Before going, I decided to shoot Shidetang, Chongqing Di, Chengde Building and Qin Zhi Village. When I arrived at the ancient town of Songkou, I walked along the street with my camera and gradually lost my established direction. It was only after dark that I realized that the ancient town of Songkou, which had been visited for a day, was actually just one of the scenic spots. Songkou Town includes three towns: Songkou Town, Song Dong Town and Songnan Town. There are several scenic spots, such as Songkou Town Scenic Area, Xianxi Scenic Area, Mei Yun Scenic Area, Songnan Scenic Area and Songdong Scenic Area.
The best arcades and shops in Songkou Ancient Town are built along the Meijiang River, concentrated in the old street from the Immigrants Memorial Square to Meidong Bridge, but the legendary main attractions are scattered here. For example, the Yuan Kui Tower is five kilometers away from the ancient town, and it takes at least two hours to go back and forth, which shows how big the ancient town of Songkou is.
On the "steamboat wharf" in Songkou ancient town, advertisements for cigarettes and soap of the Republic of China were restored on the wall, and there were many sculptures on the steps. Dockmen carried goods, vagrants carried boxes and took their children to see their wives off. People from Jiaoling and Heping, even people from Jiangxi and Fujian, take boats from the steamboat pier to Chaozhou and Shantou. Lee Kuan Yew's great-grandfathers, Li Muwen and Thaksin, and Yingla's great-grandfathers, Qiu Shunsheng, all set out from here and traveled across the ocean to Singapore and Thailand.
There is a five-story building with a combination of Chinese and western styles above the pier. Songjiang Hotel, built in the Republic of China, still looks very modern today. This is the best hotel in Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi, and people who leave home and go home like to stay here. 1924, Chiang Kai-shek came to live. Later renamed Songjiang Hotel, it is now Songkou Overseas Chinese Literature and History Museum. There is a ruler on the wall of the building on the left side of the wharf, which records that the highest water level in the history of Songkou ancient town is 60 meters, about three stories high. Songkou ancient town suffered more than 400 floods.
"Success is also Xiao He, failure is also Xiao He", the decline of Songkou ancient town is related to water, but the prosperity of that year was also due to water. At that time, there was no land transportation, and the waterway in Song and Yuan Dynasties was an important transportation channel. Songkou Town has become an important commercial center in Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces, and is also known as the four ancient towns in Lingnan with Chenghai in Shantou, Xingtan in Shunde and Zhuji in Nanxiong. However, only Songkou Town still retains its past appearance.
At the end of Shide New Street in the ancient town is China (Meizhou) Immigrants Memorial Square established by UNESCO. There are arrows in four directions on the road sign in the square, indicating the distance between Songkou and the rest of the world. Lima 1809 1 km, Toronto 12309 km, San Francisco1081km, Amsterdam 9224 km, London 9565 km, Sydney 7463 km, Kuala Lumpur 28. , may be a reminder.
From the 0/7th century to the 20th century, more than 7 million immigrants left their homes in Songkou and drifted to more than 80 countries and regions. Up to now, more than 80,000 people have lived overseas, but there are more than 80,000 overseas Chinese living in Songkou Town with 70,000 people. When overseas Chinese come back to China in fine clothes, they will bring back a lot of money, or send back the income from their hard work to their hometown, and build houses and shops that combine Chinese and western styles. Renovated his home.
Hundreds of meters long and only 3 or 4 meters wide, Shide New Street once had hundreds of shops, including department stores, restaurants, hotels, tobacco and candy grocery stores, restaurants, rice shops, cloth shops, gold shops and money houses. Below the arcade are shops, houses upstairs and even balconies. What a spectacular sight it was in those days. The arcades are all connected, so even if it rains, you won't get wet when you visit the shops in the whole street.
On the road to prosperity, there are two or three floors of foreign small foreign buildings, as well as balconies and fences. There are gothic doorposts in the streets where only wagons are allowed to pass. There are many diaojiao buildings in the house near Meijiang. There are steps leading to the river and many small docks that can be docked. At the peak of Songkou Town, there were 29 large and small docks along the river.
Different from arcades, there are many pure Chinese buildings in Songkou town and nearby villages-Hakka enclosed houses, for example, Shidetang enclosed dragon house, with more than 200 rooms. Drive to Nanxia Village to shoot the Yuan Kui Tower, and pass by an enclosed house in Dexinju. This closed old house with 12 families now looks quite large. Walking carefully on the second floor of Longwei, the worn floor was covered with dust, which seemed to awaken ancient memories.
It is said that when you climb the 400-year-old Yuan Kui Tower in Ming Dynasty, you can enjoy the panoramic view of Dexin House. On the way, there are countless complete enclosed houses. At first, I saw a closed house, so I got off and filmed. Later, I found too many, so I enjoyed it in the car.
Fangyu Mao Wharf is another wharf in the ancient town, which is much smaller than the steamer wharf, but there is a Little Square next to it, and the residential buildings along the river have the best scenery. The western wall lamps, windows and gates, and yellow-brown walls, if not a local fishing by the river, would really think that this is an ancient castle by the sea in a foreign country.
Walking along the prosperous road to Meidong Bridge, there is a house that is obviously different from other houses, and the door reads "Taishidi". Taishi is an official of the imperial court, belonging to the Imperial Academy of Qing Dynasty, which can also be called "Taishi Di". Taishidi was once regarded as Songjiang Academy, but now it has become a home. Go in from the alley on the right of Taishi, turn right at the end, and there is a college not far away, called Shuyuan Street.
Songkou ancient town is a place with a good book. It has always been a place of respect and teaching. There have been dozens of Hanlin, Jinshi and Juren in Songkou Ancient Town. In May 65438, Dr. Sun Yat-sen visited Songkou, lived in Ai Chun Building and gave a speech at Songkou Public School (now Songjiang Middle School). The famous Yuan Kui Tower was built by Li Shichun, a bachelor of Hanlin in Ming Dynasty. He is the 18th Uighur, so it is called Yuan Kui Tower.
Chongwen is a place that attaches importance to education and has simple folk customs. In a small restaurant in front of Zhongshan Park, we looked for the local food "bamboo shoots", and the restaurant owner explained in detail that it was impossible to buy it in another restaurant. In an alley, I saw an old man wearing an old ring and an old watch. He smoked on the steps and asked me to take his picture. He handed me a cigarette when I left. It's a pity that I quit smoking, otherwise I really want to smoke with him and feel the leisure time in the ancient town.
You can't visit the ancient town of Songkou without going to Meidong Bridge. At sunset, watching the twilight on the bridge is a great enjoyment. Walking from Meidong Bridge to the ancient town, there are ancient western-style foreign buildings on both sides, most of which have been abandoned or idle, but this is a good place to take pictures.
Two blocks behind the old street, the house is relatively new. It is a vegetable market in Songkou ancient town, which is rarely visited by tourists. This is the world of local people. At a stall selling stuffed tofu, I saw the stall owner making stuffed tofu, which contained a lot of meat. Really sincere. At another corner, I saw a shop that said mallet meatballs. A master was chopping meat, watching me take pictures and telling me that he was making mallet meatballs.
The vegetable market sells all kinds of vegetables and fruits, as well as many dried vegetables, wild vegetables and Chinese herbal medicines. If you like to make soup, there are all kinds of medicinal food materials such as Ficus hirta, Paederia, Abrus cantoniensis, Myrtle, Patrinia, Gynostemma pentaphyllum and so on. It smells good everywhere. However, one of the most famous fruits in the vegetable market is not listed, that is, Songkou Jinyou, and then traveling is to eat enough for four seasons.
Speaking of eating in Songkou ancient town, it is still fresh in people's memory. In Yiji Hotel, they ate eight-treasure rice, purslane and meatball soup, and they only spent 70 yuan. The hammer pill with loose mouth is very famous. Beat pork or beef into paste, add mushrooms, eggs, tofu and onion ginger, and be sure to add cassava powder, or stir-fry or cook soup. They are all delicious. Besides, don't miss brine chicken, tea, sweet sheep and goat vinegar soup.
Lunch in Jubinyuan Restaurant, fried beef with pickles and tomatoes, bitter vegetables, fish head and bean curd soup, spent in 85 yuan. The boss fried bitter barley vegetables with distiller's grains to remove the bitterness. I bought a bamboo stick in another small restaurant near Park Lake, 1.5 yuan. The skin of bamboo shoots is made of potato powder, which is crystal clear and has a super strong taste. It is wrapped with bamboo shoots and a little meat, shrimp, mushrooms and other ingredients. If you eat one, you must eat the second. Go back to the store to ask for directions and have breakfast. A bowl of Hakka marinated noodles, a bowl of Shan Zhi soup or pork liver medlar soup, and a perfect breakfast is only 10 yuan.
Songkou Ren Xian Guo is a mushy food made by Cao, which must be eaten to cool off the heat. With honey and banana sauce, the black one looks like turtle paste, which is sweet and delicious. With a piece of robing, the yin and yang of food are balanced. Stir-fried rice noodles with fish, ginger and distiller's grains are famous fish meal; Many people in Taiwan Province Province and Malaysia have eaten Mitai (moss), which is actually a mouse hairpin in Meizhou. Rice noodle balls are rubbed into white vermicelli with a sieve, and the two ends are pointed and shaped like mouse excrement, so it is called "mouse excrement hairpin", and it is called mouse hairpin when it sounds.
At present, it is very convenient to go to Songkou Ancient Town by bus. If it is public transportation, you can take a bus and train to Meizhou, and take a bus to Songkou Town at Yuemei Bus Terminal. There are not many hotels and inns in Songkou ancient town, but the hotels in the town can definitely accommodate people. Many old houses suitable for hotels need to be revitalized.
Songkou ancient town is most famous for Hakka folk songs, but unfortunately not many people can sing. After the roads extended in all directions, Songkou lost its waterway advantage and its former prosperity. Young people left the ancient town, and the old house was gradually abandoned. However, the high-speed railway in Meizhou will be opened at the end of the year, and it takes only one or two hours from Shenzhen and Guangzhou to Meizhou West Railway Station. Songkou is likely to become a popular tourist town and regain its glory.
Strolling in the devastated western small building, the alleys carved in the Millennium are like wonderful sketches, which makes people sad. I can't help but think of the sentence "She is old before she is old". If you travel to Songkou ancient town to find a dormant town, it is better to find a quiet place far away from the city and put an increasingly impetuous mood.