Fengtu Yicang

Fengtu Yicang

The granary is a kind of social custom in the old time. It has existed in Sui and Tang Dynasties. Fengtu Yicang is located in nanzhaizi village, Chaoyi Town, 17 kilometers east of Dali County, Shaanxi Province. In 1882 (the eighth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty), Yan Jingming, a Bachelor of Dongge University, proposed to build a private granary, which took four years to complete. Empress Dowager Cixi once granted this storehouse "the first storehouse in the world" and gave the words "tiger" and "dragon" on the top of the storehouse. Fengtu Yicang and Suzhou's "Fengbei Yicang" paid equal attention for a time and became famous all over the country.

At the 2018 China Yellow River Tourism Conference, it was rated as "50 scenes of China's Yellow River".

On December 14, 2019, it was identified as a national 4A scenic spot by Shaanxi tourism resources development and management evaluation committee.

brief introduction

Fengtu Yicang, a private warehouse, was built in 1882 (the eighth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of Qing Dynasty). It is located in Chaoyi Town, Dali County, Shaanxi Province (Chaoyi county was abolished in 1958 due to the construction of Sanmenxia Reservoir and merged into Dali County). It is one of the few large granaries of Qing Dynasty in China.

The warehouse was built by Yan Jingming, a famous financier and Prime Minister of the Qing Dynasty. It took four years to build. It was put into use in 1886 (the 12th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty) and began to store grain. It was approved by Empress Dowager Cixi as "the first warehouse in the world".

After liberation, it has been used by Chaoyi grain station in Dali County. In 2006, the State Council approved it as a state key cultural relics protection unit. No matter from the scale of warehouse construction, or from the history of grain storage, or from the aspect of ancient warehouse present use, they are worthy of the title of "the first warehouse in the world".

Design soul

The architectural charm of integration of storehouse and wall

Overlooking Fengtu Yicang, Cangcheng stands on the old cliff on the West Bank of the Yellow River, with dangerous terrain. The architectural pattern of Fengtu Yicang is city in city, divided into inner city and outer city. The outer city is the first line of defense of Yicang. Due to the disrepair for a long time, the outer city wall has been in decline. The inner city is built in the form of warehouse and wall, which has dual functions of defense and storage. There are 58 caverns in the wall, and there are warehouses in the wall, which are arranged at intervals; there are brick and tile structure eaves in the wall, which are supported by wooden columns and connected with each other, forming a circular corridor. The eaves can not only prevent rain and moisture, but also temporarily store grain for drying.

Cangcheng is 133 meters long from east to west, 83 meters wide from north to south, and 4 meters wide. Crenels are built on the walls. The guards can patrol the city walls. Cangcheng opened two doors, named dongcangmen and xicangmen. There are a pair of stone lions in front of the East and West storehouses, and the big characters of "Fengtu Yicang" in regular script are embedded above the storehouses.

The warehouse is brick kiln type, which plays a unique role in the fire prevention, anti-theft and anti invasion of granary. Each bin has a depth of 11 meters, a width of 4 meters and a grain storage capacity of more than 90 tons, with a total grain storage capacity of 5220 tons. The warehouse floor is paved with pine planks, 40 cm below the ground. There are four exhaust holes around the wall under the planks, which are conducive to air circulation and moisture discharge. Because of its small and independent shape, this kind of warehouse is convenient for the storage and management of rice, wheat, beans, grains and other grains according to the type, dry and wet classification.

Amazing waterproof design

The design of Fengtu granary is simple and scientific, and the design concept is worthy of reference for modern architectural engineering. The top surface of the wall is paved with green bricks. The structure of high around and low in the middle is adopted. The rainwater is collected in the middle part skillfully, and then discharged into the courtyard by the sink to avoid water accumulation, seepage or erosion of the wall caused by scattered rainwater. The yard is also high around and low in the middle, so the water can be drained out of the wall quickly. Every rainy day, from the warehouse wall to the courtyard, the drainage is smooth and smooth, and the courtyard is dry when the rain stops.

Fengtu Yicang has been used for hundreds of years. There are few cracks in the wall and foundation, and the grain is not easy to mildew and grow insects. It is directly related to its scientific architectural design and complete drainage system.

Traditional insecticidal methods

The delicate design of the warehouse is convenient for air circulation and moisture discharge, but the common pests of wheat will still erode the grain storage in the warehouse city every spring and summer, so pest prevention is particularly important. Fengtu Yicang uses the traditional fumigation method of aluminum phosphide tablets to control pests. Aluminum phosphide takes a long time to exert its efficacy, so it is most suitable for grain and commodities with long storage period. Aluminum phosphide can absorb the moisture in the air and decompose to produce phosphine gas, so as to achieve the purpose of fumigation and killing pests and mites. Phosphine gas is highly toxic to people and animals, so before fumigating the warehouse, the staff should wear gas masks for operation.

According to the proportion of 5-10 pieces per ton of grain, Zhang Yongning and others first packed the aluminum phosphide tablets with tough hemp paper, tied the hemp rope, and then placed them in the corner of the warehouse to let them volatilize. At the end of the work of putting tablets into the warehouse, the staff also need to seal the gaps between the doors and windows of the warehouse. The staff pasted the cotton strips soaked in paste one by one on the gaps between the doors and windows to prevent the volatile phosphine from dispersing. According to the staff, each fumigation lasts for about one week. After the fumigation, the warehouse should be opened to dry freely, and the residual phosphine gas should be volatilized thoroughly to ensure food safety. Phosphine gas is very easy to diffuse in the air. After fumigation, the warehouse can disperse in 24 ~ 28 hours, which does not affect the color, taste and food hygiene of grain. The germination rate of fumigated seeds was not affected within the prescribed dose and airtight days.

Preserving cultural relics with grain

The wall of Fengtu Yicang is about 1 meter thick. The wide and heavy brick wall keeps the relative constant temperature of 17.8 ℃ throughout the year, meeting the requirements of "three low" storage conditions of low temperature, low humidity and low oxygen. With the modernization of grain storage conditions, Fengtu Yicang, which has gone through more than a hundred years, is a little backward among the 15 grain reserves in Dali County. With the reform of grain marketization, Fengtu Yicang is facing the dilemma of no grain to store. At the end of 2005, the grain station of Chaoyi town responded to the call of the state, reduced its staff according to its own situation, increased efficiency, and adopted various forms of diversion of personnel; the original more than 30 employees bought out their working years, and terminated the labor relationship with the grain station, and the once famous Fengtu Yicang was suddenly deserted.

Zhang Jianjun, deputy director of the grain station, said that Chaoyi grain station still stores 10 million jin of national grain reserves and 5 million jin of commodity grain turnover, and the re employed eight staff members of the grain station shoulder the heavy responsibility of taking care of grain storage. The National Grain Reserve should store the stored grain in Fengtu Yicang, which is due to the achievements and historical significance of Fengtu Yicang for more than 100 years. In order to protect this precious cultural relic, the State Grain Reserve specially allocated reserves, hoping that the annual storage fee can actively maintain and protect Fengtu Yicang. In June 2006, the State Council announced the Sixth Batch of national key cultural relics protection list, and Dali Fengtu Yicang was on the list. Fengtu Yicang has become a national key cultural relics protection from the provincial cultural relics protection, and the protection work has also been improved.

Historical evolution

Fengtu Yicang is located in yangshengbao (nanzhaizi) village, Chaoyi Town, Dali County. It stands on the old cliff on the West Bank of the Yellow River. It is a private warehouse for grain storage, covering an area of more than 20 mu. The outer city is built outside the warehouse, 7.7 meters high, with a gate in the West and a small gate in the East. Outside the city, digging trenches is as solid as gold. The warehouse is like an ancient military castle with strict walls and vicissitudes. It is 14.89 meters high, 133 meters long from east to west and 83 meters wide from north to south. The wall of the storehouse is surrounded by big bricks. The East and West storehouses are opened in the south of the cave. On the central screen wall, there are four big stone inscriptions of "Fengtu Yicang".

In 1877 (the third year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty), there was a severe drought in Guanzhong, which caused many people to starve to death. In 1882 (the eighth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), it was proposed by Yan Jingming, a scholar of Dongge University, Secretary of the Ministry of household affairs and Minister of military aircraft. It was completed in 1885 (the eleventh year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), with more than 30000 taels of silver. After completion, detailed drawings were drawn and reported to the imperial court. Empress Dowager Cixi Zhu approved it as "the first warehouse in the world". More than ten years after the warehouse was built, it met the great disaster in Guanzhong in 1900 (the 26th year of Emperor Guangxu) Yan Jingming was honored as the "Prime Minister of saving time".

Fengtu granary is a model project of ancient granary in China. It is also the only ancient granary still in use in China. Since its establishment, the warehouse has been used as a grain station, which is Chaoyi grain station in Dali County. With the change of dynasties, many influential figures have turned into clouds, and Fengtu Yicang is still immortal.

Culture

Storage culture

China's warehousing culture has a long history. In good years, it stores warehouses and stores grain, and in disaster years, it opens warehouses to provide relief to the people. Yicang, also known as shecang, is a public granary built by the people. In 585 ad, Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty, adopted the advice of his ministers and set up a granary for the first time. The official storehouse can prevent major disasters, and the private storehouse can prevent minor disasters. The granary is located in the countryside, which is not managed by the state officials. It is convenient to open the granary. In case of famine, the granary can be opened at any time for local relief.

Fengtu Yicang in Chaoyi town of Dali not only has precious cultural value, but also is still in use after more than 100 years of wind and rain. In 1958, the state built Sanmenxia Hydropower Station and implemented the resettlement project. The old Chaoyi county where Fengtu Yicang is located was merged into Dali County, Shaanxi Province. Chaoyi became an ancient town of Dali, and Fengtu Yicang was changed into Chaoyi grain station, becoming an important grain storage base.

Chinese PinYin : Feng Tu Yi Cang