Photographed by Lin Honglin, a century-old Gu house by the Wenruitang River in Wutian Dongyang section of Ouhai
Gu Tongchun stone carving signboard
Gu Guanyong, the third generation descendant of "Gu Tongchun", Sunzi Gu Biography
Written by Zhou Jimin/Photographed
In the "Chinese Sauce Culture Museum" in Shaoxing, there are 170 famous sauce gardens from all over the country in history. The time-honored "Gu Tongchun Sauce Garden" in Wenzhou during the Republic of China is Taking a seat shows the influence of "Gu Tongchun" at that time. Unfortunately, the prosperity of the past has been blown away by the rain and wind. Today, what can witness the former prosperity of "Gu Tongchun" is the former site of the soy sauce garden on the Wenruitang River that was eroded by wind and rain - "Gu Zhai".
Centennial Valley House on the Bank of Tang River
On the Wenruitang River in the east section of Wutian, Ouhai, an ancient house leans quietly on the river bank. I looked at it silently from the other side of the river. She was incompatible with the hustle and bustle of the young people around her. She was like an old man with frosty temples, all the loneliness and vicissitudes of life engraved on his face. The old house in front of you is Guzhai, the former site of the famous "Gu Tongchun" soy sauce garden.
I watched her for a long time and found that few people walked past her door, and no one stopped in front of her. The river pier in front of the door has also been deserted, and no one is stirring up a ripple in the water. Guzhai, located at No. 296 Wutian Street, is a two-story traditional brick and wood structure. It is elegantly built but not luxurious. Most of the layer of dust on the outside of the old doorstep has peeled off, making it look mottled. The door sill is made of blue bricks, and the two wings are made of blue bricks to form a geometric pattern, making the wall appear three-dimensional. The brick carvings on the old doorstep have been mostly damaged, but their original beauty can still be seen. The eaves are covered with weeds. Under the autumn sunshine, this greenery contrasts with the coldness of the old house.
The door of the old house is open, and the waist door made of wire outside the door is also ajar. Standing outside the door, your sight goes through the patio, through the nave, and directly to the innermost wall. Pushing open the waist door, there is a patio inside the door. The middle aisle is paved with long stone slabs. Both sides of the patio are occupied by all kinds of flowers and plants. This makes the whole yard look very messy, but it can also be seen that the owner of the old house loves the little flowers. Xiaocao's love. The left and right compartments inside are symmetrical, with a nave in the middle. I think this should have been the most solemn graveyard before, with portraits of ancestors hanging on it, but now it is filled with clutter.
An elderly woman walked out of the wing on the right. After communication, I learned that her name was Luo Xia, and her husband, Gu Chuanlin, was the sixth generation of the Gu family. She has lived in this old house for 54 years since she got married. She pointed out to me the family photo of the Gu family that was pressed under the glass plate.
When I came out of Luo Xia's wing, I found that two people were already sitting in the central hall of the old house. One is an old man and the other is an old woman with silver hair. After chatting, I found out that the old man is Gu Chuanjing, the grandson of Gu Guanyong, the third generation leader of "Gu Tongchun". He is 68 years old this year. Gu Chuanjing said that this Gu house has a history of 105 years. I remember that when my grandfather was still alive, he often sat on the stone drum in the middle hall. He said that when he was 13 years old, the Gu family built this house. If his grandfather were still here, there would be 118 people this year. Years old, inferring from this, this house is 105 years old.
Speaking of the "Gu Tongchun" Sauce Garden, Gu Chuanjing walked to the corner of the patio, moved away the debris, and opened a stone slab covered by a plastic sheet. On the bluestone board, the three Chinese characters "Gu Tongchun" are clearly visible. It is rare that the time-honored stone tablets left to them by their ancestors have been preserved to this day. Gu Zhai, who witnessed the history of "Gu Tongchun" soy sauce garden, is already a centenarian. Now the "old man" is old and shaky, but the memories of the descendants of the Gu family are still so clear.
Prosperous for a while and passed down for four generations
From the introduction of Gu Chuanjing and the records in the book "Wuchun Chunqiu", I learned about the historical changes of "Gu Tongchun" sauce garden. Gu Honglan (1835-1932), the founder of "Gu Tongchun" soy sauce garden, was born in a peasant family in Tongshe Village, Wuhe District. Although he did not read much, he was intelligent, eager to learn, and good at thinking.
In the old days, the villages around Wutian were all water net areas. Farmers would go to the river to catch shrimps in their nets during the slack season or in the morning and evening. Some villagers even made a living by fishing, and they would catch what they could. Fish and shrimp are sold on Wutian Street, and the money earned is exchanged for daily necessities such as rice, soy sauce, wine and vinegar from Wutian Street.
After careful observation, Gu Honglan discovered that Wutian farmers like to eat fish and shrimps and have a high demand for soy sauce and vinegar, so he came up with the idea of ????operating soy sauce and vinegar. He used his extra rice to make wine vinegar at home and sold it on Wutian Street. After a period of business operation, Gu Honglan gained experience in doing business and tasted the benefits of doing business. He rented a house on Wutian Street and opened a shop selling soy sauce, rice vinegar, and rice. He named it "Gu Tongchun". Gu Chuanjing said that when he founded "Gu Tongchun", Gu Honglan was a young man and full of entrepreneurial enthusiasm.
Gu Honglan focused on credibility when doing business, and his business prospered day by day. The scale of soy sauce and vinegar production continued to expand, and his economic strength became increasingly strong. By the Republic of China, "Gu Tongchun" soy sauce garden had become a famous soy sauce garden inside and outside Wenzhou. Gu Honglan also transformed from an ordinary farmer into a well-known industrialist and businessman, and was appreciated by the government. In 1914, on Gu Honglan's 80th birthday, the Yongjia County government presented a plaque to the "Zhang Chaoguang Garden". In 1931, Gu Honglan celebrated his 100th birthday in advance, and the Yongjia County government presented him with a gold plaque with the words "Qi Yi Yanqing" as a token of appreciation. This shows the influence of "Gu Tongchun" in the local area at that time.
In 1917, Gu Honglan applied to the Zhejiang Provincial Salt Administration to turn the "Gu Tongchun" soy sauce garden into a government-run one. Because the government-run soy sauce garden not only has a license issued by the government, but also can obtain the distribution and supply of raw materials such as salt from the government, which is conducive to "Gu Tongchun" further opening up the market. After a lot of setbacks, at the end of 1917, the Provincial Salt Service Administration finally issued a license plate with gold characters on a black background and the seal of "Zhejiang Salt Service Administration". Gu Honglan regards this license plate as a "treasure" and keeps it properly during normal times. He only hangs it in the shop for display during the Spring Festival. After "Gutongchun" became a government-run operation, its production scale has been expanding day by day. The number of soy sauce floor-standing vats has increased from more than 10 to more than 20. It has also brewed the high-quality and popular "Mimu" soy sauce and the famous brand product "Gutongchunding Vinegar". At the same time, brewing old wine consumes about two hundred tons of rice every year.
After Gu Honglan passed away, "Gu Tongchun" was run by his sons Gu Jiashi and Gu Xiuchen. In order to further expand sales, "Gu Tongchun" started to open branches, including "Guangtongchun" branch at Yufengqiaokou, Wenzhou, and "Ningtongchun" branch at Cangqiaokou. These two branches do not produce goods, they are just the sales departments of "Gu Tongchun".
In the 1930s, "Gu Tongchun" was inherited and operated by Gu Guanyong (1892-1971), the eldest grandson of Gu Honglan and son of Gu Jiashi. In the early 1940s, Gu Xiuchen and his son Gu Guanchu moved to Ruian Tangxia to set up a separate business in the sauce and wine business. As the third generation descendant of "Gu Tongchun", Gu Guanyong is an industrious and frugal person. He often goes barefoot and wears straw sandals and walks to the city to do errands. He has established a strict management system in terms of production and operation management, which has enabled "Gu Tongchun" to further expand and develop.
In 1947, "Gu Tongchun" established a large baking room, which replaced the backward process of drying soy sauce in natural sunlight, greatly shortening the brewing process. In order to adapt to technological innovation and production development, more than 60 workshops and two five-room bungalows were built in Wutian Dongyang area (the original location of the district office), and additional equipment such as pressing rooms, bluestone bowls, and jacks, and floor-standing tanks were added. The number of tanks has increased from the original 20 to more than 60, and the total number of tanks has reached about 400. For the production of old wine alone, the annual input of rice reaches three to four hundred tons.
After the founding of New China, "Gu Tongchun", under the leadership of the fourth generation Gu Yiqing and Gu Yifen, worked hard and basically maintained the old scale. In 1956, as the wave of industrial and commercial transformation spread across urban and rural areas, the "Gu Tongchun" soy sauce garden was merged into the Yongjia County Brewing Factory as a private equity. Two years later, the Yongjia County Brewing Factory was divided into Wenzhou Fruit Wine Factory, Yongchun Brewing Factory and Provincial Cooperative Wucuo Vermicelli Factory. Gu Tongchun's shares were transferred to Wenzhou Fruit Wine Factory, and all the former employees of "Gu Tongchun" became workers of the factory.
At this point, the prosperous time-honored brand "Gu Tongchun" has faded out of the stage of history.