Reading Xiangxi (Furong Town)
A Scene Passed in Haste. Furong Town is a place I missed. That day I was wandering around Jishou and was persuaded by a tour guide who said that if I chose to go to Furong Town, I would not be able to enjoy the scenery of the Mengdong River rafting, because it was the dry season. She strongly urged me to visit a Miao village near Jishou — Dehang — saying that Dehang had a "little Zhangjiajie"...
This article has been compiled from historical materials on 'Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network' (33519.com · Specialty Foods / Cuisine / Customs section). Prices, business hours, administrative divisions, and statistical data mentioned in the text may already be outdated. Before traveling, please refer to the latest announcements from merchants, scenic areas, and local competent authorities; the parts involving folk legends and folk customs are local historical and cultural anecdotes, provided for cultural reference.
Scenery Passed by in a Hurry
Furong Town was a place I missed. That day I was wandering around Jishou and believed the persuasion of a tour guide lady. She said that if I chose to go to Furong Town, I would not be able to experience the scenery of the Mengdong River rafting, because it was the dry season at that time. She tried hard to persuade me to go to Dehang, a Miao village near Jishou. She said Dehang was known as "Little Zhangjiajie," with picturesque mountains and waters and a Miao village reaching into the clouds.
At that time I was still full of nostalgia for Jinbian Stream, which I had just visited a month earlier. Although the scene of us running in embarrassment to avoid the guide was still vivid in my mind, as time passed and various unpleasant things were filtered out, I was moved by "Little Zhangjiajie." I chose to go to Dehang and placed Furong Town outside my itinerary.
Looking back now, Dehang seems like scenery passed by in a hurry. I only remember that I climbed Pangu Peak, which rises straight into the clouds, as never before, and was almost exhausted enough to collapse on the ground. The scenery here is not concentrated. After climbing Pangu Peak, one can only return along the original route, and then at a fork in the road set out on a journey to look for the waterfall. The stone-slab path was very slippery. Midway, in order to make way for people coming the other way, I fell into the stream, so my shoes kept squeaking all along the way. The only thing I could not forget was Liusha Waterfall, the one with the greatest drop in the country. Although it was the dry season, that waterfall, as soft and delicate as light gauze, still fluttered and poured down from the mountain, falling into the emerald pool. I cannot describe that gauze-like appearance fluttering in the wind. I only remember hiding behind the waterfall, letting the fine droplets splash and fall on the tips of my hair, which made me think of the "Chongling Sword Technique" of Linghu Chong and Yue Lingshan in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, and of the tender feelings of the men and women of the martial world.
Wangcun was once called "Little Nanjing"
After returning to Guangzhou, during the May Day holiday, Xie Jin brought Jiang Wen and Xu Songzi to revisit Furong Town. I was rummaging through my books and photos in a drawer when I suddenly came across a photo taken with Xie Jin six years ago. That was when Ken Takakura came to China for a press conference for his new book "Looking Forward to Your Praise." I don't remember how I got into that heavily guarded hall, and then, drawn by Xie Jin's fame, I nervously took a photo with him. At that time I was as shy and timid as a cat, and this pivotal figure in Chinese cinema stood so tall beside me. Looking at the photo, I thought, why did I miss Wangcun?
Such a captivating thousand-year-old town. It was originally the capital of the local chieftains during the Qin and Han dynasties, anciently called Youyang, and during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period it was called Xizhou. Located north of the You River, it was an important dock on the You River, connecting to Sichuan and Guizhou, reaching Hubei and Luzhou, with unparalleled advantages for boat transport. This is the place in western Hunan history that cannot go unmentioned—where Peng Shichou and Ma Xifan concluded their covenant. To this day, the "Xizhou Bronze Pillar" still stands tall, bearing witness to the glory of the Tujia people. This small town nestled among mountains and waters was once extraordinarily prosperous. During the Jiaqing and Daoguang reigns of the Qing dynasty, Wangcun was known as "Little Nanjing," with over 300 storefronts, more than 100 eateries and inns, and over 2,000 traveling merchants.
"Hibiscus Town" made Wangcun famous
But as time passed, with the disintegration of the chieftain system, the center of gravity in western Hunan in modern history began to shift—to Yuanling and Fenghuang—and Wangcun seemed to gradually be forgotten. Until 1986, when a director burst into this hidden paradise, carrying bewilderment and sorrow over a period of history, and produced a film that won more awards than any other in Chinese cinema history, bringing actors of considerable weight in later Chinese cinema to this small town. "Hibiscus Town" made Jiang Wen and Liu Xiaoqing, and also made Wangcun. This thousand-year-old town abandoned its original name, heavy with the flavor of the chieftain dynasty, and changed it to Furong Town. Today, Liu Xiaoqing's rice tofu shop is still open there.
I've heard many people talk about this place. Disembarking from the You River dock, you climb step by step along a five-li stone-slab road, and everything in the small town gradually unfolds before you along the mountain terrain. The stilted houses are of Tujia style, and like in Fenghuang, many have already been mixed with a lot of reinforced concrete in newer buildings. The stone-slab road is very, very long. The various Tujia brocades originally woven at home for sweethearts are right by the roadside, and the fresh, lovely Tujia girls are right beside the brocades.
I can imagine myself walking into Wangcun, just as I walked into Fenghuang and Lahao. I search for shadows of the past, but it displays the promise of days to come. I remember Liu Xiaoqing in "Hibiscus Town" with her plain vividness—little did I expect that later she would become increasingly proud, always holding her head high. I also remember Jiang Wen in "Hibiscus Town," with Qin Shutian's humor and honest simplicity, unlike any of his later appearances. And Xie Jin—Xie Jin's era has passed. "Hibiscus Town" has become a bygone segment in film history, followed by his lonely "Women's Football Team No. 9" and his "Opium War," which received mixed reviews. Even Zhang Yimou is being called upon by young directors to exit the stage of history—who would still enthusiastically magnify and freeze-frame Xie Jin in today's film market?
Wangcun's renaming to Furong Town has already caused part of history to be forgotten. How can we make time stop, and return to our black-and-white era, to the days of drifting on the You River in search of life.