Feixian Guan Old Street
Frozen in the prosperity and changes of the years
Li Tengpeng. Feixian Pass is located at the southern end of Lushan County, Sichuan Province, at the junction of three districts (counties) of Yucheng, Tianquan and Lushan. Feixian Pass is the only way to pass through the Southern Silk Road, an important post station on the Ancient Tea Horse Road, and the first pass on the Sichuan-Tibet transportation line. Due to its special geographical location, Feixian Pass has been a battleground for soldiers since ancient times, and it has also achieved its long-term prosperity. "4.20" Lushan strong ** post-disaster reconstruction, Feixian Pass has been built into a national 4A-level tourist attraction, which can be called a pearl on the Sichuan-Tibet line.
Today's Feixian Pass (photo by Hao Liyi).
The old street of Feixianguan located here is special, and the old street everywhere is different from it. Feixianguan Old Street is built along the mountain, the front is a mountain, the back is still a mountain, not a street has been walked all the way, there are several hundred meters of winding uphill road in between, divided into Shangguan and Xiaguan.
The legendary years of Lao Cai
Feixianguan Old Street Xiaguan faces Yucheng, backed by Lushan, Shangguan is located on the hillside behind, and the ancient road is connected between the upper and lower passes. As the boundary between Yucheng District and Lushan County, through the Feixian Pass into the Xiaguan, it is also to the boundary of Lushan County.
This old street, once used as a traffic hub between Chengya and Tibet to enter the Kang-Tibet area, has experienced thousands of years of prosperity and hustle.
Lushan County Chronicles" contains: "When the Sui Dynasty was a great cause, the county set up officials, restored the Tonghe New Road, and divided the southwest of the county into two roads and passed through the Diaomen, and the tea of the Han people was easy to Tubo horses." That is to say, in the Sui Dynasty, the ancient tea horse road in Lushan has been opened. The southwest of the county is Feixian Pass, so Feixian Pass has been one of the intersection points of many branches of the Ancient Tea Horse Road since ancient times.
Since the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, the ancient tea horse road from Ya'an is divided into big roads and small roads, and the big road passes through Yingjing and crosses the Qingxi to Luding, from KangdingThe trail passes through Tianquan Yue Erlang Mountain to Luding, and then passes from Kangding**. Feixian Pass is a must-pass place in the path, and from Qionglai through Zhenxi Mountain, cross the Yuxi River, cross the Babu Pass and enter Lushan or cross Luochun Mountain from Wujiakou (now Shangli Ancient Town), and enter the ancient tea horse road road in Lushan must also pass through Feixian Pass. There are also places such as Dashenxi and Xinkaidian in Ya'an, which have been planting and making tea since ancient times.
After entering the Feixian Pass, take the big road to cross the Tiger Leaping Chain Bridge, pass through Tianquan Leying to Yingjing, cross the Daxiangling to Qingxi, and then from Luding to Kangding, and finally arrive at **. Take the path, look at the Aitou Iron Chain Bridge or Fanggong Iron Chain Bridge to Tianquan, turn Erlang Mountain to Luding, and then from Luding to Kangding, and finally arrive at **.
In the 60th year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1795), Zhu Huang, the county governor of Lushan, wrote in the third poem of the bamboo branch poem "Lufeng": "The woman is the cultivator who carries the tea, and the furnace city is far away from home." "Lushan carries tea buns to Kangding, and Feixian Pass is the first stop. The route of the Ancient Tea Horse Road from Lushan County to Feixian Pass is different from the current highway. The road is an official road, generally more than two meters wide, and the pavement is about 0The 6-meter-wide stone slab, uphill and downhill, is exactly a day's journey for the porter. The porter who set off from Lushan County always spent the night in the shop on the old street of Feixianguan.
Because of its special geographical location, Feixian Pass is destined to become an important station on the Ancient Tea Horse Road. In the long history of tea horse and ethnic exchanges, Feixianguan Old Street, as part of the trunk line of the Ancient Tea Horse Road, has witnessed this epic legend and shared the glorious years of the legend.
Shangguan Old Street that still exists today.
Stone staircase of Shangguan Old Street.
A bustling bazaar of yesteryear
For thousands of years, Feixianguan Old Street has been the distribution center of goods in Tian, Lu, Ya, Xing and other counties, and the market has been prosperous since ancient times. The streets are small, but they are famous.
Lunar calendar every month. The first, fourth, and seventh days are the days of the market, and the upper and lower passes are alternately rushed. The market has been around for hundreds of years, and it is very lively on the day of the market.
There are merchants selling department stores, daily necessities, food, Chinese medicine, etc., as well as teahouses, restaurants, noodle restaurants, and hotels. There are markets selling vegetables, grains, fresh meat, pigs and cattle, chickens and fish, charcoal, tea and other fields.
On the day of the rush, the old street was crowded with people, rubbing shoulders one after another. The small vendors selling glutinous rice balls, mash, cold noodles, cold cakes, and bowl chickens are shouting one after another. Children pester adults to buy two pieces of bowl chicken or a bowl of cold noodles, and it always feels so comfortable. A small table and a few wooden benches sat around a few old men on the side of the street. A few plates of fried soybeans, fried peas, fried peanuts, dried tofu, and a few glasses of old corn wine on the table can make a few old men sit for a long time. The two sell live juice powder, the powder is cooked and scooped up, and the pig fat intestines, pig heart and lungs, and pea paste toppings are splashed on it, which is of good quality and low price, and the rural women who rush to the scene eat with relish. There are five or six noodle restaurants, which are very crispy and dry, and the aftertaste is endless.
In the village, uncles, aunts and aunts rushed to the scene, they had to bring bottles or bamboo tubes, and buy a bottle or a tube of dumb vinegar. The vinegar brewed by Feixian Guan is famous in Tian, Lu and Ya.
Watching the pig and cattle market transactions is very curious for children. Both the buyer and the seller do not negotiate the price explicitly, but operate in the dark through Ding Ding (intermediary). One hand on each side of the board is covered by a shirt and the fingers are used to bargain with the numbers. On the surface, what is sold is not sold, what is bought is not bought, you belittle me and praise, pull and drag, like a quarrel, and it is very lively.
There is a unique tea basket market in the nearby counties in the Lao Cai market, the tea basket is neatly placed on the side of the street, and the tea basket is sold by the farmers of Tianquan Eighteen Water, and the tea grain trade has a history of hundreds of years. Feixian Pass has been a post station of the ancient tea horse road since ancient times, and it is a place for tea distribution and processing. The packaging of processed side tea is sold at Feixian Pass. Later, the tea market in Feixian Pass declined, and the tea processing factory in Ya'an rose, but the tea basket market was still in Feixian Pass. Every time there is a rush, several large tea factories in Ya'an have special personnel to go to Feixian Pass to buy.
In the thirties and forties of the 20th century, there were fixed bookstalls in the old street. Most of the books were published by the big book company at that time, such as "Guwen Guan Zhi", "Kindergarten Qionglin", "On Wenfan", etc., and there were also "Three Character Classics", "Daughter Classics", "Jade Box Records", "Five Gong Classics" and so on. There are also monopolized celebrity monuments, posts, couplets, middle halls, plaques and other rubbings.
The development and change of Lao Cai
In the 50s of the 20th century, Feixianguan Old Street had post and telecommunications offices, supply and marketing cooperatives, tax offices, industrial and commercial offices, banks, etc. It is more convenient for ordinary people to rush to the scene.
After the reform and opening up, the market prospered, the number of people rushing to the market increased, and Xiaguan Old Street could not accommodate it, so it extended to both sides of the Xiongheba Highway, and the Laojie Market slowly and spontaneously moved to Xiongheba.
4.20 "Lushan strong ** post-disaster reconstruction, National Highway 318 Feixianguan Tunnel exit through Xiaguan Old Street in the middle, the market was built in the Xionghe Dam. The wooden houses in the old street were demolished and rebuilt, and although the houses were new, the streets were no longer what they were.
Shangguan is still basically the same, except that the stone steps at the southern end have been replaced by a sloping cement walkway, some houses have been demolished in the northern section of the old street, and most of the wooden walls of the ancient houses have been replaced with brick walls. The prosperity of the past is no longer there, and only a few elderly people are still reminiscing about the prosperity of the past when they bask in the sun on the side of the street.
With the development of the economy and the growth of the population, the small space of Lao Cai can no longer meet the needs of modern society. As the bazaar moved, the old street gradually faded out of people's sight.
It is gratifying that now Feixian Pass has been built into a national 4A-level tourist attraction, and the tourist loop connecting Xiaguan, Shangguan and several old streets on the weir has been repaired, and with more and more people exploring the Southern Silk Road and the Ancient Tea Horse Road, the old street is expected to regain its former glory.
Special Tips
**Please specify: "*Fang Zhi Sichuan".
*: Sichuan Provincial Office of Local Chronicles.
Text: Li Tengpeng (from Lushan, Sichuan, retired teacher, member of Ya'an Writers Association).