Cave dwelling

Qingyang is located in the typical loess plateau of Eastern Gansu. The local residents have completely preserved the traditional living form of loess caves, which has become an important part of today's Qingyang Folk Tour. According to the general annals of Gansu Province, Qingyang people are "good at farming and doing their own work, with the legacy of the former king. They live in Taofu cave, and use raccoon dogs as fur to keep out the cold.". These are the two different forms of caves excavated by ancient Zhou people according to different geographical conditions. Today, this ancient form of settlement can be seen everywhere in Qingyang. People rely on the slope of the cliff to dig holes and build rooms, which is called "Yazhuang"; from the surface of the plateau, they dig a square pit two or three feet deep, and then dig a cave in the four walls, which is like an underground courtyard, which is called "dikengzhuang". This unique settlement and people's way of life has its own beauty. There is a poem praising that a gentleman from afar comes to this villa. He doesn't laugh at the earth kiln. Although it's not immortal cave, it's lovely, warm in winter and cool in summer.

Cave dwelling

Cave is the product of the Loess Plateau, is a unique form of dwellings, with a strong folk customs and local flavor. The Xifeng loess, like the whole loess plateau, is an aeolian soil like deposit formed in the late Pleistocene of the Quaternary in the geological age, which is 1.2 million years ago. The thickness of loess layer is generally 50 to 100 meters, and the thickest part can reach 200 meters. Because of the deep loess layer and dense soil, it is very suitable for digging holes and building kilns, and is not easy to collapse for hundreds to thousands of years. For thousands of years, cave dwelling has been an important residence for Xifeng people.

explain

The kiln custom is "hole", which is the same as exergy. Acupoints and scents are synonymous. "The stove for firing pottery is commonly used as a kiln," he said Kiln from cave, cave, earth room also, its meaning is the same as "". It is recorded in Shuowen of the Eastern Han Dynasty that the kiln is called "earth hole" in the north, which is used as earth chamber and cave. That is to say, in the early struggle with nature, in order to survive, the ancestors lived in caves and holes formed naturally. With the development of productive forces, inspired by the pottery kilns, they transformed and utilized them, and then became people's living houses, that is, the so-called "earth chamber and earth house", that is, the early caves.

classification

There are many types of caves, but there are basically three types according to the major categories

One is the Ming Village cave. It is also called Yazhuang kiln. It is generally in the mountain, the edge of the use of cliff potential, first cut the cliff surface, and then repair the village to dig caves, there are three kilns and five kilns in a village, there are more than five kilns. On Dong Zhiyuan, there are also those who use Hutong village. Because the cliff is not high, they have to dig a few meters and then dig a cave. They often form a village with three sides high and one side low. This kind of village is called half light and half dark village.

The second is the sunken cave. This kind of cave was built on the plateau. First, dig a large rectangular pit on the flat ground, generally 5 to 8 meters deep, cut the four sides of the pit into a cliff surface, and then dig caves on the four sides of the cliff. And a long ramp or inclined hole is built on one side, which leads directly to the tableland as a sidewalk. In fact, this kind of cave is a basement, which is warm in winter and cool in summer.

Third, hoop kiln. Hoop kilns are usually built with adobe and wheat straw yellow mud to form foundation wall and arch the top of the kiln. The top of the kiln is filled with soil in a double-sided slope shape. From a distance you can see the elephant room, but from a closer view you can see the kiln. Many people also spread tiles on the hoop kiln to protect the top of the kiln from rain and prolong the life of the hoop kiln. In recent years, there have been brick hoop kilns, which are more durable than clay hoop kilns.

There are still many caves broken down according to their uses. For example, in order to guard against theft, a small kiln named Gao kiln was built on the front kiln; a small kiln named Guai kiln was built on one side of the kiln to hide things; if the kiln was small, a small kiln called Kang kiln was dug in the place of Pan Kang; in order to avoid the war, a long deep hole called diyinzi was dug near the village. Because of different uses, the names of the caves in the courtyard are also different, such as guest house kiln, kitchen kiln, stockyard kiln, firewood kiln, grain kiln, well kiln, mill kiln, car kiln and so on.

For thousands of years, people in Qingyang have lived in caves and regarded them as their protective deities. Cave represents wealth and civilization. In the 1960s, several Japanese experts came to Longdong Loess Plateau for investigation and were attracted by the ancient loess caves here. They said with emotion: "in addition to rich cultural heritage, these caves are also ideal places for health care. Because the air in the earth kiln is humid, the humidity is pleasant, and there is little change throughout the year; besides, the air is fresh, and there is no environmental pollution; what's more, it can defend against the invasion of radioactive elements, which is really a great place for health and longevity. ".

Cave is the cradle of farmers' life. It has played an extremely important role in the reproduction of the people on the Loess Plateau.

significance

Cave dwelling is an important cultural heritage of the Chinese nation, a great creation of Chinese architectural technology, and a "living fossil" of human living history. Xifeng is the representative of Qingyang cave dwelling culture because of its geographical environment.

Qingyang is located in the typical loess plateau of Eastern Gansu. The local residents have completely preserved the traditional living form of loess caves, which has become an important part of today's Qingyang Folk Tour.

According to the general annals of Gansu Province, Qingyang people are "good at farming and doing their own work, with the legacy of the former king. They live in Taofu cave, and use raccoon dogs as fur to keep out the cold.". These are the two different forms of caves excavated by ancient Zhou people according to different geographical conditions.

Today, this ancient form of settlement can be seen everywhere in Qingyang. People rely on the slope of the cliff to dig holes and build rooms, which is called "Yazhuang"; from the surface of the plateau, they dig a square pit two or three feet deep, and then dig a hole in the four walls, which is like an underground courtyard, which is called "dikengzhuang". This unique settlement and people's way of life has its own beauty.

There is a poem praising that a gentleman from afar comes to this villa. He doesn't laugh at the earth kiln. Although it's not immortal cave, it's lovely, warm in winter and cool in summer.

Culture

The Loess Plateau in Eastern Gansu is the deepest loess area in the world. Dong Zhiyuan, known as the first loess area in the world, is the place with the largest number of dwellings and densest caves. There are many villages and caves in this area. They are like the cave God's mansion hanging in the clouds, like the pearls inlaid on the Loess Plateau.

Xuanyuan emperor, the ancestor of human culture, left the tomb of clothes and the cave of Xuanyuan; Qibo, the sage of medicine of the motherland, left the cave of Laodong and Yaowang; more than 10 generations of the ancestors of Zhou started business here, opened up farming, and left the historical traces of "Taofu taoxue". As a residence, cave dwelling has been handed down for thousands of years from ancient times. Up to now, Qingyang people still live in cave dwelling, which is a famous hometown of cave dwelling in China. In history, there were cave dwellings, cave temples, cave organs, cave inns, cave post stations, cave schools, cave shops, cave warehouses, etc. even shadow plays and small-scale artistic performances were held in caves. People's families live in caves, and the new houses for men and women to get married are arranged in caves, so Qingyang people call marriage "entering the cave". When people die, they have to dig a crypt on the ground, dig a small cave in the crypt, or tie a small kiln with bricks, and then place the coffin in the underground cave. Qingyang people have formed an indissoluble bond with caves from birth to death.

The history of cave dwellings can be traced back to at least 4000 years ago, which is closely related to loess. As far back as the ancestors of Zhou Dynasty, Tuyao caves were all over the valley. The book of songs is called "Tao Fu Tao Xue". Taoxue is a sunken dikeng village, and Fuxue is a semi open cave house. In the Western Han Dynasty, with the development of cave modeling, the interior design was more suitable for people to live in, such as smoke cave, stove and so on. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the types of caves increased, and the roles of each cave had a clear division of labor. Each cave was divided into guest house kiln, kitchen kiln, livestock kiln, and so on. Xiuyaozhuang is generally in the shape of a mountain. It is dry to avoid dampness, high to avoid low, and sunny to avoid shade, which greatly improves cave houses. Since then, hundreds and thousands of cave villages have appeared. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, cave dwellings developed towards the goal of safety and civilization, and small castles appeared on Dayuan. A group of caves or underground yards are surrounded by high earth walls to defend against the shortage of soldiers and thieves. The masses call these buildings baozi, with city gates, tall buildings and tunnels leading to the outside world. During the period of the Republic of China, cave cities appeared. According to local chronicles, there were 162 houses and 296 caves in the old city of Heshui County in 1947. In the early 1950s, there were 404 buildings and 429 caves in Chengdong and Xiguan of Zhengning county. Qingyang City is located in Xifeng City. In the Qing Dynasty, there were thousands of caves in the city, of which dikengyuan accounted for more than 60%. During the period of the Republic of China, there were also 1992 caves in Xifeng City, accounting for 70% of the total number of residential quarters.

With the development of society and the increase of population, people came out of the cave and began to build buildings sporadically, so the houses began to change. After the founding of new China, with the improvement of people's living standards, the number of houses with soil, wood and brick structure gradually increased, and small towns with houses or buildings constantly appeared, but the majority of rural farmers still live in caves. According to the investigation in the late 1980s, the earth cave in the rural areas of the city still accounts for more than 70% of the residential buildings.

Over the past four thousand years, despite the ups and downs, great changes, a number of old caves collapsed in the wind and rain, a number of new caves were born in life, but Qingyang people, like the stars in the sky, never left the moon, never left the caves. Like their parents, brothers and sisters, they love caves and are infatuated with them.

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Chinese PinYin : Yao Dong Min Ju