Chapter 7 The "Ancient Tomb" is right in front of the house?

In 1841, Hong Kong was under the control of Great Britain. Until 1997, the British regarded this small island in South China as their own spoils of war and implemented colonial rule in Hong Kong.However, although Hong Kong people wear suits, eat Western food, speak English, and celebrate Christmas and Easter, even I, who came to Hong Kong a hundred years later, can attest that the city has not been fully Westernized.Foreigners built many Western-style buildings and churches in Hong Kong back then. Christianity, Catholicism, and many other religions, but Chinese Buddhism and Taoism are also standing and fashionable here.Maybe the British didn't want to use steel and concrete and modern thoughts to build Hong Kong into a corner of the Western world that has nothing to do with her mother, but culture and tradition are invisible after all, and they are passed down in the blood of every nation. Generations of reproduction can only be fused, not replaced.

In 1993, I remember the first time I went abroad and stopped in Hong Kong. I heard from my friends that I was going to pay homage to Huang Daxian, and I also said that I had to get up early, otherwise I would not be able to do things if there were too many people. People, white-bearded old men, with a touch of Buddha's spirit, can tell fortunes, and can also show people difficult and miscellaneous diseases. This kind of misunderstanding has existed for many years.Later, I realized that "Huang Daxian" is not a mortal.In the past, when he was alive, he devoted his whole life to practicing medicine and helping the world. After he died, he was named "Chisong Fairy" and was worshiped as a god. He was brought to Hong Kong from the mainland in the early 20th century. Hong Kong has been occupied by foreigners for nearly a hundred years. In particular, it is said that Wong Tai Sin "responses to every request", and the signature is particularly effective. Therefore, every year on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Hong Kong people come in the middle of the night to compete for the "first incense stick" of the Spring Festival. , making the entire "Huang Daxian" more than 18,000 square meters of pure land filled with smoke from morning to night, and the sound of lotteries resounded everywhere.

In March 2005, I came to the Wong Tai Sin District on the Kowloon Peninsula (it has become a place name, which shows the influence) in order to see for myself how different the popularity of "Wong Tai Sin" is from the temples in the mainland.There is no temple, but the archway of "Chisong Huang Taixian Temple" under the hillside is majestic enough. After entering the temple, I found that the building of "Huang Taixian Temple" is magnificent and magnificent. Other auxiliary halls, such as the "Three Saints Hall", enshrine Luzu (Lu Dongbin), Guanyin, and Guandi, and hang portraits of Confucius, the old sage who is the teacher of all ages, and are full of authentic Chinese traditional features. The devout men and women who drew lots, made vows, and fulfilled vows were all devout and respectful. It can be seen that most of them are Hong Kong people.

My purpose of investigating "Huang Daxian" is not to try to prove what kind of fierce battle between Chinese and Western cultures in Hong Kong has been going on for more than a hundred years, and who wins and loses in the end, but I don't understand that Hong Kong society is both respectful of the foreign and ancient. , why are the two pursuits so indistinguishable?Young people can go to church when they get married, and many people will go to "Wong Tai Sin" for their weddings.In addition to "Wong Tai Sin", in such a small place in Hong Kong, there are many Tin Hau Temples, Guanyin Temples, Pak Tai Temples, Man Mo Temples, Hou Wang Temples, Wang Ye Temples, etc., all over Hong Kong and Kowloon.On Lantau Island in the west, there is a centuries-old temple - "Po Lin Temple". On the top of Muyu Mountain facing the memorial archway of the temple, there is a bronze Buddha sitting cross-legged, which is said to be the largest bronze Buddha in the world, known as the "Great Buddha of the Temple of Heaven". On December 12, 2005, "Po Lin Temple" in Hong Kong held a week-long "Mountain Centennial Commemoration and Water and Land Disaster Relief Dharma Assembly" to pray for the physical and mental health of the citizens, the prosperity of the society, and the peace of the whole world.I went to the Zen temple for interviews. Although I was not based in the old Chinese cultural ancient cities like Kaifeng, Xi'an, and Nanjing in the temple, I still had a thick root in my heart.The commemorative activities kicked off with the solemn national anthem. The big stage of the main venue of the opening ceremony seemed to be plated with gold that day, the whole body was golden, the Buddha's light radiated, and the magic power was boundless.The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government sent officials to participate in the ceremony on the first day. Mr. Gao Siren, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, also attended the meeting and served as the officiant guest. The Zhaitang of the Zen Temple - Luohantang had a lunch together, and of course everyone ate vegetarian food.

China's Hong Kong, Hong Kong's China, I found that these two things are inseparable when I arrived in Hong Kong. What is the difference?Looking for Chinese culture in Hong Kong, mainlanders can see familiar things at a glance, but unfamiliar things are a bit puzzling. Some situations are not only unique to Hong Kong, but you don’t believe it if you don’t see it with your own eyes—— On December 30, 2005, our Hong Kong reporter station of CCTV received an interview invitation: an ancient tomb of the Eastern Han Dynasty excavated 50 years ago in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon—the ancient tomb of Li Zhengwu, which was repaired and newly protected in that year , reopened to citizens and tourists.

For historical relics, I have been more interested in historical relics than adults since I was a child, and I have always kept the impression in my heart: Generally, historical sites should be far away from the city, and they will never appear near the market.For example, I didn’t have the opportunity to go to the Ming Tombs with my classmates until I was 13 years old. At that time, there was no direct tourist bus, so I had to take a bus, stop after stop, and walk for a long time after getting off the bus. Road, boy, why does it feel so far away!Later, I went to Dongling in the Qing Dynasty and drove for several hours until I arrived in the territory of Hebei Province.Thinking about it, it seems to be a matter of course, how can the emperor's mausoleum be right at the door of the house?Even ordinary people, for example, isn't my own family's ancestral grave far away in Beijing Xishan?

Well, with this impression, on the day of the interview, the cameraman and I were mentally prepared for a long journey, and set off to shoot "Lee Cheng Uk Ancient Tomb", but the car departed from Hong Kong Island, including passing through the subsea tunnel , Going deep into Kowloon, I only ran for 40 minutes at most, and before I drove out of the block of shops in Sham Shui Po, the driver suddenly stopped the car on the side of the road and said, "We are here, get out of the car." Ask: "Here we are, where is the ancient tomb?" The driver pointed to a residential building on the side of the road, and then said very naturally: "Look, that's it."

I got out of the car in confusion, and looked at the place the driver said—there was no hillside dominated by weeds, no dark green pines and cypresses in the cemetery, and no long corridor leading to the ancient tomb.No, I read the information before I came here: "Lee Cheng Uk Ancient Tomb" in Hong Kong was excavated in August 1955.At that time, Hong Kong people were developing a new residential area, and they discovered it by accident when they flattened the mountains. "Mountain"?That means the ancient tomb is in the mountains?And the data also said: This "ancient tomb" is made of bricks, with four cross-shaped tomb chambers and a dome in the center. Because many pottery and bronze wares of the Han Dynasty were found in the tomb, it has been proved by archaeologists Since it is an ancient tomb of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the construction period should be between 25 and 200 AD——between 25 and 200 AD?It must be at least 1,800 years from today. How could such an ancient "tomb" be located in a "residential area"?

Letting go of the car that sent us, I was still skeptical, and asked passers-by, and the passer-by continued to say: Yes, "Li Zhengwu Ancient Tomb" is just ahead, and the cameraman and I have been brought to a bungalow on the side of the road. courtyard.This one-story courtyard is quite antique, with the sign of "Hong Kong Museum of History Branch" hanging in front of the door, but what about "Lee Cheng Uk Ancient Tomb"?Where is it hiding?Passers-by said that it is behind the "branch library", and if you don't go in, you won't be able to see it from the front.

At that time, I was not interested in listening to passers-by, let alone visiting museums. What I was anxious about was to see the "Ancient Tomb" sooner!At this time, the staff who had been waiting there discovered that we were reporters, walked over happily, led us to a narrow door next to the "branch", and said: Don't worry, if you don't want to read the introduction, then go to It’s okay to look at the tomb first. After entering this door, you’ll be in the backyard of the ancient tomb, where the celebration will be held later... we’ll come in.If you don’t go in or don’t believe it, you will be speechless when you come in—the “tomb bag” appeared through the narrow gate, a round loess hill about two feet high, covered with a very modern landscape. The white plastic tent, the four corners of the tent spread its wings irregularly to the blue sky, and there are a few grasses growing on the edge of the hill, showing its pitiful green in the wind, but its front, left hand, and right hand are all It is a residential building. Three tall civilian buildings embrace an "Eastern Han Dynasty Tomb". The "tomb bag" and the building are low on one side and high on three sides, leaving a small open space in the middle. It doesn't matter if it's the backyard of the "Ancient Tomb", or it's the "small garden" of the residents of the three buildings, anyway, the functions overlap.I believe that there is nothing in the "tomb bag" that wanders out of it from time to time to enjoy its "backyard"; but the residents of the three buildings seem to have people walking and enjoying the shade here every day, because there is a road There are strips of public seats, and many flowers and plants are planted.

I stood still in the "small open space" and saw a temporary stage for activities, because I greatly overestimated the itinerary, we came too early that day, and the celebration ceremony had not yet started, so I had plenty of time to look around the "tomb" and the residents again and again The relationship between the building—“Eastern Han Dynasty Tombs” silently seemed to wait for me, a reporter from the mainland, to come, and at the same time looked helplessly at me standing beside it, so surprised that I couldn’t say a word—these three Residential buildings are too close to the "Ancient Tomb"!It takes dozens of steps to get to the "tomb bag" from several door openings, and some only takes a dozen steps.I imagined it out of thin air: If any of the children living here are curious, they can't help but want to climb up to the "tomb bag" to play, and it will take less than a minute to start from the door of any unit.Of course, this kind of thing is absolutely impossible to happen in Hong Kong. Suddenly, I thought of the "Ancient Tomb". This trip we first rushed to shoot the "Ancient Tomb". As a result, we couldn't find where the gate of the "Li Zhengwu Ancient Tomb" opened, but our attention was first focused by the "residential building". to transfer.No, I have to look at the "Ancient Tomb" to see who and what kind of temper this family from the Eastern Han Dynasty was?At this time, I remembered that the entrance of the "Li Zhengwu Ancient Tomb" that passers-by told me was actually only visible through the door of the museum branch. In and out of the narrow gate), back to the main road, and entered the museum. In the small museum branch, everything is very formal - all the historical pictures and text descriptions of the excavation of "Li Chengwu Tomb" and the final archaeological definition are hung on the wall, and there are a total of 58 pieces of pottery and pottery unearthed in the cabinet. The imitation pieces of bronze wares, but "ancient tombs" cannot be entered. As soon as the "Li Zhengwu Ancient Tomb" was discovered 50 years ago, it was immediately sealed up.In order to keep out the tide and allow future generations to visit, Hong Kong cultural relics administrators erected a glass iron door at the entrance of the ancient tomb. Through this glass door, people can look inside and see the tomb pit by daylight. , caves and some tomb passages, but if you must "immerse yourself in the scene", then you have to think of other ways and rely on modern means-the museum branch specially provides two brand-new computer equipment for everyone. As long as you are interested, you can "walk" and "see" all the corners of the "Ancient Tomb" by touching it.It should be said that Hong Kong people 50 years ago really fulfilled their responsibilities and obligations to Chinese descendants in order to protect cultural relics. Later, the cherishment of "ancient tombs" and the convenience they provided for visitors also revealed half a century of painstaking efforts and wisdom.However, no matter how attractive the brand-new multimedia computer animation is, I still can’t calm down, and a bunch of questions have always disturbed me—“Why did ancient tombs appear in residential areas?” “For 50 years, Hong Kong residents have been with ancient tombs of the Eastern Han Dynasty day and night. , Are we in peace with each other?" "There are a total of 77 statutory monuments protected in Hong Kong today, isn't every place like 'Lee Cheng Uk'?"... In fact, I have been in Hong Kong for a while. Hong Kong is a small place, and I have to be limited by the space to deal with problems. I should be able to understand this.In ancient times, Hong Kong was still a small fishing village, and the rich would certainly not choose the cemetery at their gate.The government opened the mountain in 1955. The purpose at that time was to open up more living space for the residents of Sham Shui Po. The "Eastern Han Dynasty Tomb" was accidentally unearthed, but in front of the hill containing the "Ancient Tomb", there is the sea not far away.If people give up the original house building plan in order to continue to enjoy the tranquility of the "ancient tomb", then where will the many Hong Kong people who are anxiously waiting for the new house to settle down find land again?If you don't give up, the "Tombs of the Eastern Han Dynasty" can only be neighbors with modern people.Not only that, many private houses that people saw in Sham Shui Po later, including the street avenue where the driver suddenly stopped when I came, were actually the sea in the past. Later, Hong Kong people threw stones to build up soil and reclaimed the sea foot by foot. "It came out - Hong Kong people and the "Lee Cheng Uk Ancient Tomb" lived in such a close distance, it was really out of necessity. The celebration ceremony of "the 50th anniversary of the excavation of 'Li Zhengwu Ancient Tomb' and its reopening after renovation" is about to begin. I was called back to the "small open space" from the branch of the museum. The old people in the three residential buildings and At this moment, the children started to walk out of the house in twos and threes, preparing to listen to firecrackers and watch performances. After a while, the gongs and drums sounded, and a lion dance team with a full body bunt had led several golden "lions" into the arena happily.Everyone is sincerely applauding the "Ancient Tomb", and is happy that the "Ancient Tomb" is covered with a modern plastic tent and will never be wet by rain again.Only me, standing at the back of the open-air venue, is still reviewing: How far is the Eastern Han Dynasty from today? More than 1800 years! How close are Hong Kong people today to the "Ancient Tomb"?Dozens of steps, some more than ten steps. They live a modern life, but they usually see the "tomb bag" when they open the window, so they stay together with the "Eastern Han Dynasty tomb" all day without looking up. In their hearts, don't they really feel awkward at all?