Caption: Jingmen Mountain
Introduction of Honghuatao Town
Honghuatao Town in Yidu city is a unique culture plate blessed by profound heritage, rich artistic nourishment, and particular geographic and cultural conditions--- the parallel running of Yangtze River and Qingjiang River on both sides, and the fusion of Ba and Chu culture.
It is confirmed by Chengbeixi cultural sites that there were human activity as early as 7500 years ago in this place, which is said to be a sandbar surrounded by waters on the middle ground of Yangtze River’s loop with red blooming flowers, hence the name “Honghuatao” (which literally means a town with safflowers). Later with the Yangtze River moved northward and south river gradually silted, Honghuatao was opened up into a rich fertile land protected by dam beside the river. Through generations of development and changes, it has gradually turned into a town under the jurisdiction of Yidu city, and has moved into one of the top 100 towns in Hubei Province. It governs over 9 natural villages, 55 villager groups, and a community committee. With a total population over 28,000, it owns 149 square kilometers layout area, 114,600 mu forest, 12,600 mu arable land, and 28,000 mu water area.
The Main Body Written by Li Guanyan
Like a wild horse, the Yangtze River rushes out of gorges, embracing Gulaobei (a region in Yichang City) on the left and Honghuatao on the right. Owing to its unique position with the Yangtze River in the north and Jingmen Mountain at the edge, the latter one---Honghuatao is amazingly beautiful, grand and peculiar.
Caption: A corner of the Old Street.
The cradle of farming culture
In 1973, after the discovery of Chengbeixi Site, the core area of which covers an area of 37 mu at the second phase beside the Yangtze River, by participants of the Second Phase Archaeological Training Course in the Yangtze River Basin, the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission established an archaeological workstation in Honghuatao Town for investigation. From 1983 to 1984, many cultural relics of Neolithic era and a small amount of remains of Xia Dynasty (BC21century-16century), Shang Dynasty (BC1600-1046), Tang Dynasty (618-907) and Song Dynasty (906-1279), and some burials of Eastern Zhou Dynasty (BC771-635), the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) and Six Dynasties period have been unearthed by the Institute of Archaeology of Hubei Province in two times partial and tentative excavations. The site\'s thickness of the layer is about two meters, and the archaeologists have found housing construction remains, stone manufacturer, pits from which stone artifacts, pottery and bone were unearthed. Moreover, they have found some rice remains, animal remains such as ox bones, fish bones, turtle shell, and some other remains like axe, adze, chisel, balls, net sinkers which have high research value. Straws pieces or adulterate rice husk were frequently found in potteries, indicating that the humans in that times had already engaged in rice farming, and owned a much developed farming culture.
Current discovery reveals that this kind of cultural relics are all located in Yichang with southern region of the Yangtze River as the core, and its cultural connotations is obviously different from other found primitive cultures, thus showing that the two banks from Yidu City to Xiling Gorge section of the Yangtze River are the main areas where the local ancestors lived. Hence the experts deduces that the Chengbeixi culture is more than 1,000 years earlier than the Daxi culture, and it has very important value for exploring the origins of Daxi culture. On December 16, 1992, Chengbeixi site in Honghuatao Town was listed as the Third Batch of Heritage Conservation Units in Hubei Province, Important Ancient Cultural Sites of Yidu City, and was put into protection with stele erected to show its protection region and construction restricted area.
Citrus culture is the main representative of Honghuatao farming culture. As early as 1500 years ago, "Yidu Orange" was already well renowned. According to Jingzhou Record, “The old Jiangbei Citrus Park in Yidu County produced citrus named Yidu Orange." Du Fu, a great poet in Tang Dynasty, saw citrus growing all over the hill in Honghuatao and wrote the poem, “The Qingjiang river banks in spring are decorated with hectares of citrus parks in green." Today, with the rapid development, Yidu citrus area and production ranks top in Chu Region and at the forefront of the nation. Therefore, Yidu is called "The Chinese citrus town". "Yidu Satsuma" is also designated as the National Agricultural Geographical Indications product. Whether in terms of yield or quality, the citrus of Honghuatao are the best in Yidu. In the golden autumn in October, the hills are full of golden citrus, and the whole village including every family, men and women, old and young, all shuttle cross the citrus forest to pick the fruits. The Tulaohan Group has collected more than 100 kinds of Chinese and foreign rare treasures of citrus in Honghuatao Cultural Park of Citrus for business visitors to appreciate. Hubei Provincial Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs has established a citrus-talent attracting base here, exchanged skills and experiences with counterparts in United States, Brazil, Japan, Spain and other countries, and led the trend of the world\'s citrus industry with an open mind.
The fossil of hunting and fishing culture
People in ancient time used to live near water, for fishes are the guarantee of their food. However, according to some researchers, the worship of fish indicates the worship of female genitals, because there are some similarities in appearance between them. Besides, fish’s abundant roe production means strong reproduction ability, which is vital for the ancient people with short life expectancy to multiply in matriarchal society. As a result, people wish to be fertile and own more children.
On this ancient land of ancient lives, Honghuatao town enjoys a long history of strong fishing culture and farming culture. River fishing and mountain hunting are the epitome of Honghuatao ancestors\' original life. It is due to this abundant and reliable material base that people make their lives thrive and create great wealth in material and culture.
Honghuatao, the treasure house of freshwater fish resources, is blessed with Yangtze sturgeon, white sturgeon, mullet which are under the second-grade state protection. Sturgeon, the "giant panda in water”, is regarded as the living fossil of Cretaceous period 250 million years ago. This species witnesses the greatness of the ancient Chinese civilization, and fortunately Honghuatao is the hometown of this ancient fossil. So far, there is a village called Yuyangxi in the town engaged in fish farming generation after generation. The "national treasure", Chinese sturgeon, is the king of the world\'s sturgeon. However, Gezhouba Dam blocks the spawning migration path of Chinese sturgeon, and consequently Honghuatao section of the Yangtze River becomes the only spawning place of Chinese sturgeon and therefore is included in Yichang Chinese Sturgeon Nature Reserve of Yangtze River. In order to protect water quality of the Yangtze River for the survival and reproduction of Chinese sturgeons, Yidu built a sewage treatment plant in Honghuatao, treating industrial and domestic wastewater to reach the standard of drain. Hubei Tianxia Sturgeon (Group) Co.,Ltd., located in Honghuatao township, works out a full set of sturgeon industrialization technology and has the largest scale bred gene stock and the most various sturgeon species in the world. It has invested over 100 million yuan to build Sturgeon Exposition Garden, which covers 180,000 square meters and has received more than 630 experts and scholars from 29 countries.
The classics of landscape culture
On the south bank of Yichang Yangtze River Bridge, there stands a huge stone engraved "荆门山"（Jingmen Mountain）and at the hillside a natural "immortal bridge" is hung. A "Duyuan Pavilion" at the foot of the mountain watches the Yangtze River rushing out of the gorge and surging eastward nonstop. Li Bai, the poet of Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem to express his excitement while climbing Jingmen Mountain -----" Far, far beyond the Thorn Gate Gorge I am travelling/Revelling in the vast land of Chu/ Where mountains lull into level fields unfolding/ The River finds grandeur through the boundless country/ In its limpid waters a divine moon dives like a flying mirror/ Over the towering clouds the sun builds its mirage of day-glory/ So far away am I, yet with me still is the homeland water/ Bearing my boat all the way here.”
Jingmen Mountain, long on the north-south direction and wide on the east-west direction, covers an area of six square kilometers and the mountain’s main peak rises to a height of 139.2 meters. It confronts with Huya Mountain on the north bank, forming a gateway between the Three Gorges and the Jianghan Plain. According to a legend, in ancient times, a lion flying from Goddess Peak in Wushan fought with a tiger flying from Huangshan in Anhui province for this territory. Subsequently, Xia Yu threw a chain to lock them. Since then, the tiger and the lion stayed against on both sides of the Yangtze River, guarding the access to Sichuan province. Therefore, people call it "the first Gateway of Chu and West Part of China", which also means it is of great military importance. In the history, there have been more than one hundred wars of various sizes. In 278 BC, the armies of Qin and Chu fought here. In 31 AD, Liu Guangxiu, the emperor of Han Dynasty won this important place and expanded his power westwards. In 222 AD, during the period of the Three Kingdoms, there was the famous Battle of Wushu, the Battle of Yiling and so on. Later, in the Anti-Japanese War, the Battle of Exi also took place here.
Jingmen Mountain is well-known for its extraordinary stones and lying stone bridges. It is one of the most poetically described places in the Three Gorges area. Except the famous poem named Bidding a Friend Farewell at Jingmen Ferry written by Libai, there are also many famous poems like “the sceneries of Chu flashed back with the frog dispersing at Jingmen” (Watch Chu While Ferrying Jingmen). Famous poets, such as Dufu, Li Shangyin, Liu Zongyuan, Ouyang Xiu and Sushi got their inspiration at the sight of this beautiful scenery and expressed their emotions and ambitions. The number of the poems exceeds 200; some of them have been compiled into the text books, and made this cultural and historical mountain widely known.
There is a beautiful river named Daxi hiding in the scenic and wonderful landscape of Honghuatao, known as “Fujinxi River” in ancient times. Daxi River, originated from Wenfo Mountain in Yichang with a total length of 25.6 km, feeds into Gaobazhou reservoir after a 16.3 km journey in Honghuatao. Daxi is very hard to “tame” because frequent heavy rain will cause overflowing floods during rainy seasons. In the 1970s, a reservoir on Daxi River was built with a storage capacity exceeding 10 million square meters and an over 100 meters height. Moreover, it is a double-curvature arch dam, which is rarely seen in Hubei province. The dam is as majestic and magnificent as the ancient city wall, both of which are completely constructed by manual digging and grouting. On the right side of the dam is the flood spillway, and on the left is the outlet tunnel with a matched channel of over 50 km. Consequently, it is beneficial to both irrigation and power generation, and can nurture the vast fertile farmland in Honghuatao and Gaobazhou. The reservoir area has beautiful and gorgeous sceneries. Water in the reservoir is clear and meek. Visitors can see wild ducks and water birds everywhere, fish and shrimps playing in shallow waters, the setting sun reddening the lush bamboo forests. When boating on the reservoir, they can get the inner peace and tranquility. As the backyard garden of Yichang, it is surely a perfect place not only for outdoor activities like diving, climbing, and picnicking, but also for health-keeping relaxation.
At the foot of Jingmen moutain, there is a tablet about 3.5 meters high, 1.2 meters wide on a tortoise-shaped pedestal around 20 centimeters high. Although the surface of the tablet is damaged, the regular script inscription "general Yang of Qi Mountain" is visible. It is Yang Laijia’s tombstone, Zheng Chenggong’s subordinate in the fight against Dutch for Taiwan.
Yang Laijia, born in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, helped Zheng Chenggong to defeat the Dutch colonizers, reclaim Taiwan and guard the Golden Gate in the early years, and then he subordinated himself to Qing government. In" the Revolt of the Three Feudatories", he joined Wu Sangui’s army and went to the battlefields in Jing, Xiang, Ba and Chu. Finally, he was defeated and captured in Wushan. At that time, Jingmen Mountain in Honghuatao is in the way from Chongqing to the capital. Yang Laijia probably died and was buried here when he was escorted to the capital. Later, people erected the tombstone to pay their homage.
The axe excavated in Honghuatao Town named “the king of axes in China” has been collected in the National Museum, while the other historical sites are hardly to be found except several old houses built after liberation lying on Juhong Road leading to Yangtze River ferry remained. Liu Dayu, a 91-year-old lady who owns a section of homestead wall built in Ming and Qing dynasties remembered that her old house was either bombed by Japanese aircraft or burned by Japanese soldiers from the north of the Yangtze River. At the end of April, 1940, Japanese army implemented “Yichang Operation Plan”. Three divisions cooperated with the air force and branched out into two columns to attack the KMT Army’s military defense of the Yangtze River, since the headquarter of KMT Army’s military defense of the upper Yangtze River was in Yichang during that period, Japanese aircrafts bombed towns along Yangtze River wantonly and indiscriminately including Honghuatao Town. At that time, the Japanese army quartered in the north of the Yangtze River, while the KMT Army quartered in the south of the Yangtze River. Since Honghuatao Town was a small wharf, the KMT Army often sent soldiers across the river to investigate and spy. Sometimes a small group of troops would be sent to strike the Japanese army, which agitated the Japanese army so hardly that they crossed the river, burned the houses, killed the people, committed all manners of crimes to revenge, leaving the refugees flocking to Changyang County and the government agency of Yidu County also moved to Baitian in Niejiehe Town.
A new page has been opened in history, and more fresh businesses are waiting to be done. From the “Tourism Development Master Plan”, we can figure out that Honghuatao Town is putting more efforts into the building of a national tourist town with characteristic landscapes. The World Sturgeon Expo Park, Jingmen Mountain, Chengbeixi Ancient Cultural Relic, Tianlongwan Watertown, Daxi outdoor travel and so other tourism develop are initiated in succession. Among them, the cultural tourism develop project of Jingmen Mountain with a plan of 1.1 billion RMB investment in total is the first comprehensive cultural park exploited in Yichang integrating Bachu culture, culture of three kingdoms, Jingmenshan Mountain culture and Chengbeixi culture and the largest Exhibition Center for Three Gorges stones and Qingjiang stones will also be built in Yichang.
The flourishing folk culture
Folktales, as one kind of the most popular folk literature, have always been the fresh master copy of the culture deeply rooted in grass-root class. As a part of Yichang’s folk culture and the backbone of folk tales in Yidu, Honghuatao’s folk tales inherited the unsophisticated folk customs of this ancient land. They can be categorized into legends, stories and jokes, most of which are short and dapper and have vivid and twist plots, free and lovely forms, humorous language, folk customs and stories, dialects and slangs. All of these make them close to daily life, easy to be understood, full of local characteristics, and widely circulated, hence becoming the spiritual sustenance for the people.
Hohuatao Town has produced numerous folk artists and storytellers who can make up stories and sing songs in rhyming words according to what they see. A group of literary and art workers, after sorting out and innovating the traditional folktales, removing the doss and absorbed the essence, trying to remain the local accent, nostalgia and appealing rural life in oral and in written simultaneously, compiled a book named Selected Folktales of Honghuatao, which emphasizes the literariness of the folktales on the premise of keeping the readability. In each folktale, there is a four-line poem with seven characters to a line and a strict tonal pattern and rhyme scheme depicting the outline of the folktale. Readers can recited them and comprehend the artistic conception of the folktales easily, for instance, “Big flood brings a great disaster. Avalokitesvara use her magic power to save the refugees, while a helmsman rowed his boat to save his townees” (From the Origin of Flower-picking Boat), “Three men competed each other for moving mountain stones at end of their wits, smart Avalokitesvara made Jingmen Mountain stand in the south of Huya with a little trick” (From the Origin of Jingmen Mountain), “Civil officials excel in writing, military officials in fighting, but only strong farmer can provide me a good living” (From Choosing Son-in-law), “Magpie and culver, a pair of sister. One was diligent and another indolent. The culver took the magpie’s nest, resulting in a skein. To make them at rest, here came phoenix, the queen” (From the Magpie and Culver)
Know as the King of Folk Storytellers in Hubei, National Folk Storyteller, Xurongyao, a native in Honghuatao, has told the stories of Yidu from Yichang to Hubei, to Shenzhen, the window of the World, to Shanghai, the Oriental Pearl, and to the Laoshe Tea House and the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. As a core member of literary and artistic creation at the grass-root level, he has been received by Li Ruihuan, Ding Guanggeng and other national leaders, communicated and performed together with Jiang Kun, Chang Baohua, Liu Lanfang and some other Chinese opera masters. After hearing his folktales, Jiang Kun praised they were profound. Recently, Yidu has been entitled “the home of folktales” and “the home of folk art in China” firstly in Hubei province and the folktales of Yidu also have been listed in Preferentially Protected Program of Important Folk Culture in China. The book Chinese Folktales-Yidu volume has won the highest prize for Chinese folk literature ---“Sange Award”. In short, People in Honghuatao created the flourish of folk culture here. (The writer is the member of Writers Association of Hubei Province and the vice-chairman of Writers Association of Yidu City)