In Lugu Lake in Sichuan, there is a kind of flower called "water poplar" growing. Yellow buds and white petals are connected to a green stem that is more than ten meters underwater, floating leisurely on the wide lake. That leisurely look is like the "Baitouge" I saw in the winding mountain path.
"Baitouge" is located at the end of the mountain in Zhi Village, Penglai Town, Anxi. On the U-shaped ridge at the same altitude, there are seven magnificent century-old houses. The locals call it "Baitouge" because the foothills at its feet produce a kind of "white eel soil". In fact, behind every glorious century-old house is a vast family history, and "Baitouge" points to the same family history.
During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, Hu Diancheng, who was in his 20s and grew up in this remote mountain, ran away from here wearing a pair of straw sandals and went all the way to the Philippines to make a living. In 1908, having already established a career in the Philippines, he started building this ancient residence in his hometown. It took 30 years to build and 12 buildings were built. Hundreds of children of the Hu family once lived here. There was a "Meicun Bookstore" for teaching, a "dining room" where the bells and cauldrons were ringing, and a rectangular earth building to defend against bandits.
Shangzhi Village, a village in the mountains. At an altitude of 400 meters, the village roads are empty, and the mountains and valleys are covered with miscanthus flowers. The light white color makes the green mountain village look very graceful.
The road leading to Baektouge is a stone-step path. The car drives to the high mountain and then follows the stone steps down to the U-shaped mountain ridge. Five of the 12 residential complexes collapsed, and some were retreated into mountains and fields by banana trees and vines and mountain flowers. There are seven remaining houses standing along the mountain. Most of them are two-story ancient buildings, and the remaining three or two are ancient houses lying flat.
The inner recess of the U-shaped mountain ridge is the central axis of this residential complex. The earliest built "Xin'an Cuo" and the "Yushan Building" completed 30 years later are both here. You have a panoramic view of the buildings. The front left is the "He'an Building" and the "De'an Building" connected by corridors. The front right is the former study room and the "Tai'an Building"; and in front is the U-shaped building that slides to the bottom of the mountain. In the shape of a field, only one wall of the "dining room" has collapsed. At the corner of the mountain a hundred meters away is the ancient house that used to be the "drug store", which is closest to the village.
"Hu Diancheng has three brothers. Hu Diancheng is the third. He went to Nanyang to build a business, and his two brothers stayed at home to build a house." Hu Zisheng, a descendant of the Hu family who is nearly 70 years old, has lived here all his life. , he was born in a two-story "He'an Building". These buildings built against the mountains have two floors in the front and one floor in the back because of the increasing mountains. When he was a child, his parents and ancestors called them It is a "buttress building", a building that supports the mountain wall.
When the construction of these 12 houses was started, the Hu family’s overseas business was booming. Hu Diancheng, who dealt in local specialties from his hometown, had many shops in the Philippines and a branch in Xiamen. He founded the "Jinhesheng" business company. The Philippines is quite famous. "The two brothers who were building a business at home invited a famous Feng Shui master to inspect the Feng Shui of the house. They lived here for eight years, and the stone carving master from Hui'an and the carpenter from Yongchun settled here for 30 years." Hu Zisheng said, this residential complex The distribution is in a horseshoe shape, which is said to be the "golden chair" with excellent Feng Shui.
The architecture of the Hu family's house is extremely exquisite. The stone was shipped from the Philippines and its color is different from that of southern Fujian. The tiles on the roof were imported from Italy. Galvanized pipes are used in each house to introduce tap water. The house is furnished with Qing style furniture, and the wooden partitions are exquisitely carved. Many of the partitions have pictures of beauties with mountain scenery painted on them, which are still pretty and charming a hundred years later.
In 1908, an ancient house was built here. In the same year, thousands of miles away from the United States, Edison obtained the patent for the invention of a movie projector. Hu Diancheng, who accepted the new trend of thought in the Philippines, brought back a hand-cranked silent movie projector and many rolls of foreign film films many years later to create a movie projector for the mountain villages. People have opened the door to a new world.
In Baotouge a hundred years ago, there were undulating stone steps and paths connecting the houses. Gas lamps were installed in front of the houses and on the stone paths. As night falls in Baitouge, the gas lights gradually light up, Nanyin ancient music plays or black-and-white movies play, it feels like an independent and prosperous town.
Over the course of 30 long years, the 12 houses have been carefully crafted with different appearances, from ancient houses in southern Fujian, to earthen buildings, to buildings with a mixture of Chinese and Western styles. Each building has its own function.
The three brothers Hu Diancheng all have multiple children. The large family has lived together for several generations and has not been separated for decades.
"We eat three meals a day together, 'Zhongming Dingshi'. The 'dining room' is the Hu family's kitchen. After the chefs and cooks have cooked every meal, they will ring the bell, and each room will The servants walked from each house to the dining room to receive their own meals. "Hu Zisheng's grandfather once told him about the scene at that time. In addition to the hundreds of Hu family members eating together, they also built houses here for 30 years. The master of the house and the people who help in the village also eat here. In the dining room, the master's meals are served in categories, and the workers' meals are also delivered to prepare a banquet for the guests.
The Hu family has many descendants, and 12 houses have a "Meicun Bookstore" specially built for the family. Private school teachers are invited to teach ancient classics here. The 91-year-old Hu Changju is the grandson of Hu Diancheng. He said, "My father Hu Zhuqing was still farming in Shangzhi Village when he was 16 years old. It wasn't until my grandfather made money overseas that he began to hire teachers to attend private schools. Later, in Guangxu Enkeli, he worked with His cousins ??both won the election, which became the most sensational thing in the town." His father also became the first Anxi County Magistrate during the Republic of China.
In addition to running water, the earth building also has ancient wells dug for emergency needs. There are more than 20 rooms with hidden attics, enough for hundreds of people to live here.
The 30 years since the completion of Baitouge have been the most glorious period of the Hu family. After World War II, Hu Diancheng's business in the Philippines began to decline.
When Hu Zisheng was a child, among the 12 houses here, except "Yushan Building", which was empty, the other houses were filled with descendants of the Hu family. In the 1980s, all the young people in the ancient houses went abroad, as far away as Nanjing, Fuzhou, Xiamen, and Anxi. Hu Zisheng taught at Shangzhi Primary School and lived here all his life.
Young people are leaving and old people are passing away, leaving these houses gradually empty, broken and collapsed. Hu Zisheng and his house are aging at the same time, and the only thing he can do is to mend the leaky tiles of the "He'an Building" where he was born.
Now, he has also left to look after his grandchildren elsewhere. In these seven remaining ancient houses, only one or two old people are left living with a large group of chickens and ducks. Because it is hidden deep in the mountains, people will occasionally come here looking for a way. The old man in the ancient house took on the task of explaining, and gradually understood the preciousness of Baitou Ge in the eyes of others shining with excitement:
"Do you think the government can repair this place?"
"Do you think Baitouge is worth your while?"
Yes, there will be. Many people, like me, will go there to explore and watch the growth of a person and the prosperity of a family in the ancient houses and history. When you see the times, you also see yourself.
Source|Huaxiang