The Millennium Commercial Port of Anju Town

Before the Song Dynasty, Anju Town was known as Liulinba, famous for its white cloth and candied dates. It was the commodity distribution center in Suizhong area, and many caravans passed through the old street. During the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Anju's business reached its peak, with streets stretching for 3 miles and more than 600 merchants. Merchants from all over the country lived here in peace, and their lives were nourishing and prosperous. Liulinba was renamed Angui City, which means living and working in peace and contentment. Later, Angui City was renamed Anju.

The commercial area and the living area of ??the old street are "mixed". There are two sides of the street, the street is about ten feet wide, and several shops extend into multiple floors. The neighbors are on the same mountain and the same ridge. Businesses take care of each other. Life is close and harmonious, embodying the connotation of "distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors". The old street is three miles long, and the street is paved with cobblestones. Most of the houses on both sides of the street have closed doors made of cedar trees. When the weather is hot, the cedar doors are opened and the facades are opened. For business, the doors are installed at night. The houses in the old streets were mainly built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. They have Jiangnan style and unique local charm. The houses built by wealthy families are mainly made of bricks and wood, and the walls are made of tiles or tiles. The 369 buildings are solidly built with green bricks, and most of them have firewalls. There are viewing holes on the walls, carved beams and painted pillars above the door eyebrows, claws on both ends of the roof, and ink paintings on the upper parts of the outer walls; the ones extending three levels gradually rise from the back to the front. High. Most of the residential buildings have large roofs, including truss type, mountain type, and independent type. They are all eleven-purlin buildings with a spacing of 3.5 meters and an extension of 8 meters. They are covered with cloth tiles, and a few are built with wind The main street of the old street conforms to the terrain and is divided into nine parts, namely nine streets. There are 18 alleys perpendicular to the nine streets, ten of which lead south to the Jishui River to facilitate the passage of goods transport personnel. The eight alleys lead to the north, making it easier for residents to travel. The locals agreed on the names of "Nine Streets and Eighteen Lanes" based on their buildings, shapes, and surnames. The nine streets are Xin Street, Heng Street, Ding Street, Wucai Street, and Wuxian Street. Head Street, Taiping Street, Wenchang Street, and Back Street; the eighteen lanes are Yanjia Lane, Lijia Lane, Xiaobeimen Lane, Jijia Lane, Guojia Lane, Pijia Lane, Majia Lane, Baishi Lane, and Ding Lane In its heyday, there were more than 20 Taoist temples in the old street, including Jiaxiang, Qingliang Alley, Zhaixiang, Zengjia Alley, Kuanxiang, Shangchujia Alley, Lower Chujia Alley, Taiping Alley and Wenchang Alley. Believers fill the streets and alleys. Confucian self-cultivation, Taoist fantasy, and Buddhist reincarnation have been subtly integrated into the customs of the old streets and the character of Anju people. It is said that Anju once had five theaters: Shaanxi Huiguan Theater, Tianfu Temple Theater, Wanshou Palace Theater, Laoguan Temple Theater, and Wuxian Temple Theater. In the past, the country people went to Anju for the market. As long as they heard the sound of bells and drums, it meant that the Qing Dynasty poets were coming. Three of the eight ancient scenic spots in Suizhou in Liangmu are located in Anju, namely Changqing Morning Bell, Jianshui Night Pool, and Xishui Fish Viewing. Now standing on the old street, it is difficult to imagine the prosperity of the past.

Since then, Anju has been a commodity distribution center in Suizhong. In the old days, land transportation was inconvenient, and transportation was mainly by water. Anju is an important water transportation terminal in the upper reaches of the Han River branch. It is surrounded by mountains and rivers, with abundant resources and people. It is called "Little Hankou". "". Shiliuzi, a soldier and bandit in Henan, took a look at the wealthy people living in peace and prosperity. He sent soldiers and bandits disguised as small traders to hide and live in peace and quiet for many years to spy on the economic situation of the residents. In the year when the Qing Dynasty declared its demise (1911), Shiliuzi took action and led more than a thousand people to live in peace and prosperity. Soldiers and bandits looted more than 500 shops in Anju; in 1930, another group of soldiers looted Anju, burned countless houses, and kidnapped more than 400 people; in 1940, the Japanese invaded Anju, and the ancient town was almost completely destroyed...

Nowadays, some charred ruins can still be seen in the old street, buried in the weeds, as if they are silently accusing the shameful sins. There are few young people here, and the old people are unwilling to leave and repair the buildings that bear the influence of their ancestors. In the old house of information, the alley wind came quietly, only the white hair moved slightly in the wind. In the deep and lonely streets, only the sound of barking dogs can be heard. The peeling walls of old houses are mixed with the remnants of slogans from different eras. Occasionally, a figure staggers past, disappearing at the end of the street with the desolation of history.

As the night approaches, I stand on the shelf mountain at the intersection of Jiushui and Xishui, and look out over the ancient town of Anju, with smoke from cooking stoves and thousands of lights, and shallow rivers nestling against farmland. It’s as if time and space have traveled through time and space. Peach blossoms and capsized boats stand tall and green, and the "cool bells" can be heard.