My hometown is Huanggang Town, Raoping County, between Shantou City and Xiamen City. On holidays, I will take a bus back to my hometown to see. Nowadays, with the high-speed rail, it takes more than 2 hours to get there from Shenzhen, which is really convenient.
I followed my family to worship at the Chenghuang Temple (we call it Ximen 'an). When I was a child, I only thought it was a place of incense worship. I took my sister's hand through the temple to see the old tortoise. I caught a glimpse of a stone tablet surrounded by railings, such as the Monument to Rebuild Huanggang Town and the Monument to Rebuild Zhaodan Building. It turns out that it is also a well-preserved historical site.
we can see that before the Southern Song Dynasty, there was no walled city in Huanggang. In the third year of Song Chunyou's reign (AD 1245), in order to prevent the intrusion of bandits and pirates, the city village was built. From this, soldiers were stationed and became military strongholds along the coast. It was called Wengcheng in ancient times, also known as Fengjiang. The vicinity of the Chenghuang Temple is said to be the original location of Huanggang Village.
The Chenghuang Temple was built in the Ming Dynasty and rebuilt in 1999. The roof of an tang is beautifully decorated, called Chaozhou Porcelain Inlaid, which is a national intangible cultural heritage. This craft, also commonly known as "sticking to Rao" or "deducting Rao", is one of the three traditional architectural decorative arts in Chaoshan area of Guangdong Province.
Chaozhou porcelain inlay has a long history, which was used by the people as early as the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. Based on painting, this decorative art is decorated by cutting and inlaying various colored porcelain pieces, which is a very beautiful artistic technique. The porcelain inlay decoration in Chenghuang Temple is mainly based on fairy tales, which are vivid and colorful, and everyone who passes by will stop to enjoy it.
I took a close-up with my camera and captured a small signed stone tablet. It turns out that the porcelain inlay decoration here came from Master Cai Binglie. There are also records of reconstruction donations at the entrance of the temple, most of which are Yu's.
Town God Temple (Ximen 'an) Address: No.68, Dingwei Road, Huanggang Town, Raoping County
Ancestral Hall, namely ancestral temple, ancestral temple and ancestral temple, is a place for offering sacrifices to ancestors or sages and a symbol of Chinese Confucian traditional culture. There are many surnames of Yu in Raoping, and they are descendants of Siguang, the son of Bozhuang, the eldest son of Zhongxiang, and their descendants are mainly distributed in Huanggang, Lianrao, Haishan, Dongshan, Daping, Fushan, Zhangxi and Xinfeng, as well as Hailufeng in eastern Guangdong.
Yu's Grand Ancestral Hall, also known as Dunben Hall, is located near the south gate of Huanggang Town, Raoping County, Guangdong Province. This ancestral hall was completed in the first year of Hongxi in Ming Dynasty (1425), and has experienced nearly 6 years of vicissitudes. What we see now, after several repairs, still preserves the architectural style of the first building.
after reconstruction, the ancestral hall is decorated with stone drums, stone carvings, wood carvings and porcelain inlays, which are gorgeous and spectacular. During the festival, there will be worship or other performances in the ancestral hall. Although I am Yu, I mainly get together with my relatives during the festival, and I didn't come to the ancestral hall.
I didn't walk into the ancestral hall this time. The rebuilt ancestral hall seems to be different from my old memories. The gate has become a parking lot, and several old people have a rest and chat in front of the ancestral hall. The sign of "Raoping County Cultural Relics Protection Unit" stands in front of the hall, accompanied by this ancient building, with the passage of time.
Yu's Grand Ancestral Hall Address: No.7, No.2 Heng, Lane, Ximen City, Huanggang Town, Raoping County (No.2 Primary School in Huanggang Town can be located nearby)
During this time, I prefer to walk through the streets to see the appearance of the old house. In October 219, Huanggang Town was selected as "219 National Top 1 Towns with Comprehensive Strength". A variety of new residential areas have been built in the county, and large shopping malls are also being prepared.
Today's markets are busy and the roads are beautifully built, but if you want to save time, it is correct to take the alley. It saves a lot of time to follow the footsteps of your loved ones through the streets.
when I stepped into the lane, I began to feel cool. Walking slowly into the room, the noisy market sounds gradually disappeared, and only a few birds called insects. Although the alley is narrow, it can still accommodate motorcycles. Many families living in the alley will have motorcycles or bicycles.
deep in the alley, there will be a small archway left by the old days, but the characters and carvings on the archway have been blurred with the passage of time and man-made destruction. There is also a small shop next to the small archway. When the boards are removed, it can be transformed into a shop, which may be abandoned now.
Walk in the deep alley and walk along the fence that is neither high nor low, and you can see Huanggang Town No.2 Primary School. My sister said that this is her alma mater, and it is also the alma mater of our parents. Walking on the path is very intimate, and I can't help but lean over and wait and see when I pass by.
Occasionally, there will be a barber shop around the corner, which is a bit like a movie. It is full of old things, and children are watching videos in it with mobile phones. It seems that time is flowing, but it has been quietly existing.
From a height, the old houses have not been completely demolished, but many houses have been converted into ordinary residential buildings. There are people living in the interior of the house, and you can see that people have open doors and small gardens with warm layout.
The tiles on the walls and roofs of some houses have been broken, and vines have worn through the tiles and grown upright. Taking pictures of life scenes everywhere with a camera, an old man passed by and said that we are full of vitality.
Address of Alley: Houtian, Huanggang Town, Raoping County (the scope is large, and you can also ask directly, which is basically around the Second Primary School of Huanggang Town)
Some houses in the alley are well preserved, while others have been rebuilt. And I think it's a pity that it's more of an arcade in Huanggang Town.
I like the arcades in Guangdong very much. For me, I am quite proud to have these arcades in my hometown. Looking back now, I see many details that I didn't see in the old days. For example, the words of the building department: Long live the great China * * * production party, etc.
The arcades in Huanggang Town are mostly dilapidated and their integrity has been destroyed. Some buildings have been transformed into new shops, and the old and new architectural styles are mixed together, which is a bit unsightly.
No one is walking in the arcade sidewalk promenade now. Not because it is deserted, but because the shops are full of goods and the roadside is full of vehicles. Walking, pedestrians may go to the middle of the road, and horns will ring behind them, and they need to avoid vehicles while walking.
address of the arcade: Houjie and Dingwei Road, Huanggang Town, Raoping County
There are ancient arcade buildings close to us, one of which is Shantou Small Park. The arcades and streets in the small park area basically imitate the style of Paris blocks and are distributed in a fan-shaped radial manner. I went there once before it was rebuilt, and I saw that some buildings were already dangerous buildings, almost like the arcades in Huanggang Town, my hometown, and they were all broken.
But at that time, we were lucky that we could still see the traditional arcades, old houses with baroque buildings and exquisite patterns carved on the walls. Many old shops are still open in bits and pieces, with plaques hanging on them many years ago, maintaining the business that has been in operation for many years.
The arcade in Shantou Small Park was rebuilt by the government and has been reopened, decorated with lights, which is very beautiful. There is also Paifang Street in Chaozhou City. After renovation, vehicles are not allowed to pass through and it has become a tourist attraction. Buildings and arcades along the street have been restored to make them appear in the eyes of the public with the historical features of the Republic of China, which is actually a protection method.
Some people don't like what it looks like after renovation, and think it's not what it used to look like. For me, although it lacks the flavor of the old days, it is much better to repair it than to arbitrarily transform it and let it run down.
to tell the truth, no matter whether it's repair or renovation, the flavor of the old days can't be preserved.
Everything now is different from the past. No matter how old it is, those original things can only be left in photos and people's memories. However, if it can still exist and can do its best to repair it, then this nostalgic friendship can at least be passed on to future generations.
The ancient buildings in Huanggang Town, Raoping, my hometown, are not only arcades, but also the old houses in the alleys I walked through. I hope they can be well preserved. It is known from the parents' population that since the 198s, more and more arcades have been demolished. I have read the news reports that the local government has proposed renovation. Perhaps these ancient buildings are developing on the road of protection and inheritance.
I have no other ability to take any protective measures, and I can only record these appearances through my lens and pen and ink. Take pictures of the old city and share them, so as to keep the memory of the city.
Author: Emilia takes a glass of wine, a cup of tea, and travels all over the world.