To big city dwellers, small towns always seem fascinating, in the year of 2006， China ’s CCTV (China´s largest national TV network) chose ten small towns as “the most charming towns in china ” from more than a hundred candidates. The towns were selected on the merits of their natural scenery, cultural heritage, local folk customs, and economic vigor. Each of them is notable for something unique. we are going to take a closer look. And the only winner in yunnan, is just the destination on our today’s itenarary , the heshun town. with beautiful scenery and abundant cultural traditions, the town is China's earliest border trade town. A favorite of film directors, photographers, and painters,Well, you may wonder , Does the town deserve this honorable title? Seeing is believing, today, let’s go to find out!
Heshun, Used to be called “yangwendun village ” ,but it was renamed heshun ,means “along the river ” ,because geograghcally, a river named sanhe flows by the town from east to west. Later some local men of letters adopt some words from a vers to name the town “harmonius and peaceful”: (the rising cloud herald auspicious future and the gentle breeze brings peace and harmony. ) So the name of heshun actually express local people’s wishes for a happy life.
For many years, the southern silk route has connected China with southeast Asia, south asia and Europe. Tengchong was a vital comunications center of this route, Located on this route, Heshun enjoyed many conviniece for business, so it was a comman practice that men shoud go abroad to make a fortune.From the Ming Dynasty, a growing number of Heshun people went to burma to trade and seek a livelihood.in the early 20th century ,more people went to Japan, Europe,America for a living or for further study. So now the overseas chinese from Heshun are distributed in more than 10 countries,numbering more than 10,000 people.yet the total population of the Heshun town is only 6000. that ’s why Heshun is known as a famous hometown of overseas chinese.
ok here we are just at the entrance to the town,we are actually tralve back to the old time, At the entrance to the town, is a splendid memorial archway (born out of arched door, a typical Chinese ornamental architectural form,enjoys a particular position in the traditional Chinese culture.) with four chinese characters (meaning heshun enjioy harmonny and peace). The two arch stone bridges are called double rainbow bridges. local people often come here for an outing in spring and for appreciate the moon in autumn..
The pavilion in the lotus pond called yuzhou pavilion. It was built in memory of Cun shusheng ,firdt principle of yuquan middle school in heshun and then the vice-president of yunnan university.which indicates that the local people attach great importance to educati on and show great respect for teachers. In the pavilion, there is a tablet inscribed with the pavilllion name by chu tunan former vice-president of the standing committee of national people ’s congress.
Nor far away from the bridge is what Heshun locals are probably most proud of ,also the highlight of today’s tour. that is the Heshun library, the earlist and largest rural library in China. It is a long story, in the late Qing Dynasty, in heshun there arose a progressive orgnization called “xianxinshe ” ,which aimed to populizing new ideas and new culturesl1n 1924,some heshun overseas chinese to Myanmar orgnized “chougxin league” and established a reading league. In 1928,with the joint efforts of the overseas chinese and the native,the reading league was developed into a library,the site for xianxinshe was chosen as the site for library. Many overseas chinese donate a lot of equipment and books to the libraryl. In 1938 with the growth
of book collection and the number of readers,the old library was pulled and a new one was erected on its site. Next door is the former Confucian Temple (Wen Miao),which is now part of the library.
As we can see, the library is a two-storied building in both west and chinese style,upstairs are stock room while the downstairs are reading rooms.in the library we can see some
inscriptions by famous figuer in chinese history,such as xiong qinlai, liao chengzhi. the library houses about 70 thousand books. Many of them are rare edition of ancient works. So some scholars travel tens of thousands of miles to see them. Besides the books there are more than 150 kinds of newspapers and magazines are available at the library.the library is not a
museum, it is a indispensible part of people’s life in Heshun.here you can see farmers reading neespaper, students reviewing their lessons in a quiet room ,this is a quite rare view in most coutryside in china.the library is not left behind by the digital revolution, computers were
recently introduced to the library, so the local people can share their stories with the rest of the world, online. Now the library is a state-protected relic site.
With such rich culture, It is no surprise that a whole host of renowned Chinese scholars sprung from this village, for example,Li yuegai,a senior statesman of the 1911 revolution,was the secretary-general of First army of the YN troops for safeguarding the Republic. And his son,li shengxun,also name Ai siqi, most famous Chinese philosopher,he published his “popular philosophy ” at the age of 24, the book influenced the generations succeeding the mid 1930s. After the foundation of the people’s republic of china, he became the associate director of china philosophy institution and professor of BJ university. His former residence is in the east of the town,we will pay a visit to the house later.
Architecture is a distict feature of heshun,most of them were uilt in the Qing Dynasty and by overseas chinese. Wanlouzi is the typical example of the residential house,the building got its name because its wall were built along the curved alley.it used to be the site of “yongmaohe ” a firm founded in the Qing Dynasty, it was run by two brothers of a li family ane Wanlouzi was regarded as a symbol of prosperity and wealth.now W serve as a museum of civil residential houses. In the first courtyard is an exhibitiong about the Li family and the second is a exhibition about civil residential house,the back courtyard is a househould hotel.
Another civil residential house is Ai siqi’s former residence, li lies in the small vilage in the east of Heshun town, the buiding is a typical example in Chinese and western styles.it stands with a hill as a background and overlooks a pond , it enjoys beautiful surroundings,in the house,we can see a collection of his manuscripts and personal belongings.
Clothe s-wa shing pavilions make up atnother special scene in Heshun. Due to the unique topography in Yunnan Province, its rivers and streams are sometimes calm and at other times turbulent. The local men built the pavilions to provide shelter for the women when they doing washings,so they are called Clothe s-washing pavilion . Women with rolled up sleeves washing clothes in the clear stream is a pleasing sight in harmony with their natural surroundings.
To big city dwellers, small towns always seem fascinating, in the year of 2006， China ’s CCTV (China´s largest national TV network) chose ten small towns as “the most charming towns in china ” from more than a hundred candidates. The towns were selected on the merits of their natural scenery, cultural heritage, local folk customs, and economic vigor. Each of them is notable for something unique. we are going to take a closer look. And the only winner in yunnan, is just the destination on our today’s itenarary , the heshun town. with beautiful scenery and abundant cultural traditions, the town is China's earliest border trade town. A favorite of film directors, photographers, and painters,Well, you may wonder , Does the town deserve this honorable title? Seeing is believing, today, let’s go to find out!
Heshun, Used to be called “yangwendun village ” ,but it was renamed heshun ,means “along the river ” ,because geograghcally, a river named sanhe flows by the town from east to west. Later some local men of letters adopt some words from a vers to name the town “harmonius and peaceful”: (the rising cloud herald auspicious future and the gentle breeze brings peace and harmony. ) So the name of heshun actually express local people’s wishes for a happy life.
For many years, the southern silk route has connected China with southeast Asia, south asia and Europe. Tengchong was a vital comunications center of this route, Located on this route, Heshun enjoyed many conviniece for business, so it was a comman practice that men shoud go abroad to make a fortune.From the Ming Dynasty, a growing number of Heshun people went to burma to trade and seek a livelihood.in the early 20th century ,more people went to Japan, Europe,America for a living or for further study. So now the overseas chinese from Heshun are distributed in more than 10 countries,numbering more than 10,000 people.yet the total population of the Heshun town is only 6000. that ’s why Heshun is known as a famous hometown of overseas chinese.
ok here we are just at the entrance to the town,we are actually tralve back to the old time, At the entrance to the town, is a splendid memorial archway (born out of arched door, a typical Chinese ornamental architectural form,enjoys a particular position in the traditional Chinese culture.) with four chinese characters (meaning heshun enjioy harmonny and peace). The two arch stone bridges are called double rainbow bridges. local people often come here for an outing in spring and for appreciate the moon in autumn..
The pavilion in the lotus pond called yuzhou pavilion. It was built in memory of Cun shusheng ,firdt principle of yuquan middle school in heshun and then the vice-president of yunnan university.which indicates that the local people attach great importance to educati on and show great respect for teachers. In the pavilion, there is a tablet inscribed with the pavilllion name by chu tunan former vice-president of the standing committee of national people ’s congress.
Nor far away from the bridge is what Heshun locals are probably most proud of ,also the highlight of today’s tour. that is the Heshun library, the earlist and largest rural library in China. It is a long story, in the late Qing Dynasty, in heshun there arose a progressive orgnization called “xianxinshe ” ,which aimed to populizing new ideas and new culturesl1n 1924,some heshun overseas chinese to Myanmar orgnized “chougxin league” and established a reading league. In 1928,with the joint efforts of the overseas chinese and the native,the reading league was developed into a library,the site for xianxinshe was chosen as the site for library. Many overseas chinese donate a lot of equipment and books to the libraryl. In 1938 with the growth
of book collection and the number of readers,the old library was pulled and a new one was erected on its site. Next door is the former Confucian Temple (Wen Miao),which is now part of the library.
As we can see, the library is a two-storied building in both west and chinese style,upstairs are stock room while the downstairs are reading rooms.in the library we can see some
inscriptions by famous figuer in chinese history,such as xiong qinlai, liao chengzhi. the library houses about 70 thousand books. Many of them are rare edition of ancient works. So some scholars travel tens of thousands of miles to see them. Besides the books there are more than 150 kinds of newspapers and magazines are available at the library.the library is not a
museum, it is a indispensible part of people’s life in Heshun.here you can see farmers reading neespaper, students reviewing their lessons in a quiet room ,this is a quite rare view in most coutryside in china.the library is not left behind by the digital revolution, computers were
recently introduced to the library, so the local people can share their stories with the rest of the world, online. Now the library is a state-protected relic site.
With such rich culture, It is no surprise that a whole host of renowned Chinese scholars sprung from this village, for example,Li yuegai,a senior statesman of the 1911 revolution,was the secretary-general of First army of the YN troops for safeguarding the Republic. And his son,li shengxun,also name Ai siqi, most famous Chinese philosopher,he published his “popular philosophy ” at the age of 24, the book influenced the generations succeeding the mid 1930s. After the foundation of the people’s republic of china, he became the associate director of china philosophy institution and professor of BJ university. His former residence is in the east of the town,we will pay a visit to the house later.
Architecture is a distict feature of heshun,most of them were uilt in the Qing Dynasty and by overseas chinese. Wanlouzi is the typical example of the residential house,the building got its name because its wall were built along the curved alley.it used to be the site of “yongmaohe ” a firm founded in the Qing Dynasty, it was run by two brothers of a li family ane Wanlouzi was regarded as a symbol of prosperity and wealth.now W serve as a museum of civil residential houses. In the first courtyard is an exhibitiong about the Li family and the second is a exhibition about civil residential house,the back courtyard is a househould hotel.
Another civil residential house is Ai siqi’s former residence, li lies in the small vilage in the east of Heshun town, the buiding is a typical example in Chinese and western styles.it stands with a hill as a background and overlooks a pond , it enjoys beautiful surroundings,in the house,we can see a collection of his manuscripts and personal belongings.
Clothe s-wa shing pavilions make up atnother special scene in Heshun. Due to the unique topography in Yunnan Province, its rivers and streams are sometimes calm and at other times turbulent. The local men built the pavilions to provide shelter for the women when they doing washings,so they are called Clothe s-washing pavilion . Women with rolled up sleeves washing clothes in the clear stream is a pleasing sight in harmony with their natural surroundings.