On April 18, tourists were having fun in the Pingjiang Historical and Cultural District in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. For a long time, Suzhou has implemented the Pingjiang Road style protection and environmental improvement project, deeply excavating the cultural connotation of historical blocks and historical buildings, and promoting the Pingjiang historical and cultural block protection and renewal project with high quality and precision, attracting a large number of tourists to visit.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Bo
In spring in Gusu, the water is as green as the sky.
Tongli Ancient Town is crowded with tourists. Stepping on the bluestone slabs, you can watch the rowing boats going back and forth in the river. The ancient camphor trees along the bank are like pavilions, and the red lanterns in front of the old buildings are swaying gently in the wind… An old street can take a thousand years at a glance.
Recently, reporters visited old neighborhoods with ancient buildings in Jiangsu, from Pingjiang Road in Suzhou to Xijindu in Zhenjiang, from Qingming Bridge in Wuxi to Jiaoxi Ancient Town in Changzhou. The old neighborhoods with long history and ancient buildings with long charm tell the story of each and every one. The context of the city.
Nourish regional charm
Strolling through the historical and cultural district of Renfengli in Yangzhou, you will see rows of ancient houses and folk houses, which condense the history and customs of Yangzhou brick by brick.
700 meters, a normal walk only takes 10 minutes, but in Renfengli, it takes nearly an hour to “complete”. Renfengli runs north-south, with several alleys such as Touxiang, Second Alley, Third Alley, and Fourth Alley arranged neatly from east to west on both sides. It is a relic of the square system pattern of the old city of Yangzhou in the Tang Dynasty.
“Since the Ming Dynasty, Renfengli has been an important residential area for Yangzhou people.” Qiu Zhengfeng, deputy director of the Yangzhou Historical and Cultural Cities Research Institute, told reporters, “In recent years, on the basis of retaining the traditional style, the neighborhood has worked hard to improve living conditions and continue The living atmosphere in the alleys of the ancient city retains the living history and brings prosperity and bustle to the ancient city again.”
Yangzhou does not produce salt, but it is a city that thrives on salt. “This is a thousand-year-old city, closely related to the Grand Canal.” Gu Feng, a literature and history expert, said that due to its unique geographical advantages, with the help of the Grand Canal running from north to south, the sales scope of the Lianghuai Salt District expanded, creating the wealth of Yangzhou City in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Party A.
In June 2014, the Grand Canal was approved to be included in the World Heritage List at the 38th World Heritage Conference. Zheng Jing, director of the China Grand Canal Museum in Yangzhou, said: “The Grand Canal has brought economic prosperity to many cities along its coast, as well as cultural prosperity.”
The Dongguan Historical and Cultural District was once the most active gathering place for trade and cultural exchanges along the Grand Canal. It was also the starting point for the protection of Yangzhou’s historical and cultural cities in the new century, and witnessed Yangzhou’s urban development.
According to incomplete statistics, more than 150 poets in the Tang Dynasty wrote more than 400 poems praising Yangzhou. The Jiannan Bookstore on Dongguan Street was formerly known as Xiaolinglong Mountain Hall. It was one of the most prosperous places for Yangzhou Poetry and Literature Society at that time.
Since 2015, Yangzhou has built urban study rooms and built 15-minute reading circles. The current Jienna Bookstore has become a 24-hour city study room. The warm study room creates a strong cultural atmosphere.
“Today, Dongguan Street has become a vibrant historical and cultural space, showing the unique charm of a thousand-year-old canal city.” Qiu Zhengfeng said.
Blooming new colors of intangible cultural heritage
As night falls, a colorful scroll rolls out along the Qinhuai River, and the Nanjing Confucius Temple historical and cultural district is filled with colors, as if reproducing the grand scene of the lantern market and trade bazaar in the “Shangyuan Lantern Picture”.
During the Spring Festival of 2024, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism will choose “Lighting Up China’s Lanterns” – the home venue of the first national joint exhibition of lanterns and lanterns here. The history of Qinhuai lanterns can be traced back to the Three Kingdoms period. By the Qing Dynasty, Qinhuai lanterns had become more sophisticated in production and had greater development in variety and style.
Cao Zhenrong, the provincial intangible cultural heritage inheritor of the Qinhuai Lantern Festival, is 80 years old and has been in the lantern market for nearly 60 years. When the reporter saw him in the studio, he was concentrating on making lanterns. “Although the lantern is small, the craftsmanship is complex. It requires dozens of processes such as chopping, sawing, cutting, shearing, smoking, baking, roasting, ironing, dipping, dyeing, tying, mounting, and painting to complete.” Cao Zhenrong told Reporter, tying lanterns not only requires technical skills, but also requires innovation in style.
This year’s dragon lantern has different innovations. “The feet should be long, the claws should be strong, and the eyes should be lively, reflecting the style of the times and the charm of the dragon.” Cao Zhenrong said that in the past, longan was pasted or rolled with crepe paper, which was classic but not three-dimensional enough. This year he bought it from the market I found a kind of “plastic beads” with gradient colors from white to blue and used them to make eyes, making the dragon lantern even more lifelike.
Inheritance and innovation are more clearly reflected in daughter Cao Hong, who is also a provincial-level intangible cultural heritage inheritor. “We are trying to innovate based on the continuation of more than 1,700 years of old materials, old tools, and old techniques. For example, carbon steel is used to replace part of the bamboo strips as the skeleton, which is stronger; non-woven fabrics are combined with crepe paper to create more details; optical fibers are used It is more lightweight as a light source…” Cao Hong said that at this year’s lantern festival, she also exhibited cartoon patterns and animated character lanterns to attract young people.
“The Qinhuai Lantern Festival is a spiritual pillar for me and a driving force in life. The Qinhuai Lantern Festival also plays a very important role in the hearts of Nanjing people,” Cao Zhenrong said.
The Qinhuai River Basin has enjoyed convenient transportation since ancient times, and the handicraft industry, silk weaving industry, and commerce on both sides of the river are developed. Taking root in the fertile soil, Qinhuai lanterns developed rapidly and led to the development of folk cultural and art forms such as paper-cutting, diabolo, knotting, carving, shadow puppets, and stilt walking.
In 2021, the Nanjing Intangible Cultural Heritage Experience Center located on Chaoku Street in Confucius Temple was officially opened. Tourists can experience intangible cultural heritage projects under the guidance of intangible cultural heritage inheritors. “By holding exhibitions, performances, and experience activities, we build a bridge for citizens to understand and fall in love with intangible cultural heritage, and enhance their confidence and consciousness in inheriting the millennium cultural heritage.” said Yin Lei, head of the intangible cultural heritage experience center.
Condensing mental strength
In Nantong, Tangzha Historical and Cultural District quietly watches. With black butterfly tile roofs and sugarcane ridges, you can still see the original old factory buildings in Tangzha today.
The industrial heritage of Tangzha is a rich mine of material and culture. “The former site of Dada Gong Electric Rice Milling Company”, “Xinmin Alley”, “Fuxing Alley”, etc. allow people to better touch that period of history.
Commentator Wang Zhenyu introduced that at the end of the 19th century, Zhang Jian, a famous industrialist in modern China, planned to build the Dasheng Cotton Mill in Tangzha, and then successively established a series of subsidiary industrial groups such as oil extraction, flour grinding, iron smelting, sericulture, dyeing and weaving.
Around 1910, Tangzha had initially established an industrial system centered on cotton textiles and supported by related supporting industries.
The Dasheng Wharf and Dasheng Spinnery Bell Tower, which are still on the canal today, bear witness to the role of the Tang Gate back then.
For more than 100 years, Dasheng Spinnery Mill has never stopped production, nor has it stopped pioneering and innovating. Each yarn tells the practice of “rejuvenating the country through hard work”.
“Dare to take responsibility and dare to be the first is our consistent sense of mission.” Zhang Qixiang, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Dasheng Group, said that Dasheng Group now has advanced digital textile workshops and smart spinning factories, which have promoted the overall quality improvement of the industry.
“Nantong, a piece of land where the river and the sea meet, has become a famous modern city across the river. This is inseparable from the hard work of industrialists represented by Zhang Jian. The hard-working, dedicated, open-minded and responsible characters have long been integrated into the urban temperament of Nantong. These precious The spirit has lasted for hundreds of years, inspiring generations of Nantong people to work hard,” said Lu Ranran, an interpreter of Nantong Museum.
Walking in the old streets is like opening a book of urban memories. After years of cleaning up and recording the traces of life, the ancient context has been integrated into daily life, inherited and developed, and has gained more meaningful vitality in the new era. (Feng Chunmei, Li Zhuoer, Yao Xueqing)
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责编：张诗奇 ]
Tags: cultural context street inherits present_Guangming .com
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