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September 28, 2016

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Rustic villages nestle between terraced hillsides

LEAVING the August heat in Shanghai behind, I headed for the highlands of southern Zhejiang Province near the border with Fujian.

Hidden amid some of the highest mountains in East China are forests, lush valleys, ancient villages and wooden bridges — all in stark contrast to the ultra-urbanized areas of northern Zhejiang.

With the advent of high-speed rail service to the city of Lishui in the heart of southern Zhejiang, more people are discovering the beauty of this once less-traveled highland.

What I sought on my trip was not only the cooler weather and the natural wonders, but also the traces of history this corner of the province keeps secret.

Little Arcadia

Moving afield from Lishui is no easy traveling. Roads snake between mountains more than 1,500 meters high or through them in a chain of tunnels, some more than 5 kilometers long.

The last leg of my trip is over single-lane roads through a deep valley for more than an hour, with countless sharp bends to negotiate.

After climbing up to a 1,200-meter pass, the road gently slopes down and leads to a place unimaginable from below — a largely flat tableland the size of the West Lake of Hangzhou. Rimmed by peaks, it sits at an elevation of about 1,000 meters.

The altitude offers a refreshing retreat from the summer heat of the lowlands. The remote isolation of this place shielded it from history’s wars.

A little Arcadia at first sight! That is my destination — Daji Township in Jingning County.

It is intriguing to contemplate the discovery of this geographic gem. Local chronicles state that the Mei family moved here from the lowland town of Yunhe in 1035 — during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) — and found the place inhabited by the aboriginal She people.

But, at that time, it was no more than a swamp dotted with ancient woods. It was the Mei family who cultivated the land for farming and tamed the wilderness for homes.

Today, more than 3,000 people, most of them still surnamed Mei, live in the eight villages scattered around Daji. Rice paddies spread over the flatlands, and tea terraces are carved out of the surrounding hillsides.

Daji in local dialect means “big waterfall.” The 70-meter-high Snowflake Falls is of little scenic interest today because the water is discharged from a reservoir with the press of a button. Upstream all the water has been diverted for irrigation. What makes this place special is a hidden little gem of ancient architecture.

Hidden temple

Nestled in a copse of bamboo and cedar near the center of the township are the remains of the historic Shisi Temple, including a Mahavira Hall and a wooden bell tower made in the ancient mortise-and-tenon style. Once used as a temple of mixed Buddhist and Taoist rites, the site originated from a more deep-rooted Chinese virtue.

According to Mei’s family history, Mei Yuanxi, a 6-year-old boy during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), stood by his grandfather’s tomb for three years without leaving. When Emperor Gaozong heard the story, he was so moved that he granted the title “Child of Outstanding Filial Responsibility” to the boy. The boy’s father had built a hut for him to stay during the three years, so the emperor ordered the hut be named “Shisi Court.” Shisi means “everlasting remembrance.”

Due to the humid conditions of this typhoon-battered area, little of the original site survives today, except for a few trees that are as old as the story itself. Two 800-year-old cypress guard what was the entrance to the temple, and a lone, 1,500-year-old cedar stands proudly nearby.

The Mahavira Hall we see today began as a temple for ancestral worship by the boy’s descendents, but the exact construction date is disputed. While the official records list it as being built in 1356, during late Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), architectural experts argue that it is more likely to be a reconstruction in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Regardless of its true age, the quaint style features many Song-era traits that are more commonly associated with a heritage architecture of northern China and even Japan. Such style is rarely found elsewhere in coastal Zhejiang today.

Also sharing the same style is the bell tower, which originated slightly later, in the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It is said to have accommodated an 800-kilogram bell, inscribed with the full text of the Heart Sutra, but it is now lost.

Since the temple is no longer functional as a religious site, it is quiet inside, with very few visitors. That allows a closer look at the architectural details, including its exquisite dougong, the quintessential Chinese interlocking wooden brackets supporting the roof, and a simple but elegant caisson in the Mahavira Hall.

Rice and wild rice

In front of the Shisi Temple is a road that winds downhill into a steep, lush valley where another spectacle of ancient heritage awaits.

Morning fog rises from deep in the valley as I descend along the road. Fleeting breaks in the mist reveal a huge array of terraced fields along the mountainside, spanning hundreds of meters in elevation.

A cluster of rustic cottages made from rammed-earth walls, many of them 200 years old, are scattered on a steep slope beside the terraces. This is Xiaozuo Village, inhabited by the Yan family, who moved here in the early Song Dynasty from Yanzhoufu, the area around today’s Qiandao (Thousand Island) Lake in Hangzhou.

According to the villagers, their ancestors started to build the terraces to grow rice some 400 years ago. Today the whole cultivation area covers more than 100 layers vertically.

Though not a match in scale to the world-famous terraces in Yunnan Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, this is still among the largest terrace constructions in Zhejiang Province. It’s actually too expansive for such a small village as Xiaozuo. Why did the Yan ancestors grow more rice than they needed in such a rugged backwater? The relic of a Ming Dynasty silver mine, located some distance uphill, provides a clue.

These mountains of Zhejiang used to be the site of mass silver and gold mining for the Ming Dynasty treasury. The necessity of feeding the huge number of miners may have given rise to the large cultivation terraces found in this area.

Terraces are perfect examples of ancient ecological engineering. They make use of the elevation differences to create effective water circles, as moisture from deep in the valley condenses and precipitates on the much cooler mountaintop and then returns to the bottom in the form of water through the cultivated terraces.

They are also a scenic treat for tourists and photographers because of their beautiful curves. The Xiaozuo terraces fell into disuse in the last century, and it was not until recent years that they were re-cultivated, partly as tourism attractions.

Back in the villages around Daji, traditional rice planting has also shrunk in the last decade to make room for a more profitable crop — wild rice shoots. Known as jiaobai, the swollen crisp white shoots created by the infection of smut fungus are seasonal delicacies popular in Shanghai and surrounding regions. While it is impossible to grow wild rice shoots in lowlands during high summer because of the heat, in Daji they are harvested in early August, filling a gap in urban market supplies.

Grown in the pleasant alpine climate and irrigated by mountain springs, Daji wild rice shoots are known for their exceptionally tender texture and juicy flavor. I tucked into a plate of them, fresh from the paddies and stir-fried with the simplest of condiments. It was a dish to savor.

Indeed, the traditions and endeavors of Daji villagers are also something to savor. While they may not be able to escape infringement by modernization in such a fast-developing province as Zhejiang, they do guard the small, precious windows into their history.

If you go

Admission: 45 yuan. It’s free to walk around the villages, but tickets will be checked if you visit Shisi Temple, Mei’s Ancestral Hall, Snowflake Falls and other attractions.

• By public transport: The bullet train from Shanghai to Lishui takes around 2.5 hours. Change to a bus at the Lishui Railway Station and head for Jingning County, about 1.5 hours further on. Mini-bus service is available between Jingning County and Daji Township — three buses a day on a trip that takes 1.5 hours.

• Driving: Follow expressways G60 — S26 — S27 — G25 — S34 and exit at Jingning County. Then follow Provincial Road S228, turn right at Baihe Village and take the road to Daji.




 

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