When I was a graduate student, the school performed the art performance and sang " Lugang Town " on stage. I still remember the lyrics of " Lugang Town ". "If your husband is from Lugang Town, do you ask if you see my parents? My family lives behind the Mazu Temple, the small grocery store selling incense."
This time, I encountered a strong typhoon "Kanu". When I was eating, drinking and having fun in Taichung , I was still thinking about Lugang Town. My friend said that reality is not as good as it is in the song, but I already have a knot, and I have to go.
Lugang , you can only take a car to go, and you have to go to Changhua to leave Lugang. The rain brought by "Kanu" has not stopped yet, so I took a taxi to Lugang Town, which cost less than 200 yuan in Taichung. When I arrived in Lugang, it was almost dark, and the first thing I felt was like a small mainland town in the 1980s.
always thought that Lugang Town was right by the sea, singing "Lugang Town", and the scene of a small fishing village by the sea always appeared. I only realized that it was different after arriving. Lugang is indeed on the beach, across from the Taiwan Strait, and opposite is Quanzhou , so it is called "Little Quanzhou", but Lugang town is a bit far from the sea.
Lugang has not many hotels. I found a homestay, which happened to be next to the "Mist-Touching Lane". This is the least worth visiting at Lugang, but it attracts the most attention. It is only enough for one person to pass through the alley. If someone comes across from him, he must cross his chest with his side. In the past, he would touch the wall without a light. Later, someone touched a woman's chest, hence the name.
When I arrived in Lugang, what I wanted to go to most was not the famous attractions, but the small "grocery store" behind the Mazu Temple. Of course, Lugang is not Luo Dayou's hometown, and I am not really going to look for the shop I sing in the song, but want to see the real Lugang town.
Lugang has eight scenic spots and twelve victories. The first stop is Longshan Temple , because it is close to where I live, and it is ranked among the three most famous historical sites in Lugang along with Wenkai Academy and Day Palace .
National Day has passed, and there are almost no tourists in Lugang, and the same is true for Longshan Temple. It just so happens to slowly look at this ancient temple built in 1831 in the fireworks. Longshan Temple is the best preserved Qing Dynasty building in Taiwan so far, and its carvings and buildings are worthy of appreciation.
After visiting Longshan Temple, I went to hike to find the old streets of Lugang. When Lugang was the most prosperous, it was also famous because of these old streets, and there were more motorcycles than cars on the road.
"Locomotive" is the main means of transportation for Lugang people. Various motorcycles shuttle through the streets and alleys, and even the grandma rides on the "little sheep" when she goes out to buy groceries. There are no large department stores in Lugang, and the most are small supermarkets such as "7-11" and "Family". We call them "convenience stores" and they call them "superstores".
Lugang's architectural style is very similar to that of Guangdong and Fujian. 号湾 . In front of the first floor is a public corridor, so that you can walk without fear of wind and rain.
Some old private shops occupy the shops of the arcades, which makes you look a little history at first glance.
Compared with many towns in the mainland, Lugang seems a bit dilapidated, and some people think it is more backward, but perhaps it is because of these conservative things that can inherit some traditions.
Lugang’s old streets have two parts. During the Qianlong period, Putou Street, Yaolin Street and Dayou Street formed the “Ancient City Street” of Lugang.
During the Jiaqing period, Shunxing Street, Fuxing Street, Hexing Street, Taixing Street and Changxing Street formed the "Wufu Street" of Lugang.
Now, Gushi Street and Wufu Street in Lugang are both settlement-like cultural heritages in Taiwan. They are protected by law and cannot be easily demolished.
Lugang is not prosperous. There are no trains, and there are even direct cars to other places. There are almost no high-rise buildings. This tall building in the middle of the road is the three-dimensional parking lot in Lugang.
Compared with Taipei, Lugang's development is not fast, as Luo Dayou sang, "Taipei is not my home, my hometown has no neon lights. In the morning, Lugang, the people who are wandering in civilization."
Lugang are devout, looking for the Mazu Temple singing in "Lugang Town", but found that there are various temples all over the streets, and even the Tianhou Temple, there are two.
There are more than 400 Mazu temples in Taiwan, and this 1685 Lugang Tianhou Temple ranks first among all Mazu temples in Taiwan. The statue of Mazu god worshipped inside is the only one from Putian, Fujian.
Many locals are burning incense and worshiping Buddha in the temple, and they only encountered a group of tourists from Wuhan. There are too fewer mainland tourists than before. It is said that mainland tourists here came here in a car after car, and everyone has heard of Luo Dayou's "Lugang Town".
always wanted to see if there were really grocery stores selling incense behind Mazu Temple. Later, I found that there were quite a few, and I also found a traditional handmade lantern store that had been on Taiwanese TV. Perhaps when Luo Dayou wrote "Lugang Town" in 1982, he was deeply impressed by the numerous grocery stores in Lugang.
Lugang prices are very cheap, and the food and accommodation are cheaper than in Guangdong, but there are many local delicacies, including squid soup, meat balls, noodle paste , shrimp balls, flat food, oyster omelet , raw fried five flavors, phoenix eye cake, mung bean cake, beef tongue cake, lard cucumber, etc. The most famous are the cheap and good noodles paste and oyster omelet.
"Wang Wang Noodle Paste", I have been on Taiwanese newspapers and TV. Her noodle Paste is NT$25 (6 yuan) a bowl, with a lot of meat, shrimps and noodle Paste. It is the most affordable traditional delicacy I have ever seen. The girl in the old photos on the wall, I don’t know if it’s the boss lady who is very quick-moving, can’t help but think of the song “Lugang Town”, “I remember when I left home, she had a kind heart and a roll of long hair”, “Time can’t hide the simple smile of my parents, and the girl in my dream still has long hair.”
On the evening, I went to another restaurant for a late-night snack, drinking mutton soup and mutton bone soup, and stir-fried vegetables with dried fish, for 70 yuan, which is really worth the money.
Lugang Town has many famous attractions that have not been visited, nor have they persistently searched for farther fishing villages. Perhaps in Lugang Town, he has found the "grocery store" in his mind for two days.
"If your husband returned to Lugang Town, would you tell my parents that Taipei is not the golden paradise I imagined, and there was no dream I had in the city at the beginning." As early as that time, Luo Dayou had seen through the glitz of the metropolis before he fell in love with Lugang Town. However, young people may not be willing to live in a dull town. They want to go to the metropolis to find their dreams. If they don’t experience prosperity, how can they see through the world?
