People and places

Xiaoshan was founded in 2 A.D., and was called Yuji, which was changed to its present name in the first year of Tianbao of the Tang Dynasty (742 A.D.), and has been used until now. Xianghu Lake, which has a long and distinguished history, became famous earlier than the West Lake and is known for its beautiful scenery along with the water and mountains, and the river and lake. Adjacent to Xianghu Lake is the Yue Wang Cheng Mountain, where the story of King Goujian, the king of Yue, who tasted bile with his bare hands, is a household name and has been passed down through the ages. Xi Shi, one of the four great beauties of China during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, He Zhizhang, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, Ge Yunfei, a national hero, Cai Dongfan, a writer of historical dramas, Ren Bonian, a famous painter, and Tang Shouqian, a politician of the modern era, and other historical celebrities have left behind glorious chapters of Xiaoshan for thousands of years!

Adhering to the historical lineage, Xiaoshan people have formed a unique entrepreneurial culture, creating the "Xiaoshan Spirit" which is "running competitively and standing at the head of the tide". From the "spirit of poldering", to the "spirit of 4,000", which is the "spirit of going through thousands of mountains and rivers, enduring thousands of hardships, speaking thousands of words, and thinking of thousands of ways and means", Xiaoshan people have formed a unique entrepreneurial culture, creating the "Xiaoshan spirit", The "four robbing spirit" of "grabbing the first train, grabbing the tide fish, grabbing the boat against the wind, grabbing into the fast lane", "dare to compare with the strong, dare to fight with the brave, dare to climb to the high, dare to race with the fast". The spirit of Xiaoshan has different forms of manifestation in different historical periods, but all of them have the essential connotation of "running competitively and standing at the head of the tide". Nowadays, Xiaoshan people enrich and develop the Xiaoshan Spirit with the times, evolving it into a vivid practice of integrating into Hangzhou, building new Xiaoshan and leading new development, and it is becoming a powerful impetus to promote the construction of affluent and harmonious modernized Xiaoshan. This is the real Xiaoshan.

Customs and specialties

Dried Xiaoshan radish

When it comes to Xiaoshan, dried Xiaoshan radish has to be mentioned! How delicious is a dish of dried radish fried with bacon! Xiaoshan dried radish is produced in Xiaoshan City, Zhejiang Province, with the city's "a knife kind of" radish as raw material, its length is similar to the cleaver, a knife can be divided into two halves when processing and so named. It has the characteristics of bright yellow color, even strip shape, suitable salt and sweet, crispy and fluffy, and is a good product for breakfast. According to "The Complete Book of Chinese Native Specialties", Xiaoshan Dried Radish is "anti-inflammatory, anti-heat and appetizing, and is a delicacy for breakfast". The main production areas are distributed in Xiaoshan City, such as Kanshan, Ochishan, Xinwan, Yipeng, Guali, Chengbei and other towns.　

Dried radish is cylindrical, 4 to 5 centimeters in diameter, weighing about 150 grams, thicker skin white color, less water content. Processing method also uses wind dehydration method, knife cut into strips, each with a side skin, and then spread the sun, turning many times a day, thatching in the evening to prevent fog dip rain. Sun 2 ~ 3 days, soft touch, can be pickled. The radish strip in the container, put salt mix, rubbing, until the salt closed. Batches into the tank, layer by layer, two days later out of the tank, even thin spreading sunshine, turn over diligently. After three or four days and then add the right amount of salt mixing, layered altar, layer by layer compaction, cover the salt, sealing. Generally made after a week or so. The finished product is free of roots, spots, green head, bad strip, not bad over the years, the flavor does not dissipate. The product has more than 800 years of production history.

Xiaoshan Lace

Speaking of Xiaoshan, there is another specialty of Xiaoshan lace and Chinese cross-stitch! Xiaoshan lace, also known as ten thousand wisps of silk and ten thousand lis, was introduced into Xiaoshan Kanshan Town from Venice, Italy at the beginning of the twentieth century. After more than seventy years of development and innovation, it has developed from the original monotonous pattern to a wide range of products, including bedspreads, table blankets, curtains, sofa covers, seat cushions, corsages, embroidered shirts and so on, with more than 2,000 kinds of products, such as novelty of composition, elegant tone, variety of needles and superb skills, which have been exported to more than 50 countries and regions. The huge lace curtains of Zhejiang Hall of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, the lace curtains of Ningxia Hall and the "West Lake Panorama" in the VIP lounge of Hangzhou Airport are the representative masterpieces of Xiaoshan lace. Nowadays, handmade lace is a precious artwork!

Moldy dried vegetables of Xiaoshan

Another one is moldy dried vegetables of Xiaoshan, which is the traditional specialty of Yinong Town. Yinong Township (the original clip stove township) was originally part of Shaoxing County, so it has always been known as "Shaoxing moldy dried vegetables". This product is processed by the big leaf mustard, with rich aroma, beautiful taste and tender texture, unchanged for a long time, it is a kind of popular food for year-round consumption. "Dried vegetables stewed meat" for the folk traditional flavor of the famous dishes.

Xiaoshan prunes

Prunes are a specialty of Zhejiang. Xiaoshan, Cixi, Yuyao, Lanxi and other places are the production area of Yangmei, among which the Yangmei produced in the area of Dujia in Xiaoshan is the most famous. This kind of plum has large granules, 28 to 30 per 500 grams. The core is small, the meat column is round, and the flavor is fresh and sweet. They usually ripen about 5 days after the summer solstice. Xiaoshan prunes have a long history of cultivation, and there are more than forty varieties of early-colored, late-colored, white prunes and grass prunes. Yangmei has the characteristics of large fruit and small nucleus, juicy and sweet flavor. So it can be said that where in the world are the best prunes? The answer is of course Xiaoshan!

Three Yellow Chickens

The origin of Xiaoshan chicken is the cockfighting chickens kept in the palace of the state of Yue during the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Period, so it is also known as "Yue Chicken"; and because of its yellow beak, yellow feathers and yellow feet, it is also known as "Three Yellow Chickens". This chicken individual fat, tender meat, flavorful, fast growth in the early stage, disease resistance, foraging power and adaptability, is one of the country's eight excellent chicken species. The main places of origin are Guali, Yipeng, Chengbei and other places.

Southern Song Dynasty official kiln porcelain

Southern Song Dynasty official kiln, the first of the five famous kilns in the Song Dynasty. In 1276 AD, the destruction of the Southern Song Dynasty led to the destruction of the Southern Song official kilns together, the official kiln ware naturally became the last burial goods of the Southern Song Dynasty, disappeared in the long river of history. Chinese ceramic arts and crafts masters, national ceramics experts with outstanding contributions to Professor Ye Guozhen in order not to make the Southern Song official kilns on behalf of the Chinese celadon become "extinct", began in 1968, he started on the site of the Southern Song official kilns (Hangzhou Wugushan Southern Song porcelain kiln site) conducted a full investigation, in the long process of experimentation, before and after more than 2,000 times In the long process of experimentation, before and after more than 2,000 times of formula adjustment, more than a hundred times night and day trials, finally in 1978 successfully restored the Southern Song Dynasty official kiln porcelain, unveiled the mysterious veil of the Southern Song Dynasty official kiln production process.

Qianjiang Beer

Qianjiang Brewery produces Qianjiang Beer, which is made from real estate raw materials and quartz mineral water, and is brewed in open-air horizontal tanks and filled with a complete set of water equipment imported from West Germany. The color of the wine is yellowish and bright, and the taste of the wine is mellow and refreshing. "Qianjiang Beer" and "Qianjiang Qingquan Beer" have been awarded the title of excellent products of the ministry and the province, and "China Beer" has been exported to the United States.

Canned Brasenia schreberi

Brasenia schreberi is native to the south of the Yangtze River in China, and is most famous in Xianghu Lake, West Lake and Taihu Lake. But regardless of the quality of Brasenia schreberi, cultivation time and historical popularity, are first Xianghu Lake Brasenia schreberi. The Southern Song Dynasty's "Huiji Zhi" says: "The Brasenia schreberi of Xianghu Lake in Xiaoshan is a special treasure". After Hangzhou became famous for its "West Lake Brasenia schreberi soup", most of the Brasenia schreberi used in it came from Xianghu Lake. Brasenia schreberi made into canned food sold abroad also began in Xiaoshan.

Zhejiang Longjing Tea

Zhejiang Longjing Tea, comparable to the traditional tea "West Lake Longjing", is a rising star in the Zhejiang famous tea spectrum. Xiaoshan is the birthplace of Zhejiang Longjing tea and the main production area. The social value of Zhejiang Longjing tea in our city is more than its economic value. In the hospitality of friends and relatives or after celebratory banquets, such as can drink a cup of "color, aroma, taste, shape" are good Longjing tea, can add a cordial and warm atmosphere!

Xiaoshan customs

Xiaoshan ancient Shaoxing, so a lot of customs and Shaoxing the same, Xiaoshan and belongs to the Wu-Yue cultural area, so in this area of Jiangnan a lot of customs are similar, many customs, and a lot of customs in the rural areas, it is difficult to enumerate, and here to introduce some of the customs of Xiaoshan.

Linpu Horse Lantern

Linpu Town, a village of horizontal dragon horse lantern show originated in the Spring Festival in 1945, continues to this day. Almost everyone in the village participates in the dragon and horse lantern show. Nowadays, this amateur dragon and horse lantern performance team makes frequent appearances in various large-scale cultural activities held in Xiaoshan, such as in this year's Lantern Festival activities as well as the just-concluded Dangshan Temple Fair. The relevant person in charge of the District Culture, Radio, Television, Press and Publication Bureau said, a village has such a deep cultural heritage, very rare. Burning locusts

In successive generations of "Xiaoshan County Records", where the Lantern Festival, almost all the customary record of lights and colors. In fact, in the northern sand, the Lantern Festival has never been the custom of lights; its unique festivities like burning locusts, receiving the purple aunt, eat vegetables fried rice cakes. The first thing I'd like to talk about is the burning of the locusts.

The so-called burning locusts, is the night of the fourteenth day of the first month, burning pond reeds, burning thatch on the ridge, or to the family's hemp stalks, straw, etc. tie a torch, running in the field while burning, and shouting: "Wow ho -! Wah-ho-ho--! Wow ho ho ho ho ho ho ho--!" So gleefully set fire to the grass, it is said that in order to burn the eggs of the insects, in order to omen a good year, so it is called burning locusts.

Burning locusts are mostly young boys, young men, older ones such as thirty or forty years old men are less. No one organized, no one mobilized, at best, excited children in the daytime to urge each other, encouragement, and to the time when the sky will be dark, the vast sandy plains, there have been starry torches, fires lit up, "wow ho ho ho" roar gradually sounded, and then more and more fire, shouting more and more loud. In the blink of an eye, the land is already flowing torches. Burning locust firewood, mainly the pond ridge side of those leftover reeds, thatch. Whoever goes out late, it is not the turn to burn the leftover reeds and thatch, then spend a little bit of their own firewood. Some children in order to make the torch flame-resistant some, it is bound two or three bamboo tips, and even doused with kerosene diesel fuel, so that you can hold up the torch, in the wheat field shouting and running to their heart's content.

Sandy years of burning locusts in the activities, I have never heard of a home so fire. Perhaps because of the sandy people more grass house, even if the children, burning locusts but more attention to the fire hazard. Occasionally, I heard someone cursing, it is just a naughty child burned his straw pile or took away his bundles of hemp stalks, but it seems to burn locusts should be, no one will sympathize with his scolding.

The burning of locusts can become a festival custom, and the history of sandy locust plague is inseparable. Historical records of the 1929 Xiaoshan plague of locusts, also occurred in the sand. Locusts, shaped like grasshoppers with big heads and developed hind limbs, are good at jumping and flying. It feeds on graminaceous plants, and its hard mouthparts can eat the whole cotton and corn plants to a bare pole. They also have the habit of living in groups, and very strong fertility, the dry season, the spread is particularly rapid, often black and a piece of the sky covered flight, wherever they go, a large area of crops suffered destruction. In the past, there was no pesticide treatment of insects, the only way is to use artificial capture. The locust is a short and curved ovipositor tube chiseling the soil to lay eggs, and the eggs are laid in pieces in the roots of crops, we get rid of the ovipositor nests is the main way to use fire. At the Lantern Festival, the activities of the Spring Festival came to an end, and the spring plowing production was about to start. Burning locusts as a content of the Lantern Festival, naturally, not forgetting the plague of locusts, agriculture-based intent.

The old county records are all clouded: "the people of the east earth more simple and simple or lose the trivial, the people of the west earth more bedding rituals and or lose the false text." As Xiao Dongshan east of the sand, burning locusts or because of trivial and disdain for the book writers, in fact, it fully reveals the people's livelihood is closely related to the "simplicity"; in contrast, the lanterns of the west is really a little bit of a loss of the "false text". Sandy boat

Sandy plains, rivers such as the network, the past transportation also rely mainly on boats.

Over the centuries, Sandy's boats are more varied and have many names. In terms of river, there are inland waterways, river boats; in terms of load, there are small boats, large boats, six-ton boats, ten-ton boats, etc.; in terms of canopy, there are crow's nest boats, white pontoon boats, full-top boats, single-top boats, part of the mouth of the boat, etc.; to power wheel, there are rowing, sculling boats, cattle tugs, don't stick boat, wind canopy boat, hanging paddle boat, wheel towing, and so on. The same "sculling boat", but also due to different uses and have different names, such as port boat, sailboat, fast boat, fast class boat, mud pumping boat, ash boat, cormorant boat, graveyard boat and so on. Here, the selection of the more distinctive types of boats are introduced as follows.

Cow trawler

Before the 1950s, the sandy rivers and beaches, but both sides of the powder is the same as the sandy soil, in case of rain, the mud and sand will flow, the river bay silt, a sunny day, a slightly larger ship will not be able to pass. So the oxen dragged the boat became the most common way of water transportation.

The cow trawler is a group of boats with a buffalo dragging several small boats (usually 6). One person sits on the bow of the front, holding a whip to direct the buffalo; another person holding a pole, walking back and forth in the back of the boat, ready to correct the boat group, so as not to run aground. Cattle tugboat boat, the style is unified, roughly one zhang long, five feet wide, shallow hull, the surface is straight, just like the general boat chopped off the head and tail, leaving only the middle of a cabin section. This is very much like some of the past Shaoxing ferry knead ferry, because there is no special ferry, pedestrians boarded the boat, you need to pull the ropes hanging on both sides of the transition, in order to be smooth and do not capsize, the hull is almost all square. Cattle tugboat made this shape, the same purpose. Because of the small hull, shallow draft, not much weight, cattle trawler transportation is mainly agricultural tools, food, altar pickles, as well as miscellaneous household goods, in short, some of the lighter pan of the goods. This kind of boat, can only be connected in bunches, with cattle drag, single just can not be long mileage support line, rowing sailing, so it is also the cattle trawler's special boat.

Buffalo dragging this string of boats is bound to be laborious, its feet must be stepped on the bottom of the river to use the force, so in the river is generally thinned out, widened in the 1960s and 1970s, the cattle trawler is generally in the back of the cattle exposed to the water along the near shore walk. Since buffalo can swim short distances, when it comes to deeper sections of the river, such as the mouth of the Cross River, the ox-dragger can cross it peacefully. Boat to the end of the boat, the boat owner's first task is to unload the yoke of oxen, cattle on board, and feed to oil cake, corn and other concentrate feed; such as winter, but also in the feed with some soju, in order to get rid of the cold and warm body. With the dredging of the Sandy River and the emergence of wheeled towing, cattle tugboats gradually rare. By the mid-1970s, it had completely disappeared.

Don't pole boat

Don't pole boat, is another more common boating method in the era of cattle trawler. No sculls, no oars, no fiber, but with a pole "don't". The method is to "pole old man" inserted in the stern, people on the shore to hold the pole tip to promote, the boat is forward. Don't pole, are as long as possible, and the lower part is not very thick bamboo. Because of the need for the other pole boat, the stern of the sandy boat is different from other places. When building the boat, are deliberately extending the stern more than a foot, forming a hollow inverted triangle, inverted triangle on both sides of the nail to the thick board, pole from the triangle hole inserted, don't hold the thick board. The customary, even after the general use of sculls, the stern is still this style, only a small rowing boat is the exception. Don't pole boat rowing, the bow is always slightly to the inside, the stern is biased towards the center of the bay, so that can eat the water, don't hold the boat. The shore of the pushers although the hands of the pole, but all will be the pole tip against the chest, leaning over the body to push, so as to use the force.

Port boat

A port boat is a daytime boat used to carry passengers and cargo. It starts from A in the morning, stops at a few ports along the way, picks up and drops off some passengers and cargo, and finally arrives at the end of the line and returns to A on the same day.

Neighboring Shaoxing's Gua Li town, was once the center of radiation Shadi's trade center, Shadi to Gua Li from all parts of the many ports of boat, almost every size of the market town have a. Some of them are not even talk about the market town, but just early in the morning. Some can not talk about the town, just some vegetable vendors in the morning place, there is also a port boat. Port boat have three cabins, each cabin are set canopy, people in the cabin can not stand upright, which is also known as the "full canopy boat". Canopy made of bamboo, sandwiched in the middle of Ruo shell, semi-circular, and with anthracite and tung oil painted black, S into the "canopy", but usually only called the port boat and not called the canopy boat.

Port boat passengers in the front cabin, the cabin passengers and cargo, the back cabin for the boatman to make a bed to cook place. Front and center cabin on both sides, are shelved with a whole row of sitting board for guests to sit. In the early days, the port boat is mostly supported by other poles. After the dredging of the river, it is a double yawl rocking, plus one or two people pulling the fiber. Often written on the canopy are the words "×× to Gua Li", as well as the names of a number of places on the way to stop. There was an approximate time of departure, docking and arrival. When the boat is about to start or dock, the boatman will take out a small gong, "tang, tang, tang" and knock a round to greet the guests on and off the boat; some blow the conch, and the sound of the wooo sound carries far away; there are also playing the tin horn, and the sound is hoarse and difficult to listen to. 70's onwards, most of the port boats use wheeled trawlers, with one wheeled boat in front and one or two wooden boats carrying passengers and cargo in the rear. In the 80's, tractors and automobiles came into the sand in large numbers, and the port boats disappeared.

Sailing ship

Sailing ship, as opposed to the port boat is a kind of loading passenger ship, because it is a night voyage, also known as "night boat". Its sailing distance is relatively far, the destination is Shaoxing. It was the equivalent of a long-distance shuttle bus.

Compared with the port ship, the ship is much larger, usually about 40 tons of large ships. But they were fewer in number and only found in larger towns. The boat is also covered with a canopy, "full canopy boat". The flight time is always in the evening from a certain market town in Shadi, and arrives in Shaoxing at dawn the next day. Two boats are often used to sail back and forth. The main cargo, fewer passengers, usually do not stop in the middle.

The reason why the sand boats take Shaoxing as their destination is that it is easier to get to Shaoxing from the eastern part of the sand. Most of the sand boats are in the eastern part of the area, where once you pass Guali is the Shaoxing water town with a wide river. Secondly, Xiaoshan was historically a prefecture of Shaoxing Prefecture until 1959, when it came under Hangzhou. Shaoxing is both the historical prefecture in the minds of Shadizi people and the most prosperous city nearby, with a trade and commerce that Xiaoshan county can't match. And if you go to Hangzhou, the Qiantang River is like a moat, and it is extremely inconvenient for ships to cross the river.

Fast boat

Fast boat is also a kind of passenger and cargo transportation day boat. However, unlike port boats, it generally does not stop in the middle, or only stop at one or two major ports, equivalent to the current "direct bus" or "direct fast train".

Fast boats are smaller than port boats. Full canopy, back fiber, double sculls mostly. In order to speed up, some use three sculls. Where the three sculls, the center of a scull, both rudder, scull two functions. In order to avoid touching the two sculls on the side, this scull is almost upright, commonly known as "dig ass scull". When rowing, three people wrenching push pitching, interspersed with the beat, very rhythmic, the stern splash, clattering sound, the speed of the boat is very fast, the back of the fiber often as a small jog. Three yawl boat rudder, are inserted inverted in the stern towards the sky, purple rudder written with "× × to Gua Li" words. The price of transportation is slightly more expensive than that of a port boat. Funeral rites: small convergence

"Xiaoshan ask customary records. Funeral rites": "convergence, the person first died, parked in bed, the funeral family kneeling and crying ...... After the sacrifice, is the face of the west in the hall. At night, monks or Taoist priests come to the door, each doing their own thing, either hired by the funeral home or given by relatives, cymbals, bells and drums, and then in the morning, the intention is to dissipate the depression of the gas also. Such or one night, three nights, five nights, to seven nights, depending on the wealth of the family, the time of the cold and temperature, about when the big convergence, then when the day has been ear. And the order of the door family with the day and time to converge. The convergence also, or cloth or silk, all must be a full set, not the slightest confusion. When they were about to be converged, one or two of their relatives would take a bath and put on underwear for them. Each of the relatives combed their hair three times, then added the outer clothes and put them on in order, surrounded them with a coverlet until the auspicious time, and then converged (the great convergence)." Xiao Yi folk language characteristics of the Dragon Boat Temple Fair

East Han Dynasty Shangyu Caojia Fort has a woman named Cao E, the mother of the Department of Xiaoshan Jinjiabang village people. Her father, Cao Xu, fell into the water and died during the Dragon Boat Festival in the second year of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when he was sacrificing Wu Zixu in Shunjiang River. Cao E searched for her father along the river for 17 days and nights without success, and jumped into the river on the 22nd day of the 5th lunar month to look for him. Legend has it that she carried her father's body on her back and floated out of the water five days later. Her filial piety touched the township, and a temple was built to worship Cao E, which was recognized as a filial daughter. Xiaoshan Jinjiabang for his grandmother's home, out of the granddaughter of the filial piety of the respect, in the lunar calendar every year on the 22nd day of the 5th month of the Cao E cast the river is, paddle a dragon boat to commemorate her, the formation of a unique Xiaoyi folklore characteristics of the Dragon Boat Temple Fair. The Dragon Boat Temple Fair lasts for three days, culminating on the 22nd day of the 5th lunar month.