Dazhi Village

Dazhi Village

Located in the deep mountains and valleys of liangjiazhai Township, Yuxian County, Shanxi Province, Dashi village is an ancient and peaceful village. It has a history of more than 1500 years and is the oldest village in Yuxian County.

In January 2019, Dazhi village was selected as the seventh batch of famous historical and cultural villages in China.

Historical evolution

Dazhi village, named after the three waterfalls in the village, is engaged in farming and animal husbandry, which has been handed down from generation to generation. According to the historical origin of the village, the stone sculptures in the temple can be traced back to the Jin Dynasty.

The Dawang temple in Shilong Town, which was under the jurisdiction of Dawei village since ancient times, was first built in the time when Dawei village had written characters. In the past, the temple was built on a small hill on the east side of longtangwakou on the South Bank of the river 1.4km outside Dazhi village. The villagers called it "Zhenshan Dawang Temple" or "Shilong Temple". There are seven statues in the temple.

Among them, there is an inscription on the back of the king of Shilong Town, which is identified as "November 13, the second year of Cheng'an." The second year of Jin Chengan (1197) has a history of more than 800 years. However, due to the unclear inscriptions of the model year, "the second year of Cheng'an" is also identified as "the second year of Yong'an".

As early as the seventh year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (1802), it was recorded in the stele of Zhenshan King rebuilt in Shilong Temple: "Xiang Shi Wu Yang Guang was built in Yong'an at the age of two. How can the later people stay in the boundless. According to the theory of "the second year of Yong'an" in the Northern Wei Dynasty, that is, in 529 A.D., the construction of the temple was more than 600 years ago.

No matter "Cheng'an theory" or "Yong'an theory", it is the evidence of the ancient history of da'ai village.

Population nationality

At present, the village is a single village of Han's blood. It has a history of 250 to 300 years since Han Chongming moved from yuzaokou to the village. So far, the children of Han have been born to 15 generations. Therefore, the population change of Dazhi village has experienced a process from less to more and from less to less. After the population peak of 348 people in Dazhi village in the early 1980s, after the reform and opening up, contracted production to households, and intense urbanization, the population continued to flow for nearly 40 years. In 2019, there were 13 permanent residents in Dazhi village, with an average age of 70.

Village structure

The unique style of "three-dimensional blending" vernacular architecture in Dayi village of Yuxian County completely retains the ancient Yuxian tradition and folk customs, and embodies the perfect harmony between man and nature, man and mountain. There are only 17 people living in the village. The oldest is 86 years old and the youngest is 50 years old. The old people living here are full of calm, self-sufficiency and happiness every day, giving people a good impression of simplicity, leisure and being independent from the world. The ancient dwellings built in Dayi village, Yuxian County, are jokingly called "Potala Palace in the mountains of Yuxian County" by the local people. Most of the houses in the village are made of yellow clay and stone, and some of them are two-story buildings, which are characterized by economic benefits, warm in winter and cool in summer, beautiful appearance, and connected by curved and shallow alleys.

Modern development

During the Anti Japanese War, as the grain depot and ammunition depot of the Eighth Route Army, there was a fierce defense war. On the night of August 10, 1943, more than 300 Japanese puppet troops quietly entered the village to carry out inhuman massacres. More than 20 villagers were shot dead, more than 800 livestock and property were looted, more than 170 houses were burned, and the quiet village became a sea of blood and fire

In the 1950s, there were more than 80 households and 360 people in Dazhi. At that time, the village was a small society with schools and supply and marketing cooperatives. Just like today, an old man standing in his narrow, cold and shabby yard told him loudly, "when the yard was the most splendid, there were 24 people living in it, and seven rooms were full." It is said that there are two sets of opera troupes, one is the old people's North Road Bangzi, the other is the young people's Middle Road Bangzi.

Since the 1990s, affected by the flood disaster, the vast majority of villagers have sought their own way out and moved to other places. Only 17 elderly people are still in the village. The oldest is nearly 90 years old, and the youngest is more than 50 years old.

Source of income

There are no shops, no restaurants, no pharmacies, only dilapidated houses and scattered old people in the village. Perhaps the only entertainment is that in the summer evening, the old people gather under the big locust tree with their rice bowls to savor the past. Another reality is that the aging labor force can't bear the hard work in the mountains. Wild boars, roe deer, badgers, weasels and so on take the opportunity to invade and damage crops. Diseases and insect pests follow, and the output is greatly reduced. Originally, it could produce 15000 kg of walnuts, but now it can only produce a few hundred jin. Even a cement road built in 2006 in the village was destroyed in less than three years due to the impact of sand and stone in rainy days. They try their best to get the grain from the fields. They raise chickens and sheep. Selling sheep is one of their main sources of income. Killing sheep has become the most skilled skill of men. Lonely mountain, also because of the sheep, gave birth to a lot of fresh breath; because of the shepherd's occasional cry, broke the almost dust laden silence.

The pronunciation of Tai

Da Zhen's "zhe", a Chinese character with simple strokes, has never been seen in modern Chinese dictionaries. Only by opening Kangxi dictionary can we meet it. The dictionary says to read P ì n, but the local people read Chang, three tones, and some dialects read can, four tones. According to the people of Dazhi, mountains and waters are called "Ji", which means that water flows down from the mountain, which is what we call waterfall. Because there were three waterfalls at the entrance of the village, and the village was the largest waterfall, it was named "Dazhi".

Peculiar landscape

Four wonders of Dazhi Village

First, the houses are strange. The houses in Dazhi village are built on the mountain, layer upon layer, row upon row. The houses are made of stone. In addition to the bungalows, there are two and three storey buildings. The whole village is built on a stone slope, and the houses are made of stone. It is a real stone village. This village was built by the ancestors according to the geomantic omen theory of traditional Chinese environment. The whole village is surrounded by mountains, surrounded and closed, with Yin embracing Yang, wind gathering, eastward moving and westward closing, pine and cypress covering, and clear spring circling the village, which fully embodies the natural pattern of the unity of nature and man.

Second, the roads are strange. All the roads in Dazhi village are paved with stone slabs or stones. The villagers use local materials to pave the roads, which are integrated with the surrounding environment. The old people said that the roads and steps in the village were filed step by step on the rocks by the first people. When people walk in the mountain roads and alleys of Dazhi village, you will feel that it is clean and dust-free, and you will feel that it has a special taste.

Third, the big tree is strange. The village is built on a whole boulder mountain. It is difficult for trees to grow. However, there is a big locust tree at the entrance of the village. The trunk of three adults can't hold it together. The tree age is at least 500 years. Therefore, the people of the village are also called "thousand year old ancient tree village". It is a wonder that the ancient trees grow in the dry stone villa. According to the old people in the village, in those days, the Japanese came here to burn, kill and loot, and also burned several houses. The big locust tree at the entrance of the village was not spared. Now the ancient locust tree is still so luxuriant that it protects the villagers in the village.

The fourth is the stone Buddha. There are seven Buddha statues in Dazhi village, including stone and wood carvings. People in the village say that these seven Buddhas are "the great immortals of Shilong Town". What's more interesting is that if the largest stone Buddha is weighed at different times on the same day, the weight will be different and the difference is very big. This puzzle needs to be solved by relevant experts. Han Guoyin, director of the village committee, said, "before you eat, weigh the stone statue. When you come back after eating, the weight of the stone statue will be different. The difference is five or six Jin. It's really incomprehensible.". As early as the Northern Wei Dynasty, there was a family of seven people begging along the street and came to the place of Dazhi village. However, surprisingly, the family disappeared as soon as they entered the village. Later, people thought that the family became immortals here, so there were seven "Living Buddhas", and the villagers of Dazhi village took the seven stones Such as honorific as "the old man".

Potala Palace in the depth of Taihang Mountain

In the autumn of 2006, Mr. Cui Dadao, a famous local photographer, discovered the scenery here and recommended it to Professor Cui Manhong, a famous economist who is in charge of planning Hutuo River ecotourism area. Later, Professor Cui Manhong organized various experts to investigate and study the village for many times, wrote a large number of articles and publicized it through various media Dashi village has opened the veil of her mystery. The provincial Photographers Association has designated this place as a photography base, where many artists paint from life. There is an endless stream of tourists from all over the country.

On March 8, 2013, Yangquan radio and television station in Yangquan City, Shanxi Province held the premiere ceremony of the first high-definition five episode large-scale humanities documentary "Da Ji" after two years of elaborate production. The film was broadcast on CCTV-9 from March 27 to 31. This is the first Shanxi documentary broadcast by CCTV record channel since it started broadcasting in 2011. It is also the first large-scale documentary broadcast by Yangquan radio and television in CCTV.

Dashi is divided into five parts, which are Chinese new year, before and after Guyu, the story of summer and Guyu

Chinese PinYin : Da Pin Cun