Scenic spot information
Address: southeast of yintai district, Tongchuan/0/5km peak of kloc.
Tickets: There are no tickets.
Opening hours: open all day.
Transportation: It is suggested to take a train to Xi 'an, and then take a long-distance bus to Tongchuan at the opposite Xi 'an Bus Station. Every day from 6: 00 to 20: 30, every 15 minutes, take the "Xitong Expressway" and get there in about10.5 hours. The fare is 23.5 yuan. You can also take a taxi to Tongchuan, about 200-300 yuan.
After arriving in Tongchuan, take a bus to Chen Lu Town, yintai district (the old city), about 30 kilometers. The local traffic is underdeveloped and there is no concept of "line". Be sure to see the destination of the bus before getting on the bus.
Tel: 0919-3185751? 3 185750 (Tongchuan Cultural Relics and Tourism Bureau)
Complaint telephone number: 0919-3185751
Scenic official website: None.
Scenic area related service facilities: there are health centers in the town; There are banks, hospitals and gas stations in Tongchuan.
Accommodation: It is best to eat and live in "Taojiale" (similar to "farmhouse music", local people make pottery for a living, so they call it "Taojiale"), and there are more than a dozen in the town. You can also live in local homes, all of which are caves. This place is spacious and interesting. Don't forget to eat the most distinctive "caviar" in the local area. The reference price is about one day in 30 yuan.
Orientation map of Chenlu ancient town
Scenic spot related information
Chenlu is a local town at the junction of Loess Plateau and Guanzhong Plain, and it is also the successor of Yaozhou Kiln, the most famous folk kiln in northern China. The kiln fire of the old furnace has been burning for more than 1400 years since it was ignited, creating the longest record of firing ceramics at one time. Today, Chen Lu's potters are still making "gadgets" with the most primitive techniques handed down from generation to generation, which can be called living fossils and living specimens for investigating the production of ancient ceramics. ?
According to research, Chen Lu was in full swing as early as the Tang Dynasty. After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, it became the only kiln that continued to produce Yaozhou kiln. For thousands of years, folk kilns have mushroomed, porcelain-making industry has flourished, and traditional porcelain-making skills have been passed down from generation to generation. The aging furnace has created a wonder in the history of China ceramics. Some people even call Chen Lu "the living fossil of oriental ancient ceramics production".
A cave town?
Climb from Kawaguchi "Hankou" in the southeast of Tongchuan City, the "coal capital", walk southeast for about 45 minutes, and then flash across a mountain pass to Chenlu in the town. ?
Chen Lu is the most densely populated place in Fiona Fang's dozens of miles of yellow land. Surrounded by mountains, the mountains are undulating, and there are caves and caves of all sizes everywhere. Red brick caves, against the setting sun, are like red fortresses, lined with white walls and brown land, like a dignified oil painting.
Most people here continue the "cave dwelling" lifestyle of their ancestors, just as described in the Book of Songs-"Taogaitao Cave". In fact, as early as six or seven thousand years ago, at Banpo, not far from here, the ape-man had already started this kind of pottery kiln life. Today, you can still find the six oldest pottery kilns in China at Banpo ape-man site. ?
Standing on Chenlu Street, which is several hundred meters long, you can see the whole town. The caves built on the slopes are littered with chimneys and porcelain kilns of different sizes and styles. Chen Lu is also named after this "pottery furnace display" landscape. ?
Walking in a winding lane is more like walking through history and just visiting. The road flickers up and down, seemingly there is no way to go, but "Another Village is Bright" bypasses the courtyard wall of a family, and wide streets and lanes appear again. Sometimes I look at a road and accidentally bump into someone's yard. You rushed over to apologize and ask questions, but you saw smiling faces that were clear to your chest. ?
You'll know when you walk too much. Take the next road and go up to the top of the mountain; Go down to the potter's yard at the bottom of the ditch. But no matter where you go, you will always be greeted by that innocent smile and simple greeting. As soon as you say "coming", you are directly invited to visit his kiln, making tea and handing water, and you are very busy. There is no vigilance and strangeness of city people at all. ?
Standing in the potter's yard, people often step on their roofs. You can see every move of your next-door neighbor at a glance. The most interesting thing about Chen Lu is that you can often see the daughter-in-law of the people below chatting with the people on the roof.
Ancient handmade pottery?
People in Guzhen made porcelain from generation to generation. Almost everyone is a folk artist who makes porcelain, and every family is a porcelain family. Until now, the ancient porcelain-making process is still used here. Walking into a house casually, the Potter who is busy painting blanks is likely to use the techniques and techniques handed down from his ancestors, or his grandfather's pottery cart. The only difference is that the manual kiln car is changed to electric now. ?
What the old furnace lacks most is water, and what it lacks most is crucible soil for making porcelain. For thousands of years, generations have been begging on this land for a living. Ask for a thousand years as soon as you ask. The scorching kiln fire has illuminated the history of old furnaces for thousands of years. ?
Chenlu Town is located in the transition zone from Guanzhong Plain to Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi. Geologically speaking, it belongs to the sedimentary rock belt, where there are a large number of porcelain clay raw materials and glaze raw materials, as well as a large number of mineral resources such as coal and limestone. From the observation of the accumulation faults of some clay crucibles, the thickness of clay crucibles ranges from several meters to tens of meters, and some are a clay crucible mountain with large raw material reserves. Rich resources provide a material basis for the sustainable development of Chenzhou porcelain industry. Pottery-makers take the crucible stone back from the mountain, break it, sieve it, make it into mud, clean it, put it on the rotating turntable, and pull it into the prototype of various utensils at will. After a while, the blanks of pots, jars, bottles and cans of various household items will appear in front of you. ?
Just walked into a house, next to the door, it must be a kang. One end of the kang is connected to the only window in the cave, and the other end is connected to the stove. There is simple furniture in the room. Many people's kilns are next to the entrance. The place is spacious, so simply build the kiln in the open space outside the gate. In fact, the lifestyle of Chen Lu's family is closely related to the work of early potters. Early porcelain workshops were basically family-based manual workshops, and most ceramic workers were centered on kilns. In the era of "sleepless in the furnace mountain", in order to save time and facilitate porcelain making and burning, they ate and lived in rough houses built on the edge of the kiln. Over time, it formed the living form of Chenlu people today. ?
Different from Jingdezhen's industry refinement, in Chen Lu, every family is an independent manual workshop. Therefore, the Potter must be decathlon, from the raw material processing in the first process to the firing of the finished product out of the kiln, he must be able to take it up and put it down in every process. ?
Potters in aging furnaces are generally divided into three types. ?
One kind is specialized in making bowls, which is called bowl kiln locally. The most typical is the "Yaozhou Old Bowl" or "Sea Bowl" that is common in Guanzhong. The largest "Yaozhou Big Old Bowl" is 25 cm in diameter and can hold 2.5 liters of water. The bowls commonly used by the people to hold noodles or entertain guests are smaller than this. Now in Shaanxi, whether it's a restaurant selling snacks such as mutton in soup, mutton in a basin, gourd head, or a farmhouse, it's a small bowl at dinner time. That scene really surprised the couple! One kind is specialized in making vats, cauldrons and jars, which are called urn kilns locally, mainly for household use. There is also a special teapot, vase, bowl and other miscellaneous utensils, also called black kiln. Of these three lines, making a black kiln is the most difficult and requires the highest technology. In Chen Lu, these three lines do not interfere with each other and are passed down from generation to generation, which is what the locals call "the three lines are not chaotic." ?
After the porcelain was finished, it was bought by a "wool dealer" in Fuping. "Fake" people go to Chen Lu to buy porcelain, and whoever buys porcelain will eat and live in it. Choose the porcelain, hire special hands to carry it out of the mountain with mules, transport it to Yaoxian County, and then transport it to other places. According to the old rules, those who carried away the porcelain at that time didn't have to pay, and they settled the bill together at the end of the year. If the Potter usually has no money to make porcelain, the "deliveryman" will give him three or five hundred dollars and settle the account together at the end of the year. Buyers and sellers rely entirely on credibility, and there is no need to sign any contract at all.
Can't fall on the wall?
Kiln mud is the most precious thing in aged furnaces, and discarded pottery tools are the most abundant. Local people use local materials to build kilns, build walls, pave roads and reinforce slope protection with those abandoned saggers. So a series of "pot walls" were erected between the kiln, the courtyard and the road. You can see a path everywhere, covered with pages of "sagger" fragments inserted vertically on the ground. ?
Sagger is actually a kind of porcelain tire, which was once a great innovation of ceramic firing technology. Its appearance makes the glaze of porcelain avoid being directly affected by smoke and dust during firing, thus improving the quality of porcelain. Sagger first appeared in the Tang Dynasty and has been used ever since.
Sagger must be updated when it is used to a certain extent, otherwise it will fall off because of its brittleness. Therefore, the replaced sagger has become a treasure in the eyes of Chen Lu people because of its high hardness and light weight.
Chen Lu is located on the hillside, surrounded by mountains on three sides, with little flat land and inconvenient transportation. Coupled with the rock constitution, it also increases the difficulty of building caves. Therefore, the local people took off the coarse materials left after sieving and elutriating the soil to make bricks, and then calcined them into red bricks similar to refractory bricks, which were used to hoop kilns and build houses, which were both durable and affordable. However, the compressive capacity of the red brick cave is limited, and the residents above can't repair the courtyard wall. At this time, discarded saggers, urns and cans became the best materials for the wall. As a result, every household in Chenlu has this red and yellow tank wall. Linglong people, pulling white ash, thickly smeared with a layer of white, are dazzling and bright in bright sunny days. As the sun sets, the red and white on the slope are striking and eye-catching, and the three slopes of the old stove are a warm oil painting. ?
In addition, every household's chimney is also made of local materials, or with thick porcelain pipes, or with water tanks with holes at the bottom, or simply with hollow vases. Worst of all, it is also made of saggers that are discarded after firing.
The legend of celadon national treasure "reflux tank"?
Chen Lu, as the main producer of civil porcelain in the north, produces mostly daily-use porcelain, and almost everything is needed for life, such as cups, plates, bowls and lamps. Only a few private porcelain workshops are copying some antique porcelain and craft porcelain with high technological requirements. In the porcelain workshop, the old ceramist Li showed us the exquisite kiln furniture copied by his family for many years. Lao Li used to work in Yaozhou Kiln Museum, specializing in antique reproduction of porcelain. 1998 after retirement, he opened his own porcelain workshop, specializing in the reproduction of porcelain. According to Chen Lu, the Lao family should be a black kiln worker. In the cave, a piece of Yaozhou celadon that is "as clever as a golden model" and "more refined than jade" really feasted our eyes. ?
A celadon glass with a faucet in it has a resounding name "Fair Cup". It is said that it can test whether a person is addicted to drinks. It turns out that the mystery of this wine glass is that there is a dark dragon hole in it. When pouring wine, as long as it does not exceed the horizontal line of this hole, it is a glass of wine. If the glutton pours the wine on this line, the wine will leak from the bottom of the cup, not a drop left, as a punishment, hence the name "Fair Cup".
In the blank room, several female workers are carving patterns on the pot body. On the shelves, the semi-finished products of the finished product "reflux tank" are uniformly placed. There is a little-known legend about the discovery of "reflux tank". 1968 A farmer accidentally dug up a porcelain jar in Chengguan Town, Bin County, Shaanxi Province. 1982, when his relative Gao returned home to visit relatives, he saw this beautifully patterned antique porcelain pot. He thought it was very original and sent it to the Shaanxi Provincial Museum. Later, after expert appraisal, it was confirmed to be the finished product of the Northern Song Dynasty. According to the rare Feng Huangwen painted on the pot body, it was determined to be a tribute. This Song Dynasty carved celadon pouring pot is the only celadon in Yaozhou. As for how it wandered among the people and was buried underground, it is still an unsolved mystery, and no one knows the mystery. ?
The height of watering pot is 19 cm, the abdominal diameter is 14.3 cm, and the bottom diameter is 7.5 cm. Olive blue glaze is applied to the whole body, and there are carved patterns with strong decorative effect under the glaze. The pot cover, the hanging beam and the pot body are connected into a whole. The hanging beam is shaped like a lying phoenix, spreading its wings and flying. What is amazing is the kettle flow (spout), which looks like a lioness lying on her side, landing on all fours, her head leaning back and her mouth open. Ingeniously used as the water outlet of the spout, the idea is very clever. Interestingly, there is a young lion under the lioness's stomach, sucking breast milk. The expressions of mother and son lions are nuanced and lifelike, which has a strong artistic appeal. ?
This national treasure is not only unique in shape, gorgeous and meticulous in decoration, but also unique and attractive in that its internal structure is complex and its design is ingenious and unexpected. ?
There is a plum blossom hole at the bottom of the reflux pot. When you need to pour water into the pot, turn the pot upside down and pour water from the plum blossom hole at the bottom of the pot until the spout flows out, which means it is full. The strangest thing is that when the pot is full of water and the body is coming, the water will not flow out at all. When drinking water, as long as you gently tilt the spout, water will flow out of the spout. In fact, the secret of the reflux pot is that there is a long water injection pipe in the pot. As long as the height of water in the pot does not exceed it, water will not flow out of the plum blossom hole. So although there is a hole in the bottom of the reflux tank, it can not leak water. ?
Reflux pot is a first-class treasure in modeling, art and technology, and it has become a representative object of ancient porcelain unearthed in Yaozhou kiln. In the 1990s, there were workshops in Tongchuan area to imitate watering pots.
Unique worship of kiln gods?
In China, all walks of life have their own grandfathers. Tang Huangming was revered in Quyi, Lu Ban in carpenter's shop and Confucius in literati. Craftsmen will never forget the founder who worked for them when they were eating, dressing and starting to work. ?
People who burn stoves also offer sacrifices to their kiln gods. Interestingly, there is not only one kiln god, but also three kiln gods. According to "Rebuilding the Kiln Temple" in the fifty-seventh year of Kangxi, "The Kiln Temple worships Chongzhen", and the kiln gods in the temple are called "Yandi, Laojun and Leigong" respectively.
As for why there are three kiln gods, few people can tell clearly. According to the local old Potter, Chen Lu people would rather believe in God than believe in it. As long as it can bless our kiln to prosper and produce good porcelain, all passers-by Chen will worship it. Chen Luren's worship of the gods is actually the worship of the gods. This is also the reason why Chen Lu once had ancient temples and numerous temples throughout history.
There is also the custom of tying kiln gods with chains. ?
It is said that Chen Lu once had a kiln site, which was used by Shun Di. Because Shun Di once taught people to make pottery and gave potters a job to eat, the locals regarded Shun Di as a kiln god. Different from other parts of China, the god known as "Ye" was chained by local people. It is said that this grandfather has a bad temper, and everyone in Chen kiln is afraid that he will run away. Besides, Lord Shun Di is an emperor. If he is tied, the gods will be tied, and they will help each other to ensure the prosperity of the kiln. ?
According to Chen Lu folklore, the 20th day of the first month is the birthday of the kiln god. At that time, in order to please the kiln gods and other gods, various societies would kill pigs and sheep and offer rich sacrifices to let these "people" eat and drink enough to settle down and bless the prosperity of the kiln industry. ?
In addition, Chen Lu's Dongsanhui, west eight Club and other societies also held various social fire performances in the streets to entertain the immortals and let the kiln gods have a happy birthday. This day is an important festival in Chen Lu, and the programs such as dry boat, core and yangko prepared by various clubs are booming, entertaining both gods and people. ?
Porcelain Kingdom-past lives of Chen Lu?
As the manufacturing base of Yaozhou Kiln, Chenlu still maintains a strong vitality. The history of porcelain making in Chen Lu can be traced back to at least 1400 years ago in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, there was already a record of "the flame of the fire room". ?
In the late Yuan Dynasty, the firing scale and porcelain-making level of Chen Lu Kiln had caught up with and surpassed that of Huangbao Kiln of Yaozhou Kiln in the same period, and the production center of Yaozhou Kiln was gradually transferred to Chen Lu. Since then, Chen Lu Kiln has gradually developed into the inheritance and replacement of Yaozhou Kiln in Huangbao, and then became the largest porcelain kiln and porcelain production base in Shaanxi and even the northwest during the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Products sell well in Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Henan, Shanxi and other provinces and cities. ?
Confirmed by archaeologists, the ancient kiln in Yaozhou, Chenlu is divided into 14 ceramic firing areas, with Chen Lu Town as the center, with a length of about 3 kilometers from east to west and a width of about 2 kilometers from north to south, which are distributed in strips. ?
In people's impression, only Yaozhou Kiln is in the northwest, and only Chen Lu Town is still on fire.
Yaozhou famous porcelain?
Yaozhou Kiln is one of the famous northern porcelain kilns in Song Dynasty. Huangbao Town, Tongchuan City, Shaanxi Province is the center, including the surrounding kiln sites such as Chen Lu Town, Lidipo, Shangdian, Yuhua Palace and Yaoxian County. Because Tongchuan used to be called Tongguan and belonged to Yaozhou in Song Dynasty, this kiln system was collectively called Yaozhou kiln by later generations. ?
Yaozhou Kiln was built in Huangbao Town, Tongguan County (now the suburb of Tongchuan) in the Tang Dynasty. There were many kinds of early porcelain, and after many explorations, celadon products increased in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. Entering the Five Dynasties and the Northern Song Dynasty, it became a famous porcelain in domestic kilns and a representative of celadon in northern China. ?
The Song Dynasty was the heyday of Yaozhou Kiln. Kiln has great innovation and creation in porcelain making technology. Fired celadon is exquisite and delicate in shape, and its glaze color is "moist as jade". It is also equipped with sharp, free and easy carvings and rich, diverse and vivid patterns. The products displayed in front of people, under the crystal green glaze, present a beautiful picture of multi-level and multi-tone, and reveal a free and unrestrained artistic style in the fresh and elegant. Due to the exquisite texture and ornamentation, Yaozhou porcelain has become a palace tribute all year round. ?
The glaze colors of Yaozhou porcelain include blue glaze, ginger glaze, black glaze, sauce glaze, tea powder glaze, blue-and-white double-color glaze, fragrant yellow glaze, black glazed blue-and-white flower, rusty flower, red-green colored porcelain and so on. The utensils are mainly bowls, plates, pots, cans, bottles, boxes, lamps, stoves and other daily necessities, as well as some furnishings, utensils, porcelain carvings and so on. The shape of the device is changeable, and the decorative techniques are diverse and unique. ?
The skillful and unique engraving printing technology of Yaozhou Kiln in Song Dynasty influenced the porcelain-making technology of a number of kilns in Yaozhou, Shaanxi Province and even the whole country, making it a famous kiln in the north with the same name as Ding Kiln, Ru Kiln, Official Kiln, Jun Kiln and Ge Kiln, and its own system. ?