Correspondent: Song Ziyi, Luo Yuqi, Qian Yulin, Du Qingli) On July 19, 2021, the summer practice of Class 6, Grade 2020 of the Department of Design, School of Art and Communication, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) went on the tenth day. Under the leadership of Mr. Zhou Bin and Li Meng, we came to Fenghuang, Shen Congwen’s hometown. Fenghuang Ancient Town is a famous historical and cultural city in China. It was once praised as “the most beautiful town in China” by Louis Alley, a famous New Zealand writer. It is comparable to Old Town of Lijiang in Yunnan and Pingyao Ancient City in Shanxi, and enjoys the name of “North Pingyao and South Fenghuang”.
This place, originally known as the Zhengan City, was later changed to Fenghuang Office, and it was upgraded and renamed Fenghuang County after entering the Republic of China. During the Qing Dynasty, Chenyuan Yongjing Official and Zhengan Town Commander were all stationed here. After the Revolution of 1911, the Xiangxi Commander and Chenyuan Official still worked here. Xiong Xiling and Shen Congwen both lived in.
As a famous scenic spot, Fenghuang Ancient Town has nine scenic spots: Congwen Former Residence, Xiong Xiling Former Residence, Baozhen Ancient Town Museum, Family Ancestral Hall, Dongmen Tower, Tuojiang River Boating, Hongqiao Wind and Rain Building, Chongde Hall and Longevity Palace. With the nine scenic spots of Fenghuang as the core, Fenghuang County has opened a variety of tourist routes, such as "Fenghuang Ancient Town-Miao Village-Nanhua Mountain", which has realized the integration of resources to a certain extent. In the past two years, Fenghuang has actively strengthened the construction of scenic spots and tourism supporting facilities. Fenghuang County has actively connected with the construction projects for expanding the internal demand supported by the central government, accelerated the construction of tourism supporting facilities, improved the conditions for rural tourism, improved the tourism reception capacity, and carried out the development of scenic spots in Nanhua Mountain, the construction of phase III project of Tuojiang River tour road, “green action of embracing the ancient town for 180 miles”, the dredging of Tuojiang River and the implementation of urban lighting, purification and greening projects. At the same time, the tourism service level has been improved and the tourism service environment has been optimized. Fenghuang County has carried out the rectification of the tourism market, the tourism environment and the traffic order, and established a tour guide service management center to create a livable tourism environment in Fenghuang.
Talking about Fenghuang Ancient Town, people can’t help thinking of the famous writer Shen Congwen. Shen Congwen’s former residence is located at No.10 Zhongying Street in Fenghuang Ancient Town. This building with strong Xiangxi characteristics is now a national key cultural relic protection unit in Hunan Province. Shen Congwen was born here on December 28, 1902. Built in the fifth year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty (1866), the former residence is a quadrangle building with wooden structure, covering an area of 600 square meters, which is divided into front and rear buildings, with 10 rooms in total, and it is also Shen Congwen’s residence in his childhood and adolescence. Although the former residence is made of red walls and grey tiles with no unique decoration, the courtyard is full of charm. This plain brick-and-tile world has made Xiangxi a colorful world under the literati's pen and ink, and also attracted a number of tourists.
After arriving at the room on the 19th, we went to Fenghuang Ancient Town to collect data. Walking towards the ancient town, we saw a stone tablet embedded in a brick balcony-style screen, engraved with the words “Fenghuang Town” which was written by former Premier Zhu Rongji. Students took a group photo here.
After dinner, we began to enjoy the night view of Fenghuang. The neon flashed, the lights were reflected in the river, and the water was rippling, sparkling and beautiful, so that everyone couldn’t bear to leave. At 7 p.m. the next day, we set out to enjoy the magnificent large-scale folk sitcom Biancheng, which was directed by Yang Rong, the executive director of Zhang Yimou Impression Series, with an investment of about 130 million Yuan. On the stage, batik cloth with Miao culture characteristics is used and combined with strong and colorful Tujia Xilankapu pattern elements. 365 sets of stage costumes and more than 1,100 silver ornaments bring a strong sense of visual collision, which is a feast for students to understand the history, culture, humanities and ethnic characteristics of Xiangxi.
The strong visual effect impacted the hearts of the students. In addition to lamenting Cuicui’s regrettable life, it also cultivated our artistic sentiment. After the sitcom “Biancheng” ended, we returned to the hotel safely under the leadership of Mr. Zhou Bin and Li Meng to have a rest and make full preparations for the return trip the next day.
