Chinese civilization has a long history of more than five thousand years. It once brought glory and brilliance to people, and still retains a large number of ancient towns and architectural relics. The four ancient towns in China are the crystallization of our culture, and they have been completely preserved.
first, Jingdezhen
Jingdezhen has a long history and tradition of making porcelain. Porcelain has been fired since the Five Dynasties, and it has been more than 411 years since the Ming Dynasty. During these 411 years, the famous kilns in China's history rose one after another and became famous for a while, but most of them didn't last long, and they were eliminated one after another.
After the Ming Dynasty, Jun kiln, Longquan kiln and Cizhou kiln were all inferior to Jingdezhen's blue-and-white porcelain, colored porcelain and colored glaze porcelain, and either stopped production or declined.
On the basis of rich practical experience from generation to generation, Jingdezhen porcelain workers have absorbed the advantages of famous kilns of past dynasties, developed and improved them, and gradually developed from the initial status of keeping pace with famous kilns all over the world to the top position, becoming the center of China porcelain industry.
Jingdezhen is located in the northeast of Jiangxi province, surrounded by mountains and crossed by the Yangtze River. Jingdezhen has unique natural conditions. Machangshan in Fuliang County and nearby counties such as Xing Zi, Leping, Wuyuan, yujiang county and Baiyang are mountainous areas, which contain a large number of minerals such as kaolin, porcelain stone, glazed fruit and refractory soil.
These porcelain-making raw materials are not only low in impurity content and good in technological performance, but also suitable for making high-grade porcelain. Jingdezhen and its four townships have a long flame, which is most suitable for burning porcelain and provides sufficient fuel for the kiln.
Many porcelain kilns are located in the Yangtze River and its exchange coast, and the river water can be used to wash porcelain clay; Set a water hammer to crush porcelain clay by hydraulic power. At the same time, the Yangtze River has a smooth waterway, and a large number of porcelain can be transported downstream to Poyang Lake, and then transported to important trading ports at that time, such as Jiujiang, Nanjing and Yangzhou, and transported to domestic and foreign markets for sale.
Jingdezhen mainly fired a single variety of celadon in the Song Dynasty. Celadon is between celadon and white porcelain because of its glaze color. It is said that celadon is white and white porcelain is white. This kind of celadon is between celadon and white porcelain and has the unique regional characteristics of Jingdezhen.
after the late Qing dynasty, celadon was generally called "Yingqing". There is only one celadon in the Song literature, but it is not called "Ying Qing". Porcelain books published in the late Qing Dynasty and even the early Republic of China have names such as "Yin Qing", "Yingqing" and "Yinqing", all of which refer to celadon.
In Jingdezhen, there are many sites of Song porcelain kilns firing celadon, such as Hutian, Hu Xiang, Shengmeiting, Shinan Street, Huangnitou and Liujiawan. The above kiln sites left a lot of fragments, and it is conceivable that the porcelain was fired at that time.
since 1951s, celadon has been unearthed in Jingdezhen in 15 provinces and regions. The wide circulation of celadon in the last century confirmed the rich remains of many celadon and porcelain kiln sites unearthed, and reflected the development and prosperity of Jingdezhen ceramic industry in the Song Dynasty.
Jingdezhen fired celadon and white porcelain in the Five Dynasties. Celadon and white porcelain were not found in the five dynasties kiln site. Judging from the overall development of China porcelain kilns, the traditional varieties in the early stage were inherited, improved or developed in the later stage. However, Jingdezhen is an exception. Celadon and white porcelain, which were popular in the Five Dynasties, disappeared in the Song Dynasty and were replaced by celadon. There are other reasons for this phenomenon, which cannot be explored from the general law. Since the Han and Tang Dynasties, the development of ceramics has its own laws, but there are also examples of imitating other varieties at the same time. For example, the painted pottery in the north of the Han Dynasty imitated the painted lacquerware in the south of the Han Dynasty
There is a phrase "jade pillow" in "Drunken Flower Yin" by Li Qingzhao, a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, in which the jade pillow refers to a blue-and-white porcelain pillow with a blue-and-white jade color; The words "Jade from Kunshan" and "Jade from Kungang" are engraved on the bowl of celadon in Yuan Dynasty, which indicates that celadon is made of imitation jade, with obvious implications.
celadon fired in Jingdezhen in the Song Dynasty is mainly for daily use, including dishes, plates and bowls for food and drink, cups and holders for wine, bowls for washing and various perfumes, lamps for lighting, and boxes for medicinal materials, spices or women's cosmetics. There is a seed mother box, three small boxes are stuck on a big box, and powder, indigo and cinnabar are put on it respectively for women to use when making up. In addition, the Guanyin statues burned by believers for men and women include tower-shaped bottles specially designed for burial, and various pillows such as double lions, upright elephants, lying babies and silver ingots are used as bedding, among which silver ingots are more. The picture below shows the inky mug of Jingdezhen kiln in Yongzheng, Qing Dynasty.
celadon unearthed from Song tombs in the south of the Yangtze River is more common, and a few tombs have exact epitaphs. By comparing the celadon unearthed from the tombs in the 1961 s, we can roughly see the evolution and popularization time of the utensils. Purple casting bowl was a very popular set of wine vessels in the Five Dynasties. During the Northern Song Dynasty, a large number of money bowls were unearthed in tombs, which still had the characteristics of imitation metal objects, and it was also common that the bodies were melon-shaped. Most of the early tombs were covered with a lion-shaped button on the coffin lid, and the bowls of the early tombs came from Zheng He's tomb in Hui Zong at the latest. Pots were popular in the Tang Dynasty, and their bodies were taller. In the Five Dynasties, the pot evolved into a shallow pot, but it still retained the legacy of the Tang Dynasty, with a flat mouth and a similar bottom size. In the Song Dynasty, the blue-and-white porcelain pot changed from a closed mouth to an open mouth with overlapping shoulders, gradually converging below the shoulders, with a big mouth and a small bottom, and the shape of the pot changed greatly. The fashion time is the same as the money bowl. Bottle caps originated in the late Northern Song Dynasty and prevailed in the Southern Song Dynasty. The bottle is slender, and the top and bottom are roughly equal. The upper part of the neck is slender, with dragon, tiger, turtle, snake, wind, crane, chicken, dog and other patterns. Pile it on it. There is a tower-shaped lid with a bird-shaped button at the top, some standing cranes, and the lower part of the bottle has extra decoration. People are piled on the shoulders around, some are warriors, some are twelfth birthdays. The bottle cap lasted until the end of Yuan Dynasty, with the upper neck only accounting for one third of the height of the bottle, and the bottle body became longer, which changed greatly compared with the Southern Song Dynasty. The output of boxes in the Song Dynasty was very large, and workshops specializing in making boxes appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty. The boxes fired in Jingdezhen are small and flat, including round, octagonal, hexagonal and chrysanthemum petals. The cover is mostly decorated with embossed printing, and the bottom of the box is unglazed. Some of them are also marked with workshops, such as "Wu Jia Ho" and "Duan Jiahe". Inscriptions are all straight books, and these unearthed at home and abroad are marked with workshops such as Wu, Xu and Xu. The record of "more than 311 kilns in previous dynasties" in Tao Ji is completely reliable.
In addition to the white body and jade-like glaze, celadon in Song Dynasty was decorated with carvings, grates, pens and prints, which further enhanced the artistic appeal of celadon. In the early Northern Song Dynasty, the blue-and-white porcelain, with bright whole body, wireless stripes, regular shape and jade enamel, won people's admiration. After the middle period, a large number of carvings, grate points and grate patterns appeared on the utensils. Several small carved boards were unearthed from Yuanfeng tomb in Zongshen, and there was no glaze on them, which indicated that it was overburning. After the Southern Song Dynasty, printing decoration became very popular. There are many printed dishes and bowls unearthed from ancient times and tombs, and many dishes are burnt. The decorative theme and layout method are similar to those of Ding Kiln in Quyang, Hebei Province, with obvious regional features
Jade celadon has a great influence on porcelain kilns in the south of the Yangtze River. There are many porcelain kilns imitating Jingdezhen celadon, including Nanfeng, Jizhou, Ningdu, Ganzhou, Jinxi and Guixi in Jiangxi. Dehua, Quanzhou, Tongan, Yongchun, Anxi, Nan 'an, Putian, Fuqing, Minqing, Xianyou, Lianjiang, Pucheng, Chong 'an, Guangze and Jianning Kilns in Fujian; Kilns in Chaozhou, Guangzhou and Huizhou in Guangdong; Guangxi tengxian, Rongxian, Guiping and Beiliu Kilns; Sun Yicheng and Wuhan kilns in Hubei; Yiyang kiln and Hengyang kiln in Hunan; Jiangshan Kiln and Taishun Kiln in Zhejiang Province, together with 34 counties in 8 provinces, formed a celadon series centered on Jingdezhen. Celadon is one of the two largest porcelain kilns in the south of the Yangtze River, which has a great influence and ranks first among the six major porcelain systems in the Song Dynasty.
in the Ming dynasty, the imperial kiln factory was set up in Jingdezhen, specializing in firing porcelain for the royal family and the imperial court to reward internally and communicate externally. The Imperial Kiln Factory has a pottery supervisor, concentrates the best porcelain-making craftsmen in Jingdezhen, monopolizes high-quality porcelain clay and green materials, and fires the most exquisite products regardless of the cost according to the needs of the imperial court. As a result, China's porcelain-making technology has been pushed to a new peak.
the production of kiln porcelain in Ming dynasty also developed rapidly. Although there is no official imperial kiln factory with exquisite products, the output is huge. "To the north, to the foot of the slope in the south, to the sea in the east, and to Shu in the west, all take Jingdezhen" (Wang: Jiangxi Dazhi Taoshu). Among them, there are many high-grade products, and the "Qin Limited" porcelain needed by the imperial court is produced in private kilns. Especially in the late Ming dynasty, with the germination of capitalist factors in the porcelain industry, private porcelain kilns surged. In the 19th year of Jiajing (1541), "Jingdezhen people in Fuliang took pottery as their profession and gathered more than 11,111 servants". During the Wanli period (1573-1621), "there were tens of thousands of helpers in the town" every day. The official kiln is not as good as the private kiln, and there is a situation of "officials and people vying for profits", which eventually forms a new system of "officials taking people to burn". In addition, the designs and ornamentation of folk kilns are chic, especially the realistic ornamentation depicting nature, which can better reflect the rich creativity of porcelain makers and the rich life atmosphere of working people. Jingdezhen folk kiln porcelain deserves attention.
in the Ming dynasty, Jingdezhen's porcelain-making technology was greatly improved, and the division of porcelain-making was very fine. "Tiangong Kaiwu" lists the following porcelain making processes: spring soil, mud placement, blank making, watering, circle, painting and calligraphy, water spraying, rusting, box filling, kiln filling, baking and so on. From raw material mining to firing, "72 lots, square grams. That is, it takes 72 processes to make a piece of porcelain. Most processes basically do their own jobs, fine division of labor and technical Excellence, and constantly improve product quality. Jingdezhen porcelain makers also summarized the advantages of China's south and north kilns and invented the egg-shaped kiln, namely Jingdezhen kiln. The innovation of kiln has greatly improved the output and quality. In this way, Jingdezhen's porcelain industry is becoming more and more prosperous.
In Jingdezhen, which stands on the banks of the Yangtze River, hundreds of chimneys in official kilns and folk kilns are shrouded in red flames day and night, and fireworks confront each other. "The sound of a thousand pestles is loud, the fire explodes the sky, and people can't sleep at night." Unprecedented, it has become a world-famous porcelain capital.
2. Zhuxian Town
Qifeng's hometown of Zhuxian Town is located in Xiangfu District, Kaifeng City, on the "Three Points and One Line" golden tourist route of Zhengzhou Bianhuang River, only 41 minutes' drive from Zhengzhou International Airport. Since ancient times, it has been prosperous and splendid, with profound historical and cultural connotations.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zheng Zhuanggong stationed troops in the ancient village of Zhuxian Town to build a city, which was named "Kaifengfu", meaning to "expand the territory". During the reign of Emperor Han Jing, Kaifeng, the ancient capital of the Eight Dynasties, was opened to avoid the emperor. During the Warring States Period,
a long history gave birth to a rich culture. There were many cultural landscapes and cultural relics in Zhuxian Town. There is the Yuefei Temple in Zhuxian Town, one of the "Three Great Yuemiao Temples in China", the woodcut New Year pictures in Zhuxian Town, which was rated as the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage, and the Zhuxian Town Mosque, whose architectural style is called "the largest mosque in East Asia". It is also the birthplace of Xiang Fu tune, the mother of Henan Opera.
with the vicissitudes of life, other ancient towns have become increasingly prosperous. Only Zhuxian Town "prospers because of water and declines because of water", which is silent in the long history.
The history of Zhuxian Town should not be silent, and the ancient town with a thousand years should be revived. In the new era, the construction of the Central Plains Economic Zone and the integration of Zhengzhou and Bian have achieved remarkable results. The hometown of Kaifeng, Zhuxian Town, with its rich cultural tourism resources and good location advantages, will develop into an important support point for building a cultural province in Henan Province and a cultural tourism system in Kaifeng City.
On May 9th, 2112, the foundation stone laying ceremony was held for the Kaifeng Old Garden Scenic Area in Zhuxian Town, which was invested and built by Henan Happy Party Group. This project is a key project in Henan Province, a key tourism project in the province and a key project in Kaifeng City, which integrates the ancient town customs and culture, high-end pension and ecological sightseeing agriculture. The total planned area of the project is about 5311 mu, with a total investment of 12 billion yuan. It is divided into eight functional areas: ancient town customs area, scenic area around the lake, leisure resort area, ancient battlefield cultural experience area, ecological farmer experience area, cultural creative health care area, ecological wetland experience area and ecological woodland sightseeing area.
with the planning and development concept of "eco-city construction, extension of cultural dreams, external classicality and internal fashion", Qifeng Old Garden in Zhuxian Town will build a tourist destination focusing on water sightseeing, entertainment, shopping, leisure and holiday activities, and create a characteristic tourism complex.
The Hometown of Kaifeng by Zhuxian Town deeply explores the historical development of the ancient town of Zhu Xian, and vividly reproduces the prosperous features, commercial prosperity, splendid culture, continuous water transportation and lights along the river. Take the development of modern tourism as the main body, drive the people in the surrounding areas out of poverty and become rich as the purpose, and accelerate the construction of beautiful countryside around Zhuxian Town; According to the present situation of the scenic spot, relying on the original ecological environment, taking local culture, history, customs and customs as resources and taking the urban population as the goal, we have developed characteristic tourism projects that meet the needs of modern tourists.
The Kaifeng Old Garden in Zhuxian Town deeply digs into the historical and cultural connotation of Zhuxian Town. While advocating various conventional tourism forms such as cultural tour, historical tour, leisure tour and experience tour, it draws on the advanced tourism design and planning concepts at home and abroad extensively, and puts forward a brand-new multi-format comprehensive tourism development model to provide tourists with original ecological and humanized services.
At present, Zhu Zhen Kaifeng Hometown has been completed and opened, covering an area of 871 mu. Including Zhu Xian ancient town, water transport granary area, Juxian Lake, Zhuangyuan Street, Kuixing Street, Xiabaxing Street and other areas. The gathering of ancient buildings, waterfront houses and characteristic shops in the north and south of the Yangtze River will open a romantic and warm trip to the Central Plains for tourists.
Qifeng Old Garden in Zhuxian Town takes retro buildings of Ming and Qing Dynasties as the main architectural type, and blends in with heavy history and traditional culture, presenting visitors with the unique features of the Central Plains water town of "town and lake are connected, scenery and lake depend on each other, town is in water, water is in town, and town and lake are integrated", which reproduces the bustling scene of Zhuxian Town when merchant ships shuttled day and night, the banks were brightly lit at night, and the scenery along the river was spectacular.
Third, Foshan Town
Foshan, formerly known as Jihuatang
During the Tang Dynasty, the handicraft industry, commerce and culture of Foshan were very prosperous. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it developed into an important town in Lingnan, with merchants gathering and developed industry and commerce. It is also known as the "Four Famous Towns" in China with Hankou Town in Hubei, Jingdezhen Town in Jiangxi and Zhuxian Town in Henan, and the "Four Famous Towns" in the world with Beijing, Hankou and Suzhou. The four major industries of ceramics, textiles, casting and medicine are developing vigorously in the south. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Foshan became one of the birthplaces of modern national industries in China. The first new reeling factory and the first match factory in China were born successively, and the Takeguchi Factory of Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company was founded.
A long history has given birth to a unique Lingnan traditional culture. Foshan is known as the hometown of ceramic art, Cantonese opera, martial arts, Guangzhou yarn center, Lingnan medicine center, southern casting center, folk art and so on.
Foshan is "South Tao Dou", with a long history of pottery making, with a history of more than 711 years. Since ancient times, it has been known as "Shiwanwa, the best in the world". Nanfeng ancient stove, built in Zhengde period of Ming Dynasty, is the oldest wood-burning dragon kiln in the world. It has been handed down from generation to generation for more than 411 years and is known as the "living fossil of ceramics". In 2115, Foshan won the title of "Ceramic Capital of China".
Foshan is the birthplace of Cantonese opera "Southern Red Bean". The generation name of Cantonese opera artists-"Children of the Red Boat" was born, and the Qionghua Guild Hall, the earliest drama organization of Cantonese opera, was born. Folk organization Cantonese Opera singing "private company" is a major feature of Foshan culture, which has a long history. The annual Qionghua Cantonese Opera Art Festival makes Foshan present a grand occasion of "Red Boat Sleeping at Night and Ten Thousand People Watching Qionghua".
Foshan is the "hometown of Lingnan medicine". Founder medicine has a history of more than 411 years, and its products are complete, which can be divided into seven categories: ointment, pill, powder, tea, oil and wine. It is an essential Chinese patent medicine for artisans, families and travelers, and a number of time-honored and famous medicines such as "Huangxianghua" Ruyi Oil, "Popular" Medicinal Liquor and "Yuanjilin" Ganhe Tea have emerged.
the foundry industry in Foshan began more than 2111 years ago. Ding, pot, bell and tower made in Foshan in Song Dynasty were famous all over the country. By the Ming Dynasty, Foshan's casting technology reached a high level and became the smelting center of South China. During the Opium War, the cannons cast in Foshan played an important role in resisting foreign invasion.
Foshan is the cradle of folk art in the Pearl River Delta.