Keywords: Dongpo Academy, Longmen Surging Waves, Millennium-old Salt Fields

2022.1.13

Today we entered Danzhou from Lingao and passed by Dongpo Academy, Longmen Surging Waves, and thousand-year-old salt fields. Along this road in Danzhou, history and reality are interspersed, nature and humanity blend, making it overwhelming.

Dongpo Academy, located in Zhonghe Town, Danzhou City, Hainan Province, was built in Northern Song Dynasty The fifth year of Shaosheng (1098).

Dongpo AcademyGate

The fourth year of Shaosheng in the Northern Song Dynasty (1097) , the imperial court demoted Su Dongpo, who was over 60 years old, to the position of Beijia of Qiongzhou (assistant to the prefect) and settled him in Changhua Army (now Zhonghe Town, Danzhou, Hainan). At that time, Zhang Zhong, the military envoy of Changhua Army, invited Su Dongpo to visit the local hermit Li Ziyun. Everyone proposed to raise funds to build a house for Su Dongpo to live in, and named it "Zaijiutang" after the allusion of "carrying wine to ask for characters" in "Book of Han·Biography of Yang Xiong". Zhang Xi of Ming Dynasty wrote a poem: "When guests come to walk all over Zhuya Road, they must visit Dongpo Zaijiutang". After several ups and downs, "Zaijiutang" was renamed "Dongpo Academy" during the Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty.

Zaijietang

Entering the gate of the "Zaijiu Hall", visitors can see the scene of Su Dongpo holding a scroll and lecturing, his friend Li Ziyun listened attentively, and his son Su Guo stood aside respectfully.

Su Dongpo with his friends Li Ziyun and son Su Guo

Su Dongpo deserves to be regarded as a great scholar. During his three years in Hainan, he preached, taught and enthusiastically taught. The "Zaijiu Hall" became an important place for Su Dongpo to open a forum and promote culture and education. For Danzhou and Hainan as a whole, this has become an important symbol to effectively connect with the culture of the Central Plains and promote the progress of Hainan civilization. Before Su Dongpo gave lectures in Danzhou, no one from Hainan had passed the scientific examination, and there had been no official from Hainan in the Central Plains. After Su Dongpo sowed the seeds of Central Plains culture in Hainan, during the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, Hainan produced a total of 767 Juren and 97 Jinshi. "Qiongtai Chronicles" praises, "Song Dynasty Su Wenzhonggong was relegated to Dan'er, his lectures were clear, education was flourishing, and the prosperity of Qiongzhou's humanities was really started by his father."

There is a sculpture of "Spring Ox" in Dongpo Academy. Due to the unenlightened thinking of the local Li people during the Northern Song Dynasty, they exchanged precious agarwood from the interior for cattle and killed cattle to worship the gods. Agricultural production has always remained in the primitive state of slash-and-burn farming. Su Dongpo was very sad about this and wrote articles such as "Afraid of Liu Zihou" to persuade Li compatriots to get rid of their bad habits and cherish farming cattle. "Magnolia" on the wall behind the sculpture is a Wing Chun poem composed by Dongpo for the people of Danzhou.

Spring Cow Sculpture and Su Dongpo's "Magnolia with Reduced Characters"

Su Dongpo has been commemorated by the people of Danzhou for generations. There are many statues commemorating Su Dongpo in Dongpo Academy. Among them, the bronze statue of Dongpo Li Hanyi is based on the "Dongpo Li Hanyi Picture" and was created by the famous Hainan local sculptor Mr. Li Hanyi. The image of Su Dongpo wearing a bamboo hat and wooden clogs, being open-minded and optimistic, doing as the Romans do in the countryside, and being close to the people has been painted in the hearts of the people of Danzhou.

Bronze statue of dongpo hats

There are many memorial statues of Su Dongpo in Dongpo Academy

Among the many cultural relics in Dongpo Academy, there is a relatively rare rubbing. Most of Su Dongpo's calligraphy that people see are in regular script. And this ancient rubbing is a rough draft that Su Dongpo rarely wrote. The rubbing content is the well-known "Niannujiao·Chibi Nostalgia", and the concluding sentence contains Su Dongpo's self-written "Dongpo Drunken Pen".

The relatively rare cursive script of Su Dongpo

There are many cultural relics in Dongpo Academy, including Su Dongpo's handwriting and calligraphy, famous calligraphy and paintings, past couplets, famous plaques, past steles, pottery, stone carvings, etc. In addition, there are classical and modern books and materials. Dongpo Academy in Danzhou is a pearl in the history of Chinese culture. In October 1996, it was announced by the State Council as the fourth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

The current Dongpo Academy has an elegant environment, with towering ancient trees, rippling pools of water, round gates and winding paths. With Dongpo Academy as the core, the local area has been expanded into Dongpo Cultural Tourism Zone and has become a resort.

Dongpo Academy, elegant environment

Dongpo Academy has been expanded into Danzhou Dongpo Cultural Tourism Zone

Su Dongpo, a literary giant of a generation, had a rough life. "Asking you about your life achievements, Huangzhou, Huizhou and Danzhou", Dongpo's poem may make people sad, but Su Dongpo's three-year exile in Danzhou was of great significance to the local culture.

After leaving Dongpo Academy, we went to Longmen Wave. Longmen Mountain Wave is located in Danzhou City Longmen Mountain on the coast of Eman Town. This is an undeveloped volcanic rock coast. Rocky The waves in this area are constant, probably because of the volcanic rocks of different shapes on the seabed along the coast. It is said that when the north wind blows, huge waves will hit On the east side, there is a stone urn gate more than 30 meters high, which sounds like a drum and can be heard for more than 10 miles, hence the name "Longmen Jilang". The name "Longmen Jilang" was not given by modern people, but was already given in the Ming Dynasty.

When we arrived at Longmen Whitewater, it was dark, windy but not too strong, and the waves were not high. Standing on the shore, I can see the waves rushing towards my eyes, like thousands of horses galloping, rushing forward and continuing, never stopping, and the sound of the waves is endless. Due to bad weather, the tour road was closed, so we left after not staying long.

Longmen Mountain Dew

Strangely, less than two kilometers away from Longmen Surging Waves, the sea was calm. There were many fishing boats parked on the sea, as motionless as the toys placed there.

Less than two kilometers away from Longmen Surging Waves, the sea is calm and calm.

Danzhou also has a famous historical site, the "Millennium Ancient Salt Field". The Millennium Ancient Salt Field is located in Hainan Yangpu Peninsula Yantian Village. In our impression, salt fields are like fields, square and large. But this ancient salt field completely subverts our original impression of salt fields. At the entrance of Yantian Village, there is a sign of "Thousand-year-old Salt Field", and in front of it are several shallow stone basins like giant inkstones. The "salt fields" here are made up of these Like a giant inkstone It is composed of shallow stone basins.

Thousand-year-old salt field

In ancient times, According to the characteristics of Hainan Island's high temperature and scorching sun, salt workers use brine with high salt content. After exposure to the sun, the water evaporates and becomes salt. The salt workers used local materials, shaved half of the large tracts of natural volcanic rock by the sea, and chiseled them into countless shallow stone basins to serve as equipment for drying salt. Because the salt here is delicious and effective in treating many diseases, Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, upon hearing the news, bestowed the imperial seal "Zhengde" on the salt field people. In the ancient salt field, Rock Salt Basin Like inkstones standing side by side, they are shaped by different stones, of different sizes, and at different heights. Various shapes, densely distributed on the beach, There are more than 6,800 unique and spectacular It is said that there are still more than 30 salt workers in Yantian Village, working on the salt fields every day in the same ancient way that has been used for more than 1,200 years.

A "stone basin" used to dry salt in a thousand-year-old salt field

Danzhou is a place with a lot of content, and this article only records a small part of it. Since Su Dongpo brought cultural advancement to Danzhou during the Northern Song Dynasty, Things are different. The never-ending waves of Longmen and the motionless ancient salt basin are witnesses of the changes in history.

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