Cave dwellings on the Loess Plateau

Cave dwelling is a product of the Loess Plateau and a symbol of farmers in northern Shaanxi. Here, the deep culture of the ancient yellow land has been precipitated, and the people have created the cave art (folk art) in northern Shaanxi. In the past, a farmer worked hard all his life, and his basic wish was to build several caves. Marrying a wife in a kiln is a family business. Men dig in the yellow soil, and women do housework and have children in caves. Small caves condense the unique customs of the yellow land.

The loess, which is as deep as 100 meters, is extremely difficult to penetrate water and has a strong verticality, which provides a good premise for the development of caves. At the same time, natural conditions such as dry climate, cold winter and less wood also create opportunities for the development and continuation of caves that are warm in winter and cool in summer, very economical and do not need wood. Due to the influence of natural environment, landform and local customs, caves have formed various forms. But judging from the layout and structural form of the building, it can be divided into three forms: leaning on the cliff, sinking and independent.

The caves in Yan 'an, northern Shaanxi are mixed with cave-style flat-roofed houses. Cave dwelling is an organic combination of natural landscape and life landscape, which permeates people's love and attachment to the yellow land.

Cliff cave (cliff cave)

Cliff-leaning caves include mountain-leaning caves and ditch-leaning caves, which are often arranged in curves or broken lines, with harmonious and beautiful architectural artistic effects. When the height of the hillside allows, sometimes several terraced caves are arranged, which are similar to buildings.

Sinking cave (underground kiln)

Sinks are underground caves, mainly distributed in the Loess Plateau-areas where there are no slopes and ditch walls to use. The practice of this kind of cave dwelling is: first dig a square pit on the spot, and then go to the cave dwelling with four walls to form a quadrangle. On the flat land, people can only see the treetops of the courtyard, but not the houses.

Independent cave (ring kiln)

Independent cave dwelling is a kind of arched house covered with soil, including adobe arch cave dwelling and brick arch cave dwelling. This kind of cave does not need to be close to the mountain and cliff, and it can be independent without losing the advantages of the cave. It can be a single story or a building. If the upper floor is also a hoop kiln, it is called "kiln on kiln"; If the upper floor is a wooden house, it is called a "kiln house".

The cave is fire-proof and sound-proof, warm in winter and cool in summer, which saves land, labor and economy. It is indeed a perfect architectural form adapted to local conditions.

Look at this again:

First of all, trace the source.

(A) the relationship between caves and farming culture

1, the emergence of caves and farming culture

Qingyang is located on the Loess Plateau in the east of Gansu Province, with a mild climate. It was called North in ancient times and Longdong today. It has a long history, "the prosperity of Zhou Dao began today." This is the birthplace of farming culture in China, and farming culture and folk culture are even more colorful. Qingyang, with a long history, has a rich cultural background after a long period of accumulation. To understand the development of caves, it is necessary to trace back to the ancient farming period. After thousands of years' baptism, the cave dwelling is like a mother, witnessing the changes of dynasties, watching the growth of her land and the development of farming culture, with profound traces of farming culture, and the development of farming culture has also driven her development.

As early as 200,000 years ago, human beings had lived and multiplied in Qingyang. Zhou people attached importance to agriculture. "Geography" has: "His people have their ancestors, good crops, for their own business. Therefore, to say that agriculture, mulberry and grain are well prepared means well prepared. ".Xia Dynasty lost power and influence in Taikang, and only his stepfather Hou Ji. The political chaos in Taikang destroyed agricultural production, so he led his people to Qingyang and settled here. Instead of using his own skills in growing crops, he taught people to harvest crops at sunrise and rest at sunset. The Book of Songs in July depicts the scene of farming at that time.

After three generations, from/kloc-0 to Jutao and Gongliu, Zhou developed agricultural production and created Zhou's splendid culture. In Tongzhi, Gansu, Qingyang people's virtue is that "the grain is abundant, the legacy of their ancestors", and "Fu Tao's way of thinking and living" is their virtue, which provides a guarantee for themselves. The caves inhabited by primitive people are all natural, dark and humid without sunshine, and are often endangered by wild animals, which is very unfavorable to human survival, life is not guaranteed, and is not conducive to development. When Jutao was in power, he was responsible for digging caves. The so-called pottery caves are two kinds of caves dug by Zhou people according to different geographical conditions. Ancient kilns, like pottery, had caves, and people began to dig caves.

2. The production and living habits of Neanderthals have not changed so far.

Qingyang people are hardworking and simple, and people who have been to Qingyang will have this experience. They are still quietly working in Qingyang, and thousands of years of habits continue on them.

In agricultural activities, seasons and production techniques are passed down. Although the agricultural activities in Qingyang today have incomparable progress compared with those in ancient times, they still inherit and develop the activities of the previous week in some aspects. In July, red dates are harvested in August, rice is harvested in September, grain is stored in October, melons are picked for pulp in July, and gourds are picked in August, all of which are the same as today's farming season. The custom of sending rice to the fields during busy farming hours, building gardens in September (that is, planting crops in spring and summer and planting crops in autumn and winter), weaving doors with firewood and tying crops with thatched ropes has continued to this day.

It is also inherited in the development of livestock, and the development of agricultural production cannot be separated from the breeding of livestock. After Zhou people arrived in Beijiang, they began to raise pigs and gradually turned wild boars into livestock. There is a saying in Gong Liu that pigsty is a pigsty. "July" has "private talk in prison; The saying of "offering sacrifices to the pig" is to keep the pig for yourself and give the big pig to the public. Since Gong Liu advocated raising pigs at home, raising pigs later became a symbol of the family. The development of agriculture has promoted the development of cattle, donkeys and sheep. Up to now, Qingyang donkey and premature cow are famous both inside and outside the province. Raising sheep is almost the main family business of northerners. Killing lambs in early winter every year, offering sacrifices to mountain gods and celebrating the harvest have been around since ancient times.

Today's economic forest planting has been handed down from the Zhou Zu period, and the economic forest planting in Qingyang area has a long history, which is not only various, but also has considerable economic benefits. A considerable number of economic forest varieties came from the planting and cultivation of Zhou Xianmin. Such as mulberry, plum, peach, pear and jujube. As far back as Xuanyuan Huangdi era, Huangdi ordered Lei Zuzhi, the concubine of Yuan Xiling, to raise silkworms. Lei Zu taught people to plant a large number of mulberry trees and raise silkworms to spit silk and weave silks. At the beginning of the week, Qingyang vigorously developed mulberry planting and sericulture. There are poems in July, such as "A woman holds a basket, and then she begs for soft mulberry" and "Silkworm Moon Mulberry". From January to March every year, they start pruning mulberry trees and cutting off tall branches, so that people can climb short branches to pick tender mulberry trees. So mulberry is a native tree species in Qingyang City. From the first week to the present, Qingyang people have had the habit of sericulture for thousands of years. In the poem "June is full of sorrow and drinking" in July, sorrow is plum and fruit is sweet and sour. Grafting plum branches on apricot and peach branches can produce sweeter plums than apricot and peach branches. Gong Liu went to the Western Regions and brought back many excellent peaches, pears and jujube trees. These tree species later became the dominant economic forest species in the ancient land, and they are also the local famous products in Qingyang City today.

Belief taboos are still reflected in modern times. In primitive times, people's knowledge was not enough to explain many things, so they feared nature and worshipped their ancestors. When the curator of the original museum we interviewed in Ningxian told us about the taboo of cave dwelling, Qingyang people must sacrifice to the land god (known locally as the country) when they dig caves, and when they are haunted, they should invite Yin and Yang teachers to settle down with grains, which is also a custom among modern people. When they dig caves, they must invite Yin and Yang teachers. When we interviewed Grandpa Zhang in Chengguan Town, zhenyuan county, he pointed to a mountain opposite their home and told us that the direction of the cave should be leeward and sunny, and the mountain should be realistic (that is, the mouth of the cave should face the real mountain, not the ravine), so as to make the family safe and well-off. Grandpa Zhang has a land god at home, who will go to worship whenever there is something. These have been handed down from generation to generation, and no one remembers how long it has been, except that it has existed since the parents of their parents, and now it has become a habit.

(2) The relationship between paper-cutting, shadow play and cave dwelling.

"Embroidery, shadow play, paper-cutting, Longdong Yangko and Longdong Road Love" are the five unique folk arts in Qingyang. Our investigation activities mainly focus on the relationship between paper-cutting, sachet, shadow play and Qingyang Cave, and the expression of cave culture cannot be separated from these arts. Mr. Cao Huanrong, a folk artist, has been engaged in Qingyang art research for many years, telling us that paper-cutting, sachets and caves are inevitably related. Qingyang people used their wisdom to learn paper-cutting from the shadow of caves, and sachets also came from paper-cutting. These must be related to caves. It is precisely because Zhou Zu dug caves here and provided a stable environment for people that people can fully develop agriculture and improve their living standards. Due to the continuous development of economy, people are rich.

Second, the way of cave excavation.

Ancient caves belong to earth buildings in architecture, which are characterized by harmonious coexistence between man and nature, simple and easy maintenance, material saving, durability, warm in winter and cool in summer. But is his digging really as simple as we thought?

Although in recent years, with the continuous development of economy, more people abandon kilns and fewer people build kilns, we can find that the width of single-hole caves is generally between 3.3 and 3.7 meters, the height is between 3.7 and 4 meters, and the intersection is between 0.3 and 0.4 meters. Depth1.7m to1.9m, horizontal pile height1.8m to 2m, arch height1.7m to1.8m.

Although I was not lucky enough to see the cave construction process, I happened to see the cave under construction, from which I learned that modern caves were basically transformed on the basis of ancestors. We know their excavation methods from their workshops and materials.

The first is to dig the foundation: after the cave orientation is determined, start digging the foundation. The foundation of a cave is the type of cave you dug first. If there is a ditch in front of the door, you can dig up the soil and push it into the ditch with a shelf car, which is convenient and labor-saving. If you want to dig pits, poor families or terrain are not conducive to mechanized construction, you must rely entirely on manpower to lift baskets one by one, which is very hard. In the past, when people built Zhuangzi, they only used the slack season and rainy days to dig and transport dirt, and moved it from dawn to dusk. During the squeezing time before and after meals, you can bear the weight once, the skin on your shoulders peels off again and again, and the cocoons on your hands grind up layer by layer; Often young and old are not idle; This generation can't finish it, and the next generation will continue to do it. After digging the general shape of the foundation, the surface must be trimmed and leveled, which is called "cliff scraping surface" by locals. If the scraper has good eyesight, skill, hand strength and strength, it can scrape wonderful patterns on the loess.

The second is to hit the cave. After digging the foundation and scraping the cliff surface, the kiln was opened. Kiln drilling is to dig out the shape of the hole and carry the soil away. You can't rush into the cave, because the soil is full of water and it is easy to collapse. After the cave is completed, there will be a submerged kiln, or a "pick kiln" or a "grinding kiln". Pick out the arch from the top of the kiln and scrape the edge of the kiln, so that the kiln is completed. When the cave is dry, the mud kiln is made of loess, chopped wheat straw and soil. The mud in the mud kiln is only reinforced with dry soil, and the plane made of mud is smooth and flat. Wet soil and muddy adhesion are not easy to use. The mud kiln has at least two layers of mud, one layer of coarse mud, one layer of fine mud and three layers of mud. If you live for a long time in the future, the kiln wall will be black and muddy again.

The third step is to tie gables and install doors and windows. After the kiln mud is finished, the gables, doors and windows are tied with earth pendants. Generally, the high window is installed on the door, and the low window is installed side by side with the door, with one door and two windows. A kang stands by the window inside the door, and a chimney stands by the wall outside the door. The kang by the window is for smoking quickly, which is beneficial to the cave environment and health. It is also good for women to do needlework on the hot kang.

After these steps of excavation and arrangement, the cave is basically dug.

The caves dug by people have unique life value and cultural connotation. It is stronger and more durable. There are hundreds or even thousands of caves in the local area. It is also circulated among the people: there are caves that don't leak for a hundred years and houses that don't leak for a hundred years. "

The vault structure of the cave conforms to the mechanical principle, and the roof pressure is divided into two parts, which are divided into two sides, with stable center of gravity, balanced components and strong stability. In order to live in peace of mind, wooden burdens are often used to support the kiln roof in caves. After several generations, through thick and thin, it has changed hands several times, and it has not lost its residential value.

However, with the development of economy, more and more caves are abandoned and few caves are excavated. This mining method will become less and less known and has become a trend. But I still hope that when these caves exist and someone digs them, I will keep some materials. I hope this spirit can be passed on, so that we China people can understand and love our culture.

Third, the types of caves.

Longdong Loess Plateau is the deepest loess place in the world, and Qingyang is located in the typical Longdong Loess Plateau, where there are the most densely populated caves. Dense layers of caves, row upon row, are described as: like caves in the clouds, like pearls embedded in the Loess Plateau.

By the Zhou Dynasty, earth caves were all over the valley. The Book of Songs called it "Fu Tao Tao Cave". During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the types of caves increased and the division of labor among caves was clear. There are dark villages, bright villages and quadrangular villages. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, small castles appeared, and a group of caves or heatable adobe sleeping platforms were enclosed with tall earth walls to defend against the chaos of war, commonly known as fortresses.

In the construction of cave dwellings, the village surface is generally nine meters high and 17 to 23 meters long. The hole head is scraped into patterns such as water waves, and three to five holes are dug in the front. According to the terrain, one to three holes can be dug in the side. The front soil is flat, generally walls are built on three sides, and gates and gatehouses are built. Cave dwellings are generally four meters high, eight to ten feet wide and three feet deep. The main cave on the front is slightly higher than other caves and serves as the main hall where elders live. Doors and windows are installed on the wall of the kiln mouth, generally three caves or two caves. The window near the kiln top is called skylight. There is a heatable adobe sleeping platform on the back wall of the kiln, which is next to the gable and the kiln wall, leaving a heatable adobe sleeping platform entrance. "Burning firewood ignites the adobe sleeping platform to make the kiln warm, and the main kiln sits on the adobe sleeping platform, which is pleasant." Generally, cave buildings follow the same direction as mountains, avoiding wet and dry, low and high, and avoiding shade and sunny.

There are many kinds of caves in Qingyang, which can be divided into more than ten kinds, but according to the main categories, there are three kinds, namely, Zhuang Ming kiln, earth pit kiln and hoop kiln.

Zhuang Ming Kiln, also known as Yazhuang Kiln, is usually located on one side of mountains and ditches. Make use of the cliff potential, first level the cliff surface, and then build a village to dig a kiln. "Fu Tao" in "Fu Tao Cave" refers to Zhuang Ming Kiln, which has three kilns, five kilns and more. There is a 1,000-year-old cave in Waxie Township, Ningxian County, covering an area of 200 square meters, with five windows, which can accommodate hundreds of people. On the plains of Dong Zhiyuan and Cao Shengyuan, there are also people who use hutongs to build villages. Because the cliff is not high, they have to dig a few meters and then dig a kiln, which often forms three sides high and one side low. This kind of Zhuangzi is called half bright and half dark village.

Pit kiln: This kind of kiln is built on a large depression in the plain. First, dig a rectangular pit on the flat ground, which is usually five to eight meters deep, and the four sides of the pit are cut into cliff faces. Then, dig caves around the cliff, while building a long slope diameter or inclined hole, which goes straight to the original surface as a sidewalk. The "Tao Cave" in Fu Tao Tao Cave is such a pit village. This cave is actually a basement, and the characteristics of "warm in winter and cool in summer" are more obvious.

Ring kiln: Generally, the ring kiln is built with soil embryo and wheat straw yellow mud, and the top of the kiln is arched. The top of the kiln is filled with double slopes, polished with wheat straw mud, and pressed with short rafters before and after. Rich people also cover the ceiling with blue tiles, which looks like a studio from a distance and a kiln from a distance. A cave with a rectangular or square stone hoop is called a stone hoop kiln.

There are many kinds of caves in Qingyang according to their uses. In "Zhuangzi", a hole is dug in the upper small kiln between the main kiln and the cliff, and the steps are built, which can be overlooked and used for theft prevention. It is called a high kiln. Dig a small cave on one side of the kiln, which is mostly used to store valuables or food. It is called rotary kiln. Dwellings have different names for different purposes, such as guest house kiln, stove kiln, sheep kiln, middle kiln, firewood kiln, grain kiln, well kiln, grinding kiln, car kiln and so on.