Baiyu Ancient Town - Longtan: Baiyu Ancient Town

Author: Guangda
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-09-01
Features: This series of illustrated books on ancient towns is our humble contribution. It includes 8 books, each featuring 100 banners and 150 photographs, along with 50,000 to 60,000 descriptive words to introduce a historical and cultural ancient town in Chongqing. We aim to achieve a balance where the realism and presence of the images can bring the depth and transcendence of the text into a specific temporal and spatial framework; while the text stimulates divergent thinking, it can also provide multidimensional interpretations of the visual and intuitive nature of the images. This goal has largely been achieved. Therefore, this series not only helps in calling for people to understand, appreciate, and protect ancient towns but also contributes to enhancing cultural awareness, promoting tourism development, and advancing urban construction. Even when a certain ancient town inevitably disappears, this series can serve as a historical record.
The Ba Yu region is renowned for its majestic mountains and rivers, as well as its profound history and rich cultural heritage. From the indigenous peoples who established villages in this land around 4,000 years ago to the emergence of cities along the riverbanks during the Spring and Autumn period, and from the promotion of Gongzhou to Chongqing Prefecture in the eighth month of the sixteenth year of the Chunxi era of the Southern Song Dynasty (September 18, 1189), to its becoming the largest commodity trading hub in eastern Sichuan during the Jiaqing era of the Qing Dynasty, the establishment of market towns has evolved over time. As regional economic and social hubs, many of these towns originated during the Qin and Han dynasties, flourished during the Tang and Song dynasties, or reached their peak during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Each is an important cultural symbol of the evolution of Ba Yu civilization and is highly.
Disappeared ancient towns cannot be reborn, cloned, or replaced, making the remaining ones even more precious. Most of Chongqing's historical and cultural ancient towns were built near mountains and rivers, reflecting the unique architectural style of the Ba Yu region while also absorbing cultural influences from Huguang, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. They embody the humanistic pursuit of harmonious coexistence between people and nature. From the grand selection of locations based on Feng Shui principles to the intricate details of mountain walls, ridges, eaves pillars, and door lattices, almost all residential buildings, ancestral halls, guild halls, temples, theaters, enclosed doors, covered bridges, cobblestone streets, half-side streets, and wind and rain bridges are simple yet functional. The dou-fang houses, suspended wooden structures, and courtyard-style wind and rain courts particularly showcase ingenuity amidst casual design. The architectural art seamlessly blends with the natural environment, creating a lively and charming atmosphere.
Over the centuries, the indigenous people of multiple ethnicities and migrants from other regions have lived and thrived in these towns, weaving countless simple yet beautiful stories. Under the relentless pressure of modernization, they face the risk of disappearing at any moment. However, as long as they endure, the cultural heritage they carry—such as architecture, history, art, and folk customs—remains visible, offering more than just a rustic escape for urban dwellers. This illustrated book, with its prose-like tone and vivid visual materials, vividly recreates the original appearance and folk customs of the ancient towns, delving deeply into their ethnic transformations and historical reforms while arguing for the practical significance of their development. The book's analysis and research on the suspended wooden structures of ancient towns from a cultural perspective also holds academic value.