Introduction to the attractions of Zhangjiajie Old Courtyard

This old house was built in the early Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, about three hundred years ago. ***820 pieces of Chinese oak were used and it took 100 craftsmen three years to complete.*** It covers an area of ??2,100 square meters, with 31 large and small houses, three-story hall, four patios, and four surrounding walls. It faces north and south, is symmetrical from east to west, has a rigorous layout, and has a brick and wood structure. Architects believe that this old house is a classic of Tujia courtyard architecture.

As we all know, houses with wooden structures are afraid of fire. How can such a large wooden house prevent fire? At that time, there was a local I-Ching master named Yi Jiade who was known as a living god. He specially designed the Liuhe net to catch birds and prevent fires using the principles of Yixue. This is indeed the case. In the past three hundred years, there has never been a single fire in this courtyard. There is a portrait of an old man hanging in the center of the hall. He is the ancestor of the Tian family compound, the first generation head, and the chief designer of the house - Tian Qiyuan. It was this old man who founded the Tian family's foundation and rigorous He managed the family and blessed his descendants, creating eight generations of scholarly families and eight wealthy families. The hundred-character couplets on both sides of the portrait outline the causes and consequences of the Tian family’s ancestors migrating from Wanliqiao in Chengdu, Sichuan to Zhangjiajie, Hunan in the Song Dynasty, as well as the whole process of the Tian family’s divergence and merging.

Don’t you all pay attention to the royal plaque on the entrance hall? This plaque has a provenance! During the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, the Queen Mother in the palace was suffering from a terminal illness that could not be cured. The emperor was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. At this time, Tian Qiyuan's great-grandson Tian Zuozhi was serving as a Beijing official and a fourth-rank imperial court official. After hearing the news, He presented the ancestral secret recipe and cured the Queen Mother's illness. Emperor Xianfeng Longyan was very pleased. He deeply felt that Tian Zuozhi's mother, Mrs. Qin, had taught her son well. He inscribed the four characters "Bao Hanfang" with his imperial pen to express his commendation and granted him a pardon. She is a fourth-grade Gongren. At that time, Tian Zuozhi's father had passed away and his mother was a widow at home. The word "widow" means "widow". This imperial plaque that shines brightly on the gate has been preserved by the descendants of the Tian family to this day. Next, I invite you all to come with me to visit Tian Qiyuan, the first generation head of the old courtyard - Duke Qiyuan. This room was the study and bedroom of Duke Qi Yuan. From the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, eight generations of the owners of the old courtyard lived here. The word "original" at the head of the family refers to entrepreneurs and family heirs. Qi Yuan Gong was born as a scholar. He was born in the 10th year of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty (1733 AD). He was married to two wives, Huang and Hou. His father, Tian Sanpin, and grandfather, Tian Hongyi, were all scholars. Qi Yuan Gong was the second son, known as Second Master. Duke Qi Yuan was well-read in poetry and books, and he was well versed in the modern and ancient. He was upright, kind, strict in managing his family, and well educated in his children. The old courtyard was built when he was forty-three years old. There is a pair of couplets on both sides of the gate of the courtyard. The upper couplet is "Poetry and Book Remaining for Posters", and the second couplet is "Filial Piety and Family Inheritance". They were inscribed by him in his own handwriting and inscribed on the stone tablet in the courtyard. Wen Tianxiang's righteous songs, which have been immortalized through the ages, stand in the main hall and require his descendants to recite them morning and evening. These all reflect his family governance philosophy and life creed of "valuing literature, advocating education, and carrying morality".

Under his tutelage and governance, eight generations of the Tian family were scholarly, and their descendants and nephews developed into eight prominent wealthy families in the local area. There is a ballad in Dayong, which talks about the wealth and prominence of the Tian family: "Dayong had Tian Sanpin, two sons and eight grandchildren, eight large estates with thousands of loads of work, forty men with fame, silver in warehouses, gold in Weigh it on a scale." People often say: "One generation is rich, the second generation is poor, and the third and fourth generations live in bridge holes." It means that wealth can only last for two generations, but like the Tian family, eight generations of wealth and talent have emerged in large numbers. This is extremely rare in the history of our country. (Pointing to the bed) Aren’t you paying attention to this bed? Let me just talk about this bed! This bed is called the Five Dishui Fu Diaohua Bed. It is entirely carved from boxwood and pear wood. It is a well-known Tujia dripping bed at home and abroad. The origin of the name is said to be modeled on the three-story drainage eaves of the Tujia Diaojiao Building, which is generally three-story. This bed has five layers. It is the best among beds. It is unique and shows the noble status of the owner. Please take a closer look. From the bed eaves to the foot of the bed, from the bedposts to the four walls, the four treasures of the study, music, chess, calligraphy and painting, daily necessities and natural scenery are carved inside and outside. In addition, there are also historical figures, drama stories, ancient fables and other contents. , it can be said to be all-encompassing, and the whole world is contained within it.

It is like a textbook of life, history and philosophy, and also a cautionary tale for interpreting life through pictures. Tujia people, especially wealthy people, attach great importance to beds. Beds are not only a place for sleep and rest, but also the starting point and end point of life. Sleeping on this bed, open your eyes and look at the four seasons, nature, and the content of life. It always reminds the owner to know life, understand life, cherish life, and create life.

The heads of the Tian family for generations slept on this bed, dreaming sweet dreams and releasing their ideals, thereby turning their sweet dreams into reality and their ideals into life. You may have noticed that there is a bat pattern carved in the middle of the bed eaves. This pattern is related to a touching story.

On a winter evening, Qi Yuan Gong found a dying bat on the grass in front of the yard. The kind-hearted Qi Yuan Gong carried the bat in his arms and took it home every day. Feed it pig blood, and the bat will fly back into the night sky after being raised. One summer evening, Mr. Tian was enjoying the cool air in the hall. A three-sized venomous five-step snake slid to the feet of Mr. Qi Yuan. When he raised his head and opened his mouth to bite someone, he was knocked one meter away by a bat that suddenly rushed towards him. Qi Yuan Gong woke up and knew that the bat had saved him. From then on, Qi Yuan Gong carved the bat on the bed and regarded it as his savior and the protector of the Tian family. This bed is also called the Five Drops of Water Bed. This is a dragon-headed turtle. Maybe no one will believe it. They may think it is an artificial bonsai in the water, but it is not true. This dragon-headed turtle was dug out from the ground when the pond was built. No one paid attention to it at that time. Duke Qi Yuan said: "This dragon-headed turtle is very spiritual, so just put it in the pond! The dragon-headed turtle is like this. The water in the pool has been lying there for two hundred and thirty years." It's strange to say that the old courtyard is located on a very low ground and is backed by the Lishui River. When there is a flood every year, the surrounding houses are flooded, but the old courtyard is not flooded. Is it the dragon-headed turtle’s blessing? No one dares to say for sure.

One year, the magistrate of Lizhou came to visit and fell in love with this dragon-headed turtle. He insisted on spending 3,000 taels of silver to buy it. Duke Changdian, the grandson of Qi Yuan Gong, the third generation leader at that time, said : "I will be happy to give you whatever other items the magistrate wants in my courtyard. But this dragon-headed turtle is the treasure of the town. It was a gift from the Dragon King. Without it, my courtyard would have been washed away by the flood." "Is the dragon-headed turtle sent by the Dragon King to control the flood in the old yard? No one can tell for sure, but with it, the old yard has not been washed by water or soaked by rain in 230 years. This is an old loom that can be seen basically all over the country before the reform and opening up. But today, when chemical fiber replaces cotton yarn, it has become a rarity. People in the old courtyard mostly rely on their own spinning and weaving for their daily wear and bedding. There are female workers who specialize in weaving, and there are also female family members in the courtyard who work with their own hands. Let’s focus on this cotton loom! Tujia brocade is called Xilankapu in Tujia language and native flower cloth in Chinese. Broccoli is the bedding and kapu is the flower. The application of Tujia cotton in the folk is mainly reflected in quilts, children's quilts, foot quilts, and skirts. It is also used as a dowry for girls, a token of love, and is also used as armor for hand dances and wall hangings for sacrifices. Tujia girls usually learn to weave from their mothers when they are around nine years old, and the patterns and colors vary from simple to complex. By the time they reach adulthood, the patterns they often weave have been memorized in their minds and they do not need a copy. In Tujia villages, almost every household has a cotton loom, and girls are judged on their intelligence based on the number of patterns they can weave, their weaving skills, and their cute patterns and colors. The dowry quilts need to be woven and sewn by the girl herself.

Brocade originates from the most basic production and life of the Tujia people. From ancient times to the present, the emphasis on the reproduction of descendants and loyalty to love have been the themes of folk art, which are reflected in the woven cotton patterns, namely the forty-eight hooks, from which a series of hook patterns are derived. The forty-eight hook patterns present a multi-layered central spread shape, which folklore experts have confirmed to be a reflection of sun worship. The ancestors of the Tujia Nationality believe that men represent the moon and women are the sun. The patterns are interlocking with each other, just like people dancing around a bonfire on a moonlit night. Woven cotton patterns can be roughly divided into six categories: animals, plants, daily utensils, abstract geometric patterns and celestial themes. Tujia woven cotton quilts are famous throughout the country and sold at home and abroad. They are treasures of our country's national art. The girl sometimes sang while weaving cotton. Tian Qirong was the last generation to come out of the old courtyard. He was born in 1899 and died of illness in 1975. He is the fourth generation grandson of Duke Qi Yuan. Father Tian Yunhou: Juren was born in the same state in the late Qing Dynasty; his grandfather and great-grandfather both worked in the capital and served as court officials. The eldest brother Tian Qizan studied in Japan and served as the Chief of Military Justice of the Northern Expeditionary Army and a councilor of the provincial government. The third brother, Tian Qiju, graduated from Huangpu Military Academy and served as division commander of the Northern Expeditionary Army; cousin Tang Zimo: was born in the army and served as commander of the Chinese Revolutionary Army and army general.

Tian Qiru graduated from the Department of Geology of Peking University. In 1927, he returned to Hunan to found the Institute of Geology. He was a geological researcher at the Central Research Institute of the Kuomintang Government and a professor in the Department of Mining Management of Hunan University. Before liberation, he led a team to conduct a general survey of mineral resources in western Hunan. . When Hunan was peacefully liberated, he led the employees of the Geological Survey Institute to protect the institute and ensured that tens of thousands of instruments and equipment belonged to the people. In 1949, he was invited to participate in the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China.

After liberation, he served as deputy director and chief engineer of the Mineral Resources Department of the Ministry of Geology, and presided over the work of the National Mineral Resources Committee. He was elected as a representative of the third National People's Congress. He was invited to visit the Soviet Union and gave an academic report on the "Chinese Sinian System". He served as Leader of the aid team to Vietnam. He visited Hungary twice and wrote more than a million words of mineral resources papers and geological reports. His monograph includes "Hunan Devonian Brachiopods", which is known as the Field Devon in the geological circles. He is a very effective figure in the geological circles of New China. one of the authorities and leaders. In his later years, he went back to his hometown for inspection and predicted that there might be toothless Furong dinosaur fossils in Furongqiao Bai Township, Sangzhi County. This prediction was later proven to be completely correct.

Tian Qirong has pursued truth and advocated science all his life. He is upright and taciturn. He is humble and sincere in dealing with others. He is devoted to his duties and dedicated to his work. He is outstanding. He died of illness in Beijing in 1975. His soul returned to his hometown and his ashes were scattered around the Lishui River and the old courtyard. Tian Qirong is an outstanding talent representative of the old courtyard. Most of his descendants work in the science and education departments, including more than ten scholars and experts who have certain influence and popularity in the country.

Since the founder of the old courtyard, there have been two generations of Yuan Gong Shangshuo and five generations of the following. "Hong, Jian, Qi, Rong, Chang, Zuo, Yun, Qi" *** are eight generations. According to textual research* There are 115 men in **, among whom 43 are those who have achieved fame, accounting for 37%. Although there are no dignitaries or dignitaries, it can still be said that the stars are twinkling. Among them, there are 13 civil and military scholars, one scholar, 9 bachelors of the Hanlin Academy (equivalent to academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences), two officials of the fourth rank, 10 officials below the fourth rank, and three female imperial concubines (equivalent to the fourth rank).