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Folk customs of West Lake in Hangzhou
The rich cultural relics unearthed from Liangzhu cultural site four or five thousand years ago show that the primitive villages in Hangzhou with the earliest human activities have Jiangnan characteristics. Some of them built semi-cave houses on the mountain, and some erected dry-fenced houses on the ground to adapt to low-lying areas. They use stones to polish stone plows and poles and engage in agricultural production such as rice and sesame. Use bows and arrows and stone knives to engage in hunting activities; Carving canoes, weaving fishing nets and fishing operations have formed a set of customs in primitive agricultural production. They can also improve and decorate their lives by spinning flax with stone wheels, sewing clothes with stone needles, carving exquisite jade articles and firing pottery.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Hangzhou belonged to the State of Yue or Wu, and later to the State of Chu. During the Qin and Han dynasties, Hangzhou began to build counties. At that time, Qiantang County was a small county at the foot of Wulin Mountain, and the river was adjacent to the water. "Han Zhi" says: "The monarch of wuyue is Shang Yong, so his surname is good at using swords, and it is easy to break his hair when he is alive, so as to avoid the evil dragon. After several battles with Chu, they merged with each other, so the customs of wuyue are slightly similar to those of Chu. "

The Sui Dynasty established Hangzhou, built the city and dug the Grand Canal in the south of the Yangtze River, which laid the foundation for the urban development of Hangzhou. "Sui Zhi" contains: "Jiangnan customs are rich in fish and rice, not worried about hunger, believing in ghosts and gods, and loving worship." It also reads: "Yuhang, Wu Jun, Kawasawa Woyan, has the compassion of land and sea, where rare things gather and merchants get together. His people are polite and commonplace, so the customs are clear, Taoism is prosperous, and the atmosphere is still good. "

Since the Tang Dynasty, Hangzhou has entered the ranks of famous cities in China. The urban area of Hangzhou extends from Jianggan in the south to Wulinmen in the north. Urban population from 1. 50,000 households soared to more than 65,438+. Economic prosperity, but also with Japan, North Korea and other countries to establish trade relations. Hangzhou has become "the city of the southeast, the capital of Wuhan, Jiangsu". With the development of Hangzhou, social customs are gradually urbanized, and folk customs such as production, residence, diet, clothing, weddings, funerals, celebrations and etiquette have also changed. Bai Juyi, a poet, once eulogized the social custom of "Fish and salt gather for the city, fireworks start for the village" in Hangzhou in the Tang Dynasty, the custom of "every family lights up and sings songs everywhere" and the custom of "having friends at the age of 20 and visiting the West Lake at night".

Great changes have taken place in the customs of Hangzhou since the Northern Song Dynasty. First of all, Hangzhou has experienced the influence of two population migrations to the south in the history of our country, forming a great integration of the customs of the north and the south. During the Western Jin Dynasty, the North suffered from repeated wars, and the Jin family moved south. Scholars and even civilians in the north also crossed the river in succession and gathered in the affluent Sanwu (Xing Wu County, Wu Jun County and Huiji County) area, and a large area of land in the south became the grange of the nobles in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Therefore, northern customs also affect Hangzhou. Especially at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, northern Jurchen nobles invaded the Central Plains, Zhao and Song regimes moved south, Hangzhou was the capital, and a large number of scholars crossed the river south. Northerners in Du Nan brought the original family customs and habits of Hangzhou to the south, which greatly changed the original customs and habits of Hangzhou.

As the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, Hangzhou has an increasingly prosperous economy and more diverse social customs. At that time, Hangzhou had become a place where northern businessmen concentrated. In particular, weapons manufacturing, civil construction, textile printing and other industrial and handicraft workshops moved from Bianjing have re-established their base areas in Hangzhou, and businessmen have also opened stores and shops. There are many famous markets in Hangzhou, such as rice market, vegetable market, sheep market, fish market, meat market, firewood market, flower market, lantern market, jewelry market and monkey market. Up to now, there are many related street names in Hangzhou. Books such as Legend of Wulin recorded that there were 440 lines in Hangzhou at that time. There is a royal street, or "Tianjie", which extends from the inclined bridge in the north to the Fengshan Gate in the south. The pavement is paved with stone slabs, and there is a lot of business on both sides. "There is no one who doesn't buy or sell." In the Southern Song Dynasty, "Dream of Liang Lu" said: "Autonomous streets and alleys are all paved and all doors are open." Not only is it open during the day, but the night market is no different from the day. "Fang street, shops, restaurants and restaurants, until the four drums are quiet. The five drums are facing the horse, and the morning market is reopened. "

At that time, the catering industry was the largest in Hangzhou, and people feasted on tea. According to Capital Ji Sheng, "most restaurants in Beijing are run by people in the old capital." These shops still maintain the northern eating habits to adapt to the tastes and customs of southerners to northerners. Goujian, the emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, missed the past and wanted to taste the northern fish soup cooked by Wusao in the Song Dynasty. Therefore, the famous dish "Song Saoyu Soup" has been passed down to this day.

Southerners eat rice and northerners eat noodles. People in Hangzhou live on rice, but because there are many people living in the north, pasta suddenly increases. The women's dresses of the upper class in the northern song dynasty were also spread to Hangzhou after crossing the south. Even the most fashionable cosmetics such as "Slim Golden Lotus", "Fang Yingmian Pill" and "Black Body Fragrance" are gradually becoming popular in Hangzhou. The article "Folk Custom" in "Dream of Liang Lu" once recorded such a thing: "Since the first year of Chunyou, clothes have become easier. In my later years, there were first-class young people who did not follow the old rules, wrapped themselves in strange towels and clothes, and competed for beauty and boasted in groups of three or five, but they were extremely simple when they were young."

The customs of Hangzhou in the Southern Song Dynasty are quite different from those in the north in the early years of Du Nan. However, at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, after 150 years of long-term kneading, the customs of the north and the south have gradually merged. For example, there is little difference between the customs of Hangzhou in the late Southern Song Dynasty recorded in Wu's Dream and the customs of Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty recorded in Meng's Dream of Tokyo. Shen Shilong, a Ming Dynasty man, said in the preface to "A Dream in Tokyo": "After tasting the ambition, I saw the scholar's screen and square fan, just like the Wulin, and my heart was stolen." Comparing the reading of Dream of China in Tokyo, it is said that "aristocratic ladies don't hang down their sedan chairs, but they sell sunflower and mugwort leaves in Duanyang, stir-fry fruits with molasses in Tanabata oil noodles, cut cakes on the 9th, worship the stove on the 24th in winter and season, and the poor people make up ghosts and gods to chase after them", which shows that it is a trend of enlightenment to cross the south with today's Wulin.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, the ceremonies of marriage and childbearing, full moon, centennial and one-year-old in Hangzhou also infiltrated the customs of the Central Plains, and many entertainment habits inherited the customs left over from the North. There were "tile houses" in Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty, and there were many amusement places "tile houses" in Hangzhou after the southern crossing. At first, the film was only carved with plain paper, and after crossing the south, it was decorated with sheepskin and color. There is a legendary monster in Bianjing, which is compiled by Kong San and is sung and rapped. Later, in Hang Cheng, another female artist, Baby Bear, and younger girls followed suit and learned to sing. With the arrival of northerners from the south, even the temples dedicated to them moved to Hangzhou.

Scholar-bureaucrats in the Northern Song Dynasty advocated gardens, which became a habit of bureaucrats in the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, there were gardens around the West Lake. "Dream of Liang Lu" said: "Hangyuan overlooks the West Lake, with two peaks high, pavilions and tibetan songs shops dancing. The scenery at four o'clock is different and the joy is endless. " In the inscription of Lee Guo's "Custom Meaning" in the Yuan Dynasty, it said: "Upward movement means wind, and public stability means custom." When the Song Dynasty moved south, the monarch and his ministers were fascinated by the lakes and mountains and lived a luxurious and luxurious life, which also formed the atmosphere of "enjoying the West Lake at four o'clock" and enjoying the West Lake.

After the integration of North and South, Hangzhou's urban customs have gradually formed a set of customs with local characteristics in production, life, weddings, funerals, pensions and entertainment.

Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties all inherited and developed these customs. At the same time, during the Yuan and Qing Dynasties, due to the influence of ethnic minorities mastering the central government, the customs of Hangzhou also infiltrated and merged some customs of Mongolia and Manchu. In the Qing Dynasty, there were also nobles of the Qing Dynasty who were dissatisfied with the rule of the Qing court and stripped off their yellow jackets, as well as Hangzhou proverbs such as "planing cucumbers (jackets)".

Under the long-term feudal rule, the customs of Hangzhou have a strong feudal color. However, since the Opium War, the modern customs in Hangzhou have been influenced by western customs, and there are often new factors in the old customs. In the new customs, there are complex phenomena such as old forms and old forms. After the Revolution of 1911, the old feudal ethics and marriage ethics in Hangzhou were impacted to some extent, and the society and etiquette customs also changed. However, due to the inheritance of folk customs, some customs are still continuing. Moreover, while accepting foreign western civilization, it also introduced some bad habits.

1On May 3, 949, Hangzhou was liberated, and the customs and habits of the people in Hangzhou have undergone great changes. The bad style and vulgar habits left over from the old society have been eliminated or banned, and a new social atmosphere is gradually taking shape.

The establishment of the new social system has correspondingly changed the old family system. It turns out that the wall and door structure of several generations of big families living under one roof in Hangzhou has basically disintegrated. With the implementation of the marriage law, men and women are free to marry, and the feudal system of arranged, forced and bought marriages has been abolished. Late marriage and family planning, as well as respecting the elderly and caring for the young, are becoming a new social trend. Funeral reform has also been carried out. Most of the traditional ancient Chinese New Year holidays, such as Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Double Ninth Festival and Winter Solstice, have retained the original customs and added some new contents, such as "supporting the army and loving the people" and "supporting the government and loving the people" before and after the Spring Festival to express condolences to retired veteran cadres and workers for the New Year; During the Qingming period, teenagers offered sacrifices to sweep the tombs of revolutionary martyrs, and so on. In addition, Women's Day on March 8, Arbor Day on March 12, Labor Day on May 1 day, Youth Day on May 4, Mother's Day on May 14, Children's Day on June 1 day, Army Day on August 1 day, 9

However, while a large number of new styles appear, there are still many old customs, even vulgar customs emerge from time to time. In order to build Hangzhou into a beautiful, clean, civilized and prosperous modern socialist city, Hangzhou is strengthening the construction of socialist spiritual civilization, inheriting fine traditions, reforming stereotypes, shaping a new image of Hangzhou and establishing a new generation of fashion.

The rich and varied customs and habits of Hangzhou in the past dynasties have attracted the attention of ancient and modern scholars, and produced a variety of works describing Hangzhou customs, adding a precious chapter to the study of folk customs in China.

Hangzhou was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, and its urban folklore was unprecedentedly developed. It has been fully described in the works such as Jisheng of Jingshi, Records of the Old Man's Victory in the West Lake, Dream of Wulin, Past of Wulin, etc., and has become an important historical document for studying the folk customs of Hangzhou in the Southern Song Dynasty. This book was written in the second year of Duanping in the Southern Song Dynasty (1235). There are 14 branches in the book, including markets, various shops, restaurants, teahouses, four departments and six bureaus, Washe Gongji, clubs, gardens, boats, bedding, workshops, idlers and three religions. Most of them are folk customs. The story of the prosperity of the old man in the West Lake pays attention to the records of folk art, folk society, folk diet and folk music in the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, which reflects the cultural life and entertainment activities of the citizens and shows the prosperous folk customs of Hangzhou. Meng Lianglu is a memorial to Wu, a native of Qiantang in the Southern Song Dynasty. This book has 20 volumes. The first six volumes describe the customs of Hang Cheng in chronological order, while the last fourteen volumes record the capital of Hangzhou, the scenery of West Lake, the spread of towers, people, folk customs and products. Among them, such as lake boat, tide watching, shrine sacrifice, mountain gods, ancient temples, earth ancient temples and so on. There is a strong local folk custom in Hangzhou. "Old Wulin Stories" is carefully compiled, with a total volume of 10. The folk materials in the second volume are Yuan Opera, Dance Troupe and Lantern Festival. In the third volume, there are sacrificial sweeps, bathing Buddha, welcoming the new year, Dragon Boat Festival, begging for cleverness, Mid-Autumn Festival, tide watching, Double Ninth Festival, winter solstice and Lunar New Year's Eve. In the sixth volume, the cities, tiles, goulan, restaurants and various geisha artists are the most detailed.

Since the Southern Song Dynasty, there have been monographs on the folk customs in Hangzhou, such as Zhou Mi's Notes on Gan Chun in the Southern Song Dynasty, Chen Shan's Notes on Wulin Customs in the Ming Dynasty, Fan Zushu's Legacy of Hangzhou Customs in the Qing Dynasty and wangtong's Notes on Wulin Customs. Fan Zushu's "Hanging Legacy" consists of 180 articles, which are divided into twelve categories, such as time sequence, kindness, debauchery, weddings and funerals, birthdays, ostentation and extravagance, entertainment, catering, female workers, fame and preparation, and describes the customs of Hangzhou in the Qing Dynasty in detail.

In addition, Tao's Dropping Out of Farming, Yang Weizhen's Collected Works of Dongweizi, Rucheng's Notes on Traveling to the West Lake, and Chen Can's Poems on the West Lake in Qing Dynasty all describe Hangzhou folk customs.

The study of modern folklore in Hangzhou was developed after the May 4th New Culture Movement. Especially in the 1930s, the older generation of folklorists such as Lou Zikuang, Qian Nanyang and Jiang initiated the establishment of Hangzhou Chinese Folklore Society, and published Folklore Weekly, Folklore Collection and 26 kinds of folklore series, which became an important base for folklore research in China.

Since the founding of New China, especially since the 1980s, the folklore research in Hangzhou has been more extensive and in-depth. Under the impetus of the establishment of Zhejiang Folklore Society, Hangzhou Folklore Writers Association has also set up corresponding folklore research institutions to investigate and study various folklore, and has written chapters such as Zhejiang Folklore, China Folklore Dictionary and China Folklore Source Integration.