▲ Qingyuan Lanxi Bridge. Photography/Zhou Yong
-风物君语-
Huh? In the southwest corner of Zhejiang, there is a "Little Chongqing"
When talking about Zhejiang, we always focus on its plains and coastal . Starting from Hangzhou and moving southwestward, you will see another side of it that few people know - Zhejiang with its undulating mountains and overlapping mountains.
Zhejiang is mountainous. In her "seven mountains, one water and two fields" geographical pattern, the plains where big cities such as Hangzhou are located only account for 20% of the area, while the mountains account for 70% of the province's land.
The terrain of Zhejiang is a microcosm of China's terrain: here it is generally higher in the west and lower in the east. The highest point of the uplift in the southwestern part of Zhejiang is like the "Zhejiang roof". The areas with the highest altitude are almost concentrated in Qingyuan County and Longquan City in the southwest corner, especially Qingyuan. The Longquan area also has the relatively flat Longquan River Valley, while Qingyuan County is almost entirely mountainous.
▲ From the "water town in the south of the Yangtze River" to the "mountain town in southern Zhejiang". Cartography/Paprika
Qingyuan, this county in Zhejiang, is surrounded by Fujian on three sides, with only one side facing the province. is also the county farthest from the provincial capital in the province. is located high on the Donggong Mountains, the "roof of Zhejiang".
▲ Qingyuan Wudabao Township Xichuan Ancient Village. Picture/Picture Bug · Creative
In the southwest corner of Zhejiang, endless mountains and mountains
The roof of the world, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, has the famous "Source of Three Rivers" , Qingyuan, the roof of Zhejiang, also has a smaller version of "Source of Three Rivers", The Oujiang River, Minjiang River, and Fu'an River originate from Baishanzu, the second highest peak in Zhejiang Province, and diverge to the north, southwest, and southeast, forming a dendritic water system.
Although there is no big river in Qingyuan, every town and village has its own "Mother Creek". There are as many as 926 streams of various sizes in the county.
▲ Songyuan Creek, the mother river of Qingyuan County. Photography/Zhou Yong
The water quality of Qingyuan River is the best in the entire eastern region. In 2019, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment released the ranking of water environment quality of national surface water assessment sections in cities at prefecture level and above in the first quarter. The creek originating from the northern foot of Baishanzu, Qingyuan County (yes, the official name is (Called this) ranks sixth. Among the ten rivers with the best water quality in the country, this is the only one located in the east.
Driving into Qingyuan, passing through the canyon where Zhukou River flows, the mountains seemed to stand up all of a sudden. The car winds all the way south along the Zhukou River, and the canyon is like a tearing crack. The road runs along cliffs and rapids can be seen everywhere.
▲ Sanjing Creek, known as " southern Zhejiang Jiuzhaigou". Photography/Zhou Yong
The altitude difference is huge, forming a rare mountainous landscape in Jiangsu and Zhejiang: "Wandering through Qianpanling Mountains, the road is bumpy and foggy."
The north-south Donggong Mountains and the east-west Xianxia Mountains The mountains meet here and form the largest and highest mountain range in Zhejiang. After the earth's crust suddenly uplifted, the south of the angle between the two mountain ranges is today's Qingyuan area.
Huangmaojian, the highest peak in Jiangsu and Zhejiang with an altitude of 1,929 meters, and Baishanzu, the second highest peak at 1,856 meters above sea level, are both located nearby. They are also surrounded by more than 520 peaks with an altitude of over 1,500 meters.
▲ The fog is everywhere. Photography/Wu Tianming
The scenery in front of me is still dark green in addition to dark green . In Zhejiang, a highly developed economy, it is hard to imagine that there is a "green, rich and beautiful" zone with a forest coverage rate of 86%.
Because of the mountains, dense forests and sparse population, the county was established here relatively late. Before the Southern Song Dynasty, Qingyuan was still a township in Longquan County. Speaking of which, the name " Qingyuan" also has "royal" origin - In the third year of Qingyuan in the Southern Song Dynasty, in 1197 AD, the imperial court analyzed the original Songyuan Township of Longquan County and other places to establish Qingyuan County. It is named after the reign name "Qingyuan" of Emperor Ningzong of the Southern Song Dynasty.
▲ Baishanzu fir is a national first-level protected plant. Photography/Zheng Jianbin
The lush green "Rooftop of Zhejiang" is extremely rich in biodiversity: it is home to more than 2,000 species of mammals, birds, insects, and amphibians, 1,462 species of seed plants, and 230 species of fungi.
The picturesque Zhukou Town is hidden among the mountains. With the appearance of a covered bridge called houkengqiao, the town is not far away. This wooden arcade bridge, which is composed of pavilions, arched doors, beauty seats and small flower windows, looks like a wooden comb. The stream looks like the flowing hair of a beautiful woman. The covered bridge is reflected on the water like an invisible hand. , combing her hair non-stop.
▲ Where there are mountains, there are streams, and where there are streams, there are covered bridges. Cartography/Paprika
Ancient bridges and villages form a wonderful picture of "covered bridges and flowing water, people with homes" . These dreamlike ancient covered bridges are the best window for the outside world to understand Qingyuan.
Welcome to the "No. 1 County of Covered Bridges in China"
The 1995 movie "Covered Bridge Lost Dreams" made the covered bridge with eaves above and bridge below a beautiful image. Chinese architect Liu Jie and others discovered and proposed that the most numerous and most beautiful covered bridges in the world are not in Europe and the United States, but in southern Zhejiang Province and northern Fujian Province, which are home to the world's largest number of covered bridges.
▲ China’s covered bridges look at Zhejiang and Fujian, and Zhejiang’s covered bridges look at Qingyuan. Cartography/Paprika, Wang Yue
Qingyuan, located in southern Zhejiang, still has nearly a hundred ancient covered bridges, making it the county with the largest number of covered bridges in the country. On average, Qingyuan, with a total area of 1,898 square kilometers, has about one covered bridge for every 19 square kilometers.
▲On the ancient map, the covered bridge is the most eye-catching landmark of Qingyuan. Cartography/Paprika
When walking in Qingyuan, you will always encounter covered bridges - they span dangerous shoals, are embedded in green mountains, lie quietly in villages, or stand tall in markets.
In 1024 AD, the second year of Tiansheng in the Northern Song Dynasty, a group of craftsmen worked feverishly to rebuild an ancient wooden bridge in Daji Village, Qingyuan (then under the jurisdiction of Longquan County). With the construction of bridge decks, weatherboards, girders and gallery houses completed, a wooden bridge with upper houses and lower bridges spanned the stream. This 11-meter-long and 4.5-meter-wide wooden bridge does not use a single nail or rivet, but is tightly connected by rafters and girders - this is what architects call a wooden arcade bridge.
▲ The double-door bridge with a clear date is a living fossil of the wooden arcade bridge. Drawing/Sun Daxian Studio, Paprika
This bridge was originally called Linqing Bridge . The person who funded the construction of the bridge was the Wu family, a local wealthy family. This year, two brothers of the Wu family passed the Jinshi examination at the same time. In order to encourage future generations to make progress, the clan members renamed the bridge the bridge with double gates, which means "double gate Jinshi". According to genealogical records, before the Wu family moved here in 1004 AD, there were two covered bridges, Linqing Bridge (now Shuangmen Bridge) and Putian Bridge.
▲ Shuangmen Bridge in Daji Village still retains its ancient style. Photography/Wang Jianping
Put it this way, these two Song Dynasty covered bridges are more than 100 years older than the famous Bianshui Hong Bridge in "Along the River During the Qingming Festival".
Among all types of covered bridges, wooden arched covered bridges have the most complex construction techniques. They are a living fossil in the study of ancient bridges in my country and a masterpiece in the history of world bridges. Its arches are interspersed, woven, pressed, and It is formed by snapping together and uses architectural mechanics to scientifically solve the stress problem of large arch spans.
▲ A picture explains the secret of "weaving wood into an arch". Cartography/Paprika, base map courtesy/Zhang Baohua
In Qingyuan, there are still 21 wooden arch gallery bridges, as well as many wooden flat beams, stone arches and other different types of gallery bridges. Qingyuan Covered Bridge also has many "bests": there is the single-hole wooden arcade bridge with the longest corridor, Huangshui Long Bridge, , the earliest wooden arcade bridge recorded in national historical data, Double Door Bridge and Putian Bridge, has The village with the highest concentration of ancient covered bridges in the country html August Mountain Village .
▲ Overlooking the panoramic view of Yueshan Village.Photography/Zhou Yong
▲ Located in the southeast of Qingyuan County, Yueshan Village is like a paradise. There used to be 10 covered bridges here in ancient times, and there are five existing ones, named Rulong, Laifeng, Baiyun, Buchan and Zhuokeng. Cartography/Paprika
Qingyuan, there are also the wooden arch bridge with the longest existing lifespan with exact date, such as the Long Bridge , and the Ming Dynasty wooden arch bridge Lanxi Bridge which has the largest single hole span in the country.
▲ Rulong Bridge in autumn. Photography/Ye Weizhou
▲ Lanxi Bridge nestled in the green mountains. Photography/Hong Zigen
Today’s Qingyuan has formed a complete highway transportation network, and those ancient covered bridges have lost their original transportation functions. However, the Qingyuan people have not given up on the heavy cultural heritage of covered bridges. They are still building this kind of classical bridge with " stacked wood arches" and still regard it as a sacred "bridge temple" and public belief. space.
▲ Qingyuan Covered Bridge craftsmen are repairing the Niao Bridge, which was built in the Ming Dynasty. Photography/Wang Peiquan
"Mushroom God", a god exclusive to Qingyuan people
In ancient Qingyuan, wherever there is a covered bridge, there must be a temple. The temple enshrines many idols worshiped by the villagers, among which one person's name is particularly prominent.
About 800 years ago, a man respected by the people of Qingyuan as Wu Sangong invented the "log chopping method" and successfully cultivated the world's earliest artificial shiitake mushrooms. Qingyuan became the world's leader in shiitake mushroom cultivation. The birthplace of technology. Therefore, Wu Sangong was carried to the altar and regarded as the "Mushroom God".
▲ Western Hall dedicated to the "Mushroom God". Photography/Fan Minzi
In Xiyang Village, Wudabao Township, Qingyuan County, at the end of Lanxi Bridge, a covered bridge in the Ming Dynasty, there is a temple called Xiyangdian. The main deity it worships is Wu Sangong, so it is also called the "Mushroom Temple". .
In the early Ming Dynasty, Qingyuan ushered in another mushroom godLiu Bowen. Liu Bowen was a native of Qingtian, in the prefecture (today's Qingtian County, Lishui City). Under his suggestion, the mushroom industry in Qingyuan, Longquan, and Jingning was granted a license to operate the mushrooms. .
▲ Edible mushroom base. Photography/Zeng Zhen
Since then in Qingyuan, the mushroom industry has been unprecedentedly prosperous. Mushroom merchants have traveled to more than half of China, forming the Qingyuan Mushroom Gang, which has made a fortune from mushroom cultivation and trade. The mushroom people were very grateful to Liu Bowen, so they also respected him as the mushroom god and worshiped him together with Wu Sangong.
Due to the mushroom economy, Qingyuan, a mountainous county, became a place where merchants gathered. The accumulation of wealth also provided ample funds for the construction of covered bridges since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Many of the covered bridges we see today were built by mushroom residents, mushroom merchants, and officials who returned to their hometowns with rich clothes to repay their hometown or to show off their wealth.
▲ Qingyuan Longyan mushrooms. Photography/Zhou Yong
Statistics also show that many of the existing covered bridges in Qingyuan were built in the Ming Dynasty and are closely related to the prosperity of the mushroom industry.
Before the mushroom people went out to explore, they must go to the Western Palace to worship Sangong Wu. With the blessing of the gods, they left their hometown and traveled to Zhejiang, Fujian, Hubei, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Shaanxi and other provinces. Every year from the 16th to the 19th day of the seventh lunar month, it is the "incense period" of the Western Palace. Qingyuan mushroom people from all over the country come here to gather to offer sacrifices, perform mushroom operas, perform mushroom boxing, and sing mushroom folk songs , while discussing mushroom business and exchanging production technology.
▲ The play of the mushroom people in the "Xiang period" of the Western Palace. Photography/Xu Gangqiang
Today's Qingyuan County is still inheriting the foundation created by its predecessors. Its annual output of dried mushrooms is about 10,000 tons, accounting for about 1/15 of the country's total. Because of its advantages in the mushroom industry, it has become the largest mushroom production and wholesale distribution center in the country.
▲ A collection of edible fungi. Photo provided/Qingyuan County Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau
You may not know Qingyuan, but you deal with her almost every day. In addition to mushrooms, this is also China's largest pencil production base and one of the largest bamboo and wooden product bases.The large bamboo furniture you usually use, the medium-sized bamboo mats, and the small chopping boards and chopsticks may all come from this place.
The most delicious yellow rice cake, Qingyuan must be the first!
Over the years, I have discovered a secret to finding delicious food: go to the border areas of multiple provinces!
Qingyuan is such a place. It borders Fujian Shouning, Zhenghe, and Songxi, and is not far from JiangxiYushan County. Its status as a mushroom distribution center has attracted mushroom farmers and mushroom merchants from surrounding provinces. The constant arrival of tourists has imperceptibly imported their culture here.
People from other places in Zhejiang will only find out when they arrive in Qingyuan: in the food here, you can always find a multi-flavor combination of Zhejiang fresh, Jiangxi spicy, and Fujian fragrant .
▲ Fried barley. Photo courtesy of Qingyuan County Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau
Huang Kueh is a popular delicacy in southwestern Zhejiang, and Qingyuan is the most delicious.
As soon as the end of the year comes, people in Qingyuan begin to make yellow rice cakes. People go up the mountain to cut down a shrub called a tree, burn it to ashes, drain the juice, and soak the japonica rice in it until the beige color turns orange, and then rinse it with . It is made by cleaning, steaming, pounding, kneading and cutting into strips . The rice cake is stir-fried with shredded pork, green vegetables, winter bamboo shoots, shredded mushrooms and other seasonings. It is yellow and orange, shiny, fragrant, flexible and delicious.
Compared with Huang Kueh, Qingyuan She Kueh has a more sacred ritual feel in making it.
"One Du steamed buns, two Du rice dumplings, and three Dushe rice dumplings are distributed throughout the village." These are two folk songs from Qingyuan, which describe the custom of baking Sheshe rice dumplings in Qingyuan every Spring Society.
▲ Shedi is a snack unique to Qingyuan people. Photo courtesy of Qingyuan County Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau
People grind the pre-soaked indica rice and glutinous rice into rice slurry with a stone mill, wash and mash the sage grass picked from the mountains, and add it to the rice slurry. Then add dried mushrooms, shredded bamboo shoots, minced lean meat, green onions , etc., stir evenly, and bake into a round pancake shape in oil. Fry one side, turn over, and continue to fry the other side. Wait until both sides are cooked and you're done. Take one bite, it's crispy and fragrant, very delicious.
▲ "Mushroom City" Qingyuan, how can we miss fried mushrooms? Photo provided/Qingyuan County Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau
Sitting on the "Birthplace of Shiitake Mushrooms in the World" crown, mushrooms must be indispensable in Qingyuan's delicious dishes. Qingyuan's natural environment is of high quality, and all the ingredients have the fragrance of vegetation. Together with seasonings such as shiitake mushrooms and wild mushrooms, , the taste of Qingyuan can easily be distinguished.
▲ Stewed pork trotters with Maitake flowers, Qingyuan people call it "the wonderful hand creates fragrance". Photo provided/Qingyuan County Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau
All kinds of shiitake mushrooms and wild fungi appeared together, and "Hundred Mushroom Feast" was created using various cooking methods such as stir-frying, stewing, steaming, deep-frying, and braising. It is said that after eating it once, you can taste more than 200 flavors.
Whenever there is a solar term, there must be delicious food. During the Beginning of Summer that just passed, Qingyuan Farmers would specially cook the Beginning of Summer soup. Others include eating rice cakes during the Spring Festival, eating rice cakes during the Qingming Festival, eating black rice on the eighth day of April, making rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival, and eating rice steamed buns during the half-cooked period of July, etc. In short, the appetite of Qingyuan people has always revolved around the twenty-four solar terms.
▲ Qingyuan black rice. Photo provided by Qingyuan County Culture, Tourism, Tourism and Sports Bureau
Foodies must be reminded that Qingyuan is not the first choice if they want to experience the typical Zhejiang taste.
The food here has a "mountain city" flavor: plum , rapeseed hot pot, loach and taro hot pot, distiller's lees pork, distiller's lees large intestine, etc. Most of them are a bit heavy-flavored - mixed with some local homemade chili lees , if you can eat it with gusto, congratulations, you are already a semi-qualified Qingyuan person.
▲ "Mountain City" Qingyuan's special rapeseed hot pot.Picture provided/Qingyuan County Culture, Broadcasting, Tourism and Sports Bureau
- END -
text丨Laomi
editor丨Dayu
picture editor丨DCzhang
map editor|Paprika
partial cartography|Wang Yue and Sun Daxian studio
cover photography|Zhou Yong
Copyright of this article - Toutiao No.: Authentic scenery
Please do not reprint without permission. Violators will be prosecuted
