When the ship arrived in Qiu Zi Town, it was already dusk.

It was dusk when the ship arrived in Qiu Zi town. It's only winter now, but people in the town have been baking charcoal around the brazier for a long time. No wonder this place is about 1, 800 meters above sea level, and it is connected to Yuxiakou, Yakou and Huoshaoping in the north and Huang Baishan in the south. The top of the mountain is very cold.

I have nothing to do after dinner, so I go shopping with my peers. From the pier into the town, the road is herringbone, two small streets, deserted. If someone sweeps the road with a bamboo pole, insurance won't sweep anyone. The wind in Qingjiang Canyon swished straight into the town street.

It is said that the busiest time in Qiu Zi was during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, which was similar to Enshi, my hometown. At that time, Qiu Zi was an ancient town in the middle reaches of Qingjiang River. Ships from the Yangtze River can only reach Xiangwangtan, which has become the only pier. Ships come and go, people come and go, soldiers and bandits come and go, and the times are prosperous. Even the mountain people in Badong and Hefeng, which are far away in the western border of Hubei, come here to transport salt.

Of course, after the completion of Geheyan Dam, the ancient town of Qiu Zi has been submerged in the Qingjiang reservoir area. Therefore, whenever a ship passes the Qiu Zi Bridge, there will always be people who feel depressed and amazed. There is always someone who can't forget to say: our ship is walking on the back of Laozi's mound.

Xinziqiu was built in Taoshan. "Qiu Zi's sister-in-law Taoshan's sister" is well known. Once, two writers were driving through Qiu Zi when they suddenly saw a beautiful head sticking out of the window. It was a real beauty, a clear and refreshing pink Li Bai, which made the eyes of the two writers pop out. They believe that "a handsome bird comes from a deep mountain", and this woman is the most beautiful woman in the world. Unfortunately, the car flashed by and there was no time to go to the city to see the beautiful scenery. Later, they went to Taoshan in Qiu Zi several times and traveled all the streets, but they didn't know where the beautiful woman lived, leaving only deep regrets.

I stayed in Taoshan for a few days this time, paying attention to the fact that the women in the town are not as mysterious as the legend. The old people sighed and explained that all the beautiful girls had gone to Hainan, Guangdong.

My heart is full of melancholy, and the search for those two writers has become a spiritual desire and an emotional sustenance.

People in Qiu Zi are humorous, as if they are masters of telling jokes and stories. That night, we invited two 18-year-old people to tell stories in the town government guest house. They are drinking and roasting on the fire. They are vegetarian, haha. One said: Peel oranges and talk less. The other said, thank you very much for the peach blossom landing. One said, let me tell a story about perm. A girl in town went to town to have her hair permed behind her family's back. When she got home, she startled her mother and asked her, how did this happen? The girl said: It's hot. Her mother turned surprise into joy and repeatedly said, nothing, her face is not hot. The other said, let me tell a story about pockmarked. These humorous, witty and witty stories made us laugh. I think Qiu Zi is really a treasure house of folk literature and culture. The changes of the times and the desolate world have brought Qiu Zi life information, personality characteristics, spiritual wisdom and life perception, which makes those people's own stories have unusual emotions and implications.

On the eve of leaving Qiu Zi, a centenarian died in the town. The mourning hall was built in the dam of the supply and marketing cooperative, and the mayor took us to see the funeral dance. Local people say that the three treasures of Qiu Zi culture-folk songs and southern songs-have been enduring since ancient times. When the Pearl River Film Studio came here to shoot, more than 300 mourners gathered. Some people use karaoke instead of mourning, but it is better to sing folk songs, play drums, accompany the tenth sister and mourn. The local people watched the funeral dance all night, stayed up all night, sang and danced, and their feelings were very devoted. Qiu Zi belongs to the root area of Tujia culture.

I stood in the mourning hall, listening to the drummer shouting, as if I heard the sound of time passing; Watching those dances that are obsessed with mourning for the Han people seems to experience the ebb and flow of life. Qiu Zi's funeral dance may be the fire of life and the emotional generate. Because of this trip to Qiu Zi, my literary friends and I have to create many rich associations, many unique regrets and many touching stories! Is it a Ba legend handed down from generation to generation? In other words, Qiu Zi is a poem that can be read for a long time in the Tang Dynasty. So small, so far away, so exquisite, so lasting.

Qiu Zi South Zone

Cliffs on both sides of the strait are like locks, and a bay is like a phoenix, hence the name Lock Phoenix Bay. There is Wang Ba Cave in the mountains and Qingjiang River in the mountains, and Wang Ba Hotel is among them. It's poetic enough to listen to Qiu Zi Nanqu here.

Qiu Zi South District is now called Changyang South District. In fact, it was first discovered in Qiu Zi, located in the west of the county seat, and is called "Little Hankou". Later, it was passed down from generation to generation by Tujia children, and the beautiful melody spread all over the banks of Qingjiang River.

Qiu Zi Town Cultural Station invited seven folk artists to sing Nanqu for us. They sat in the corner of the Wang Ba Hotel near the gate, surrounded by the stove, and their expressions were calm and profound, just like philosophers who penetrated the world and rose above the world of mortals.

Among them, two artists are worth mentioning. An old man named Tian Changxi once played an old artist who sang Nanqu in the TV series Three Gorges Homeland. He was wrapped in a camel's head handkerchief, holding a cloud board in his hand, and crossing his legs, looking like a leisurely man who had seen the world. Another artist named Qin Yuanxin is a little hard of hearing, and everyone in the village calls him Qin deaf. Qin Deaf is a versatile figure, who not only sings folk songs and Nanqu well, but also dances well in funeral dance, plays chess well, writes well in calligraphy, and knows how to memorize music and staff. Tujia cottage, hidden dragon crouching tiger, this can be seen.

Tian Laohan waved his wrist and the cloud board sounded. Qin deaf fingers, three strings sonorous. Seven Sang Men danced to the music, and their voices were like ancient Yishui, slow and melodious. The tone of that Southern Song Ci is like the rolling hills of Qiu Zi, which is tactfully tortuous, revealing a comfortable and pleasant taste, slightly desolate and sad.

Spring goes and summer comes,

It is autumn again.

The next boat in Liulin River,

The fisherman cast his net and stood at the bow. ...

This is the traditional aria of Qiu Zi Nanqu, "Spring Goes to Summer", which vividly depicts the scene of fisherman's music on the Qingjiang River. What surprised me was not that its singing was so beautiful, but that its wording was so elegant. How can such a Chun Xue take root and blossom in the Tujia hut of Xialiba people? Where is the source and flow direction of Qiu Zi Nanqu?

Qin Long said: "Nanqu was originally a court elegant song, which was introduced to Changyang in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. As a court musician, he was forced to flee the ancient city of Jingzhou because of flirting with the princess, and made a living as an entertainer on the streets of Qiu Zi. He played Nanqu anonymously with Sanxian, which brought joy and sustenance to Qiu Zi people in the mountains. So, you sang and I appeared, handed down from generation to generation, and Nanqu spread. In a blink of an eye, I am over 200 years old. "

Whether the deaf Qin's words are credible remains to be verified. However, it is an indisputable fact that Tujia people are satisfied with eating meat and drinking wine, and it is also a note that they call for change and are eager to get out of the mountain gate. Qiu Zi Nanqu caters to their small farmers' psychological state of self-sufficiency and self-enjoyment, which is really a misunderstanding of history and art. Tian Laohan interrupted my conversation with Qin deaf people, shook the cloud board and said, "I'll sing you another" Sad Autumn "and tune it to the north. Now only one song is collected, which belongs to the treasures of Nanqu. " As a result, the elegant rhyme floated to Suofeng Bay again.

Buttonwood leaves fall golden, and the wind brings them.

Osmanthus fragrans and begonia red.

Who touches heptachlor in the dead of night?

I heard iron horses jingling in front of the eaves. ...

The seven artists sang very calmly, but Yu Congrong was filled with true love for life, simple understanding and simple realm of life, just like Qingjiang River, clear but with years.

Miss Wang Ba.

The cave named after King Ba may be the only one in China. Wang Ba Cave is located on the bank of Qingjiang River in Qiu Zi Town, Changyang, adding a heavy sense of history and a long sense of vicissitudes to the birthplace of Ba people. I went there once a few years ago, and I still remember it.

Don't say how beautiful the screen-like stalactites are, how majestic the sword-like stalactites are, and how clever the stage in that cave is; I just want to say that I saw King Ba here, and I miss King Ba standing in Wang Ba Cave.

White tiger is the totem of Ba people. At the northern end of the White Tiger Hall in Wang Ba Cave, there is a rock resembling a human figure. That is a robust Tujia man, with a long silk handkerchief wrapped around his head, wearing a double-breasted dress with edges, playing a trumpet on the edge of the Qingjiang River diagonally opposite, as majestic as the roar of the Qingjiang River!

I think this is the king of Pakistan. This is Bawu Township, the leader of the Ba people. He was born in the cave where Wu Luozhong left the mountain pool. This is my Tujia ancestor Lin Jun. Who is such a vivid image of "blowing a corner to look at the king and blowing a river of clear water"? "After Lin Jun's death, his soul became a white tiger", so who is it if it is not him? Perhaps this is the moral of "Wang Ba Cave".

On this rainy day in early summer, when I came to Qiu Zi Town by boat from Geheyan via Zhongmu Mountain, I have been thinking and reciting Wang Ba's poems. Three women writing essays came to Qiu Zi for the first time. They went to see Wang Ba Cave with the editors of newspapers and magazines, and I walked alone in the street of the town. Looking at it, I thought, are they also like me, denying the king of Pakistan and paying a pious visit to the king of Pakistan?

When the young Bawuxiang made an alliance with Heixue, he threw a sword into the hole and made a boat float on the river. Because of his courage and wisdom, he was promoted to Lin Jun. He led the people up the Qingjiang River in an attempt to move westward and find a place to live and work in peace and contentment. Later, Yili City was established and defended, which made Pakistan a small country stable for hundreds of years. In the expedition to the west and the east, we need high-powered martial arts, excellent command and wise decision-making, which have created a generation of heroes of our nation.

The fishing gorge, not far from Qiu Zi Town, is said to be the wing city of Lin Jun in Wang Ba. As long as you take a look at the beautiful scenery, easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack terrain and rich resources of agriculture and animal husbandry in this area, you will sincerely admire Wang Ba's foresight. What I don't understand is that after Wang Ba met the goddess of salt water in Yanchi River, the goddess loved him so much. In order to keep him, the goddess turned into a migratory locust to stop him from going west. And how could Wang Ba have the heart to shoot migratory locusts with a bow and lose his infatuation with the goddess of salt water?

I walked around the town in the rain and saw two bookstores. One of them is a booklet compiled by local people, which describes the dialogue between the king and the goddess, and seems to annotate my question. The goddess said, "This place is vast and rich in fish and salt. I am willing to stay in * * *. " King Ba said, "I beg for land, but I can't stop." King Ba flatly rejected the love of the goddess for the sake of the descendants of the nation. Isn't this a love of life and death, a love swan song that resounds through the world? King Ba, I see your bow and arrow hand shaking and your heart bleeding. ...

The companions came back from Wang Ba Cave, and they all looked very comfortable. When it comes to knowledge and experience, there are surprises, sighs, lyrics and daydreams. I didn't ask them how King Ba felt. I thought remembering the long-lost love of Ba Wang was not a story that everyone needed. Scenery, rocks, storms and clouds can also make people happy. I believe that King Ba, like us, is a man of temperament after all.

Brief introduction of the author

Hua, a Tujia nationality, is a famous essayist and poet. Born in 1947, my ancestral home is Gao 'an, Jiangxi, and my native place is Enshi, Hubei. Party member, 1985, graduated from the Party School of Shanxi Provincial Party Committee, and is a political engineer. 1968 went to Gao 'an, Jiangxi, and then transferred to Changzhi, Shanxi to jump the queue. 1974, he served as deputy secretary of the Party branch of the workshop of Shanxi Taihang Saw Blade Factory, deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Party Committee and vice president of the Party School. 1988 Editor of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Enshi Autonomous Prefecture, Hubei Province, Secretary-General of Writers and Entrepreneurs Association. 1990 Up to now, he has successively served as office director, mission chief and director of ideological and political work office in Enshi branch, Yichang branch and Three Gorges branch of China Industrial and Commercial Bank. 1979 began to publish provincial works, 1980 joined the provincial writers association, and 1998 joined the Chinese writers association. He used to be a director of Hubei Writers Association, director of Hubei Pop Music Art Committee, executive vice chairman of Yichang Writers Association, honorary president of Yichang Prose Society and representative of Yichang Municipal People's Congress. He has created 16 literary works, including 2 novels, 300 lyrics and 1 comments. His works have won the first Hubei Literature Award, the first and second Hubei Minority Literature Awards, the eighth and ninth Hubei Quyuan Literature Awards, the sixth National Bingxin Prose Award, the 17th Star Award of the Ministry of Culture and the 10th National "Five One Projects" Award in Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China. 20 19 10 won the honorary title of "advanced individual of retirees" in the national ICBC system. Gan's songs include "Mountain Girl Shouts for the Sun", "Catch the Sun with Drums", "Sister of Green Beach" and "Sister of Qingjiang Gallery". , has been widely praised by the literary and art circles. He has participated in the CCTV Youth Song Competition for many times and won the Silver Award for National Singing, and was included as a demonstration textbook by the China Conservatory of Music edited by Jin. These songs are not only widely sung in the whole country, especially in the Three Gorges area, but also have works broadcast on CCTV, provincial TV stations, city TV stations and other art channels almost every year. Gan was praised by critics as a master of writing amorous feelings, and won the reputation of "Three Gorges gifted scholar and Tujia singer".