Standing next to the north gate, browse the introduction: the ancient town invested 5 billion, covers an area of 1600 acres, to humanities theme park, with residential. To Chinese traditional architectural culture and "Jiangnan characteristics" traditional architectural culture as a carrier, show thousands of years "Tao Yuanming seclusion culture" and "Hunan folk culture". The layout of the ancient town is one vertical and four horizontal two water systems and six squares, of which two water systems and Gao Shi Street run parallel through the entire ancient town, along the layout of various types of diversified characteristics of the theme of the commercial street and cultural experience area.
Step into the ancient town, quiet and elegant, "paradise" feeling actually come. Stroll in the Gaoshi Street, although less hustle and bustle, but those simple and ancient buildings let you think of the distant years, those hidden in the green trees of the residence let you envy. On both sides of the street is the leisurely flowing Green Luo River and the Yu Lan River, from time to time there is a delicate small arch bridge on it.
Suddenly, I found one thing especially lovely in the ancient town, which is the ancient sculptures of various shapes, they silently tell the folk culture here.
The first sculpture: gold and silver smith
Gold and silver since ancient times is a symbol of wealth, people are quite fond of gold jewelry, and today the people here are still married to the man to create a variety of gold and silver jewelry for the woman. Gold and silversmiths are born from this.
The two middle-aged men with serious expressions focused on the work in hand, let us feel that this is a detailed work, sloppy.
The second sculpture: Jade Carvers
Jade carvers are the inheritors of China's centuries-old jade culture. Jade carvers use their hands to turn a piece of stubborn stone into a marvelous piece of jade, and the process of making this piece of jade is filled with countless pains and labors, and most of them spend their whole life in the cycle of purchasing, opening, titling, carving, polishing, making, selling, and re-purchasing, and other steps.
These two thin men are hard at work, telling us about their lives of hard work, simplicity and refinement.
The third sculpture: Blacksmiths
Ironworking has a long history. To forge iron, the wrought iron is burned red in the furnace, then moved to the big iron pier, the master blacksmith will hold the main hammer, and the lower hand will hold the sledgehammer for forging. During the forging process, the upper hand should keep turning the iron material by visual inspection to match it with the required tools. The finished iron products are generally agricultural tools that match traditional production methods, such as plows, harrows, hoes, sickles, etc., and some household items, such as knives, shovels, scissors, etc., in addition to other items such as door rings, bubble nails, door inserts, and so on.
Making iron is a test of physical strength and technical work, look at one of the men open lapel, swinging the hammer look know to do something is not easy.
Fourth do sculpture: ring tea female
Ring tea originated in the Han Dynasty in the Central Plains, south to Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi and other areas, prevalent in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Also known as Sansheng soup, is a specialty food. Changde Taoyuan ring tea is a local famous food, loved by local residents and foreign tourists. The tea is generally made of rice, peanuts, sesame, green beans, salt, tea, cangzhi, ginger and other raw materials, pounded into a paste with the bowl, punch boiling water and uniform, plus fried rice, fragrant and delicious.
The making of ring tea seems to be a woman's monopoly, and she needs a woman's careful concentration and love. People here say, to make a good tea, in addition to the ingredients in proportion with a good, the hands of the tea stick is also very important, the best tea stick wood are: oil tea boy tree, incense leaf tree, mountain pepper tree, camphor tree. Never use poisonous wood. Gazing at the woman holding the tea stick, it seems to smell the fragrance of the tea.
The fifth sculpture: the old carpenter
Carpentry is an ancient handicraft, car, boat and other means of transportation, the production of tools for life, the construction of houses and so on can not be separated from carpentry. Today, carpentry is still widely used. For example, the field of housing construction, ship field, landscape landscaping field, decorative decoration field.
Taking off his shirt and wearing a sweat towel on his shoulder tells us that this skill requires physical strength, but physical strength alone is not enough to become a master craftsman, and a master craftsman, just like the old carpenter, can create unparalleled objects with simple tools.
Sixth sculpture: barber
Barber, Changde folk also known as the shaver. Folk shavers, generally with a stretcher picking barber tools, walking through villages and alleys, encountering the need for a haircut, unloading the stretcher on the spot operation. There are also in the more concentrated places, choose a corner, put a stretcher, set up a chair, from time to time to yell, to attract business.
The barber waved the razor, dexterous hands show is skillful technology, can be said to be a minute on the head, head down ten years of work.
The seventh sculpture: the pot mender
The pot mending profession was still prevalent in the 1950s and 1960s, and the famous Hunan flower-drum opera, "Playing the Causeway" (打铜锣) and "Mending the Pot" (补锅), was created with this as a backdrop. Nowadays, the profession of mending pots is about to be lost, and there are only craftsmen who repair pressure cookers and antimony pots.
When I was a kid, I used to hear this kind of yelling: "Mending pots, sharpening knives"! Looking at this craftsman kneeling down on one knee in a concentrated manner, can not help but for them to do a line, love a line of the spirit of moving. This kind of repair may seem insignificant, but can solve the urgent needs of many poor people.
The eighth sculpture: playing patty cake
Playing patty cake is a traditional Chinese holiday custom, which is very popular in the area of Changde Taoyuan, mainly as a festival food for family guests to taste before the Spring Festival. It is made of pure glutinous rice, millet, or glutinous rice mixed with millet, as well as corn mixed with yao rice. In addition, can also be used sticky rice and refined rice ground into powder, poured in a kind of wood carving mold for the production, the mold is engraved with patterns, commonly known as "offender", the production is very complex, it must be a few people together in order to complete the production.
Playing patties is a necessary program before New Year's Eve in this area, and small children like to participate in such joyful activities, and at this time, they will listen to the arrangements of adults to be busy. This sculpture is a true depiction of this scene.
The ninth sculpture: Hunan famous chef
Xiang cuisine, also known as Hunan cuisine, as early as the Han Dynasty has formed a cuisine, is one of China's eight historic cuisine. Xiangjiang River Basin, Dongting Lake District and the western Hunan mountainous areas of the three local flavors. Hunan cuisine is fine, with a wide range of materials, varied flavors and many varieties. Color: heavy oil color; taste: spicy and tender; production: simmering, stewing, wax, steaming, frying method known.
Two sculptures, one in the production of food, one in the enjoyment of food. The smiling chef is confident in his craft, the guests gush about the food and ask questions about its maker, and the host seems to reach out for the chef.
The tenth sculpture: Liu Hai Chopping Woodcutter
The Flower Drum Opera is a famous local opera in Changde, of which "Liu Hai Chopping Woodcutter" is a popular one. The sculpture extracts a vivid action fragment from the opera to present it artistically, and through the digital fine-carving process, the gold floral forged copper hollowing makes the characters of the opera present an illusory and ethereal effect.
Life, in addition to firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy, vinegar and tea, but also need the baptism of art, Liu Hai Chopping Woodcutter is the pursuit of people's spiritual life.
Ten sculptures, ten different folk culture, full of earthly fire, highlighting the once fiery life of the common people here. Love, love, interesting sculptures of the old town!
After enjoying these evocative sculptures, through the South Gate, Peach Blossom Source Ancient Town, the main street is considered to be finished, in fact, this is far from enough, there are still a lot of ancient towns are worth exploring the ghost of the place.