Huishan ancestral temple group finally participated in the declaration of world cultural heritage. Declare together with dozens of historical and cultural ancient towns in the south of the Yangtze River.
Huishan ancestral temple group consists of 1 18 ancestral temples, which constitute the historical wonders of China traditional culture. Its overall scale is large, the number of individual temples is large, and the ancestral temple is complete in shape, which can be described as the most historic ancestral temple in China. Ancestral Temple is a unique historical and cultural heritage in China, and Huishan Ancestral Temple Group is naturally the largest existing ancestral temple group in the world.
Huishan ancestral temple group is located at the foot of Huishan in Wuxi, with Huishan Temple as the center and scattered nearby. In recent years, local officials in Wuxi have invested heavily in its restoration. Huishan Ancient Town, which is composed of Huishan Ancestral Temple Group, together with the prestigious Xi Hui Scenic Area, constitutes a leisure scenic spot almost in the center of Wuxi today: Castle Peak, Xiushui, Rhododendron Flowers in Spring, Red Maple and Gold Leaves in Autumn, Next Spring in the World, Jichang Garden and so on.
In Huishan ancestral temple group, you can see all kinds of ancestral temples, such as official temples, family temples, garden temples, academy temples, memorial archways, virgin temples, tombs, shrines and so on. Most of them are Chinese, and some of them absorb western architectural elements.
As a unique historical and cultural building in China, ancestral temples are found all over the country and connected with many famous landscapes, such as Wuhou Temple in Chengdu. However, in all parts of the country, it is rare to see such a large-scale collection landscape as Huishan ancestral hall group, which is generally built in pieces, mainly concentrated in the vicinity of family settlements. 1 18 Huishan ancestral hall, including more than 80 families with different surnames, is clustered within 0.5 square kilometers.
Why did this unique ancestral temple group form at the foot of Huishan Mountain? This is a problem that puzzles researchers.
20 15 Zhuang ruojiang, a Wuxi cultural expert and professor of Jiangnan university, is the editor-in-chief and producer of Wuxi Lv Wen group. Cooperate with CCTV to shoot a large-scale cultural documentary "Huishan Ancestral Hall Group", which was broadcast on CCTV last year and received enthusiastic response. However, this documentary focuses on the interpretation of the historical and cultural value and connotation of Huishan ancestral hall group, and still does not fully understand why this ancestral hall group was formed here.
Wu Ge believes that the appearance of Huishan ancestral hall group is a comprehensive thrust of the right time and the right place. Engels once said that the development of history has never been just a driving force, but the result of the comprehensive promotion of countless forces. Therefore, it is always difficult for historical results to be completely consistent with people's original ideas. The appearance of Huishan ancestral temple group in Wuxi is an unexpected result under the action of multiple joint forces, and it has become a rare cultural relic and cultural surprise today.
Say the location first.
Huishan is located in the west of Wuxi, winding into nine ridges from east to west, which looks like Youlong, also known as Jiulong Mountain, and is particularly close to Wuxi urban area. The background of Huishan began with the legend of Shun Di. It is said that Shun Di worked hard in Huishan, leaving this mountain named Lishan. According to historical records, this was said during the Liu and Song Dynasties in the Southern Dynasties. On the south slope of Huishan, there is Huanggongxi, a relic left by Chunshenjun of Chu State. Huishan Temple was built in the Liang Dynasty. Shen Li, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, studied beside Huishan Temple and entered the court as the top scholar in high school. In the Tang Dynasty, Lu Yu rated the second spring in the world and became the favorite of dignitaries. Li Deyu, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, specially sent someone to fetch tea. Later, it became the tribute water of the emperor, and Song Huizong liked Er Quan very much. Later, Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong went down to Jiangnan again and again and lived at the foot of Huishan every time. Eighteen springs of Huishan Kowloon converge in the pond in front of Huishan Temple. When the canal is connected, the emperor's boat turns in from the canal and stops at the bow, also called Dragon Boat Bang.
Such a wonderful Huishan is only a few miles away from downtown Wuxi and less than an hour's walk from the west gate of Wuxi. In Ming Dynasty, folk Sang Song: Huishan Street, five miles long, with fragrant soles. This folk song obviously comes from a famous examination question, that is: stepping on flowers smells like horseshoes. However, the folk songs on Huishan Street give a distance: five miles. According to Wu Ge's textual research, this is the approximate distance from Wuxi West Gate to Huishan Ancestral Temple Group. At that time, when I left the west gate, I had to take Huamian Lane, and then I walked all the way to Huishan Street, almost five miles away. After 1950s, this area was gradually transformed, and a new village was built, called Wuli New Village.
Well, such a good mountain, such a short distance, what can I do besides firewood? Grave, this is the most common choice. The basic choice of traditional tombs in China is facing the mountains and facing the water. Huishan has therefore become the burial place of Wuxi. Even in the 1950s, there were many tombs all the way west along the north slope of the original site of Huishan Temple, and most of the ancestral halls in the ancestral halls developed along this line. With the development of Wuxi city, the tombs in this area gradually moved, and the burial areas moved to places far away from the city, such as Longshan, Qinglong Mountain and Shunkeshan.
Tombs and sacrifices are closely related. China people have the custom of sweeping graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Every spring comes, families get together and bring sacrifices to the graves of their ancestors. A big family needs a place to rest, because there are many people, many gifts, and it may be far away, so they want to have a building, which is not only for ancestor worship, but also for temporary gathering and rest. Some distant ancestors, such as Hua Bao, are recognized as great sages and are listed in the 24 th filial piety. Then, the government will build a more prominent ancestral temple for him to worship his ancestors and spread his reputation. However, not everyone can build this kind of ancestral temple. Oh, there are rules.
So, let's talk about the weather.
The Ming emperor was born in a peasant, attached great importance to family blood, and supported family etiquette and educational inheritance. Qing emperors, especially Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong, attached great importance to family education in order to solve the cultural integration of Manchu and Han that did not alienate Germany. Emperors of the two dynasties had a particularly profound understanding of China's ultra-stable social structure, so they strongly advocated the construction of ancestral temples as an important tool to stabilize families, inherit virtues and educate the people. The government not only built some official shrines for public sacrifices, but also advocated the establishment of family shrines for family sages and celebrities to carry forward and inherit loyalty, filial piety and moral integrity. Therefore, the construction of a large-scale family ancestral temple was officially recognized by the imperial court from this time. This has provided strong official support for the formation of Huishan ancestral hall group, which can be called "time".
Most of the ancestral temples in Huishan Temple Group come from Ming and Qing Dynasties, which is inseparable from the advocacy and promotion of the imperial dynasty. The ancestral temples of heroes and sages such as Zhide Temple, Zhangzhongcheng Temple and Mingxian Temple in Taibo are dedicated to those recognized figures. These ancestral temples are generally funded by the government or sponsored by the people.
Finally, talk about harmony.
Compared with neighboring Suzhou and Changzhou, Wuxi was only a county town in the whole imperial power era, but Wuxi is a county town with rich economy and moderate people's hearts. Groups of immigrants can quickly find opportunities for survival and development here, thus attracting a large number of people to enter. Wuxi's famous Yang, Rong, Tang and Xue all moved in from other places.
After many families took root in Wuxi, they chased their ancestors far away. Taking advantage of the opportunity of the imperial court to advocate the construction of ancestral temples, they successively bought land near Huishan to build ancestral temples, such as Zhou Dunyi's, Lu Zhi's and Fan Zhongyan's. Although the graves of these great men are not in Wuxi, there are still descendants of these families who build ancestral temples as the main worshippers. In the ancestral hall, people not only remember their ancestors, but also pay homage to their loved ones. Those local families, because some of their ancestors were admitted, entered the officialdom and became big shots or bigger ones. After their death, they were buried in Huishan, Wuxi, and naturally they wanted to build an ancestral temple.
Over time, regardless of family crowdfunding or exclusive investment, many ancestral halls with family surnames have gradually formed a community in Huishan, which constitutes the cultural wonder we see today-Huishan ancestral hall group.
Of course, the function of ancestral temple is not limited to offering sacrifices, but also can be used as a place for enlightenment. For example, the family will use the ancestral temple to hold a family meeting to discuss some matters, reward or punishment. They will also use ancestral temples to run schools and cultivate family descendants. In this way, the ancestral hall has assumed the function of inheriting family culture and family morality. Blood ties have been effectively strengthened here, and family honor has been further publicized here.
The existence of Huishan ancestral temple group has also promoted some cultural specialties in Wuxi. For example, Huishan clay figurines were invented by Taoist priests in Huishan, and now they have become Wuxi's intangible cultural heritage. In 1960s, artists of purple sand teapots in Yixing were sent to Huishan clay figurines to learn their artistic skills. Huishan cakes seem to be closely related to this place. The best Huishan cake in Wuxi is still flying in the old ancestral hall.
All right. Say so much first. Wu Ge thought, why don't you go directly to Huishan? The pattern and connotation of those ancestral halls will be an eye-opener. All the way down, I seem to have seen half the history of China. And those snacks such as Huishan crispy wonton and tofu flower will make people full of praise.
Wu Ge has a little regret: such a unique ancestral temple group should be declared as a world cultural heritage project jointly with other ancient towns, rather than separately. It is said that it will take too long to declare separately, which is really unbearable.
Wu Ge, a cultural scholar and associate professor, dared not call himself a writer, but he was recognized as a writer by default. He once wrote the column "Jiangnan Noble Family" for Oriental Culture Weekly and also wrote blogs for Sina.com and Phoenix.com. ..