An Unexpected Encounter in Hancheng (Part 1)

Preface: What is travel? There is a saying that answers this question: travel is to go from the place you are bored to the place where others are bored. The slogan only covered half of the sentence, the other half used limited time, limited money, and limited energy to see infinite scenery. No matter where you have been, please patiently browse, preserve our inner feelings.

2019.10.6, 8:00, 'Remember to bring your student ID and passport'', Self-driving to Hancheng, our chapter officially began.

Singing and shouting all the way, unimpeded on the highway, we are getting closer to Hancheng. A good feeling for a city starts with 'Welcome to Hancheng' at the entry point, this feeling can last until the end of the trip. Hancheng, a city with stories, a city with flavors.

1) First stop, straight to Jiazhuang Village – mainly composed of the Party and Jia clans, named Party Village because of the Party surname settled here over 150 years ago, so named Party Village. Online describes it as having a long history and rustic customs, because there are courtyards and halls, temples, and theaters in the village, which are praised by domestic and foreign experts as 'living fossils of ancient traditional Chinese civilization residences' and 'world folk dwellings', unlike the Wang family courtyard in Shanxi Pingyao, which has a weaker commercial atmosphere. Let's go to explore it together.

A group of people squeezed into the ancient stone-paved alleyways, dazzling, and had to pay attention to their feet, didn't give up on the first sight of scenery. The various high-gate mansions, solemn halls, and mysterious courtyards all told the past prosperity and glory of Party Village. The wind in the alleyways always blows without hurry or worry, a little rainy, and the humid air mixes with the scent of peppercorns, which makes people feel like their pores are all open and comfortable.

The winding path leads to a secluded courtyard, beside a well, a Ming and Qing four-courtyard house. Yes, it's where we rested for two nights. The owner of the courtyard is a pair of elderly people, we were given two (-side rooms), kitchen and bathroom are shared. We accidentally heard lessons outside the door, you will notice that there are two flagpoles with Corinthian capitals in front of the door, called flagpoles, which are the glory and symbols of the officials. From the beginning of entering the door, we couldn't help but admire the wisdom of the working people, a solid wooden bench was placed outside, which could be used to chat and entertain, and could also be placed in the middle of the door as a threshold, one thing for two uses, cross the threshold, you will see a wall of shadow, and when you turn the shadow wall, you will see a solemn hall. Neat and orderly, antique-style is my first impression of accommodation. By the way, our courtyard in Party Village is the largest courtyard, the courtyard owner grandpa is quite respected in the village, unfortunately only saw his true face, missed the opportunity to take a photo.

Hiking through Party Village, there is a relatively wide road, let's call it the main road, the stalls on the stalls have various goods, every plaything has a charming soul attached by the hands of villagers. In the distance, a melodious music suddenly appeared, we broke through the crowd, and saw a graceful and unrestrained Oriental woman, with an elegant pace, holding a transparent umbrella, the light rain made the dreamy atmosphere, people stopped to admire. Elsewhere, accompanied by lively pop music, women dressed in strange clothes were following the rhythm to beat drums with their hands, with smiling faces that could melt everything.

2) Second stop, driving to the ancient city of Hancheng, the morning glow, colorful, some shops were closed, which was a surprise to me, the facades were made of wooden boards, whether opening or closing needed to be assembled and disassembled one by one, which undoubtedly showed the local folk culture. Walking and stopping, we lingered in the Peppercorn Laboratory, and once again lamented that it was a city with stories and a city with flavors, so we couldn't help but mention its specialty – peppercorns. Afterwards, we found a fresh food supermarket to buy vegetables and return home.

Tasting the flavor of the city, dismissing street vendors and fast food. That night, in the intoxicating atmosphere of No. 7, we laughed and chatted, and had a colorful dream……