Hangzhou Old News

Author: Dai Qingyu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-12-01
Features: "Southeast is the most magnificent, Three Wu is the capital, Qiantang has always been prosperous. Smoking willows on painted bridges, windy curtains of green curtains, a zigzag of a hundred thousand households." Hangzhou is full of the prosperity of the ancient capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, embracing the brilliance of the southeast, walking out of the distant history. It has gone through the "Yuhang" era of "Shel Hang and Landing" in the time of the Great Yu; it has gone through the heroic era of the Wuyue struggle. The Hangzhou described by the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi is "Yuhang's superiority is unparalleled in all directions, the state is beside the green mountains and the county is beside the lake. Around the city there are thirty miles of lotus flowers, and a thousand trees of pine trees point to the city." When he left Hangzhou after his term as the magistrate, he sighed with infinite longing: "I remember Jiangnan, I remember Hangzhou; seeking osmanthus in the mountain temple, watching the tide at the county pavilion. When will I visit again?" In the Five Dynasties, Hangzhou became the capital of the Wuyue Kingdom. King Qian Liu of Wuyue built a "suburb" at the foot of Fenghuang Mountain and built a "Luocheng" with a circumference of seventy miles around Hangzhou. After the development and prosperity of the Wuyue Kingdom for three generations, five emperors, and seventy-two years, Hangzhou has become a bustling metropolis with a rich cultural heritage and a developed economy. Hangzhou custom, every spring equinox, men and women in red and green, old and young all climb Wu Mountain, go to the Taiwei Temple to burn incense and pay homage. On that day, the atmosphere on Wu Mountain is dense with people, and the incense is swirling. There is also a custom, many people hold a pair of red candles, and greet the Mang God at the foot of Wu Mountain. Those who meet face to face, whether they know each other or not, must bow deeply; no matter how big or small the red candles in their hands are, they must exchange them, called "dropping treasure." Maybe they are exchanging good wishes for each other, and good hopes for the future.