Yanmen Pass is a must-see place for many tourists to travel to Dai County. Photo by He Lianzhou
The majestic and quaint Bianjing Tower is an important landmark in Dai County, and it is also a good place for locals to play and relax. Photo by Fan Jingjing
"Think about Dongting water in the south, and think about Yanmen Pass in the north." In front of you, this undulating mountain is Gouzhu Mountain, and most of the peaks are above 1,900 meters above sea level. Looking up at the Yanmen Pass standing in the saddle of the mountain, this verse has been echoing in my mind.
Dai County is located in Xinzhou City, Shanxi Province. It is located in Yanmen Pass, known as Daizhou in ancient times, is a typical border city, the city wall, city gate, bell tower, drum tower and so on are well preserved so far. Here you can not only recall the Jin Ge Iron Horse, but also explore the legacy of the Jin merchants.
One
Mr. Liang Sicheng praised Dai County as "a well-planned county seat". Walking through the ancient city, the ancient buildings of different periods make people reverie, the archway of "Ji Tang Pillar" and "Xunping Sanjing" is built by Li Keyong at the end of the Tang Dynasty; A memorial arch with the word "Zhongwu" written on it is specially erected for Yang Ye, a famous general of the Northern Song Dynasty. What is particularly rare is that the ancient buildings here are not enclosed in railings, but are integrated with the local houses, full of fireworks. It's no wonder that Dai County is also known as the "living ancient city".
Cui Zhengling, member of the Standing Committee of the Xinzhou Municipal Party Committee and secretary of the Dai County Party Committee, introduced that Dai County is the third batch of national historical and cultural cities, as well as the "hometown of Chinese folk painting" and "the hometown of Chinese folk culture and art". The ancient city of Daizhou has successively been the county of Yanmen County, the state of Daizhou, the governor's office, the military preparation of the Taoist office, the Zhenwu Weiwei station, is a famous political important place in the north of the mainland, a military strong domain, an important commercial port and a cultural city, and now it is also an important tourist destination in the north of Shanxi.
To go to Dai County, Yanmen Pass can't help but go. Yanmen Pass is located more than 20 kilometers northwest of the county seat of Daixian County, is the gateway of the Central Plains to the north, and has been a battleground for soldiers in the past dynasties. There are thirteen passes of the Great Wall, and Yanmen Pass has the most battles. According to incomplete statistics, from the 10th century BC to the last century, there were more than 1,000 battles in this vicinity. Li Mu, a famous general during the Warring States Period, fought here; In the Han Dynasty, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing came out of here many times; During the Anti-Japanese War, the 129th Division ambushed the Japanese army here. In peacetime, Yanmen Pass became a commercial port, and the deep ruts on the big bluestone under the pass told the story of business and trade, Qiao Zhiyong, Cao Sanxi, Qu Benqiao and other Jin merchants all passed through Yanmen Pass, traveling between Inner Mongolia, Hebei and Shanxi.
Two
Walking into the county seat of Dai County, the treasures of ancient buildings are a feast for the eyes. Among them, the Bianjing Tower, the Ashoka Pagoda and the Daizhou Confucian Temple are three national treasures.
Bian Jinglou, was built in the seventh year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1374), take the meaning of "praying for the peace and tranquility of the border", also known as "Qian Lou", the local people call "Drum Tower", located in the heart of the cross street of the ancient city of Dai County, the highest point of the ancient state city, is used to watch the enemy, command the military building of the battle. Standing on the top floor, you can see Yanmen Pass in the north and Hutuo River in the south. It is the city tower of the state capital level, which is more than 10 meters higher than the Jingbian Building of Shanhaiguan and the Jiayuguan Tower, and can be called the "first floor of the Great Wall". Upstairs, on the north and south sides, hang the plaques of "Mighty Three Passes" and "Sound and Hear" respectively.
Bian Jinglou sits in the north to south, and is composed of two parts, the tall door opening pedestal and the three-storey four-eaves wooden structure rest the top of the mountain. The base covers an area of more than 1,200 square meters, 13.3 meters high, the door hole runs through the north and south, and the building body is 26.7 meters high. The beam frame structure is a six-frame rafter house, and the surrounding corridor is surrounded by four columns. This majestic and quaint building is not only a good place for locals to play and relax, but also a check-in place for foreign tourists to Dai County.
Walk into the backyard of the Daixian County Government and see the Ashoka Pagoda. This tower was built in the Sui Dynasty, after the destruction of the war, the Yuan Dynasty rebuilt, is one of the only 19 Ashoka towers in the mainland, the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units. There is an underground palace under the base of the tower, and the real body relics of the Buddha's bones are enshrined in the underground palace. The tower body is narrow and wide at the bottom, the proportion is exquisite, it is conical, and it is the bowl type. The whole body is made of green bricks, with a circumference of about 60 meters and a height of about 40 meters. The base is the Sumeru seat, which is mixed with the lotus pattern, the lotus pattern and the heavy astringent (layer by layer) mixed belly, and the surrounding area is carved with various patterns, lotus petals and Sanskrit, which is a masterpiece in the early Tibetan stupa. There are 12 brick carved columns under the brake seat, which is a typical Western architectural component, reflecting the combination of Chinese and Western tower building style, which is also the unique feature of the Ashoka Tower in Dai County. Liang Sicheng praised it as "the best proportion of the existing bottle-shaped towers in China".
Daizhou Confucian Temple was built in the Tang Dynasty, the existing building of the Ming and Qing dynasties, is the largest existing state-level Confucian Temple in North China, the national key cultural relics protection unit, including the front, middle and back three courtyards. The gossip caisson in the main hall of the Confucian Temple is particularly worth seeing, the dougong is complicated, and the workmanship is exquisite. The east and west of the Confucian Temple are respectively built with the Loyal Ancestral Hall, Wenchang Pavilion and Minglun Hall, and the Jie Xiao Temple. Together with the Temple of Literature, these buildings form a group of grand Confucian education complexes. Through it, you can not only appreciate the architectural art of the Ming and Qing dynasties, but also understand the ancient school system.
This Confucian Temple has a very high status in the minds of the local people, and the back wall of the main hall is full of pennants, and some of them look up and call "Confucius Old Master", which makes people feel a sense of historical travel when they read it.
In the ancient city, there are also ancient relics such as Ximen Urn City, Wu Temple, City God Temple, General Temple, State Palace, etc., which are worth savoring. Walking in the ancient city, you can often see old people sitting in front of the ancient buildings chatting about family life, and the streets not far away are full of traffic. Thousands of years of culture have been passed down in everyday life.
Three
As an important border fortress town, there are a large number of fortress facilities with huge projects, which require many craftsmen to complete, and also require a high level of logistics support. For a long time, Dai County has formed a number of national and provincial intangible cultural heritage, and has also cultivated a large number of skilled carpenters and mason masters. According to the person in charge of the Dai County Culture and Tourism Bureau, Dai County has 2 national intangible cultural heritage items and 6 provincial intangible cultural heritage items. The Yanmen dwelling construction skills with the Yang family as the inheritor are still used in the houses where the people of Dai County live: mortise and tenon structure, fan strand twist picking technology and craftsmanship, which are beautiful, generous and practical. The glazed tiles on the roof, the paper cuts pasted on the windows, the flower buns that are necessary for every household during the New Year and the holidays, and the embroidery that is common in clothes and hats or home decoration...... Here, you can truly feel the vitality and vitality of intangible cultural heritage.
When many tourists come to Dai County, they regard eating boiled fish and drinking rice wine as a pleasant experience. The process of boiling fish in Daixian is complicated, fresh grass carp is marinated and then fried, and then boiled in bone broth for two or three hours. Daizhou rice wine has a long history of brewing, and it is said that "South Shao and North Generations", and its brewing technology is also a provincial intangible cultural heritage protection project. Different from southern rice wine, Daizhou rice wine uses local crops - millet as raw materials. In recent years, Dai County has continuously improved the production technology of rice wine and cultivated rice wine production enterprises, and there are currently 15 rice wine production enterprises in the county, with an output of 100,000 tons. Rice wine has become another important local industry.
Cui Zhengling introduced that Dai County has deeply excavated the local historical and cultural and tourism resources, and the development momentum of the cultural tourism industry has become increasingly strong. At present, the county is focusing on "famous customs", "famous cities", "famous generals", "famous wines" and "famous food", focusing on creating a tourist destination integrating cultural experience, natural scenery, site sightseeing, vacation and entertainment, research and education, red tourism, ecological leisure, rural tourism and other functions.
(Source: People's Daily Online)