The Ancient Town of Xizhou

2024年3月19日发(作者：曾克林)

CulTure / TraVelThe Ancient

Town of Xizhou

By ZHAO YANQINGHE ancient town of Xizhou, a community consisting

mainly of the ethnic Bai people, is noted as one of the

cradles of Dali’s culture, and has nourished a lot of Dali

merchants. Going back as early as the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the ancestors of the Bai ethnic group had already begun to

live there in concentrated numbers. During the Qing Dynasty

(1644-1911), Xizhou was an important trading town along the

Tea Hor Trail. Businessmen in Xizhou started doing trading in

hor caravans and accumulated their initial wealth on a road

marked with hardships and struggles.

The town of Xizhou also rved as the cradle of the industry

and commerce of the Bai people. During the reign of Emperor

Guangxu (1875-1908), the internationally renowned Xizhou busi-ness group came into being, which later gave birth to a number

of national capitalists headed by four families with the surnames

of Yan, Dong, Yin, and ancient times, Xizhou was a typical commercial

town. Being a business hub, it maintained clo eco-nomic and trade contact not only with other places

in China, but also with southeast Asian owner of the Yan Mansion is Yan Zizhen, a

leading figure of the Xizhou business group who

was influential in the 1940s. He was the founder of

the Yongchangxiang Firm and the

tuocha tea. After

decades of hard work, the asts of the Yan business

empire reached RMB 10 billion, with over 70 branches

around the country. As a result of the extent of Yan’s

business and social status, there was no one who

could compete with him as a business leader locally.

Yan Mansion74CHINA TODAY

The Yan Mansion has four courtyards stretching

out from north to south. It is a typical Bai folk archi-tecture, but also incorporates some elements of the

Western architectural style. The courtyards are well

prerved. The bricks, beds, chairs, plaques, and win-dows are all over a century old. The most precious

items here are the exquisite coral glazed porcelain,

an exaggeratedly sculpted stone carving caretaker,

and a bronze Buddha with a peaceful face and exqui-site workmanship. They are the three treasures of the

mansion as well as of the he built this hou, Yan was already a mid-dle-aged man of great wealth. But during his teenage

years, he was a poor student; then he went through a

The colored

paintings on

the walls of folk

lot as a businessman in his 20s and 30s. He continued

hous of the Bai

ethnic group are

to work hard in his 40s, and finally, had time to enjoy

a national cultural

a quiet life.

g up the narrow stairca, stepping on

the old floor, and holding the railing, visitors can

enjoy taking in the view of the elegant Yan Mansion

through exquisite wooden windows. The residence

is a perfect combination of Bai folk architecture and

the culture of China’s Central Plains, the region which

formed the basis of the Chine civilization. The

The gorgeous

screen walls are a silver color, the color of wealth,

Erhai Lake is just

and glisten in the sun, while the halls are made out

500 meters away

from the ancient

of wood, creating a solemnity.

town of t XizhouThe residence

Passing by many archways one after another in

is a perfect

the town, one cannot help but feel the kindness of

combination

the Bai people and the primitive simplicity of the

of Bai folk ture and

The name board located in the center of Sifang

the culture of

Street is where the glory of the ancient town once lay.

China’s CenThe names of all tho who successfully pasd the

tral Plains,

-imperial examination of the day were inscribed on it.

the region

By the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were more than

which formed

100 names listed on the board. This shows that the

the basis of

Xizhou people were not only good at business, but

the Chine

also paid great attention to nurturing g onto a lane, one suddenly es a white

screen wall. An admission’s notice on the side im-plies that there is a mansion on the lane that once

July 202075

CulTure / TraVelbelonged to a successful candidate of the highest

imperial examination. The walls further down the

lane show signs of aging. A small tree has broken its

way through the wall and become a part of the wall.

Dilapidated walls and newly built ones stand side by

side. There is also a well along the lane. A piece of red

paper with words like “hardworking” or “upright” are

pasted on the front wall of the exemplary peoples’

hous as a reward.

Walking along some dilapidated alleys, I had

a feeling of being surrounded by a mixed smell of

books that emanates from the profound cultural

deposits with the fragrance of

Rushan, a deep-fried

chee-like food.

When it rains, it washes away the dust that floats

in the air. The couplets revealing the owner’s wishes

to live a cluded life hang quietly on the two sides of

the door. It might be that the owner was tired of all

the bustling interaction with people or was recover-ing from the gains and loss he experienced in his

business.

A hundred years ago, on the left of the Dong’an

Gate there once lived many rich people. Mansions

built by merchants were en everywhere. Today, the

introduction placards placed outside each mansion

inform tourists about the different levels of protec-tion for them. The Yang Mansion, a national protect-ed historical site, ud to belong to Yang Pinxiang,

a famous Xizhou merchant. He was the manager of

Hong Xing Yuan, which was engaged in import and

export trade. During the War of Resistance against

Japane Aggression (1931-1945), Hong Xing Yuan

initiated the opening of a trade passage from India to

Yunnan passing through Tibet. The trade route con-tributed much to the material supplies of the home

front and the economic development of Yunnan dur-ing the Hous

The City of Dali is located where the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and the Hengduan Mountains meet.

West winds blow through here all year round, which

is why the main hall of every hou opens towards

the southeast to avoid the blowing winds. Each

dwelling in Xizhou faces the same direction, giving

them a unique outward feature of the residential

buildings in the big hou, relatives live together. The

76CHINA TODAYThe Hanlin Arch

stands at the en-trance of a y do their needlework or laundry and wash

vegetables under the eaves of their residence. Upon

learning that my family name is also Zhao, the mid-dle-aged lady living at the Zhao Mansion who was

embroidering shoes when I entered, became much

friendlier to me, and taught me how to take a good

picture of the paintings hanging under the eaves.

In the paintings, the human figures, animals, trees,

and leaves are all very vivid. Their colors and even

frame decorations are also beautiful. The surviving

paintings tell us of the ancestors’ cultural tastes in

building their hous, and also reflect the ingenuity

of the Dong Renmin Mansion was built during the

1930s. From the number of electricity meters at the

gate, it can be en that there are now eight families

living in the courtyard. Due to various reasons, they

prefer not to be disturbed and put up a sign on the

door which says, “Not Open to Visitors.”Bai architectures are mostly black, white, and

gray, with white being the main color. The build-ing of a hou follows one rule that the wealth of

its owner shall not be expod just as the walls

do not show their original color. The color paint-ings of the Yan Mansion are reprentative of Bai

folk hous, displaying their own decorum and el-egance. Various screen wall paintings standing in

front of the village and in alleys

add to the beauty

of ordinary Bai villages.

The color paintings on front doors and gables give

Bai folk hous a unique charm. I personally love the

black and white lines on the gables, which are just

simple and d further in the town, there are some court-yards that have already fallen apart. Lime has fallen

off the walls and bricks are expod. But on the walls

under the eaves, paintings can still be faintly en,

revealing the elegance of the old days. The doors are

clod, and the owner of the yard has already van-ished. Grass has become the real owner now, and

little wild flowers grow everywhere, almost even cov-ering the doors. There are two or three wild flowers

which have squeezed their way out of the door and

watch Mountain TempleXizhou is more of a quiet ancient town. The Ziyun

Mountain Temple built during the Ming Dynasty

(1368-1644) is full of Bai architectural features. The

temple gate is similar to that of local folk hous. The

arch is decorated with patterns of phoenixes, imply-ing that the main deity in the temple is a female. If

the first step in front of a Bai family gate is decorated

with phoenix patterns, there is no doubt that a wom-an is in charge of that family. In the courtyard, in the

shade of old cypress and pines, there is an old bam-boo chair. Under the corridor, the plaque introducing

the Ziyun Mountain is as simple and primitive as the

plain temple itlf.

The horizontally hung wooden plaque is inscribed

with the words Ziyun Mountain Temple. At the end

of the corridor, there is a hall called the Hall of Dou-mu, which is a two-storey wooden structure. Doumu

is the mother of stars in Taoism, having a very high

status.

The temple is very inclusive, having statues of

both Doumu and Buddha. In Dali and other parts

of Yunnan Province, the temples are fairly inclusive,

with symbols of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Tao-ism coexisting in one temple.

In past dynasties, there were always frictions

between Buddhism and Taoism. During Emperor

Wanli’s reign (1573-1620) of the Ming Dynasty, on the

Laoshan Mountain in Qingdao, Buddhists and Taoists

had a fierce fight over temple properties, with a stone

tablet recording the whole story remaining till today.

A Canal TownCompared with Xizhou’s status as a prosperous

commercial town back during the Republic of China

The tting of

period (1912-1949), it is much less prosperous today.

the town sitting

There are no more foreign business frequently

between the

coming and going. Instead, tourists from around the

mountains and

world frequently visit the makes it

The pond near this old town is as calm as a mirror.

really a para-The blue skies, white clouds, hous, and trees are all

di on earth!reflected in the water. Newly built hous, renovated

arch bridges, old buildings, and the thousand-year-old town have witnesd so much change.

Lao She, a famous contemporary writer in China,

lavished much prai on Xizhou. In his

Tour to

Yunnan, he wrote the following, “Xizhou town is a

wonder. I never thought I’d e such a respectable

town in such a remote part of the country ... Upon

entering the town, I had a feeling as if I was in Cam-bridge, England, as streams run everywhere along

the streets. Locals can wash vegetables and clothes

just a few steps away from their hou, and the dirt

immediately flows away. The streets are very neat

and lined with many shops. There is a library in front

of which stands a marble archway with golden words

inscribed on it. There is also a police station. The

courtyard residences there are like imperial palaces,

all having carved beams and nicely painted walls.

The ancestral halls are resplendent. The gorgeous

Erhai Lake is located about 500 meters away, and

mountains are within 2,500-3,000 meters. The tting

Local farmers are

of the town sitting between the mountains and rivers

busy transplanting

rice edlings in

makes it really a paradi on earth!”

C

their picturesque

hometown of

YANQING is a 202077