Shuidong Village

Shuidong Village

Shuidong village belongs to Yaogu Town, Yuncheng district, Yunfu City, Guangdong Province. It is located at the intersection of National Highway 324, Yunfu and Zhaoqing, and on the Bank of Xinxing river. It has a flat terrain, covering an area of 45000 square meters and a population of more than 2660.

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

Brief introduction of Village Administration

Shuidong village is located at the intersection of Yunfu and Zhaoqing of National Highway 324, on the Bank of Xinxing River, with flat terrain, covering an area of 45000 square meters.

Historical sources

Shuidong village was first built in 1404 A.D. in the second year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty. In order to avoid the war, the ancestors of Cheng family moved from Henan to neighboring South, and then multiplied on the fertile land beside Xinxing river. They are all descendants of the famous families in the Central Plains. All the villagers take Cheng as their surname. Their ancestor is Cheng Hao, one of the two Cheng masters who founded Luoxue and Chengzhu Neo Confucianism in the Northern Song Dynasty. The Cheng family first lived in Anhui, then moved to Henan. When Cheng Hao's direct grandson moved from Henan to Lingnan in order to avoid war, Cheng Shaoming took song as his wife, It has been spread to 23 generations, with the names of "Xulun", "Duqing" and "jushun" respectively. The descendants of the Cheng family here, adhering to the family precepts of their ancestors, have built their hometown with hard-working hands. For more than 600 years, the villagers have lived a simple and harmonious life, and there have been a number of literati and military examiners in the past dynasties.

At that time, the founder of Shuidong village chose this place to build the village, mainly because he saw the Xinxing river flowing through it, which is in line with the characteristics of human beings' "choosing water to live"; secondly, it is the evaluation and selection of ecological environment, which is called "Fengshui". They chose the best of the best environment. Finally, they were selected as a foothold and planned to live for a long time. It is said that it is the so-called "Lotus land" in Fengshui. Therefore, villagers can build houses in any direction, thus forming today's unique ancient residential buildings. Although the seats of ancient dwellings are different, they do not break the rules. At the entrance of the village, the overhanging eaves and the ancient houses can be seen indistinctly, which are well arranged. At first glance, we can see that they were built in strict planning and according to the traditional requirements. Of course, the construction of the whole village was not accomplished overnight, but gradually completed over many years. However, no matter which family built houses in which era, they were built according to the standards and requirements set by their ancestors, and no one went beyond the Lei Chi.

There are small tile horse head wall with green brick, shrub corridor and embroidered Pavilion. In my dream, the water is fragrant and green, and the jade is banished to comfort Suzhou and Hangzhou. " Surrounded by mountains, the hundred year old banyan trees on the terrace in front of the village silently watch the simple square stone wells in front of them; the big pond with blue waves reflects the ancient buildings with blue brick roofs and mottled walls; the Qite "convex" shaped fire walls, which are scattered and well arranged, are telling the story of the village, just like the dignified elders holding their heads high The old story in the book. This is the ancient residential complex of Shuidong village, Yaogu Town, Yuncheng district, Yunfu City, which is regarded by experts as "the ancient village of Neo Confucianism, the hometown of Yunshan and water" and "the first village of Neo Confucianism in Lingnan".

cultural relics and historic sites

At present, there are 588 Ming and Qing Dynasty buildings in Shuidong village, including a temple built in Ming Dynasty (Ming Zheng Temple), three ancestral temples built in Ming Dynasty and 163 dwellings; six ancestral temples built in Qing Dynasty and 421 dwellings. It is a real "century old village". The ancient buildings of Ming and Qing Dynasties in the village tend to conform to the nature, and the layout reflects the ancient geomantic concept. According to the "eight trigrams" and the terrain, taking the middle lane of the village as the axis, the residential buildings of the whole village are divided into East and west parts, one side is sitting east facing west, the other side is sitting west facing east. The residential buildings are of brick and wood structure, the front eaves are mostly double eaves, the surface is three rooms wide, and the depth is one or two. The roof is covered with small green tiles, and some houses still have wind and fire buttresses. The beam frame of the house is a bucket structure, which is built in the form of "one building with three rooms". It has a patio and two side rooms. The masonry structure is very elegant. In addition to the exquisite carving of the wood structure of the external wall and tile eaves, the brick wall and interior architectural furnishings of most dwellings are also unique. Among these buildings, the most distinctive one is the nine ancestral temples built in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Among them, shou'an temple is the oldest. It was built in the late Ming Dynasty in memory of Cheng Yongai, the eighth ancestor of Cheng. It was named after the word "shou'an" for Cheng Yongai. Shouan temple is located in the center of the whole ancient architectural complex. The whole building is of brick and wood structure, which has a typical Huizhou architectural style. The two sides of the external wall are higher than the roof, while the two sides of the roof are curved to the air in a crescent shape. The interior and exterior of the house are decorated with stone carvings, wood carvings, brick carvings and grey sculptures. The main contents are various gods and beasts, folktales, and patterns of flowers and plants. There is also a blue brick house next to it, which is a school for the children of the clansmen and a place to admonish future generations to pay attention to cultural cultivation. Because of this school, the descendants of the Cheng family in this village mostly advocate culture and martial arts, and there have been many examples of culture and martial arts in the past dynasties.

An ancient building that can be called "ancestral cell phone" is a surprise. This is the well preserved great ancestral hall of the Cheng family. Built in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, it is the largest ancestral hall in Shuidong village and even in Yunfu City, covering an area of 1200 square meters. The whole ancestral hall is a two-way structure, with high beams and big columns, and magnificent momentum. The stone pillars and beams are all decorated with exquisite flowers, birds and animals. In front of Cheng's ancestral hall, a pair of small stone beasts are charmingly naive, as if ready to jump into the arms of visitors. Their exquisite sculpture skills are amazing. Entering from the side door, we were immediately attacked by a vigorous, vigorous and leafy luohansong tree on the right side of the ancestral hall patio. It was 380 years old. Someone wanted to buy it for a million yuan, but it was unanimously rejected by the villagers. They all said that it was the treasure of ancestral Hall left by their ancestors. It is said that this Luohan pine was introduced from abroad, and the villagers all think it is very precious. Now, every Spring Festival, the villagers will give this hundred year old pine a stick of incense when they worship the ancestral temple. In the front hall of Cheng's ancestral hall, the old-fashioned ceiling fans are hanging quietly, while the high pitched trumpets on the eaves of the main hall's green tiles and the wood inscription "serving the people" on the lintel of the stone pillars have the characteristics of the times. The main hall once worshipped Cheng's ancestral throne, but now it still retains the candlesticks and censers used at that time. These scenes, which have been guarding the ancient village for a hundred years, have faded away the glory of the past, but they can evoke people's endless imagination of the history of the ancient village Yunshan water village is an ancient village of Neo Confucianism. Since 2007, relevant experts began to pay attention to this unique ancient architectural complex of Ming and Qing Dynasties, many experts and scholars have come to inspect it. They believe that these scenes are of great value for research and tourism development. Their architectural models and concepts inherit the cultural origin of "Cheng Zhu Neo Confucianism" and integrate multiple cultural characteristics, positioning it as an "ancient village of Neo Confucianism", Yunshan is called "the first village of Neo Confucianism in Lingnan". From the visit, we can see that on the doorframes of ancestral halls and temples in ancient villages, there are still many couplets, such as "the spring breeze and Taoist appearance, the sound of Neo Confucianism", "the origin of zongluo water, the branches and leaves of Tonglin" and so on.

Celebrity stories

As a great master of Neo Confucianism and a descendant of Master Cheng, Shuidong villagers have been influenced by the culture of "Luoxue" and "Neo Confucianism"

He has always advocated the etiquette of poetry and calligraphy, and the cultivation of both culture and martial arts. During the period of the great revolution, the fire of the peasant movement ignited here and cultivated a revolutionary martyr, Cheng Hongcai. Cheng Hongcai's father, Cheng Dongchu, was born in Wuju of the former Qing Dynasty. He was not only a martial arts expert, but also the richest man with an ancient waist of ten li. He had five sons and four daughters, and Cheng Hongcai ranked third in his family. Because of his rich family, his father hired a famous scholar to teach him in his home's Bailu library. Cheng Hongcai was very intelligent when he was a child. He read holy books and ancient prose when he was a child, and practiced both civil and military skills. He has learned good shooting skills since he was a child. It is said that he can easily draw a gun from a hundred meters away and shoot a sand pot hanging on a branch. At the age of 24, influenced by the peasant movement in the surrounding areas, Cheng Hongcai resolutely betrayed his landlord family. Together with the majority of poor young and middle-aged peasants, he established a peasant association and a peasant self-defense army under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and served as chairman of the peasant association and leader of the peasant army in the second Shuidong District of Yunfu county. Under his leadership, the peasant movement in Shuidong was in full swing. However, due to the betrayal of the traitors, Cheng Hongcai was arrested on April 28, 1927, and was brutally killed by the reactionaries in yaoguyuangang that afternoon. He was only 25 years old when he was killed. After killing Cheng Hongcai, the reactionaries broke into Shuidong village and set fire to the Bailu library, Cheng Hongcai's ancestral house. As a result, the original secluded and elegant Bailu library now has only ruins. Later generations can only remember the heroic deeds of the martyrs in the oral narration of the villagers.

Address: Shuidong village, Liandu District, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province

Longitude: 119.959618

Latitude: 28.446192

Chinese PinYin : Shui Dong Cun