Walking on the empty Danjiang Avenue at the beginning of the lanterns, night walkers passed me by. Twenty-three years later, I am back where I started. ——Title
When I wrote this title, I was not in Junzhou, but in Fang County, a neighboring county. Fangxian County was called Fangling in ancient times. It became famous because Li Xian, the king of Luling in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, was relegated to live there. Fang County borders Guanshan and Yanchi River in Junzhou, but its customs and customs are different from Junzhou. Fang County has been a place where imperial convicts were exiled by successive dynasties since ancient times, but later Jun County became a major county for immigrants.
"Junzhou is made of iron, Yunyang is made of paper." This proverb spread in the Yunyang Mountain area in northwest Hubei has given an ironclad message to the two ancient cities of Junzhou and Yunyang. , However, no one of our generation has ever seen the true face of the two Lushan Mountains, and the two newly built cities are just piles of steel and concrete that have removed the soul, leaving no unforgettable imprint of the ancient cities.
The ancient city has been immersed in the largest artificial lake in Asia for more than 40 years. The city walls, towers, gates, and the streets and alleys paved with bluestone slabs in the ancient city should be In mint condition. The ancient city disappeared, but was not destroyed. It sank under the water not far away, always tugging at the heart of the old man from Junzhou. This is a very cruel ending, just like a determined lover who is so close, the helpless parting, the endless longing, the ruthless ending. You can’t wave it away even if you want to, forget it even if you want to, and can’t see it even if you want to see it. I can only rely on the fragmented memories and incomplete relics left behind to recall.
In the late 1980s, when I was studying at Danjiangkou No. 1 Middle School, I spent several Sundays following my classmates from Jiangbei to the earth dam next to Yunyang Normal College. The stone turtle and stone tablets that were shipped from Junzhou in those days are still scattered among the wild grass and wild grass, and there are still some stone figures and horses, which is so desolate. The hometowns of those Jiangbei classmates have become a vast ocean. When the water came up, people retreated twenty miles and moved to the dry loess hills. Every time they faced the rushing river, there was always an indescribable feeling in their hearts.
Last autumn, I saw several incomplete stone tablets in front of the museum in Xincheng, Yunxian County. I took a closer look and found that the oldest stone tablet was from the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty. An incomplete ancient stele, some of the writing on it has been blurred. Fortunately, the county cultural management department repaired it and built a pavilion. The ancient stele that has been weathered for hundreds of years finally has a shelter from the wind and rain. destination.
In the early spring of this year, at the invitation of an old classmate, I once again came to the original site where ancient Junzhou cultural relics were piled - Tuba, which is today's New Jingle Palace, and revisited the old place. Once, time suddenly flew by and it felt like things were different and people were different. It turned out that there was a lot of weeds. The messy loess hills have now evolved into a palace complex covering an area of ??more than 100,000 square meters. The grand momentum, bright colors, artificial floors, and fresh wood grains all reflect the grandeur of its predecessor.
Because the ancient Jingle Palace is close to the Forbidden City in terms of momentum, it is known as the "Little Forbidden City" and is the first of the nine palaces in Wudang Mountain. During the restoration of the New Jingle Palace, national cultural relics such as the largest stone archway (Lingxing Gate) in the Ming Dynasty and the two largest Biguituo Imperial Steles (commonly known as the Turtle Tuo Stele) in the Ming Dynasty were completely reproduced and repaired and restored at the same time. There are buildings such as the Xuan Emperor Hall, the Suffering Suffering Hall, the Wealth Hall, the Imperial Sutra Hall, and the Incense Burner.
The new Jingle Palace has been open to the public as a 4A scenic spot for several years. Incense is lingering in the palace, bells are ringing, Taoist priests are doing homework, and religious men and women are offering incense. It seems that time and space are reversed. , back to the heyday of the past. Wearing modern clothes, I felt a little awkward. The lost scenery cannot be restored and reappeared because time and space cannot be turned back.
There is no doubt that whether it is a museum or a scenic spot, today’s museum has indeed made great efforts to protect ancient cultural relics, and has created a platform for today’s people to pay tribute to their lost hometown. , this move is very lucky!
As a foreigner living in Junzhou, I have an inseparable bond with Junzhou.
When I was a child, I saw people from Junxian County who had moved to my hometown in the countryside of northern Hubei, and they gave me the nickname "Laojun County". An old character is so desolate! In the countryside, "old man" refers specifically to someone who has passed away. So does Laojun County specifically mean that the ancient city of Junzhou has fallen into the water and disappeared? If so, that’s not too much.
When I was a teenager, I left the countryside and went into the mountains of Jun County. I came to the mountains where my parents contributed their youth and we also contributed to the third-line construction. In the old forest. A winding railway line that passes through a cave and crosses a bridge passes outside the closed and confidential factory area and leads to the far southwest. I finished junior high school in the mountains, was admitted to the No. 1 middle school in the city, and spent three years of high school life in a small town where I had changed my name.
This small town named after the largest artificial lake in Asia left me with a far less bright and bright impression than the county seat in my hometown. I wandered on the bumpy Danjiang Avenue, and the dust raised by the passing vehicles soiled my newly bought white clothes; I wandered under the dim street lights of Yuejinmen Cinema, because the money I had on me was stolen by gangsters, and I bought For less than a movie ticket, I wandered next to the Xinhua Bookstore on Junzhou 2nd Road, because my first love came home from here, and I waited for her silently here. And a year later, in late autumn, when the fallen leaves were flying in disorder, I walked into the small courtyard here from the distant Jiangxi army, transported by car and ship. A heavy door and a pair of melancholy eyes gave me a tangled answer. I exited the small courtyard knowingly and stumbled out of this sad city. Never looked back.
This small town does not belong to me, nor do I take refuge in it. I am just a passer-by, a hasty passer-by. It is not equivalent to Laojun County, let alone Gujun Prefecture.
When civilization encounters a fierce collision with the modernization process, when people cannot find their way in the period of social transformation, a city that has lost its cultural heritage, behind its glitz, Often filled with feelings of strife, nastiness and decadence.
Later, when I reached the age of discussing marriage, I met the woman I fell in love with. Her home was far away in Yicheng, under the jurisdiction of Xiangyang. I still remember the first time I walked into her home with my lover.
On a hill not far from the Han River, dozens of families were crowded together. In a courtyard with blue bricks and red tiles, I saw an over-year-old man. Sixtieth Century, an old man with a bald head and a hunchback, who speaks authentic Junzhou dialect when he speaks. This old man is my future father-in-law. Who would have thought that even after running hundreds of miles away, I would still have an inseparable bond with Junzhou all my life. It seems that my fate with Junzhou is unavoidable.
On that early spring afternoon, the spring day shuttled through the thin clouds and mist, sparrows fell on the haystacks and played, and the hen led a few chicks to peck at the stone trough. , the scene is leisurely and the atmosphere is harmonious. The old man leaned against the straw stack, smoking a cigarette, drinking tea, and basking in the sun, feeling rare and leisurely. It is this leisurely and lazy environment that evokes the old man's deep homesickness.
The old man said that his hometown is Shibantan, twenty miles outside Junzhou City. The family has two acres of dry land and eight acres of paddy field. During the off-farm season, people go up to the mountains to collect firewood, go down to the rivers to catch fish, and then carry them into the city in exchange for some salt. Life was hard, but peaceful and quiet.
It is true that horse-drawn carriages can be run on the walls of Junzhou Ancient City, the old man answered in the affirmative.
The city gate tower is tall and majestic. The city gate is made of wood, covered with a layer of iron sheet and painted with vermilion paint. The gatehouse is spacious and can accommodate several families without appearing cramped. There is also an allusion to the Chengmen Tower, which is called the sparrow in Chengmendong - someone who has seen the receiver (on the market).
In the old man’s narration, I had a general impression of the ancient city of Junzhou in my mind: the ancient city is located in the upper reaches of the Han River, surrounded by water on three sides and backed by mountains on one side, and is as solid as gold. . Merchant ships coming and going rest at the wharf of the ancient city, which reaches up to Shaanxi and down to Hankou. It is the throat of Han River traffic. It really echoes the old saying "Junzhou is made of iron".
The old man was in high spirits and went on to tell the story of the liberation of Junzhou City in 1948. The loud noise of the cannons made people hide in fear. I didn't dare to go out of the house. The sound of gunfire continued intermittently all day and night. When I woke up in the morning and opened the door, I saw that the red flag was planted in Junzhou City and it was liberated.
When the Danjiang Dam was built in 1958, all districts in Jun County dispatched personnel to participate in the battle. The old man was lucky enough to join the ranks of the 100,000 dam-building troops and was assigned to cook in the company's cooking class. . It was during the three-year period of natural disasters, and there were reports of people starving to death from local areas, but the 100,000-strong army never showed up to the construction site hungry.
The old man said that in order to ensure that the army of 100,000 people had no supply of food, the food transport convoys on the road kept coming and going every day, and sometimes they had to get up in the middle of the night to unload food.
Under the dam and along the river, uniform reed mat shacks stretch for more than ten miles. Migrant workers live in such thatch and reed mat shacks all year round. in the shack. One winter, it was snowing lightly and a white wind was blowing. It was really freezing. Someone secretly warmed up the fire in the shack. Unfortunately, the shack caught fire and the whole camp was burned. The next day, more than a dozen companies went up the mountain to cut thatch and build shacks. Fortunately, there were no casualties, otherwise things would have been a big deal.
Two years later, the old man returned to his home in Shibantan and never returned to the construction site. It was not until 1968 that the collective moved out. When he got on the train at Danjiang Railway Station, the old man glanced at the construction site and saw a tall concrete dam crossing his eyes. This winter, the immigrants who moved out reluctantly left their old homes in their hometown. The steps they took were both sad and calm.
Shortly after the immigrants left, the Danjiangkou Dam was filled with water and the unit was put into trial operation. Overnight, the ancient city of Junzhou disappeared in the heart of the river where the water and sky were the same color, and the old city of Yunyang was also submerged at the same time. The people of Junxian County not only lost an ancient city, but also the splendid civilization of ancient Junzhou. Junzhou and Yunyang, whether they were cities made of iron or made of paper, eventually fell silent underwater. It can be said that they reached the same destination through different paths. Due to the difference in location, there is still a sandbank left in the old city of Yunyang. The Yunyang No. 1 Middle School Unit still existed on the sandbank for more than ten years. It was only in recent years that it moved into the urban area of ??Shiyan. As for the ancient city of Junzhou, "If you can't see the vast ocean, where do you know where to go?" Nothing can be seen, let alone a sandbar.
In the past two years, posts about visiting Gujunzhou have appeared on the Internet, and travel friends in Danjiangkou have also taken many photos as souvenirs.
This spring and summer, northwest Hubei suffered a severe drought. The Danjiangkou Reservoir area opened the gates and released water to help the counties and cities downstream of the Han River to fight the disaster. The water level in the reservoir area once dropped below the dead water line. . The water surface of the Little Pacific Ocean exposes rugged stone forests. The Water City Happy Flying Group organized several outdoor activities to visit the Little Pacific Ocean and observe the stone forests, leaving behind many precious light and shadow materials. Posting a report on the "Shuidu Forum" caused great repercussions in the small town, and attracted some photography fans from Shiyan's "Dongfeng Forum" to visit.
When those of us who have never seen the ancient city of Junzhou face the river and pay our respects in the wind, are we eager to see just the ruins of an ancient city? Where has the charm of ancient Junzhou gone? How much of the cultural heritage of ancient Junzhou is still preserved?
Sixty miles away from the ruins of the ancient city, where the dam is located in the reservoir area, a small town gradually emerged. The roads became wider and wider, the buildings became taller and taller, and the population became denser. , on a hot summer night, when the lights are on, people are flocking outdoors, stopping, wandering, and wandering on the avenue, along the riverside road, and at the Second Bridge. High-rise buildings cannot accommodate restless hearts. Walking on ordinary bluestone roads may be more practical and calm!
Ancient Junzhou is gone forever, and the number of old people who have lived in Junzhou City is becoming increasingly rare. The civilization and culture of ancient Junzhou have disappeared under the strong impact of the modernization process. A city without cultural heritage is like a homeless abandoned child. It lacks the confidence to do anything because it has lost its soul, aura and aura.
Walking in the winding alleys of the small town, you can occasionally catch a glimpse of streets and shops named after "Junzhou", but there is no trace of the legacy of ancient Junzhou. There is no doubt that these streets and business names are used by future generations to commemorate the ancient city of Junzhou. I want to tell future generations that my ancestral home is in Junzhou City, and my ancestral grave is buried in the mountains outside Junzhou City. Among them, the naming of Junxian and towns best reflects today's people's homesickness for ancient Junzhou.
The predecessor of Junxian Town was called Xiaochuan Town, and the ancient city of Junzhou sank into the turbulent river under a hilltop called Guanmenyan in the town. At that time, the people of Junzhou migrated to other places, and only Xiao Chuan stayed. Like a filial son, Xiao Chuan protected his old house and his ancestral graves as always. For more than 40 years, Facing the endless river flowing under my feet, I endured more sadness and longing.
So, when I was thinking about it to the extreme, I simply changed my name and placed more emotions on a name that my ancestors had used. It can be regarded as a kind of nostalgia complex among today's Danjiangkou people. What else can be done?
When the immigrants left their homeland and traveled far away to Jingxiang and Mianyang, the hot and humid climate in the south, unfamiliar villages, turbid rivers, and the difficult-to-understand language of the barbarians intertwined into a strange world. An environment in which immigrants find it difficult to integrate. There are those who are dissatisfied with the soil and water, quietly sneaking back to their hometown, facing the surging river in front of them, shedding a line of miserable tears, some go to seek refuge with relatives and friends, and most of them stay at the foot of Jielu Mountain, waiting for a piece of nostalgia, waiting for a love. kind of destiny. No matter whether you are poor or miserable, even if you die in your hometown, you will feel more at ease than living hard in a foreign land.
This kind of nostalgia for hometown was even more exaggerated after the rural joint production contracting in the 1980s. More immigrants moved out of the country, locked their doors, and abandoned their homes. Going down to the fertile fields, on a dark moonlit night with high winds, I carried my luggage on my shoulders, grabbed my wife and generals, and joined the team returning home. Along the big river in my hometown, next to the cliffs, and in the mountains and forests, reed mat shacks like those used by the dam-building army rose up, forming a vicissitudes of scenery. This was later commonly known as the "Backing Brigade" "The origin of the name.
Old immigrants come back and new immigrants move out. The old and the new alternate, and it’s hard to leave our homeland!
Jun County, once a major immigration county, and Danjiangkou, now a major immigration city, have received special attention three times in history: the first time was in the ninth year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty , the imperial court ordered 300,000 military and civilian craftsmen to overhaul Wudang Fairy Mountain, which lasted 14 years; the second time was in 1958 after the founding of the Republic of China, when 100,000 migrant workers went to Jun County to fight against the Danjiangkou Reservoir Dam; the third time was It was in the seventh year of this century that the main heightening project of the Danjiangkou Dam on the middle line of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project was fully launched. Three years later, in 2010, the world-famous migration project on the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project was fully launched. 38,000 Danjiangkou people left their homeland in tears and moved to other places. .
Is it the aura of Wudang Fairy Mountain or the aura of Junzhou’s Canglang green water that makes history be reviewed frequently here? unknown.
Going north of the Yangtze River, when the wanderers far away from the ancient city of Junzhou came to the riverside again to pay homage to their hometown, did Cui Hao of the Tang Dynasty also climb to the Yellow Crane Tower and express his sorrowful words? What about the sorrow and helplessness of the sentence "Where is the hometown at dusk? The misty waves on the river make people sad"?
(Prose editor: Yue Ran)