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October 12, 2016

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Villagers live Zhuge Liang’s life through ancient ceremonies

By Xu Wenwen | October 12, 2016, Wednesday | Print Edition

AT a time when modern people are forgetting many traditions, people at Zhuge Bagua Village in Lanxi City in south Zhejiang Province still hold age-old ceremonies every year to commemorate their forefather Zhuge Liang, a respected strategist and prime minister during the Three Kingdoms Period (AD 220-280).

Over 80 percent of villagers are surnamed Zhuge. Villagers show their respect for Zhuge Liang by observing two festivals — his birthday which falls on the 14th day of the fourth Chinese lunar month, and his death anniversary on the 28th day of the eighth lunar month.

Last month, villagers dressed up in traditional costumes to mark his death anniversary. In a ritual, the oldest and the most prestigious male member of the clan offered incense and “reported” the year’s news to him.

The children in the village read the Zhuge Family instruction, while the young and middle-aged people held flags, wooden weapons, scarifies and lamps with characters, and walked around the village, as a way of prayer.

The family instruction, titled “Jie Zi Shu” (Admonition to My Son), consists of just 86 Chinese characters, yet it is a guideline for the clan on how to maintain nobility, keep learning, and have a quiet and simple life.

“We are not smarter than the average,” said 70-year-old Zhuge Qinglin. “But I think most of us are confident, because we followed the instructions from ‘Jie Zi Shu’ since the time we were young and have learnt to love and respect ourselves.”

According to historians, thousands of descendants from Zhuge family served the country in different dynasties, and none of them corrupt.

No wonder then the instructions laid down by Zhuge Liang have been recommended as a must-read for the Chinese public servants.

The village was not established by Zhuge Liang himself, but was designed by his 27th descendant, Zhuge Dashi. What stands out is the structure, which is based on the “Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams” mathematical pattern, and was the first of its kind in China.

The whole village takes the Bell Pond and a square as its center, with eight lanes extending outward, forming a circular pattern of eight inner trigrams. The most amazing effect is created as the whole village is surrounded by eight hills, forming the pattern of eight outer trigrams.

And the Bell Pond and a square consists a tai chi pattern, the pond serves the yin and the square functions the yang. On both yin and yang side there is a well, symbolizing the two dots on tai chi pattern.

To newcomers, the village is like a labyrinth, with many dead-end lanes impossible to navigate without a guide. Local residents are proud that the confusing layout of the village has helped defeat enemies.

White walls decorated with black tiles, wide roof beams and thick columns are the typical architectural style of the village. There are more than 200 architectural sites from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties in the village.

Although they have survived over 700 years, the village structure remains almost unchanged. Even during the World War II, the Japanese invaders missed the village due to the surrounding lush hills.

Today, it is the largest inhabited area of Zhuge Liang’s descendants, with a population of 4,000.

After the end of the Three Kingdom Period, the Zhuges scattered across China but a section of Zhuge Dashi survived because they followed Zhuge Liang’s instruction — “If you cannot be a helpful minister, then be a skillful doctor” — and became medical herb merchants.

“My father taught me herb functions since the time I could speak,” recalled 78-year-old Zhuge Feng. “It was a form of education, as well as lifestyle.”

The village is nowadays a tourist attraction — but does not interrupt life of the locals. People get up and go to bed early, wash clothes in the lake, cook meals on traditional stone ovens, and make herbs or carve wooden sculptures in daytime.

Unlike many ancient villages that house ancestral halls only as references, Zhuge Village still uses all its 18 ancestral halls, four temples, three stone arches and two garden villas.

 

How to get there: Express coaches leave for Zhuge Bagua Village from Hangzhou South Bus Station every two hours. The bus journey takes around two hours and a half and costs 70 yuan (US$10.44).

Hangzhou


 

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