Folkways And Customs (2)

Though with a high regard for industry and thrift, the mountain people are particular about their dwelling place as well as their life style. Every house is decorated with calligraphy and painting. On some pillars still hang the couplet boards of the old times, bearing aphorisms such as: The world becomes large if you are tolerant toward everything. Business grows booming when you are generous to everybody. Heroes are those who can stand hardships. Fools aren't those who will bear losses. Filial piety and fraternal duty keep a family prosperous. Diligent learning and hard working make a man perfect. At the upper end of the central hall is usually a long narrow table, on which a bottle stands on the right and a mirror on the left, symbolizing peace and quietude, for in Chinese bottle and mirror are homonymous to peace and quietude respectively. In front of the long table is an old fashioned square table, and on either side of it stands an armchair. All appear antique.

Among the Huangshan family daily articles two things are indispensable--the heating stove and the bamboo tube. The bamboo tube is a food container. Some of them are carved with beautiful designs. The longer they are used the more smooth and polished they become. They can be compared favorably with artistic works. Heating stoves, on the other hand, are used to warm up people in winter. They vary in design and size. Some are shaped like a bucket and others like a box, each with a fire pot inside the frame. The bucket-shaped one, with an arc cover on the top, is for a single person, while the box-shaped one is usually used to warm up several people sitting around. There is also a basket-like heating stove. It is made of bamboo with an iron interior which is coated with clay. When filled with charcoal, this type is a portable stove. Children take these bamboo stoves to school, each keeping one under his lap or at his feet in class. This kind of stoves is so popular that they make up a special feature of the Huangshan district.

Huangshan boasts high mountains, dense forests and fertile land and abounds in natural resources and special local products such as tea, mushroom, glossy ganoderma, bamboo shoots, loquats, tangerines, pears, edible manna lichen, yangtao, dates, dried snakes, walnuts, lacqueware, bamboo weaves, carvings, chinaware as well as the four treasures of the study - writing brush, ink stick, inkslab and paper. Among them Qihong Black Tea, Tunlu Green Tea, Hui Ink Sticks and She Inkslabs are so famous that they have become synonyms of Huizhou. Hui Ink Sticks, formerly called Li Ink Sticks, were made by Xi Chao and Xi Tinggui, ink stick makers of the Tang Dynasty, who came from Yishui, Hebei. Their ink sticks were light in weight, nice in smell, and pure in color. They were so appreciated by Li Yu, an emperor of the Later Tang, that he bestowed Xi Tingsui the imperial surname Li and appointed him to the post of Court Ink Master. The ink sticks he made were thus called Li Ink Sticks. A saying had it at that time that It is easier to get gold than to get a Li Ink Stick.

And later, ink stick making became a popular trade in Shezhou. After the place was renamed Huizhou, the ink sticks made here were often referred to as Hui Ink Sticks. With the improvement and innovation of technology, Hui Ink Sticks have been widely loved by painters and calligraphers for their special quality: they are hard but easy to be moistened, black with a beautiful sheen and not sticky to a writing brush or soaking to the paper. With a favorable fragrance a brush with Hui ink moves more smoothly on paper. Writings and paintings in this ink are pitch-dark, ever-lasting and true in color. The Globe Ink Sticks made in Hu Kaiwen Ink Workshop won a gold medal in Panama international Fair in 1915 and thereby became world famous. She Inkslabs, on the other hand, is one of the four most famous inkslabs, besides Guangdong's Duan Inkslab, Gansu's Tao Inkslab and Shanxi's Chengni Inkslab. She Inkslab is made out of the stone on the Dragon Tail Mountain, Zhuchi Mountain and Xianxia Mountain within the present-day Jiangxi Province and the surrounding areas. As Wuyuan belonged to Shezhou in the old days and as on the Dragon Tail Mountain there was a stream named She Stream, the inkslab made of the stone from these places was called She inkslab.

The best-known inkslab is cut out of the rock from the Dragon Tail Mountain, called Dragon Tail Inkslab. Investigations show that the geologic age of the Dragon Tail Mountain belongs to the Sinian Period, which was a billion years ago, so She inkslabs are pure-colored, fine-veined, heavy and smooth, and when rubbed with an ink stick, no sound is produced and the ink is as thick as oil. She Inkslab has its varieties--25 designs out of 5 classes. Among the most valuable are Brow-Veined, Net-Veined, Golden-Star, Silver-Star, Golden-Ring, Golden-Ribbon and Black-Gold inkslabs. Not only do they enjoy a high quality but also exquisite designs and a fine workmanship. The craftsmen usually carve the slabs into different designs according to the natural shapes and veins of the raw materials. Besides round, square, and natural shapes, the slabs are carved into the shapes of melons, fruits, fish and dragons as well as human figures, which are extremely lifelike. The Nine Dragon Inkslab , for example, has 9 dragons swimming in surging waves, with 18 shining eyes carved out of the 18 natural star-like spots on the stone. The carving is of superb craftsmanship excelling nature. It is thus regarded as a rare treasure. Furthermore, the caskets for She Inkslabs are just as exquisite. They are usually made of pearwood or toonwood, shaped according to the size of the slabs. Each slab fits well into its casket so that no sound is heard when the casket is shaken. Painted red, the caskets look elegant and antique. She Inkslabs were highly appraised by Oyang Xiu, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu, and widely loved by inkslab collectors.

Huangshan is also a tea-producing area and most people of the district are tea drinkers. Besides Qihong Black Tea and Tunlu Green Tea, which are world famous, Taiping Houkui, Baiyue Huangya, Huangshan Maofeng, Lumudan, Songluo, Queshe, Lianxin, Dinggudafang and some other varieties rank first class. Besides being a refreshing drink, tea has its medical values, Songluo Tea, for example, helps to reduce blood pressure, and Dinggudafang reduces weight. Shimo Tea, produced on Yixian County's Shimo Mountain, is said to contain more than ten trace elements, which will help to prevent diseases and senility, and the longevity of the local people is believed to be related to the tea.

Tea drinking has become their daily routine. They have the morning tea, the noon tea and the evening tea. In the morning they drink the green tea to refresh themselves. It is said they would rather dispense with breakfast than with tea. At noon, after lunch, they have a strong tea to help digestion, and in the evening they sip a weak tea just to relax themselves. The Huangshan people are hospitable and whenever a guest comes they entertain him first of all with tea. They do not make tea in a teapot, instead they infuse it directly in a cup. Boiled water is added to it during the course of drinking, but the cup is never filled to the brim. The folks are particular about the way of drinking. They enjoy good tea by sipping and tasting it slowly. Nothing can bring them more pleasure than a cup of delicious tea, pure, fragrant and refreshing. Tea growing pursuit in Huizhou enjoys a history of more than 1,200 years. There are over 30 varieties of tea, among which Qihong Black Tea has gained a fame as the world's top tea, and Tunlu Green Tea is sold in more than 50 countries and regions. The girls are demonstrating the local way of serving tea with specially made bamboo tea-things.

Around Mt. Huangshan is a world of treasure and mystery. After your sightseeing tour, you may well make yourself a cup of tea and sip it leisurely. In the hour of delightful relaxation, thoughts may come welling up in your mind. And to your joy you will find that the mystical and mysterious wonderland is right here-dearly cherished in your heart!

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