Cui Zengqi: Hometown Trip (4) - Nanjing Trip 2 (Photos)

Cui Zengqi: Hometown Trip (4) - Nanjing Trip 2 (Photos) After coming down from the Zhongshan Mausoleum, we came to the Confucius Temple, Qin...

After coming down from the Zhongshan Mausoleum, we came to the Confucius Temple and the Qinhuai River. This is a famous commercial district and tourist attraction in Nanjing, and it is also a place where Nanjing people like to go for leisure. As early as when Nanjing became the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, it was already very prosperous. The Confucius Temple was first built in the Song Dynasty. After Zhu Yuanzhang established Nanjing as his capital in the Ming Dynasty, he used this place as the place for invigilating the imperial examinations, which was the place where outstanding talents were selected for examinations in ancient times. Around the Confucius Temple and the Gongyuan on the banks of the Qinhuai River, the concentration of candidates led to the development of restaurants and other service industries, and the operation of brothels was born. There were also many talented brothel girls gathered along the Qinhuai River, who were proficient in all kinds of music, chess, calligraphy and painting. Since ancient times, talented people have loved beautiful women, so they have left us many beautiful love stories. In history, there was a poem that described the scene at that time: "The sound of lights and shadows stretched for thousands of miles, and the singing girls played with boats and boats on the turbid waves."

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the capital of the Nationalist Government moved back to Nanjing, and there was a prosperous scene here again. I just remember that the adults warned us at that time that children were not allowed to play there, and we also knew that it was a place where prostitutes lived. After liberation, the people's government eradicated the filth of the old society, closed all brothels, and taught them how to work in factories. This move was highly praised by the people. At that time, there was a movie called "Sisters, Sisters, Stand Up" that told their story. Maybe my peers can still remember them. The Qinhuai River and Confucius Temple I saw today are even more lively and prosperous, with shops lined up, crowds of people, and neon lights lighting up the entire street. But I always feel something is wrong. The Chinese wine shops of the past have sadly disappeared. Kentuckeys, McDonald's, and pizzerias have become the owners. Most of the shops sell Nike, Polo and other foreign brands. Regardless of whether they are genuine or fake, the names of the shops are written in large foreign characters and small in Chinese. I think if Confucius walked out of the temple, he would not be able to recognize the east, west, east, and west. This may be the inevitable result of opening up to the outside world, but I hope to retain more of its original flavor.

The tour guide told us an interesting story about the Confucius Temple. He said that the Confucius Temple used to be open to tourists free of charge. Recently, a statue of Confucius was installed in the temple, and an entrance fee of 20 yuan was charged. So people looked at Confucius outside the gate, and later they built a stone screen in front of the statue of Confucius. As a result, only the upper body of Confucius could be seen outside, and you had to pay 20 yuan to see the whole body. This may be just an excuse for the travel agency to save on ticket fees. My wife and I walked to the entrance of Confucius Temple, and the staff told us that if you are over 70 years old, you can visit for free. We took out our U.S. passports that we had brought with us, and after verifying our birth dates, we were allowed in. After that, we followed the same pattern and visited Gongyuan for free. Later we learned that in recent years, local governments in China have introduced some preferential policies for the elderly. It is free for seniors over 70 to enter and exit parks and tourist spots, and it is also free for seniors over 65 to take public transportation. In this regard, China is already ahead of the United States. Last year, we paid a return visit to the Washington Association for the Aging and learned that through their efforts, Missouri passed a proposal to allow seniors over the age of 60 to ride public transportation for free during non-peak hours. When I returned to Phoenix, I also wanted to organize the elderly to make a similar proposal to the city government. However, considering the current financial situation of the government, I felt that the time was not right and I would wait until the economic situation improved. In the evening, when dining in a large hotel in downtown Nanjing, the famous Nanjing salted duck is indispensable. The production process is very simple. The duck is marinated in salt and air-dried. It tastes good. But compared with the crispy duck, Zhang Chang duck or Peking duck in restaurants now, I still prefer the latter. In the past, mainly because ducks were abundant in the Jiangnan area, people pickled them to facilitate preservation and sale to other places. This was the effect of commercial hype. In the restaurant, we admired many exquisite stone carvings, and then we realized that Nanjing is known as the capital of jade processing. The reason is that when the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum was built, more than 10,000 stonemasons were recruited from all over the country. Their descendants settled in Nanjing, and the carving craftsmanship was passed down from generation to generation. People say that the stone carving craftsmanship of Florence, Italy is beautiful, and that of Nanjing is unique. Both places can be called the capital of jade, but each has its own strengths. Some of the fine jade carvings in China come from Myanmar and are carved in Nanjing.

>Exquisite carving technology