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Fields of gold ready to welcome new traditions
By Tan Weiyun |
March 14, 2009, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SHANGHAI'S backyard garden, the fields around old Pandian Village in Fengxian District, offers city dwellers a special treat or two in spring. Tan Weiyun takes a walk on the wild side
What better way to celebrate spring than by walking through a golden rape flower field in the countryside? Rape flowers have for centuries been used as fodder for farm animals and it's an important crop because of the oil pressed from its seeds.
It has now also become a tourist attraction for city dwellers.
Just one-hour drive from the downtown area, the scenic and peaceful old Pandian Village in Zhuanghang Town, Fengxian District abounds with fresh air and green scenery. It gives visitors a taste of the land famed as "Shanghai's backyard garden."
Now, with spring just around the corner, the village will soon be surrounded by a gorgeous, golden landscape - fields of bright yellow rape flowers are coming into bloom in the late March as the temperature rises.
So pack your bag, take your camera to capture the first sign of spring and check out this natural, yellow phenomenon.
The village, which boasts the city's largest area of rape flower fields (more than 667 hectares), is set to launch the second Shanghai Rape Flower Festival from March 28-April 18.
The flower is fodder for farm animals and the oil that's produced from the plant's seed has been, for a long time, one of the most important crops in the Zhuanghang Town. The oil brings a considerable income boost to local farmers every year.
Now the yellow flowers will help boost the town's tourism and catering services as a steadily increasing number of enthusiastic photographers pour into the fields to take pictures each spring.
A 13-hectare rape flower maze is currently being constructed in the village. The maze has been made by cutting a convoluted path in the plot of short grass and rape flowers with several dead ends and only one way in and out. It will be a challenge for visitors.
"Local agricultural experts and local farmers are working together these days to ensure that the flowers bloom and are on excellent form during the festival," says Xu Jianjun, a spokesman for the local government.
Near the labyrinth will be a workshop where visitors can see how the oil was squeezed and extracted from the rape seeds hundreds of years ago.
Try your hand at this centuries-old agricultural tradition.
A 67-hectare angling base just a few steps away from the flower maze has been prepared so fishing fans can spend a quiet afternoon having fun fishing in the lake.
As well, ancient folk arts, such as paper cutting, dragon dancing, folk song opera and other pastimes can be enjoyed during the festival.
You will also have chance to ride a buffalo, companied by local flute songs while enjoying the early spring scenery, or be dressed up in homespun folk costumes in the green fields.
Gourmets' feasts will be offered to city diners, including local snacks such as free-range chicken, Zhuanghang goat meat, fried rice cooked in a traditional stone oven and other delicacies.
And visitors can pick fruits, vegetables and melons in the fields as one-day farmers.
Date: March 28-April 18
Transport: A4 Highway-A30 Highway (Puwei Road, Zhuanghang exit)-Nanting Road-Zhuangliang Road-Zhuangting Road
About Pandian Village
The ancient village located in Fengxian's southwest goes back more than 1,250 years, and started in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) along the western bank of the small Xin River.
In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the village reached its heydays.
Oil mill workshops, teahouses, rice grinding factories, private schools and cloth shops mushroomed.
The village during that time was a religious center with lots of temples, pagodas and shrines, including the Qianshe Temple in the east, the Guandi Temple in the west and the Jingxin Nunnery in the north.
Sitting in the center of the village was the Honglian Temple, the largest one of all covering 20 hectares, and boasting 5,048 rooms, more than 400 monks, a huge statue of Buddha and stone horses. However much has been destroyed in the turmoil of movements and revolutions.
In front of the Chenwang Temple, there were two stone steles, facing the east and the south. But one was used as a tail edge in a brick kiln in the late Qing Dynasty and the other just disappeared one night. The temple was then used as a primary school.
The village had four gingko trees, all over 100 years old, so huge that three people could not join their arms around them. The trees were said to have been planted in the early Qing, but two were broken by gales in 1953.
The village for centuries remained quiet and peaceful, blessed by a magic buffalo, according to a village legend.
It was said that an old buffalo was tied by a golden chain to the Hengtan Temple. On the day of its death, the buffalo became an immortal for its decades of hard work.
It drowned in the Hengtan River with its golden chain. Since then every rainy season, the riverbank rises as the floods rise to protect the village. The villagers today still keep the tradition of worshipping the buffalo in spring.
What better way to celebrate spring than by walking through a golden rape flower field in the countryside? Rape flowers have for centuries been used as fodder for farm animals and it's an important crop because of the oil pressed from its seeds.
It has now also become a tourist attraction for city dwellers.
Just one-hour drive from the downtown area, the scenic and peaceful old Pandian Village in Zhuanghang Town, Fengxian District abounds with fresh air and green scenery. It gives visitors a taste of the land famed as "Shanghai's backyard garden."
Now, with spring just around the corner, the village will soon be surrounded by a gorgeous, golden landscape - fields of bright yellow rape flowers are coming into bloom in the late March as the temperature rises.
So pack your bag, take your camera to capture the first sign of spring and check out this natural, yellow phenomenon.
The village, which boasts the city's largest area of rape flower fields (more than 667 hectares), is set to launch the second Shanghai Rape Flower Festival from March 28-April 18.
The flower is fodder for farm animals and the oil that's produced from the plant's seed has been, for a long time, one of the most important crops in the Zhuanghang Town. The oil brings a considerable income boost to local farmers every year.
Now the yellow flowers will help boost the town's tourism and catering services as a steadily increasing number of enthusiastic photographers pour into the fields to take pictures each spring.
A 13-hectare rape flower maze is currently being constructed in the village. The maze has been made by cutting a convoluted path in the plot of short grass and rape flowers with several dead ends and only one way in and out. It will be a challenge for visitors.
"Local agricultural experts and local farmers are working together these days to ensure that the flowers bloom and are on excellent form during the festival," says Xu Jianjun, a spokesman for the local government.
Near the labyrinth will be a workshop where visitors can see how the oil was squeezed and extracted from the rape seeds hundreds of years ago.
Try your hand at this centuries-old agricultural tradition.
A 67-hectare angling base just a few steps away from the flower maze has been prepared so fishing fans can spend a quiet afternoon having fun fishing in the lake.
As well, ancient folk arts, such as paper cutting, dragon dancing, folk song opera and other pastimes can be enjoyed during the festival.
You will also have chance to ride a buffalo, companied by local flute songs while enjoying the early spring scenery, or be dressed up in homespun folk costumes in the green fields.
Gourmets' feasts will be offered to city diners, including local snacks such as free-range chicken, Zhuanghang goat meat, fried rice cooked in a traditional stone oven and other delicacies.
And visitors can pick fruits, vegetables and melons in the fields as one-day farmers.
Date: March 28-April 18
Transport: A4 Highway-A30 Highway (Puwei Road, Zhuanghang exit)-Nanting Road-Zhuangliang Road-Zhuangting Road
About Pandian Village
The ancient village located in Fengxian's southwest goes back more than 1,250 years, and started in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) along the western bank of the small Xin River.
In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the village reached its heydays.
Oil mill workshops, teahouses, rice grinding factories, private schools and cloth shops mushroomed.
The village during that time was a religious center with lots of temples, pagodas and shrines, including the Qianshe Temple in the east, the Guandi Temple in the west and the Jingxin Nunnery in the north.
Sitting in the center of the village was the Honglian Temple, the largest one of all covering 20 hectares, and boasting 5,048 rooms, more than 400 monks, a huge statue of Buddha and stone horses. However much has been destroyed in the turmoil of movements and revolutions.
In front of the Chenwang Temple, there were two stone steles, facing the east and the south. But one was used as a tail edge in a brick kiln in the late Qing Dynasty and the other just disappeared one night. The temple was then used as a primary school.
The village had four gingko trees, all over 100 years old, so huge that three people could not join their arms around them. The trees were said to have been planted in the early Qing, but two were broken by gales in 1953.
The village for centuries remained quiet and peaceful, blessed by a magic buffalo, according to a village legend.
It was said that an old buffalo was tied by a golden chain to the Hengtan Temple. On the day of its death, the buffalo became an immortal for its decades of hard work.
It drowned in the Hengtan River with its golden chain. Since then every rainy season, the riverbank rises as the floods rise to protect the village. The villagers today still keep the tradition of worshipping the buffalo in spring.
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