代表作3.
原文：
Huizhou heritage comes to life
Traditional architecture in ancient villages spurs tourism and cultural pride, Wang Ru reports. Wang Ru
It was a natural choice for veteran Huang Yu, after serving in the army and owning a business in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, for years, to go back to his hometown in Xidi village, Huangshan, Anhui province, in 2016. He took over the homestay his parents opened when he was a middle school student.
"I was born in 1986, the year when tourism started to develop in Xidi. I always feel proud as a local and want to make a contribution to the development of my hometown," says Huang.
In 2000, Xidi and the nearby Hongcun village were declared World Heritage sites by UNESCO for their outstanding preservation of rural architecture dating to the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.
Now, walking along the bluestone streets in Xidi or Hongcun, visitors can appreciate the distinctive Huizhou-style houses, featuring white walls, dark tiles and layered horse-head gables, and feel like they are immersed in a traditional Chinese ink painting.
This level of preservation could not be achieved without the participation of local residents. According to Huang, this awareness is not new — since all streets and alleys in Xidi are paved with bluestone, historically, street vendors carrying wares on shoulder poles were forbidden from letting their poles touch the ground in order to protect the bluestone.
A symbolic paifang, or traditional Chinese memorial arch structure, standing at the entrance to Xidi, was built in the 16th century in memory of Hu Wenguang, a Ming Dynasty official born in the village, who made a great contribution to improving people's education and livelihoods. It is preserved to this day because of people's desire to protect the local historical characteristics.
According to Huang, in the 1960s and '70s, Xidi residents made a living mainly through the production of lime. Some people proposed to burn the paifang, which is made of stone, to make lime, but most villagers opposed the idea. "Although people struggled to make a living, they still didn't want to destroy the legacy," says Huang.
Cheng Xiuli, a resident of Hongcun, says: "Preservation awareness is deeply rooted in our hearts. Our ancestors have left us a great legacy, and we must care for it well."
A local folk rhyme says: "One is not lucky to be born in Huizhou. At 13 or 14 he is kicked out of his hometown to make a living."
The rhyme hints at the struggles once endured by the people of Huizhou, a historical prefecture which straddled the border between southern Anhui province and the north of Jiangxi province and covered the area of what is today's Huangshan city.
Since it was a poor, mountainous region without good farming conditions, many local people had to migrate to other places to start businesses. Toward the end of the Ming Dynasty, a group of Huizhou merchants became eminent, trading in salt, wood and tea, and working as pawnbrokers with a reputation for morality and honesty.
When successful Huizhou merchants got old, they often went back to their hometown and built dwellings to spend their remaining years. Many of their houses are well-preserved today, especially in Xidi and Hongcun.
Dwellings with stories
Huizhou architecture, with its long tradition and great diversity, occupies an important place in Chinese architectural landscape, says Zhang Wangnan, director of the China Huizhou Culture Museum in Huangshan.
Huizhou dwellings tend to be built to conform to the natural terrain, since Huizhou is a mountainous area with few flat areas of land, according to Zhang.
Moreover, daylight is valued in Huizhou houses, which is reflected in the building of open interior courtyards, which allows sunshine to enter the rooms.
"Huizhou merchants also believed that water symbolizes wealth. When it rains, water falling on the pitched roof soon flows to the courtyard. It stands for retaining windfall profits," says Zhang.
Huizhou is famous for its stone, wood and brick carvings, which are widely used in the decoration of local dwellings. "People carve auspicious patterns and historical stories on the beams, windows and pillars of their houses. In this way, they integrate their aesthetic values and emotions into the buildings, making them more beautiful and educating their children through the meanings contained in the patterns," says Zhang.
Features of Huizhou dwellings display the characteristics of local people. "If you look at the outside of a Huizhou dwelling, it seems simple, enclosed by walls, but the insides are open and broad, with complicated decorations. It is just like Huizhou people, who are often reserved toward strangers but friendly when you get to know them," says Zhang.
Zhang says that Ming dwellings differ from those of the Qing Dynasty in many aspects, for example, having fewer horse-head gables and less complicated carvings. Remains of Ming dwellings can be seen in Chengkan village, Huangshan; those in Xidi and Hongcun are good examples of the Qing style.
Besides ancient dwellings and paifang, ancestral halls, where clans would gather to make sacrifices to their lineages, form what is considered to be the three wonders of ancient Huizhou architecture. The three types differ in style and function.
Since people in an ancient Huizhou village were organized into patriarchal clan systems closely linked by kinship, ancestral halls were the locus of public life, where clans would gather to discuss important issues, according to Zhang.
Many of the ancestral halls are now opened to the public as tourist attractions or exhibition halls. Some feature magnificent architecture and exquisite carvings, while others are small but elegant — all have high artistic value and are treasures left by ancient people, says Zhang.
Shexian county used to be the administrative center of Huizhou, where many officials settled. It still keeps many of the old paifang, which tell a number of glorious stories about the past.
"Paifang, in the old times, were often dedicated to individuals as an award for sterling qualities, like a present-day certificate awarded for role-model behavior. They witness the struggles of Huizhou people, showing their positive attitude to life and their spirit to strive for the better," says Zhou Hu, deputy director of Shexian's cultural heritage administration.
Zhang says: "Dwellings are people's personal space, ancestral halls are public space for villages or clans, and paifang praise the morality or contributions of individuals. They, together with ancient bridges, courtyards and gardens, join to constitute the profound heritage of Huizhou architecture."
Folk customs
After returning to Xidi, Huang renovated his homestay. He says the tourism boom helps to protect and breathe life into the ancient village.
"Our houses are often wooden structures with brick walls, which require a lot of maintenance," he says. "Once a vacant ancient building has its roof tiles weaken, it leads to water leakage when it rains, and the wooden structure will rot. Therefore, it's important to keep people living in these buildings in order to maintain them properly."
Tourism development has brought many people back to the village. "An old village often declines when many locals migrate to other places for work. To better protect them, we need to incentivize villagers to stay and continue contributing to local life, so that tourists can receive better service and local people can make money at home," says Huang.
Some folk customs have been retained and newly oriented toward tourism, offering glimpses into the lives of the ancient Huizhou people, for example, the sounding of the night watch in Xidi, or broadsword dancing in Xucun village, Shexian.
"These customs are revived as a demonstration for tourists, and to maintain the inheritance of traditional culture. This symbolizes the combination of intangible with tangible cultural heritage," says Zhang.
He further suggests that the old Huizhou villages explore and find their own unique, marketable themes. "Each of them should find a dominant local feature, whether it is tea, chrysanthemum or rapeseed flowers, and then make it the theme of the village, so that they can give full play to their distinctive cultural charm."
Wang Kaihao and Zhu Lixin contributed to this story.
譯文：
皖南古村落：徽州遺韻再現(xiàn)生機(jī)
古村落的傳統(tǒng)建筑在促進(jìn)旅游業(yè)發(fā)展的同時(shí)也激發(fā)著文化自信，王茹報(bào)道。
當(dāng)兵多年，并在浙江省杭州市做了幾年生意以后，2016年退伍軍人黃煜回到他位于安徽省黃山市西遞村的家鄉(xiāng)。這對(duì)他而言是一個(gè)自然而然的選擇。他回來后從父母手中接手了他們家從他上中學(xué)時(shí)就開始做的民俗生意。
“我出生于1986年，正好是西遞的旅游業(yè)開始發(fā)展的那一年。我總為自己是個(gè)西遞人而驕傲，也想為家鄉(xiāng)的發(fā)展出一份力?！秉S煜說。
2000年，西遞和附近的宏村以其保存良好的明(1368-1644)清(1644-1911)兩代鄉(xiāng)村建筑風(fēng)貌被世界教科文組織列入世界文化遺產(chǎn)。
現(xiàn)在，走在西遞或宏村的青石板路上，游客可以欣賞獨(dú)特的徽派建筑。白墻黛瓦，層層迭落的馬頭墻，人們恍若置身于一幅中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)水墨畫中。
這種程度的保存離不開當(dāng)?shù)厝说臒嵝膮⑴c。根據(jù)黃煜的說法，當(dāng)?shù)厝说谋Ｗo(hù)意識(shí)并不是最近才有的。歷史上，由于西遞所有的街道和小巷都鋪著青石板，人們不允許挑著扁擔(dān)來西遞販賣貨物的小販讓他們的扁擔(dān)頭接觸地面，防止刮花石板路。
一座標(biāo)志性的牌坊（傳統(tǒng)中國(guó)一種紀(jì)念性質(zhì)的拱形建筑）佇立在西遞村口。這個(gè)牌坊是16世紀(jì)為了紀(jì)念胡文光而建。胡文光是明朝的一名官員，出生于西遞，他曾在任上為提高人們的受教育水平和生活質(zhì)量做出卓越的貢獻(xiàn)。這座牌坊能夠被保存至今，正是因?yàn)槿藗兿胍Ｗo(hù)當(dāng)?shù)氐臍v史特色。
根據(jù)黃煜介紹，上世紀(jì)六七十年代的時(shí)候，西遞村的村民主要靠生產(chǎn)石灰為生。由于這座牌坊是石頭做的，曾有人提議燒了它來做石灰，但大部分村民堅(jiān)決反對(duì)。“雖然當(dāng)時(shí)人們掙扎在溫飽線上，他們?nèi)匀徊辉敢鈿Я宋幕z產(chǎn)?！秉S煜說。
宏村居民程秀利說：“保護(hù)的意識(shí)深深根植在我們心中。祖先給我們留下了偉大的遺產(chǎn)，我們必須好好保護(hù)它們?！?/p>
徽州當(dāng)?shù)孛裰{中有這么兩句話：“前世不修，生在徽州。十三四歲，往外一丟。”
它點(diǎn)出了古代徽州人艱難維持生計(jì)的過往?；罩菰跉v史上是一個(gè)行政區(qū)，橫跨安徽省南部和江西省北部，覆蓋今天的黃山市地區(qū)。
由于地處窮困山區(qū)，沒有發(fā)展農(nóng)業(yè)的條件，很多徽州人不得不遷徙到別處去做生意。明朝晚期，徽商逐漸崛起，在鹽、典、茶、木四大行業(yè)大顯身手，并享有誠(chéng)信為本、講求道德的美譽(yù)。
這些成功的徽商老了以后，他們往往選擇回到家鄉(xiāng)建造房子作為養(yǎng)老居所。他們的很多房子至今依然保存完好，尤其是在西遞和宏村。
古民居的故事
徽派建筑憑借其悠久歷史和豐富門類，在中國(guó)建筑中占有一席之地，安徽中國(guó)徽州文化博物館館長(zhǎng)章望南如是說。
章望南表示，由于徽州處于山區(qū)，少有平地，徽州古民居的建造講究隨坡就勢(shì)。
此外，徽州建筑重視采光，這體現(xiàn)在天井的建造上。天井讓陽光能夠進(jìn)入室內(nèi)。
“徽商認(rèn)為水象征財(cái)富。下雨天雨水落在斜坡屋頂上很快流入天井，這意味著天降橫財(cái)?！闭峦险f。
徽州以石雕、木雕和磚雕而聞名，這些都被廣泛應(yīng)用于徽州古民居的裝飾?！叭藗?cè)谒麄兎孔拥牧褐?、窗框上刻上吉祥的圖案以及歷史故事，從而把他們自己的審美價(jià)值和情感融入建筑中，讓建筑更加美觀，也起到教化子女的作用?！闭峦险f。
徽州古民居的特點(diǎn)也正體現(xiàn)了徽州人的特點(diǎn)?！皬耐饷婵磥?，徽州古民居簡(jiǎn)樸，被高墻環(huán)繞，但內(nèi)里卻開放寬闊，并有著復(fù)雜的裝飾。這就像徽州人的性格特質(zhì)。他們對(duì)陌生人較為內(nèi)斂，但深交會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)他們其實(shí)非常友好?！闭峦险f。
他還表示，明代的民居和清代的有很多方面的不同，比如明代民居馬頭墻相對(duì)較少，雕刻裝飾相對(duì)簡(jiǎn)單。明代民居以黃山市呈坎村的建筑為代表，而西遞和宏村的古民居則是清代民居中的典型。
古民居、牌坊和祠堂（各宗族聚集在一起祭祀先祖的地方）被認(rèn)為是徽派古建筑三絕。這三種建筑風(fēng)格各異，起到不同的作用。
章望南說，由于徽州古村是由父系血緣關(guān)系為紐帶而形成的宗族社會(huì)，祠堂曾經(jīng)是公共生活的中心，宗族在這里聚集討論重要事項(xiàng)。
當(dāng)年的很多祠堂已經(jīng)作為旅游景點(diǎn)或者展覽館對(duì)公眾開放。有些是規(guī)模宏大的建筑，雕刻精美，也有些規(guī)模較小卻十分優(yōu)雅?！八鼈兌加泻芨叩乃囆g(shù)價(jià)值，是古人留給我們的財(cái)富?！闭峦险f。
歙縣曾經(jīng)是徽州的行政中心，許多官員居住于此。這里仍然保留著許多古牌坊，講述著許許多多過去充滿光輝的故事。
“在古代，牌坊往往被用來表彰人們的優(yōu)秀品質(zhì)，就像今天的獲獎(jiǎng)證書，贊美榜樣人物。它們見證了徽州人的奮斗，展現(xiàn)了他們積極的生活態(tài)度和努力追求美好生活的精神。”周虎，歙縣文物事務(wù)中心副主任如是說。
章望南表示：“民居是人們的私人空間，祠堂是村民和宗族的公共空間，牌坊則表彰個(gè)人的品德和貢獻(xiàn)。它們和古橋梁、古園林一起，組成了博大精深的徽派建筑遺產(chǎn)?！?/p>
民間傳統(tǒng)
回到西遞以后，黃煜重新裝修了他家的民宿。他表示旅游業(yè)的發(fā)展有助于保護(hù)古村落，使之煥發(fā)新的生機(jī)。
“我們的房子大多是木質(zhì)機(jī)構(gòu)加上磚與瓦，它是需要很多維護(hù)的。一旦房子空了瓦松動(dòng)了沒有及時(shí)加固，房子就會(huì)漏水，里面的木質(zhì)結(jié)構(gòu)浸水就會(huì)爛。因此，留人住在里面維護(hù)好它們是非常重要的。”
隨著旅游業(yè)的發(fā)展，很多人回到了家鄉(xiāng)。“如果當(dāng)?shù)厝硕既ネ獾卮蚬?，那么古村落往往?huì)沒落。為了更好地保護(hù)它們，我們應(yīng)該鼓勵(lì)村民留下來，繼續(xù)為當(dāng)?shù)刈鲐暙I(xiàn)。這樣游客能享受更好的服務(wù)，當(dāng)?shù)厝嗽诩揖湍軖赍X?！秉S煜說。
一些民間習(xí)俗，比如西遞村的夜晚打更和歙縣許村的舞大刀流傳下來，服務(wù)于旅游業(yè)，讓人一瞥古代徽州人的生活面貌。
“這些習(xí)俗面向游客展示，也作為傳統(tǒng)文化得以復(fù)興和傳承。這是非物質(zhì)文化遺產(chǎn)和物質(zhì)文化遺產(chǎn)的結(jié)合?！闭峦媳硎尽?/p>
他進(jìn)一步建議徽州古村落探索尋找自己獨(dú)特的主題，適應(yīng)市場(chǎng)需求?！懊總€(gè)古村落應(yīng)該找到當(dāng)?shù)氐闹饕厣?，比如茶葉、菊花、油菜花，作為自己村的主題。這樣他們可以充分發(fā)揮每個(gè)村落獨(dú)特的文化魅力?！?/p>
（王愷昊和朱立新對(duì)此文亦有貢獻(xiàn)）
