Xinshi, a famous ancient town in the south of the Yangtze River, is located in the east of Deqing County, Huzhou City in Hangjiahu Plain in northern Zhejiang Province. Wuzhen and Xitang are 3 kilometers to the east, and Nanxun, Zhouzhuang and Tongli are 3 kilometers to the north. Compared with these ancient towns in the south of the Yangtze River, the rich folk culture and business culture in the new towns are unique. The new city was founded in Yongjia, Western Jin Dynasty (AD 38), so the business culture of the new city can be traced back to the Jin Dynasty and spread to Japan, Nanyang, especially the silk trade. The new city is one of the cradles of the ancient "Silk Road" in China. The new city is also rich in humanities, including wuqian, a scholar poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, Shen Quan, a painter who influenced the Japanese painting style in the Qing Dynasty, Zhao Zichen, a famous theologian and his translator daughter Zhao Luorui, and Zhu Huiyong, an expert on ancient bridges and ancient ships in China ...

The silkworm flower temple fair

has accumulated for thousands of years, and the opportunities for opening up and exchange brought by the ancient canal flowing for thousands of years have endowed the new city with a folk culture with profound connotation, unique style and strong inclusiveness. One of the most famous and influential is the Silkworm Flower Temple Fair.

According to legend, one spring in the Spring and Autumn Period, a beautiful woman from Yue State, Xi Shi, sent silkworm flowers to Gusu from Huiji, passing through a new town, and saw twelve mulberry picking girls dancing in front of her sedan chair. Xi Shi was moved by this, so she gave the colorful silk flower to all the girls. Since then, the new city has had a bumper harvest of sericulture. In order to remember Xi Shi, every Qingming Festival, new people will hold a temple fair of silkworm flowers.

In p>1999, the new silkworm flower temple fair resumed after a 63-year interruption, and a sedan chair attracted more than 4, people to "revel". Since then, the traditional silkworm flower temple fair has been endowed with new connotations. Every year in Tomb-Sweeping Day, revelers watch the parade performance of the silkworm queen and the silkworm fairy; While participating in spontaneous community cultural activities, we visited the Millennium Temple of Juehai and prayed for silkworm flowers for 24 minutes. The government also organizes economic and trade fairs to attract investment. At the same time, some folk artists from other places have come to perform on stage, which adds a welcome atmosphere to this ancient folk custom.

Special cuisine

In the past hundred years, new citizens have taken to eating mutton. The production method of Xinshi sheep is very elegant. The raw materials are selected from one-year-old Hu sheep, and they are stewed with dozens of seasonings such as soy sauce, net oil, brown sugar and maltose all night. Its characteristics are fat but not greasy, crisp but not rotten. Among many stores, the brand "Zhang Yipin" is the loudest. Of course, if eating mutton alone is not enough, you can go to Yindu Hotel to eat "all-sheep banquet".

In addition to sheep, tea cakes and sprouted wheat balls are also a major feature of new city snacks.

xinshi tea cake is steamed with glutinous rice flour, and a mass of minced pork is embedded in the middle. The tea cake just out of the pot is full of fragrance. Take a bite, it is oily and fragrant, with a long taste. Far better than ham dumplings.

and "Bud-wheat-dumpling" is a traditional snack for farmers in four townships and eight villages in the new city. Most of them are homemade for farmers to eat, and some are specially made for gifts to relatives and friends. The main raw materials of germinated wheat balls are glutinous rice flour, wheat malt, cotton grass, sugar, sesame and so on, which are pure green food. It tastes sweet and soft, especially cold food.

In addition, the fine sand sheep tail, lobster sauce, dry-picked noodles and crisp sugar in the new city are all local specialties with a history of hundreds of years.

In recent years, the Party committee and government of new towns even held the "Mutton and Yellow Wine Festival" in Wu Shan Square, Hangzhou, so that the fragrance of mutton and yellow wine drifted into thousands of households in Hangzhou with the "Wu Shan Tianfeng".

ancient bridges and ancient alleys

The new city was called Xiantan in ancient times. It was divided into 18 blocks because of water, and then it was connected by 72 bridges on the river, and 36 lanes with their own characteristics ran through the streets, forming a typical poetic picture of "small bridges, flowing water and people".

as early as before the Jin dynasty, the new city had formed a market, with alleys running through the streets and small bridges lying across the river. After thousands of years of wind and rain, it has gradually formed a long culture and rich tourism resources.

According to the records, there were 36 lanes and 72 bridges in the new urban areas at the most. However, due to historical changes, there are currently 11 ancient bridges that are relatively intact.

Taiping Bridge, a single-hole stone bridge, spans Xiaoxi River. Founded in the Song Dynasty, it was rebuilt in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are still several stone lions on the railings on both sides, and couplets are engraved on the base of the bridge stone. There is a local custom that newlyweds pass by the bridge, which can be expected to be peaceful and auspicious

Zhuangyuan Bridge is located in the west of Le 'an Port in the north of Zhenbei. Because in the Song Dynasty, wuqian, a newcomer, won the top prize in the exam, and later became the left prime minister. Therefore, the name of this bridge implies the meaning of to be no.1.

Zhonglou Lane, 18 meters long and 1.7 meters wide, is located next to Juehai Temple. Beautiful and elegant, antique, full of Jiangnan water town sentiment. At one end, there is a sparkling city river and an elegant bridge for welcoming saints. The ancient temple, small bridge, flowing water and deep alleys are integrated into one, forming a quaint picture.

"Rouge Lane, Qinhuai River". Connecting North Street with the rouge lane in front of the temple became famous in the Ming Dynasty. This alley, which is more than 7 meters long and 1.5 meters wide, was mostly inhabited by prostitutes at that time, so it was named because it smelled of rouge.

Religious culture

During the thousands of years from the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty, Buddhism and Taoism flourished in the new city, and more than 3 temples were built in an tang. With the changes of history, most of them have been destroyed by war. At present, there are two well-preserved temples, namely Juehai Temple and Liu Wang Temple.

Juehai Temple is located in the north of Yingsheng Bridge (now called Qiansi Bridge and Ruyi Bridge) in the north street of Xinshi Town, facing south, covering an area of about 4, square meters. Juehai Temple is a thousand-year-old temple with elegant scenery and strong incense. There is a folk saying that "Juehai Temple comes first, then Lingyin Temple". The plaque hanging on the Hall of the Great Hero was written by the famous Buddhist master Zhao Puchu himself.

Liu Wang Temple, which was built in the Southern Song Dynasty, was built in memory of Liu Kun, a famous anti-gold star in the Southern Song Dynasty. Its mountain gate is solemn and solemn. The word "Liu Wang Temple" in the archway is in regular script, and the reliefs "Two Dragons Playing with Beads" and "Lion Rolling Hydrangea" are engraved below. The brick carving fragments of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, figures and horses on the wall facing south bank up still have high ornamental and archaeological value.

Zhenhe Renjia

Xihekou is a typical old street in the new city, which starts from Chenjiatan in the south and ends at Zhujiaqiao in the north, and is about 2 li long. The slowly flowing city river separates hundreds of houses from the south to the north, and is connected by dozens of exquisite small stone bridges. For thousands of years, the sound and shadow of the oars passing by by Iraq have evoked many reverie of people along the river.

On the west side of Xihekou Street, the street-facing buildings built in the past dynasties to face the water basically maintained the characteristics of the old water town street in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. The quaint and elegant stone storehouses, exquisite brick-carved houses, unique bank up walls and stone banks and rivers tell you a touching story.

Qianzhai, located in the middle of Xihekou, is a compound with many depths. The descendants of Qian Miao, King of Wu Yue in the Five Dynasties, once lived here.

According to records, from the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China, Xihekou was still a major commercial street in the new city. Most residents along the street were engaged in business, and there were more than 5 shops and shops along the street, with more than 6 industries. At that time, ships on both sides of the Xihekou were constantly flowing, and the three-foot counter was full of guests, which was a prosperous scene.

In p>1957, when Beijing Film Studio filmed Mao Dun's masterpiece Lin Jiapu, Xihekou was selected as one of the locations. In 1962, the film crew of Shanghai Tianma Film Studio "Silkworm Flower Girl" also chose Xihekou as an external attraction. "Land of plenty, busy mulberry picking, green mulberry trees on both sides", the sweet singing in old movies, is the lively scene of selling cocoons in Xihekou.

main tourist attractions in the new town

Attraction 1: Xihekou (old-fashioned river port, arcade, promenade, ancient bridge, location of the movie Lin Jiapu, etc.)

Attraction 2: Shenjia Lake (Wangxian Bridge, Huixian Bridge, Jiaxian Bridge, Mansion, location of the movie Silkworm Flower Girl)