On the last day of 2023 in the Gregorian calendar, I went back to my hometown with my wife to visit my parents, and at noon, I came to Gulian Village, which is close to the sandcastle, at the request of Huaiping, to meet Mr. Huaizhuang and ask him to introduce the culture of Gulian Ancient Village. Mr. Huaizhuang is my second brother's high school classmate, so I have long heard the story of him doing the inheritance of Gu Lian culture, and I have admired his name for a long time and looked forward to meeting.
Gulian Village and Shabao Village belong to Jialing Town, Qi County, in the old days, it was called "Yuanlu", which probably means a fenced site, and later changed its name to "Gulian" after the castle wall was demolished, which has the meaning of knowing the mountain and guarding the valley and not forgetting the hometown. This is a famous historical and cultural village in China, a traditional Chinese village, and those who call it "history" mean that it has a long history of building a village, which has been around for more than 600 years. It is called "culture", because it is called "the hometown of Jin opera" and "the source of Yangge", but also because it has been from Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty to Xuantong for more than 200 years, the Gao family in this village has produced 1 gift Wen Lin Lang, 1 example Feng Wen Lin Lang, 1 Han Lin, 8 lifters, 100 students, 100 Xusheng, Wu Zhensheng, of which 108 were knighted, and there are 10 township drink Jiebin and 38 township drink seniors. It is also one of the birthplaces of Jin merchants, with rows of high-rise mansions and gatehouses, and the "Taigu Grain King" is also out of the Gao family in the valley. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that Gulian Village has outstanding people, a long history, a profound heritage, and a rich party.
I was no stranger to Gulian Village in the past, but I am not familiar with it today. I am no stranger because from September 1985 to January 1987, I studied in the old Gulian Middle School for more than a year, and walked through the streets and alleys of the village and the old houses of the ancient courtyard every day, where many of my classmates lived. The reason why it is unfamiliar is that after nearly 40 years of changes, coupled with the rebuilding of the ancient courtyard culture inheritor of Mr. Huai Zhuang as the main representative, the appearance of this place has changed a lot, forming a combination of traditional villages and new villages.
Bidding farewell to his parents and brothers in his hometown of Shabao Village, he and Huaiping drove for about ten minutes to Gulian Village, and first entered the "Flagpole Courtyard". The courtyard is very spectacular after restoration, at the midpoint of the high courtyard wall, the wide half-moon shaped gate is impressively inlaid, and the two flagpoles facing the street are towering into the sky, symbolizing the glory of the owner's court, noble status, and famous history. At the top of the gatehouse, Mr. Huaizhuang asked the connoisseur to hang up the four-character plaque of "Logical Chapter", which is also the first compiler of "Gu Lian Village Chronicles", Huaizhuang's great-grandfather Gao Zeyu's words and numbers. The door eyebrow is engraved with two big characters of "Dunlun", which means to abide by ethics. There is another interesting fact about these two words that the letterer did not expect, the owner of this courtyard happened to be Gao Dunlun. This sage's name is Gao Zhanji, a martial artist and a student of the Qianlong Dynasty, and Dunlun is his word, and there is a coincidence in the dark. On the inside of the gatehouse, a plaque of "Rong Si" is hung, which means that the gate of this house can accommodate four large carriages to enter, which can reflect the arrogance and wealth of the owner of the house. This is a more typical five-ridge and six-beast archway courtyard, but also five outside the three rooms of the two into the stuffy house courtyard, similar to this ancient courtyard in Gulian Village about more than 40, after a hundred years of snow, rain, wind and frost, plus the special period of destruction, only a few are intact, many have been unrecognizable, at present Huaizhuang they have repaired or transformed about 20 courtyards.
Due to the time constraints, we mainly visited the Flagpole Courtyard, the Xiangxian Pavilion and the Gao Clan Ancestral Hall, all three of which were carefully processed and built by Mr. Huaizhuang to promote the unique culture of Gu Lian. In addition to being used for office and reception, Mr. Huaizhuang has arranged the "Silver Valley Love" business history museum here, which displays a group of Jin merchants and celebrities in Gulian Village, and the old ** on the wall is very precious, most of which he worked hard to collect from the people, including Gao Jilong, Gao Zhibiao, and others in Yilichuan. The more famous here is Gao Biming, it is said that his people are "late bloomers", but diligent and honest, good at management, very capable and talented, he created a "Julichuan", "Yilichuan" and other businesses in Taigu, specializing in grain business, in the heyday can directly drive the train wagons into the granary, and also opened a number of branches in Taiyuan and Qi County. It is said that he is the only grain merchant who dares to compete with Kong Xiangxi and Yan Xishan, and is known as the "Taigu Grain King".
Gulian Village was originally built by the surname Gao, and many of my classmates, including the head teacher Gao Jiyu, were descendants of the Gao family. In the early years of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, since the ancestor Gao Zhongyuan moved from Weinan in Shaanxi to Licun, especially since the Qing Dynasty, the Gao family has produced many talents and businessmen. In the various exhibition rooms of the Xiangxian Museum, the resumes of hundreds of Hanlin, Taixue, Gongsheng and Wenwu Zhensheng, as well as Jiebin and Qibin have emerged in Gulian Village in the hundreds of years since the Qianlong Emperor. Among them, Gao Jindeng, Gao Zeyu, Gao Xihua and Gao Xiyu have made outstanding contributions to the farming civilization and cultural inheritance of Gulian Village, and Mr. Huaizhuang made a special introduction to the deeds.
Gao Jindeng is the first hero and founder of Gulian's "Water Conservancy Village". At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, although Gulian Village was adjacent to the Changyuan River in the south, it had been plagued by drought, and it was the biggest obstacle to open a canal to divert water. In the early morning of the 30th day of the third year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, Gao Jindeng, then the teacher of Majiabao, knelt at the door of the village office in the snow, and asked for the Changyuan River to be diverted from the land of Majiabao to "irrigate the thin fields at home, in order to make a long-term plan". The village chief, who had the friendship of teachers and students, agreed and made a note. Gao Jindeng is allowed to excavate a "one rake (PA)" wide channel to divert water. As everyone knows, "harrow" is a polyphonic and polysemantic word, "harrow (pa)" is a small farm tool one foot wide and flat land, and "harrow (ba)" is a large farm tool 6 feet wide and pulled by animal power. In the spring of the second year, Gao Jindeng led the villagers to dig a 6-foot rake (ba) from the west of Majiapu Village to the east of Gulian Dadong Canal, but it caused dissatisfaction among the villagers of Majiapu, and they sued in court, from the county to the government to the provincial capital, and finally ruled in favor of Gulian Village. Gao Jindeng, a townsman, solved the problem of water diversion and irrigation in Gulian Village with "one knee through the ages", and made the Dadong Canal run for 360 years with a perfect canal system, which can be called a model of private water conservancy projects in the ancient north.
Gao Zeyu was the first to compile local chronicles among the people, and was the first virtuous person in the village to "establish morality, meritorious service, and speech". This edition of the "Gulian Village Chronicles" compiled in the eighteenth year of Guangxu is the earliest existing rural chronicle in Shanxi Province, which writes vicissitudes of life, records anecdotes of products, and records local culture. Gao Zeyu is a logical character, the number is a chapter, Mr. Huaizhuang's ancestor, born in a scholarly family, went out to do business for more than 20 years as an adult, and then returned to his hometown to farm, served as the duty (village head) of Gulian Village for 14 years, with family and country in mind, enthusiastic about public welfare, and praised by the villagers. In the third year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (Ding Chou) and the fourth year (Wuyin), there was a "Ding Wu Qi Famine", in the province, the government and the county did not distribute a penny of disaster relief silver and a grain of relief grain to Gulian Village, Gao Zeyu and other six gentlemen established the "Famine Relief Society", took the lead in donating funds, organized self-help, and created a miracle that no one starved to death in Gulian Village in the two years of the catastrophe, and won the praise of "Qinjia Tongzhi Title of Five Grades".
Gao Xihua is the master of Gulian Village's education culture, Yangge culture, genealogy culture, and poetry culture, and is a leader in "rejuvenating the village through education" and "establishing a village through culture". Xihua's grandfather is a gift to Wen Linlang, his father is an example of Wen Linlang, I am the second class Jinshi in the eighteenth year of Guangxu, hand-picked Hanlin Academy, Jishi, scattered hall awarded the lake Beijing Shan County Governor, Qinjia with the title of Dai Hualing, alternate Zhili Prefecture, successively served as Henan Tongbai, Xiangcheng, Shaanxi Chengcheng, Baishui, Wugong, Anding and other counties of the county, diligent and unscrupulous, quite good, two sleeves breeze. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, he resigned and returned to his hometown, and in 1905, he helped the industrialist Qu Benqiao to establish the Qixian Middle School, and founded the Gulian School at the beginning of the year, both of which were my junior high and high school alma maters. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Gao Xihua spent ten years continuing the genealogy, setting family mottos, establishing family rules, Ming family teaching, and supervising family learning. In 1924, it was founded with Gao Shuoyou, the rich man of Jinman, and Gao Xiyu, the "master of the dog"."Yi Vulgar Society", adapting the new repertoire, singing the new voice of Yangge, making outstanding contributions to the healthy development of Qitai Yangge, is a cultural monument in the history of Qitai Yangge.
Gao Xiyu, known as the "Dog Barbarian Master", is the veteran of the Jin Opera Art Garden and the master of the drummer. I noticed the name of "Master Dog Man" as early as ten years ago when I watched "Zhaoyu Spring and Autumn", he was born in a rich family, his father was a Xiucai in the Qing Dynasty, he loved opera, good **, he had a strong interest in Jin opera since he was a child, and he began to learn art at the age of nine. The bottom of the drum in Jinzhong and Taiyuan tends to be unified under his improvement and advocacy. In 1924, he founded the "Yi Vulgar Society" with Gao Shuoyou, a wealthy man of Jinman, and Gao Xihua, a second-class Hanlin, to add silk string accompaniment to Qitai Yangge, and skillfully introduced Jin opera music cards and drums into Yangge, which greatly enriched the expressiveness of Yangge. In 1936 and 1937, Gao Xiyu went to Shanghai twice to record Jin Opera and Yangge songs, which became famous all over the world, making Gulian Village the hometown of Jin Opera and the source of Yangge.
At the entrance of the Xiangxian Pavilion, I noticed that there was a door sign of "Gu Lian Poetry Society", and I couldn't help but think of my poetry enlightenment teacher, Mr. Gao Xucheng. Mr. Cheng's hometown is also Gulian Village, and it is a coincidence that the earth is very small, and Mr. Cheng's maternal grandfather is Jia Ling's famous Caidong, and my grandfather used to be the sitting doctor of the "Wanhetang" opened by Lao Caidong. Later, when I talked about the origin of this section, Mr. Cheng and I were very close to each other, and I also knew my grandfather. Although Mr. was born in Gulian, he grew up in Taiyuan, and later joined the army, and was demobilized in the early sixties to work as a carpenter in Sinochem No. 2 Company for more than 30 years. Because I can't forget my love for poetry, I started writing poems with a pen, especially for loose songs. He initiated the establishment of poetry societies such as "Tang Huai", "Tang Ming" and "Tang Trace" in the provincial capital and the "Shanxi Sanqu Research Association", founded a poetry journal, and wrote a collection of poems, songs, and reviews such as "Zhaoyu Cunyun", "Haoting Poems", "Sanqu Miscellaneous", etc., and made outstanding contributions to the creation of poetry and music in Shanxi, and was elected as the deputy secretary-general of the Shanxi Poetry Society, a member of the Chinese Poetry Society, and has a certain reputation in the province and the domestic poetry circle, and passed away due to illness in September 2022. For me, Mr. has the grace of knowing and encountering, the second is a little affection, and the third is helpful. If Mr. and Mrs. Wang Jinming led me into the door of poetry, Mr. Xucheng played a role in initiating and took me to find a few shining pearls in the vast sea of poetry. Mr. Gao Lucheng is the pride of the poetry world, and it is also the pride of Gulian Village, and the poetry and music should belong to the Gulian culture.
When I came to the ancestral hall of the Gao family, I felt very fresh, and "the distant ancestors of the Bohai family are visible, and the Changyuan Shize is long and solid" comes into view. After Mr. Huaizhuang's introduction, he knew that this was originally a rich family's house, because the old ancestral hall was destroyed, so he borrowed this old house to build a new ancestral hall of the Gao family, in order to hope that the descendants of the clan often worship their ancestors and do not forget the true truth. Gu Lian Gao is known to the Zhou Dynasty founding minister Jiang Shang as the respect, to Shang Zhi's eighth grandson Gao Wei as the ancestor, the main hall above the two plaques "Tai Gong Wang" and "Shang Fu Zhongyuan" is enough to make the descendants of the Gao family clear at a glance. In the ancestral hall, find a page to introduce the "Xiaoqiao Society". Xiaoqiao Society was established in Jiaqing 23 years (1818), by the 17th generation of the Gao clan in Gulian Village, Gao Kezhao, Gao Kemao and other squires raised 250 thousand Wen to initiate the establishment, on the one hand, for the maintenance of the village's roads, bridges, on the other hand, out of the release, after 70 years of operation, to Guangxu 14 years (1888), the accumulated funds reached 3860 thousand Wen, is the original accumulation of funds of 1544 times. "Xiaoqiao Society" is the organizational form of rural cooperative economy in the Qing Dynasty, 25 years earlier than the world's first consumer cooperative, that is, the "Fair Pioneer Society" that was born in 1843 in the town of Rushdale, England, and is the first in the world to create a global rural cooperative economic organization. Here, we have found the source of China's rural economic cooperatives, a small valley love, and a big vision.
It can be said that when you walk into Gulian Village, a courtyard is a story, and a courtyard is a volume of culture. Every brick and tile, every carving and painting here hides the glorious past and civilization connotation of the sages of Gulian, who are diligent and enterprising, cultivating and reading heirlooms, honest and benevolent, and benefiting the township. I visited all the way, sighed all the way, and unconsciously came to the house of Gao Xihua of Erjia Hanlin. From the appearance still maintains the original appearance of the year, the "ploughing and reading" plaque hangs high on the door eyebrows, reminded by Mr. Huaizhuang, I finally remembered its familiar face, my junior high school classmates Gao Lixuan, Gao Ligang brothers have lived in this ancestral house for many years. To the west of the Xihua House, a tall and majestic renovated mansion stands in front of you. In order to protect and inherit the art of Jin opera, Mr. Huaizhuang turned this place into a big stage for opera, named it "cuan" music building, and specially registered and established the Gouman Master Jin Opera Troupe. Here, Huaiping and Huaizhuang specially arranged two Jin Opera songs for me to enjoy, and it was also here that I learned about Huaiping's amateur artistic hobby, and perceived his Jin Opera Huhu performance cells, especially his use of traffic lights to compare the role of the drum board master, which is really very interesting, popular image, and can be understood as soon as you listen to it. To be honest, although I often went to Jia Ling and Xiushan to watch dramas when I was a child, I didn't understand Jin opera and opera at all. However, when the familiar sound of drums and gongs and hairpins and the melodious sound of the huqin sounded, I immediately followed the rhythm of the music, and my heart surged. This should be the magic of traditional opera, I can't help but like it and resonate with it.
Farewell to Gu Lian, and walked out of the farther road;Go back to Gu Lian and want to find the way you came. Although it is a hurried passerby, it is also unforgettable!
*: The most beautiful Qi County.
Release: China Economic and Trade Finance Center.
Editor-in-charge: black and white.