Cultural trip to China | Thousand-year-old ancient town Tongli: a vivid and vivid Jiangnan water town style painting

Green bricks are accompanied by tile paint, and white horses tread new mud. In late spring and March, Tongli, an ancient town in the south of the Yangtze River, was crowded with tourists. In the deep alleys of ancient houses paved with bluestones, Wu Nong is talking softly, and spring tea is fragrant; cruise ships are passing by on the crisscrossing rivers, and the sound of oars is heard. On the stage in the center of the ancient town, a wonderful excerpt of a tin opera was being performed. Tourists from all over the world stopped to watch and savor the long Wu rhyme that uniquely belongs to the south of the Yangtze River.

As one of the “Six Ancient Towns in the South of the Yangtze River”, Tongli has a history of more than 1,000 years. It is known as the “Venice of the East” for its charm of “small bridges, flowing water, and people”. Journalists from all over the country who participated in the theme publicity report of Cultural China Tour came here to explore the unique charm of this thousand-year-old ancient town and read carefully this living sample of the cultural landscape of Jiangnan Water Town that has been passed down for thousands of years.

“It is impossible to know how many beautiful scenery a small garden has. Tuisi Garden is the core landscape of Tongli. It is a classic work of private garden architecture in the late Qing Dynasty and has been included in the world cultural heritage.” Standing next to the Water Champs Pavilion, Suzhou Tongli Xue Runwei, deputy general manager of Li International Tourism Development Co., Ltd., talked about the history of Tuisi Garden. Tuisi Garden was first built during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty. The overall layout is clever, moderate, simple and elegant. With the pond as the center, the garden has pavilions, pavilions, rockeries, winding bridges and corridors, all of which are built close to the water or directly on the water. The entire garden seems to be floating on the water, and it is praised as a “water garden” by the famous gardener Mr. Chen Congzhou.

Suihanju, Shuixiang Pavilion, Tuisi Thatched Cottage, Mianyun Pavilion… After a long time, the buildings in today’s Tuisi Garden are still well preserved. Visitors can feel the unique charm of Jiangnan classical gardens as they move around and change scenery. “In the renovation and protection of Tuisi Garden, we insist on using historical materials as the model, making maximum use of original materials, preserving original components, and using original craftsmanship, so that historical information can be preserved in every house, tile, and plant. .” Xue Run said.

Wandering in Tongli, the rich history will come to you at any time. There are 115 immovable cultural relics preserved in the 54-hectare Tongli Historical Town, including 1 world cultural heritage and 2 national key cultural relics protection units. How to protect so many cultural heritages was once a difficult problem faced by cultural preservation workers in Wujiang District. “We pay attention to the integration of the old and the new, make rational use of historical and cultural resources from different periods, maintain the diversity of ancient town styles, and fully interpret the development context of Tongli.” Zhou Chunhua, director of the Wujiang District Cultural Relics Protection and Management Office, said that in the past two years, they have changed their thinking from The salvage protection of cultural relics buildings has shifted to preventive protection. Three-dimensional scanning and digital archiving of severely damaged ancient buildings have been carried out to provide digital support for subsequent protection and inheritance. At the same time, ancient buildings should be used rationally to rejuvenate them. The Jingtan Hall located at No. 48 Fuguan Street, Tongli Ancient Town is a modern building that combines Chinese and Western styles. Now it has been transformed into a cultural and creative space for Tongli’s self-operated service brand “Tongxiaoli”, becoming a must-have for young people when they come to Tongli. Visit the internet celebrity check-in place.

With streets built along the water, a city around the water, and gardens beside the water, Tongli is also a “living ancient town”. Currently, there are about 4,500 households and more than 10,000 people living in the historical town area. Zhang Jinjun, chief of the Land and Spatial Planning Section of the Wujiang District Natural Resources and Planning Bureau of Suzhou City, said that in recent years, Tongli has fully respected the needs of residents, continued to improve the living environment, promoted co-construction, co-governance and sharing by multiple entities, and utilized “smart Tongli” The project, supported by the Internet and big data, has improved the level of refined management of the ancient town, perfectly retained the fireworks atmosphere of the ancient town, and made the picture of life in the Jiangnan water town more vivid and lively. As China’s famous ancient building conservation expert and Professor Ruan Yisan of Tongji University said: “Tongli has its own unique methods and methods in the reconstruction of old towns, the development of new towns, and the protection and repair of historical and cultural heritage, so that the historical and cultural heritage can be preserved.” Both heritage and modern tourism are in a state of healthy development, setting a model for the protection and development of ancient Chinese towns.”

Xinhua Daily·Intersection reporter Yu Feng Feng Yuanfang/Wen Fan Junyan Chen Yue/Picture Cao Yang Gao Xin/Video