In the bustling north courtyard gate, the Gaos Courtyard is really not so eye-catching. If the light were a little darker, I might not see the words "two harmony" on the lintel at all, and of course I would miss this scenic spot hidden in the alley.
The Gaojia Courtyard in North Yard Gate is one of the most well-preserved residential courtyards and the former residence of Gaojia. Covering an area of 4.2 mu, the living area is 25 17 square meters, and there are 86 houses, 56 of which are open to the public. In terms of scale, it is actually not big. Compared with the salt merchants in Yangzhou, it is only a small house. The main building of the compound was built during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, with a history of more than 400 years.
Gao's father, Gao, is a famous local squire. He gave up money to protect his hometown by discussing Taoist priests with business students and rewarding Hua Ling. When I was a child, I loved reading and writing, and I was good at long books. After eight years of Tongzhi, I took part in the provincial examination and got a place in the exam. After ten years of Tongzhi, I have to take an examination of the Ministry of Rites and get into the Jinshi. The court exam gave two royal gifts, one for each, edited by imperial academy.
About the origin of this compound, according to legend, it was the second place in the college entrance examination in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, and Chongzhen gave this house. However, at the end of Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen was busy with Li Zicheng and Manchu, and lacked the salary of serenade. Whether the emperor has spare money and spare money for the second prize house is still a question of two opinions.
The gate of the compound is very small, and the plaque of "No.2" has the seal of "Qianlong Imperial Pen", which shows that this house was given by Qianlong, which may be more reliable. However, the plaque is very new and probably a replica. After entering the door, there is a brick-carved shadow wall and a small courtyard with red lanterns hanging high. The ticket office is in front of the screen wall, and tickets for Shaanxi Opera and Shadow Play are also available. Tickets are not expensive, 15 yuan per person.
The courtyard is a brick-wood quadrangle complex with three entrances and four exits, which is a typical Shaanxi residential style. Brick, white ash, blue tile roof, wooden columns, wooden doors and wooden panes, the atmosphere is comparable to Shanxi mansion, and there are some Huizhou architecture charm in exquisiteness.
The courtyard is small, with north and south guest rooms on both sides and banquet living room on the south, where the host entertains guests and holds banquets. There is a hall meeting at the banquet, so it is easy to make the host and guest happy by setting the banquet living room next to the stage. There are two rows of boxes on both sides that can go up to the second floor. It should have been used by the host to entertain VIPs at that time.
The stage was later restored, and the Qin opera was performed here. However, it's no coincidence that we are here, and we can't catch up with Shaanxi Opera. After visiting the compound, we can watch a shadow play. Out of the banquet living room, the Second Hospital of South Road consists of lobby and east and west wing. The lobby is the place where the host receives guests or holds ceremonial activities, and the plaque "Welcome to Purple" is hung at the main entrance. Walking in, there is a woodcarving screen in the middle, engraved with the full text of the famous Preface to Lanting Collection. The host is probably not arty, but really elegant, right?
Jingyuan Hall is the hostess's reception place, with wooden screen and no color paint, which is very consistent with the overall style of the courtyard. The fourth entrance of the courtyard has two floors and is tall and spacious. At first glance, it is the core building of quadrangles. In the middle of the nave is the bedroom of the master and his wife, which is very spacious.
There are north and south wings on both sides, in which the north wing is slightly higher than the south wing15cm, because men were respected in ancient times, while the north wing is for young masters to live in, and the furnishings are slightly spacious. The south wing is a women's embroidered building with narrow stairs. It's really inconvenient to go up and down the stairs if your feet are tied. No wonder ancient ladies stayed on the embroidered floor all day, so it was really dangerous to go downstairs. To the north of the nave, there is a study room, and to the east, there is a provincial room. Gao VII was an official and his family education was very strict. Family members who have made mistakes must reflect here, which means thinking about things like that.
On one side of the ministries and agencies is a painting building, and outside is a narrow yard with an ancient well. The scale is not large, and it can't compare with the back gardens of those houses in Jiangnan. However, the climbing of brocade and green leaves adds a little vitality to the plain brick wood. Climbing the side stairs, you can see the bustling crowd at the entrance of the academy and hear the noisy noise. The Moon Gate is also a brick carving, engraved with the four characters of "Friendship with Literature". I want to come to the master of the compound and like to make friends. I don't know if it's a wedding or a funeral.
Further east, there is the Gaos ancestral hall and a square yard. There are some old things of Shaanxi folk houses in the yard, which should be taken from other places. Gao's bookstore is called "bookstore", probably because Gao hopes that future generations will learn to be a man, cultivate self-cultivation, and be fair and comfortable. On the east side of the private school is Yangxin Pavilion, where teachers live.
Look at the time, the performance of shadow play is coming, so I went to the banquet living room. Shadow play is an ancient and unique folk opera art in China, which is very popular in Guanzhong area of Shaanxi Province. This is a folk drama that uses light sources to illuminate the silhouette of people made of animal skin or cardboard to perform stories. The artists hid behind the white curtain, manipulated the opera characters and sang stories with local tunes. Of course, Shaanxi's most popular Shaanxi opera has a high-pitched singing voice.