It was already dark when we came out from Hezhou Square, and we decided to drive to Bucheon city at night. At night driving vision is not good, and once out of Babu city, the road is expanding, potholes everywhere, it is more trouble, such a road until Wanggao town. There are also some unethical big truck drivers, meeting the car also open high beams, strong light often shines a black eye, often have to slow down or even stop, to be a big truck away before they dare to continue on the road. From the eight steps to Bucheon is more than sixty highway, but the whole walk more than two hours, about nine o'clock in the evening to the hotel to settle down.
Bucheon County is a minority autonomous county with Yao people as the main ethnic group. As we all know, Yao people have a unique humanistic style, just like the Hakka people who retain an ancient complex, so our trip to Bucheon is to experience some of the unique humanistic customs of Yao people. I had never been to Bucheon before, and I knew nothing about its attractions, so after dinner I spread the Hezhou map on my bed and pondered over it, but I was disappointed that I didn't find anything worth exploring. The map also shows the wind and rain bridge, and then around the city, there is really no place to look at the horse back, at least it is a trip here.
The next day after washing, breakfast, first to the wind and rain bridge across the Fujiang River to look at the wind and rain bridge is nothing strange, but just in the bridge to build a number of carved beams and painted roofs to block the rain shade only. Such bridges are found everywhere in Guangxi's minority regions, the most famous being the Cheng Yang Bridge in Sanjiang, which I visited many years ago. Longsheng also has many such wind and rain bridges, so they are commonplace and not much of a marvel.
Fellow travelers said that last night when looking for hotel accommodation on the west bank of the Fujiang River next to the county people's hospital to see an ancient city building, where there may be an ancient city, it is proposed to go there to see, this is a new discovery. The Fujiang River through the city, the county into two, the east for the new city, the west is the old city, we crossed the Fujiang Bridge is the county people's hospital, in the street to find a place with a parking line to park the car, from the ancient city called "to the sun door" went in.
This is indeed an old city, as usual, the streets are narrow, and seven turns, in which it is like entering a labyrinth, the difference is that most of the ancient streets are paved with green slate, but the ancient city of Bucheon is paved with cobblestones. Street on both sides of the old houses are mostly old and small, generally two-story houses, mixed with a lot of new houses, are more than three layers, these new houses in a large area of the old house appears to be a group of chickens, very conspicuous and very uncoordinated, but also diluted the mood of the old city.
There is a peculiar landscape in the old city, that is, in each of the two can walk side by side at the intersection of the fork in the street there is a small two-story building, small buildings carved beams and painted buildings, there is a loud building name hanging under the eaves, such as called "Zhenwulou", "Fushououou" and so on. "and so on, in the low mud-brick houses look very unusual, but a closer look at these small buildings are obviously not used to live. Later, we saw some stone tablets and notices set on the wall of the building, and realized that these buildings are called "Hsing Lou" or "Shen Lou". Why were they called "Xinglou" or "Shenlou"? What were they used for? With confusion, we had to ask the residents of the old street for advice. Street residents are very enthusiastic, they introduced that the old city of Buchuan is quite large, and now live a lot of people, divided into east, west, south, north and south streets, some streets are divided into up and down the street, these buildings are each street's public housing, used for street deliberations with, usually empty. Every year during the festival, especially some major festivals, such as the Spring Festival to the Lantern Festival during the ancient city to dance dragons and lions, everyone will gather here to discuss the matter. The dragon and lion dance, each street will be some gods or gods as the street totem symbols to strengthen the prestige. For example, Li Jing, the king of the four seas, and the dragon king are all chosen as totem symbols. At that time, these immortals will represent the neighbors to go out, and when the activities are over, these immortals will go back to the god building to hide. The name "Shenlou" is understandable, but why are these small buildings called "Xinglou"? They said that people on the street are all speakers of Hakka, "line" and "God" are not distinguishable, called the line building may be a homophonic misunderstanding of it. But peers in some people say, this small building is built just above the pedestrians through, also can be used to shield the sun and rain, called the line building is also not bad. Really, "the benevolent see benevolence, the wise see wisdom", each with their own opinions.
? Ancient street also has a lot of ancestral temples, in the local people introduced us to visit a He ancestral temple, as usual, the door is wide, brilliant. The main hall is dedicated to the ancestors of the He family, and the wall is hung with portraits of the ancestors of the He family, as well as their great achievements and official titles, describing the prosperity of the clan, in order to inspire the future generations to strive for the purpose. The abundance of clan temples seems to be one of the characteristics of Hezhou, which is actually one of the characteristics of the Hakka people circulating in this ancient city because there are many Hakka people living in this ancient city. It seems that even Fuchuan County, which is known to be inhabited by Yao people, is also the home of the Hakka people. No wonder Prof. Zhong Wendian of Guangxi Normal University said that Hezhou is a big city inhabited by Hakka people in his book Guangxi Hakka, which is a true statement!
? Fuchuan is a Yao autonomous county, but in addition to a wind and rain bridge and Yao Museum associated with the Yao, even in this well-preserved old town we did not find anything with the unique scenery and customs of the Yao, which makes us very disappointed. Because of its border with Hunan, its food habits are also flavored with Hunan cuisine, without a trace of the characteristics of the Yao diet. I think most of the ethnic minorities have been living with the Han Chinese for thousands of years and have long since integrated with each other, especially those who have settled in the busy towns and cities where their ethnic identity is being assimilated and tends to disappear. If you see a person walking towards you on the street in Guilin, can you tell whether he is Han or Yao or Zhuang? Unless he is a Uyghur. Perhaps only those aborigines who still live in the mountains and forests still retain their ethnic characteristics, and the only way to see the real Yao people is to look for them in the mountains with thousands of ravines.
Although we did not enjoy the Yao flavor in Buchuan County, but we feel that the old town of Buchuan is so characteristic and well preserved, and there are still so many residents still living there, should be said to be the historical essence of the legacy of the Buchuan and the cultural wealth of the Buchuan tour is also quite rewarding, it is not a false trip. Lunch is eaten in Buchuan, after the meal, we will pass through Zhongshan County by way of Huangyao Ancient Town.