Fengjian Village

Fengjian Village

Fengjian village, belonging to Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province, is located in the north of Xingtan town, covering an area of 5.24 square kilometers, with more than 5678 permanent residents and about 320 immigrants.

Fengjian village is surrounded by water on all sides and bounded by a waterway. The river flows in the shape of "well" from south to north through the ancient village and into the tributary of Xijiang River, cutting the village into several small sand islands. Since the Western Han Dynasty, there have been people living here. Later, it developed into a market and became a village in the Tang Dynasty. Fengjian village reached its peak in the late Qing Dynasty, with a population of more than ten thousand. It has three silk reeling markets, more than 300 looms, and more than 1500 industrial workers. On both sides of the river bank of the village, ancient banyan, banana forest, pomegranate and other trees line up. On one side of the river path is a settlement group composed of folk houses, ancestral temples and other local buildings. The village buildings are built along the river, along which the stone mound is built, which is more than ten kilometers long, with trees along the river.

In November 2016, Fengjian village was listed in the public list of the fourth batch of Chinese traditional villages by the Ministry of housing and urban rural development of the people's Republic of China and other departments

. In November 2017, Fengjian village was awarded the fifth national civilized village.

geographical environment

Fengjian village is located in the north of Xingtan town, Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province.

The main river flows from south to North and flows into the tributary of Xijiang River.

Economics

Fengjian village is one of the important bases of "Sangji fish pond" in history. With mulberry cultivation and sericulture as the core, Fengjian village promotes the local agriculture, animal husbandry, fishery and sideline industries to form an organic whole, and then drives the development of silk reeling, sugar making, feed processing, commerce and transportation.

Sangji fish pond planted mulberry and raised silkworms in Fengjian village in the Qing Dynasty. The silk weaving industry was very prosperous. The traces of Sangji fish pond in the past still exist today. In the past, these small rivers winding all over the mulberry fields transported boats of silk to Guangzhou and other places, and merchants from all over the province also came from these rivers by boat to purchase silk. In the Qing Dynasty, the villagers of Fengjian village abandoned their fields to build ponds, planted mulberry and raised silkworms, and dozens of silk mills worked day and night to make Shunde the "silk capital of southern China". It is said that the silk weaving industry was very prosperous at that time. The villagers planted mulberry and raised silkworms. There were more than 30 silk weaving factories and more than 800 workers in the village.

History and culture

Daliang fish lantern

Daliang fish lantern is an important branch of autumn color in Foshan. It was popular in the Qing Dynasty and ended in the Anti Japanese war. To make a fish lamp, first tie it into a fish like skeleton with bamboo strips, then touch it with bright yarn, and draw and dye the scales and fins. Master production is lifelike, lighting candles, transparent body, bright colors, lifelike. The length of the lantern is from 67 feet to more than 10 feet. It is supported by pillars when patrolling, and two more people are needed to support the head and tail of the lantern.

Self combed girl

In the past, many girls in the county were unwilling to be abused because of strict etiquette and laws. They were determined not to marry, or to support each other with their female partners to end their life. Since the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the special customs of self grooming and staying at home have emerged one after another. The rise of silk industry provided women with the opportunity to make a living independently. Under the oppression of feudal etiquette, these customs lasted for more than 300 years and reached a climax from the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China. It was not until the 1930s that these customs gradually disappeared with the improvement of women's social status and the impact of war.

In the past, when a woman married, she had to tie her bun by her mother. Those who did not intend to marry performed certain rituals to tie her bun by themselves, which was called "self combing". The ceremony is usually held in the "aunt's house" where the self combing women and housewives live together. The participants buy new clothes, shoes, stockings, make-up lens ropes and candlelight dishes in advance, bathe in water boiled with yellow leaves, worship Guanyin and vow not to marry forever. Then the elderly self combing women braid their hair into a bun, change their new clothes and shoes, and salute other self combing sisters one by one. If they are financially well-off, they also have to offer wine Dinner party. After the performance of the ceremony, the woman was called "Shuqi" and officially became a "self combed woman" who had no regrets for life. "Self combing girl" can continue to live in her mother's home on weekdays, picking mulberry and reeling silk, and living on her own. In her spare time, she often goes to "aunt's house" to get together with her sisters, supporting each other in life and being close to her family. Old or critically ill, they must move to the "aunt's house" and never die in their mother's home.

Staying at home is a kind of false marriage custom of self grooming women. It is a compromise method adopted by the parents to force the marriage to be invalid. They refuse to sleep with their husband when they go through the wedding ceremony. They stay at their mother's home for a long time after they return to their home in three dynasties, so it is called "staying at home".

Dragon Boat Race

Shunde's dragon boat race has been famous since ancient times. In the early Qing Dynasty, Qu Dajun's zhouyu, a new language of Guangdong, recorded: "Longjiang, Shunde, is a dragon boat fighting boat in May and June. On the day of the battle, the Dragon Boat farm was a place where the river was not big or small, and the water was straight but not round the bay. If you win the battle completely and return to the port, you will invite your relatives and friends to have a feast. The port will be prosperous in years, people will be happy, and trade will be able to spare the clouds. " In fact, dragon boat rowing has been carried out in every village of the county, and there are still stone plaques in Beishui village of Xingtan in Kangxi period. Dragon boat can be divided into "dragon boat" and "Dragon Boat Race": the "dragon boat" is large in size and beautiful in decoration, which is called "dragon boat" and focuses on cruising and displaying costumes and flags to boost the fun; the "dragon boat" is small in size, which is called "dragon boat", which ranges from three to fifteen radii and focuses on rowing speed.

Dragon Boat rap

Dragon Boat rap is a folk art. Originated in the Qing Dynasty, it was popular in counties and Guangzhou dialect areas before the 1950s, with Shunde accent as the orthodox. Artists mostly sing in teahouses, rural ferry and banyan trees. The woodcarving holds a small dragon boat as a prop and a small gong and drum on its chest. Singing while knocking, the content is mostly humorous stories and peace greetings. During the revolution of 1911 and the war of resistance against Japan, "dragon boat" was used in social propaganda. The long libretto of anti Qing, anti Japanese and accusing "three evils" (drug abuse, gambling and whoring) written by artists had a wide social impact.

In 2006, Dragon Boat rap was listed as the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage by the State Council of the people's Republic of China

.

Main attractions

Big house

According to records, Fengjian village was built as early as the Tang Dynasty, and stone tablets used to pave roads or build quay steps can be seen everywhere in the village. The inscription is engraved with words such as Juren and Jinshi. This kind of stone tablet, which can be seen everywhere, gives Fengjian village a good annotation of the "water town calligraphy rhyme". It is said that since the song and Yuan Dynasties, many literati families lived in seclusion in Fengjian. They inherited poetry and books, respected Confucianism and education, and advocated reading in ancient villages. From the Yuan Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, there were many people who studied and became officials. According to the genealogy of the villagers, there were many Jinshi and Juren in the small village. There were eight scholars and three Hanlin in one family, and there were many people who made a lot of money when they were officials.

Due to the large number of people who study and make a fortune, there are many ancestral halls, private schools and old houses left in Fengjian village of Xingtan. Most of them are of Ming Dynasty style. There were more than 70 ancestral halls in the past, but there are 17 now. Most of them retain the architectural style of Ming Dynasty. Not far from the west side of Juji bridge, there is a "hezhiliang Temple". The wood carvings on the beams and columns at the entrance are also very exquisite. Ancestral hall Liu's ancestral hall, Liang's ancestral hall and Li's ancestral hall are one of the ancestral halls with relatively large scale and influence. The "first ancestral hall" in the village is the "Liu's ancestral hall" with a history of more than 600 years. Liu's ancestral hall was built in the Yongle period of Ming Dynasty. Its terrain is high from the front to the back, implying the Taoist thought of generation to generation and three living things. The ancestral hall of the Liang family was built in the reign of Emperor Guangxu, and its gray carving technique is outstanding. There are two side doors on both sides of the main entrance of the ancestral hall, namely "gedao" and "taimen". The brick carvings and paintings above the two doors have some characteristics. There is also an ancient ancestral hall not far from Mingyuan bridge, but the gate is locked and dilapidated. The plaque of the ancestral hall has been destroyed in the cultural revolution, and the courtyard is overgrown with weeds.

Liu's ancestral hall

It is a typical building of Guangfu ancestral hall. There are two doors on both sides of the main entrance of the ancestral hall. The brick carvings and paintings above the two doors have some characteristics. In the courtyard of the ancestral hall, two 50 year old frangipani trees exude a long fragrance.

bridge

Boats, rivers and bridges are the main landmarks of Fengjian village. The boat has declined, and the light boat is shallow. Although the river is still abundant, it reflects the new buildings on the bank. Only the ancient bridge solidifies the old history of Fengjian village. The river network of Fengjian village is like weaving, and the bridge plays a very important role in the transportation of the village. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 30 stone bridges in the village. Among them, the three stone arch bridges that best witness the prosperity of the water town market are Mingyuan bridge, Juji bridge and jin'ao bridge.

Mingyuan bridge was built in Baoqing period of Song Dynasty (about 1225 AD), with red sandstone structure. The total length is 25.1 meters and the top width is 4.6 meters. It is one of the earliest three hole stone bridges in the existing literature in China, with various patterns carved on the stone slab of the bridge railing, stone lions carved on both sides of the bridge column, and sloping stone steps on the bridge deck to facilitate carriage passage.

The bridge of Fengjian village is always located on the main traffic road in the village. It often intersects with the river in a cross shape, and forms a Polder market between the river and Mashi road. As the name suggests, "Gubu lane" along Juji bridge is the place for rice trading. A water port not far from Juji bridge is engraved with the inscription "Liang Jingyu is the main water port".

According to Xianfeng's Shunde county annals, Volume 5, jianzhilue Er market, there are four markets in fengjianbao Market: Juji, Mingyuan, Jinao and Sangshi This characteristic of taking bridge as the city is an important symbol of Lingnan water town. Construction of bridge in Fengjian Village

Chinese PinYin : Feng Jian Cun