【Into the Beautiful Countryside】
Guangming Daily reporter Wang Jianhong and Zhang Rui
In the winter season, I was driving through the mountain roads in the Dahong Mountain District of Hubei Province. When the trees outside the car window were shaking with gold and the ground was covered with yellow, I arrived in Suizhou. Hujiahe Village, Luoyang Town, Zengdu District, City.
As soon as the reporter entered the village history museum at dusk, his eyes were firmly caught by a rusty copper basin in the display cabinet.
"Very early on, an ancient ginkgo tree in the village was struck by lightning and the trunk was broken. The villagers were afraid of rainwater pouring into the heart of the tree, so they buckled the basin on the broken part, and today's basin tree was born. . After a few years, someone suggested that copper basins are more susceptible to lightning strikes. So about 200 years ago, this copper basin was replaced with the current pottery basin..." The words of Hu Xiaokui, who grew up in the village, evoked Journalist curiosity.
The next morning, the reporter couldn’t wait to come to the potted tree in Group 3 of Hujiahe Village. I saw a huge tree that was difficult for several people to hug, pointing straight into the blue sky, and a pottery basin upside down on the top of the tree, like a sentinel wearing a helmet, standing on the golden ginkgo leaves. Scanning the QR code next to the tree, the ancient tree "file" of the Zengdu District Forestry Bureau shows that the tree is 480 years old.
Overlooking Hujiahe Village Photo by Wang Jianhong/Guangming Pictures
Why do the villagers care so much about the survival of a tree? Why go to all the trouble to climb up and put a "hat" on it? Following the story of one tree and two pots, the reporter entered the world of ancient ginkgo communities.
Ginkgo is a relic of the Jurassic and a living plant fossil. Hujiahe Village is located in the core area of the Ginkgo Group in Dahongshan Mountain. In this area, there are thousands of ginkgo trees that are more than a century old and hundreds of ancient ginkgo trees that are thousands of years old.
How do such a large number of ancient trees survive the vicissitudes of time and changes in the world?
Time has no words, but stones can speak. Walking into the Hu Clan Temple in Hujiahe Village, which has gone through more than 280 years of ups and downs, a stone tablet erected in the second year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1852) clearly reads the "Ten Precepts for the Family": "Trees in public graveyards are the property of ancestors. The supporter and the guardian of the tomb, cultivation will bring blessings, and maiming will bring harm..."
"This is the clan motto, and the same is true for the village covenant. In the Millennium Ginkgo Valley, the reporter saw a stone tablet of "Township Prohibition" erected in mid-spring of the sixth year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1880). It was engraved with the words "Following the agreement of the heads of the clans of various surnames in Nanxiang Shengli" and "Respecting the ancient ginkgo tree". "Totem to protect the local customs" agreement: no soil is allowed in the shade of the crown, no crops are allowed to be grown, no buildings are allowed under the trees, no fires are allowed in the tree holes for hunting, no hunting birds are allowed to break nests in the trees, no one is allowed to take possession of one's own property, and no branches are allowed to be broken for firewood. It is not allowed to cut down and resell...
It can be seen that at that time, the idea of protecting ancient trees was deeply integrated into the genes of the Hujiahe people.
"In Hujiahe, a 'tree of the same age' is planted when a child is born, hoping that the child will grow up as strong as the ginkgo tree and live a long life." Deng Shixun, the former director of the Luoyang Town Cultural Station in Zengdu District, took reporters through the ancient ginkgo forest. , "There are also town and village trees, town house trees, love trees, couple trees, child-giving trees, number one scholar trees, and so on. Villagers have loved and protected trees for generations, and they continue to do so to this day."
Marrow's simple ecological civilization concept, combined with established customs, has created this ancient ginkgo community.
The villagers protect the ginkgo, and the ginkgo also benefits the villagers. Deng Shixun said: "Ginkgo almonds can be burned, fried, and stewed. Villagers use almond soup to 'wash' babies for three days. During the Dragon Boat Festival, they use apricot leaf water to bathe in 'eliminate evil', and use apricot root soup to bathe in 'strengthening'... In Hujiahe, the use of ginkgo has been a custom for a long time and has been integrated into people's daily life."
"Hujiahe Village Chronicle" records: In 1974, a pound of ginkgo fruit sold for 0.3 yuan, which rose to 14 yuan in 1984, and even more in 1988. Up to 19 yuan. In 1990, the village planted more than 250 acres of nurseries and leaf gardens. Ginkgo has become an important source of income for villagers.
"There are many beautiful trees in the world, but ginkgo is the most beautiful." In recent years, going to Hujiahe Village to enjoy ginkgo trees, eat almonds, and stay in B&Bs has become the "poetry and distance" that many urbanites pursue.
“Come on, come on, the fried almonds just came out of the pot, they are fresh. But don’t be greedy, it is best not to exceed eight."While talking, Yu Gingping, the owner of the "Bingguo Stay·Qixin Pavilion" B&B, put the steaming plates on the table, and pairs of chopsticks "can't wait" to gather towards the plates.
In recent years, Hujiahe Village has been repairing A tourist highway was opened, the old site of the Tenth Branch of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University was renovated, and the Hujiahe Ancient Ginkgo B&B Professional Cooperative was established. Rural tourism has become increasingly popular. During the peak period, tens of thousands of people come to Hujiahe and other places a day to see the ginkgo trees. Buses with license plates from different provinces are lined up neatly and full of seats.
The ground is golden and the ground is golden. At present, the ditches and beams covered with ginkgo leaves in Hujiahe Village are not a source of money for the villagers. What about "Jinshan Yinshan"?
"Guangming Daily" (December 17, 2023 Page 05)
