With the continuous advancement of Jinan’s urban construction, “Tangye New City” has become synonymous with Jinan’s new urban area. As everyone knows, Tangye was once an ancient village. It has a long history and ancient legends -
The legendary Tangye Village
The people in Tangye Village do not have the same surname. In Tang Dynasty, most people's surnames were Zhao and Wang.
The reason why Tangye Village is called Tangye is related to an ancient legend. Everyone in the village has been told this legend since childhood, so in their eyes, this is no longer a legend, but a fact.
It is said that Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, was marching eastward to Korea. When the large army passed near Tangye Village, due to the exhaustion of the army and the lack of food and military supplies, Li Shimin ordered to set up camp on the spot and raise funds. supplies.
Li Shimin accidentally discovered iron ore on an inconspicuous hill nearby, and he felt like a treasure. Iron ore was a treasure for smelting weapons at that time and played an important role in the military. Li Shimin ordered the construction of a smelting plant here to smelt weapons on a large scale. Slowly, people gathered here and formed a village, named Tang Ye. Later, Tangye Village continued from generation to generation until now.
Legends are just legends after all. There is no relevant historical documentation of when Tangye Village began. Therefore, in order to find the ruins of the Tang Dynasty smelting plant and to understand the origin and history of Tangye Village, archaeological experts devoted all their efforts to archaeological work before the full-scale construction of the "Tangye New City" began.
The most likely place to find the smelting site is a small mine to the north of the village, because in the 1950s, relevant departments mined here, and later Guodian Iron Works also mined iron on a large scale. ore. However, due to severe damage, no traces of ancient mining can be found near the hill.
Uncle Zhao, who is over 80 years old in the village, recalled that when he was a child, he played in the small mine in the north of the village and found traces of iron slag or large areas of red soil, but these are long gone. Archaeological experts have so far not determined the location of the Tang Dynasty smelting plant. Gao Jixi, leader of the Tangye site archaeological team, believes that the Tang Dynasty smelting plant is likely to be buried under the village.
"Old objects" bear witness to ancient Tangye
Now Tangye Village has a population of more than 2,500, which is considered a big village. Walking around the village, you can feel the strong ancient atmosphere. The cobblestone paths are smooth and clear, the undulating old houses are scattered in an orderly manner, barking dogs, roosters crowing, and old people lazily basking in the sun...
There are three ancient wells in the south of the village, namely the Old Well. , Shangjing and Xiajing. It is said that these wells have the same history of more than a thousand years as Tangye Village. The water in the old well is still clear. The upper and lower wells not far from the old well have dried up and are carefully protected by tree stumps covering the well mouths. This shows that the villagers have a deep affection for them.
Each well has a stone well platform and a carved stone wellhead. There is a stone trough next to the old well, which is used for washing clothes and drinking water for cattle and horses. The reporter saw a replaced stone wellhead next to the old well. The wear marks of the well rope were "three-thirds into the stone" and were clearly visible. The current wellhead of the old well is made of four thick bluestone slabs. The surrounding area is wet and covered with moss.
77-year-old Aunt Wang was sitting on a stone bench in front of her house basking in the sun. Seeing that we were curious about the old well, she talked to us: "The water in the old well is the sweetest. "It is said that it has the same origin as Baotu Spring. When there was no running water, the whole village drank the water from this well!" Aunt Wang recalled that there were often four people carrying water in four directions at the same time. Looking at the dozens of deep grooves made by the well rope, we understand that many of the past events and stories of the people of Tangye are due to this old well.
On the west side of the old well, there is a finely paved cobblestone path that winds northward, passing through streets and alleys. Occasionally, there are ancient grain stores, long-standing garden stones, and hundreds of years old in farmyards. Ancient locust trees embellish a picture of ancient life.
In addition to ancient wells and some old houses, the existing monuments in Tangye Village also include components of the Song family's filial son archway and the Song family's genealogy stele.
The Filial Son Archway was built into the piers of Xingfu Bridge in the south of the village in 1972, and it can still be seen today. There is a dragon's head on the stone tablet and the words "Imperial Edict" and "Rong En" are written on it.
The Song family genealogy monument is on a slope in the west of the village. This stone tablet, engraved in the 21st year of Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty, begins with the following words: "The Song family was originally from Zaoqiang, and moved to Juyan, Tangyezhuang, east of Liyi City after the Zhengtong period of the Ming Dynasty."
These records also tell us that the name of the village "Tangye" should be earlier than the Ming Dynasty and can be traced back to before the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Or, as the legend says, Tangye Village comes from the earlier Tang Dynasty.
Looking at Tangye through history
The legends, old objects and life in Tangye Ancient Village add infinite charm to the ancient village. Such an ancient village, tracing its origins, gives people unlimited space for imagination.
Archaeological experts have gone to great lengths to explore signs of ancient life in this ancient village, determined to dig out the legendary smelting plant. However, what the archaeological team did not expect was that the smelter was not found. Instead, a big secret was discovered in a large field south of Tangye Village: In this field where the villagers worked hard, there was actually a hidden treasure from the Zhou Dynasty to the Han Dynasty. ruins of large settlements.
Everyone was full of curiosity about this mysterious area, and the reporter couldn’t hold it any longer. He followed the archaeological team leader Gao Jixi and walked into the Tangye ruins to see how people from different eras lived in the Tangye area. Different living conditions on the land:
The entire site (including Tangye Ancient Village) is about more than 500,000 square meters. It starts from Tu River in the east, ends at Liugong River in the west, and crosses Hengqi Road to the south for about 100 meters. The northern edge spans Century Avenue and is roughly rectangular.
The entire site is in front of you like a deep picture. Let us slowly appreciate the style of the Tangye site starting from the Western Zhou Dynasty (pictured).
In the Zhou Dynasty, Areas 2, 3, and 4 were large settlement living areas. According to archaeological experts, a large amount of domestic garbage was unearthed in these areas and a large number of signs of life were found. "This may be composed of several large natural villages. At that time, people lived densely in this area and were relatively prosperous."
In the Han Dynasty, Area 1 was used as a tomb area. The archaeological team discovered portrait stones here, which were specially placed in tombs. At that time, people still lived around areas 2 and 6, and handicraft workshops were added in area 5. As you can imagine, people frequently shuttle between the workshop area and the living area and live in an orderly manner.
In the Tang Dynasty, a village was formed above the tomb area in Area 1, which is now Tangye Village. Gao Jixi told reporters that although it is speculated that Tangye Village already existed in Area 1, no traces of life in the Tang Dynasty were found in Areas 2, 3, and 5, which is very puzzling.
During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, a small group of people lived near Area 5, but other areas are not very clear. Up to now, area 1 is still where the villagers of Tangye Village live diligently. Areas 2, 3, and 5 south of Century Avenue are the cultivated land that the villagers rely on for their survival.
In the past, in the same place, relics of life in different dynasties were left behind, as well as rich space for imagination.
In the future, a new city will rise here. Ancient villages, archaeological sites, and traces of life left by generations of people... they will all be buried deep in the soil and buried in the long river of history. .
A new life will begin again.