, coupled with the original "small Guilin" reputation of the landscape, is a flavorful and swaying southern town.
In fact, the old state is now just an ancient village on the outskirts of Jingxi City, exaggerated to say that it is an ancient town. I have stood on the side of the hill on the lookout, from the scale of view, is a village only. But I measured the Jingxi city with my feet, but there is an image in my mind, Jingxi is a lush green tree, old state is the root of Jingxi. The history of Laozhou is the history of Jingxi, and the culture of Laozhou is the culture of Jingxi. In the most prosperous location of Laozhou, there is a Zhuang Ecological Museum, which displays the historical origin of the local Zhuang people, national costumes, production tools, folk festivals and traditional crafts, and so on. Compared with Laozhou, all the attractions in downtown Jingxi seem to be fakes, and no matter how much they are modeled after the old ones, they are only replicas. For example, the "Goose Monument" is modeled after the Goose Spring.
The old state is the most Zhuang place, is the Zhuang characteristics and culture of the strongest place.
Into the old state, deep into the old state, you will find that the history and culture of the old state can be summarized as: a man, a woman and a mascot ......
A man, laid the foundation of the old state, his name is Zhang Tianzong.
The rise of the old state can not be separated from the iconic figure of Zhang Tianzong. Zhang Tianzong is a Jiangxi, a man of iron blood, a wise character. In 1275 AD (Song Deyouyuan), he followed Wen Tianxiang to fight against the Yuan Dynasty army, and after his defeat in 1276, he was going to go to Annam (today's Vietnam), but he lost his way and entered Na Zha. Seeing the beautiful mountains here, he planned to take a rest here to wait for the right time to fight against the Yuan and restore the Song Dynasty. So, he used his wisdom, resources and sweat, to this has been closed and backward "barbaric land" to bring the Chinese culture and production technology, here in the thorns and thorns, the opening of horse and carriage sidewalks; construction of grass houses, the village side of the bamboo, digging wells and planting trees; reclaiming the land and making fields, the introduction of paddy rice, the construction of water conservancy riverbanks, the introduction of geese springs for irrigation! ...... After several years of renovation, the remote township was well organized and the fields were brand new, so he settled down and became close to the local Zhuang people, and was slowly elected to be the owner of the mine. In particular, the development of the Tingtian system, benefiting the people, praised for generations,
To the local people to do practical things to improve the state of life and survival of Zhang Tianzong was treated as a god-like existence, leaving behind a lot of stories and relics. Legend has it that when Zhang Tianzong was drilling a well, he bumped into a magic stone that stole and drank the essence of the sun and moon from the underground water, so he fought with the magic stone, overcame the stone demon and rescued the golden tortoise that was crushed underground. To thank Zhang Tianzong, the Golden Turtle let the well water gush out like a spring to irrigate the fields. From then on, the fields had enough water for a good harvest every year, and the villagers lived a good life. This anecdote does not seem to be able to be scrutinized now, but I still believe that at that time, the local people of the local people to the heroes who did what they had wanted to do for many years but were unable to do that kind of worship of piety. The old well with the legend is well preserved, and beside the well there is a banyan tree, which grew lushly and has now become a huge tree with a cloudy crown, symbolizing the prosperity of the old state and a monument to Zhang Tianzong.
The washing and precipitation of history has made Zhang Tianzong's achievements and status more and more prominent in the old state, and the Qing Dynasty governors and people remembered his benevolence and influence, and offered him a tomb and built a shrine under the southeast crane hill of the village, forming a place of worship and a cultural highlight. Across a thousand years of history, I was still overwhelmed with emotion when I stood at the Zhang Tianzong Cemetery, which had been restored several times but was still in a state of disrepair and desolation, to pay my respects to this sage. The Song dynasty, Zhang Tianzong powerless to return to heaven, but people always have to make a difference, in the barbaric land, but opened up another piece of heaven and earth, the benefit of the Zhuang people, the achievement of their life another wonderful.
A woman, cast the bones of the old state, she is Mrs. Wah.
Time advances to 1496 AD (Ming Dynasty Hongzhi nine years) years, Mrs. Wah was born in the old state. She is the daughter of Cenzhang Tuji, her maiden name is "flower", the Zhuang sound "tile", and then the family name, the world called Mrs. tile. Since childhood, she was smart and studious, well read, practiced martial arts, proficient in the art of war. When she grew up, according to the Zhuang Tusi era and the custom of the Zhuang marriage does not avoid the same name, married Tianzhou (Tianyang County) Tujuan Cen Mang as his wife, renamed Washi. Later, Cen Mang and his son, Cen Bangyan, died in battle due to civil unrest. Mrs. Wa raised her young grandson, Cen Zhi, to the position of land official. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, when Japanese invaders were attacking the border along the southeast coast, the imperial court called for Guangxi soldiers to fight against the Japanese. Faced with the reality of her grandson's young age, in 1554, despite her 58 years of age, she resolutely led 6,000 soldiers to the front line of the anti-Japanese conquest. She "vowed not to live with the thieves," the temperament of the charge, the military order is clear, like a cracker, and achieved unprecedented victory, breaking the myth of invincibility of the Japanese invaders, for the protection of the country and the people set up a heck of a war, by the Jiajing Emperor as a second-class enjoined Mrs., become the first anti-Japanese women heroes.
Mrs. Watson grew the ambition of the Chinese people, became the pride of the old state, the old state has also become the memorial hall of Mrs. Watson, the old state is full of Mrs. Watson's shadow. Not only has the old residence of Mrs. Wah been restored, but the promotion of Mrs. Wah can be seen in every conspicuous place. Along the village side of the river, it is said to be the Wah's expedition to reward the three armies of the flowing feast location, the ferry has become the expedition of the farewell place, but also become the home of the wife and children miss the distant relatives of the corridor of love, even the small bridge over the river is also known as the "lookout bridge", look into the distance, longing for prosperity and development. Village side of the hill, the construction of Mrs. Wah's place of military training, known as the "Generals Platform". Village in the middle of the theater (Qingyin Pavilion) side, also painted with Washi's picture and profile ...... It is difficult to say that the bravery of the Zhuang soldiers and the Guangxi army, is not inherited from Mrs. Washi's blood, at least Nong Zhigao's Black Flag Army may be because of Mrs. Washi's incentive to add a few points of the blood, right? ......
A mascot, speckled with the culture of the old state, it is the embroidered ball.
The history of the hydrangea ball can be traced back to more than 2000 years ago, a kind of bronze flying weights used to fling throwing combat and hunting, and then through the hands of folk artists, evolved into the current embroidered cloth bag, with colorful thick production of the ball petals, made of 12 ball petals evenly combined, representing the twelve months of the year, each month is reunited, auspicious and lucky. The petals of the hydrangea ball are embroidered with colorful silk threads with floral patterns and auspicious phrases, which are finely handcrafted and beautiful. In the past, the embroidered ball was a token of love for Zhuang men and women, and the throwing of the embroidered ball was a way of conveying love between men and women. Every year on March 3, Zhuang men and women of all ages would gather to sing songs to each other, and how sweet a scene it was to have an embroidered ball to convey love between amorous young men and women? When we grew up watching theater, the scene of a lady from a big family throwing an embroidered ball to a poor scholar on the embroidered floor was always a wonderful inspiration for us. With the development of the times, now in some of the Zhuang festivals, throwing the embroidered ball will also be used as a competitive or activities for people to enjoy, and become a symbol to convey friendship and blessings, the lion rolling embroidered ball has also become popular to the whole of China as a sport.
The hydrangea originated where I did not examine, but the world to do the best and most of the hydrangea place must be Jingxi's old state. Hydrangea style street, is the oldest in the old town of old state, is also the local people make embroidered balls the most concentrated a street. There are more than 500 households and 2,000 people living in Laozhou, ranging from 7 or 8 years old dolls to 60 or 70 years old women, and even the big and strong men are all experts in making embroidered balls. Here the annual production of more than 300,000 embroidered balls, there are "Chinese embroidered women", there is China's "king of embroidered balls" ...... National Day celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the activities across Tiananmen Square, the "Guangxi colorful car". "Guangxi colorful car" on the world's largest embroidered ball, from the old state "embroidered ball king" hand. In the old state, there are many for important activities and national events and special custom embroidered ball is a collector's item, placed in the old state shelves, become a kind of historical record and trust, let come to see my two friends from Henan home tsk tsk praise. But no matter how much money, the old state people are not for sale, we expressed twelve points of understanding, because that has become the old state and the fate of the motherland **** a witness, two friends a person to buy ten embroidered balls, joyful, as if to buy the wonderful blessings of the Zhuang people ......
To say that the old state of the real cultural relics and monuments, I think that I also count the Cen's Tusi burial complex about one kilometer southwest of the old state. The Tusi system is a special political system of feudal dynasties in China since the Tang and Song dynasties to rule the local people in ethnic minority areas by appointing local leaders to hereditary official positions. From the Yongle period of Ming Dynasty to the eighth year of Yongzheng Dynasty of Qing Dynasty, the Cen Clan was in charge of the Jingxi Toji system. Cen's Tusi Tomb Cluster is located in the foothills of Nongzan Mountain in the old state of China, each tomb has characteristics, are very elaborate, using a mixture of yellow sugar, oil, lime, sand composition, not only solid, but also unique structure, some of the top of the tomb resembles a helmet, some of the tomb mounds are triangular pavilion, some are flat-topped rounded fortress-shaped ...... Some are also engraved with reliefs of dragons, phoenixes, tortoises, unicorns, etc. , characterized by the intermingling of Zhuang and Han cultures, has become a protected cultural relic in Guangxi Autonomous Region. But nowadays tourists are generally intoxicated by the hustle and bustle, and very few people like me to see it even on foot. Instead, a modern temple of Lord Cen was built in the east of the village, and the incense is still relatively strong.
The most stylized part of the old state is the Wenchang Pavilion, where such a culturally-valued building stands beside the river in a soupy, flowing stream, paired with that mountain peak east of the village, taking a picture of it is simply so beautiful that our Jingxi Foreign Language Experimental School printed a wall calendar for the year 2021 that we used a photo like this one.
Walking through the streets of Jingxi Laozhou, you get a sense of culture and history in your heart. Unfortunately, in order to attract more tourists, the tourism company copied some cultures from other places, which gives people a feeling of clutter and awkwardness, instead of feeling that the old state's own things and Zhuang culture are not pure enough. For example, the calligraphy wall of words such as blessing and longevity; for example, outside the village instead of rice, a large variety of flowers and forced to add the culture of love ......
There is also grafting more successful, is that a "and" wall, very graphic expression The left side of the Chinese character "和" is like the shape of an ancient weapon "halberd", which means that "peace is not just to beg for peace and concessions, peaceful life must rely on a strong military power to protect". The left side of the character "和" also looks like a person, "a person holding a mouth" is the character "和", which means that the degree of injury caused by right and wrong is sometimes more powerful than a sword. Only when a person manages his own mouth well, does not make a fuss about what is right and wrong, and avoids verbal disputes, can he have harmonious interpersonal relationships. In the hometown of the anti-Japanese heroine, set up such a "and" wall, speak so much truth, I think it is to increase the cultural sense of gravity, which is the wisdom of modern people, do you think?