Qingyan Ancient Town | Travel Notes. Guizhou Trip (2)

A pot of old time wine scattered among the flowers

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Qingyan Ancient Town

Author: Jian Yi

Photography: Jian Yi

Qingyan night

"The moon is curved and pointed at both ends.

Two stars hanging on both sides

Gold hook hangs on silver hook

My heart is with my sister...

Qingyan Ancient Street at night, at 9:30 p.m., the busy merchants in Qingyan Ancient Town during the day were closing their doors one by one. This is the time when the city's nightlife begins. It is also the commercial ancient street in other scenic spots, such as Wuzhen Ancient Street, Pingyao Ancient City and other ancient towns. During the busiest and most prosperous time, businesses are selling hot sales and there are many tourists. The "buy, buy, buy" usually lasts until very late and then gradually disperses.

Nine-thirty in Qingyan is a world of street lamps, lanterns, ancient lanterns, old houses and long alleys. The bluestone road illuminated by lights is shiny and slippery. The two watchmen were dressed in Hanfu, one was beating the gong and the other was holding the clapper, saying "Everything is safe, be careful of the candles". Walk slowly through the alleys of the ancient town. People who closed their shops and finished their busy day began to set up a small wooden table and a pot of tea in front of their house. Some were cracking melon seeds, and then had night tea.

The watchman passed by and chatted casually with people on the roadside. After drinking hot tea, the gong sounded, "Everything is fine." Long sound... The night in Qingyan in early September is slightly cool at the beginning of the night, and the ancient charm is deep and Zen. At this time, the tourists gradually dispersed, and the ancient town was extremely quiet.

I wandered in the quietness with the moonlight, and felt the legacy of the Ming and Qing Dynasties spreading in the night sky and nooks and crannies. Brick by brick, stone by stone. Ancient wooden door with carved copper lock. The gate of the city tower is solemn and silent... Every stone in every place seems to have a story.

Located at No. 41 Ming and Qing Street, Jin Bixuan is a century-old building. In the archway of the back garden, the earthen tiles and carved stone tiles are stacked randomly, carrying the changes of ancient and modern times in the passage of time. Walking and walking, I stopped and sat in front of the closed wooden door of an old house. Imagine the people in the ancient town resting at sunset under the yellow lights they turn on. What kind of peaceful life does it look like?

Although the Sichuan Guild Hall moved to its original location is closed, the entire club building adds a sense of solemnity and remoteness in the night. Under a bright moon, the eaves and corners of the guild hall are filled with the vicissitudes of history. The people of Qingyan leave the ancient town’s night scene intact to the tourists who come here for it. In Qingyan, there is no hustle and bustle of programming; there is no worldly smoke and dust of commercialization.

Qingyan is quiet, slow and natural. The silence of a few distant barks, the silence of tourists whispering to each other. No one wants to disturb Qingyan’s tranquility. Tourists and Qingyan people, civilization and courtesy complement each other to create the Qingyan Ancient Town that "works at sunrise and rests at sunset".

Qingyan Bairi

The morning light wakes up the blue rock. Wake up the streets and alleys of Ming and Qing Street. Qingyan, who was sleeping peacefully, opened up the vitality and liveliness of the fireworks market in the bright autumn sun. People who get up early are peaceful and leisurely in the ancient town. The woman at the door was concentrating on making embroidery pieces.

Handmade insoles for sale were placed in a basket by the feet. Women are very interesting. They are doing handicrafts and doing business casually in front of their homes. Gentle and gentle, she doesn't care about passers-by, nor who cares about her products. Only when someone asked about the price, he raised his head and quoted a fixed price. He did not recommend or say much, and then he lowered his head and started wiring the flying needle in his hand. Make the guest feel that if she asks any more questions, she will be disturbing her.

When traveling around Guizhou, I found that Guizhou people basically do not negotiate prices when doing business. It is the straightforwardness of being genuine and not playing tricks. Talking to Guizhou people is also very informative. Guizhou does not yet have the over-enthusiastic and unreliable feeling that is popular in tourist areas across the country.

bluestone stone

Qingyan is a famous stone mountain city. The famous B&B courtyard built on the mountain is the temperament and temperature of Qingyan.

These residential buildings rising halfway up the mountain are built with stones unique to Qingyan Ancient Town. The blue-white rocks are all green. Thin stones serve as tiles, and thick stones serve as walls. The big stone house is connected to the small stone house.

Qingyan Ancient Town is divided and connected by four main streets and more than 20 stone alleys of different widths. The stone alley undulates along the mountain. Kuan Ke stood up and formed a formation, while Narrow only had one person standing sideways, leaving Qingyan so confused and condensed. Walking through the vast expanse of blue-white mountains and rocks, bypassing the ancient streets lined with green trees and woven rattans.

The Qingyan Mountains silently tell people that more than 600 years ago, the Buyi chieftains stationed troops and sent troops to the city, and the beacon fires cleared the smoke. The architectural cluster of stone houses in the stone alleys echoes the casual green trees, wild flowers, and river flows, giving Qingyan a softer, softer, and fiery charm.

Just like the bluestone slab under your feet, it has been polished and washed away by hundreds of years of "Fireworks in March" wars, and it glows with a green and black oily light. When I was walking in the winding maze of Qingyan Ancient Alley, a symbol of "searching" flashed into my mind. Jiang Wen was patrolling the alleys of Qingyan Back Street, looking for elements in his film to make "Borrowing a Gun". The simple and quiet Qingyan in the movie is also what the photographers of "Langgun Cannon" are looking for.

The old man in Qingyan can appreciate the peace of seven generations on the 100-year-old archway. The children of Qingyan savor the strong ambition of youth in the fragrant and smooth taste of "Zhuangyuan Hoof". The merchants, hearing the "clack-clack" of the horses' hooves on the Ancient Tea-Horse Road, felt high spirits amid the hundreds of years of inheritance of cornices and stone cabinets. Travelers, rest your soul while walking. Escape from the cold hardness of city cement. Savor the taste of life in the quiet and warm simple folk customs.

Qingyan Food

Qingyan people make chili into snacks and make them delicious on the table. All kinds of delicacies and snacks are well-known.

Qingyan Ancient Town is a paradise for foodies. The small Qingyan Ancient Town actually has more than ten kinds of unique delicacies: braised pig's feet, cake porridge, chicken chili, tofu dumplings, Qingming cake, rice tofu, jelly, rose sugar, Rose nectar, double flower vinegar, silk doll...

Braised pig's trotters (No. 1 scholar's trotters) Legend has it that when Zhao Yijiong was on his way to Beijing to take the exam, his mother prepared braised pig's trotters for him. Nowadays, "traveling to Qingyan Ancient Land and appreciating Qingyan's beautiful hooves" has become a local tourism cultural phenomenon. Cake cake, rice porridge and lotus root powder as the base, put a cooked rice cake ball on top. Before eating, sprinkle with some ingredients such as melon seeds, sesame seeds, peanuts, winter melon sugar, candied fruits, etc., and then use a spoon to scoop out the rice cakes. Mash and mix in lotus root starch.

One spoonful at a time, it is sweet and soft, and after a bowl of Qingyan snacks, the travel fatigue will dissipate. Qingyan peppers are always red and translucent. Use a handmade stone mortar to pound and stir-fry until fragrant, and every chili seed releases its fragrance. Qingyan people use meticulous and quiet thoughts to make delicious food according to ancient methods, making peace with time and lasting forever.

Qingyan girl

Literary youths are looking for exquisite wood and stone carvings. But they can't find "a lilac-like girl with sorrow and resentment" in Qingyan. The girls of Qingyan are naturally beautiful, bright and charming, they are like folk songs and clear springs flowing in the river. She stood quietly and smiled, and the light of the sun and the smell of green grass were marked on the blue rock wall...

Jiang Wenxun

Back then, Director Lu Chuan and Jiang Wen patrolled this alley called Back Street, looking for the elements they were looking for to make the movie "Looking for a Gun." The dark and shiny bluestone slabs and the blue and white stone walls in the back alleys have been stained for hundreds of years, imprinting the mystery and mysteries of time. When walking on a back street, your back is to the back and you are facing to the front. It seems as if we are traveling through the ancient times behind us and today in front of us.

This was true in ancient times, and it is true today. Traveling alone in a deep alley, who is "I"? Where is it? In a trance...the graceful climbing vines under the ancient wall and the swaying innocent foxtail grass. They fool on prompting. The back street, with its simplicity and quietness in the movie scene, is also a special search for "gun and cannon" photography enthusiasts.

The old man in Qingyan can appreciate the peace of seven generations on the 100-year-old archway. The children of Qingyan savor the strong ambition of youth in the fragrant and smooth taste of "Zhuangyuan Hoof". The businessmen seemed to hear the "clack-clack" of the horses' hooves on the Ancient Tea Horse Road, and they were very high-spirited in the hundreds of years of inheritance of cornices and stone cabinets. As for the travelers, they are looking for something to escape from the indifference and hardness of city cement. In the city, there is no freshness and softness of soil.

Cities are deserts surrounded by concrete and steel bars. The city does not have the comfort and naturalness of nature. There is no place in the city for a fresh and soft soul. And Qingyan’s tranquility and nature, people and history, land and nature. The ecology of each grass and stone and the mentality of one body and one shadow are all naturally harmonious in the mountains and rivers of Qingyan. What kind of comfort is this?

The woman and man traveling alone in the photo were accidental travel companions. The man's cannon barrel is constantly captured in the scenery and the figure of the woman. Everywhere I go, I meet them. They are immersed in their paintings. I'm behind them, including them in my painting. They, together with Qingyan, which exudes quiet and warm simple folk customs everywhere, are the beauty I savor.

Qingyan Faith

Qingyan's four city gates stand on the east, west, south and north respectively. The lights are bright at night. As the first ancient town in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Qingyan is as famous as Lijiang. With a history of more than 600 years, Qingyan has a deep cultural heritage. There are 36 well-preserved historical sites including nine temples, eight temples, five pavilions, two ancestral halls, one palace, two halls, one courtyard, one floor and one mansion. The "Zhao Zhuangyuan Mansion" at No. 1 Zhuangyuan Street has a double-entry four-in-one courtyard with a wooden structure on the top of a hanging bucket. Gorgeous and elegant, it also has the architectural features of a garden.

Walking in the small ancient town. Christianity, Taoism, Buddhism, and Catholicism coexist in harmony with each other. The power of faith redeems humanity and cleanses the people of the ancient town. Qingyan people are modest and trustworthy. Tourists who visit various shops and pay with Alipay while shopping leave the shipping address and the goods arrive at their home while they are on the road. People in Qingyan know how to close the shop at 9:30 in the evening, not wanting to exchange every second into banknotes.

Qingyan people are determined and calm. The design of Qingyan Church is exquisite and artistic. The cross hung high is solemn and respectful. Walking into the Christian church in Qingyan, I met an old colleague who said "peace" amiably. Qingyan is one of the 30 most beautiful scenic spots in China selected by CNN in the United States. It is not only an attraction, but also represents a lifestyle close to nature. It is graceful and graceful, and also has a grand and silent charm.

Qingyan is hidden in the mountains and forests, with its independence and tranquility, it conforms to the right time, place and people. Those well-preserved ecological and cultural features make people who leave look back with shock...

First Year

Photos have a point of view