More than 30 years ago, I visited Changsha, Hunan Province, and visited Yuelu Academy, Aiwan Pavilion, and Juzizhou Tau. However, there were still some scenic spots in Changsha that I did not visit because they were not very famous at the time. Among them were Huo Palace, Tianxin Pavilion, and Baisha Well. I went to Changsha for business from April 23 to 25, 2023, so I squeezed in time to make up for visiting these places I had never been to before.

On the evening of the 23rd, after finishing my tours of Yuelu Academy, Aiwan Pavilion and Juzizhou, I took the subway from Juzizhou Metro Station to Changsha Huangxing Square Station, and left the station to the Fire Palace on nearby Pozi Street to taste Changsha snacks.

Changsha Fire Palace, also known as Qianyuan Palace, was built in the fifth year of Wanli of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1577) and renovated in the sixth year of Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty (AD 1826). The Fire Palace is attached to Temple of Fire God, Temple of God, Amitabha Pavilion, Puci Pavilion and other temple buildings. It was destroyed in the Wenxi fire in 1938. When it was rebuilt in 1941, only the Huoshen Temple Hall was restored. Shacks were built in the ruins and small merchants and hawkers operated restaurants and other restaurants. The Huo Palace area became a gathering place for Changsha-style snacks, which were praised by Changsha citizens and diners from north and south.

On April 12, 1958, Mao Zedong, accompanied by Hunan Provincial Party Secretary Zhou Xiaozhou and others, inspected the Huo Palace and tasted the Huo Palace snacks. After praising: "Huo Palace stinky tofu smells smelly and tastes delicious." Later, tasting delicious snacks at Changsha Fire Palace became a common project for Chinese and foreign guests.

In 2001, Changsha renovated and expanded the Fire Palace, reshaped the Fire God statue, restored the Fire God Temple and the ancient stage, painted the Fire Palace archway, added a stone archway, and also erected a monument for Mao Zedong's inspection of the Fire Palace. Today, the Huogong Palace area has become a representative public place in Changsha, Hunan Province, integrating traditional folk culture, fire temple culture, and food culture. The Huogong Palace snacks are famous in Sanxiang.

I walked into the Huogong Palace Restaurant, a pavilions style antique building next to the Huogong Palace. This is a "time-honored Chinese brand" shop. Arriving on the second floor, I specially tasted the famous stinky tofu and braised pork in Huo Palace.

There are gold bricks guarding the fire palace next to the ancient stage in front of the fire palace. The gold bricks collected come from the floor tiles found during the renovation of the fire palace. There is a folk legend that the Huo Palace is "majestic" because of its "gold bricks laying the ground". These gold bricks were actually the city bricks that were carefully fired in Changsha Prefecture and other places in the early Ming Dynasty when they should be recruited to serve as the Yingtianfu City Wall. Looking closer, you will see that these city bricks are also engraved with the title and name of the producer.

Leave the Huo Palace and stroll through the streets of Changsha at night. Perhaps it was because of Sunday, the streets were bustling with pedestrians and the shops were crowded with customers. Display screens on the street broadcast promotional videos of Changsha, which has become a travel and leisure destination for men and women in and outside Hunan Province.

At about 6:20 a.m. on April 25, I took a taxi from the Guanposthouse to Tianxin Pavilion braving the drizzle to see the only remaining section of the ancient city wall in Changsha.

Tianxin Pavilion was originally named "Tianxing Pavilion", and its name originated from the famous saying of "Xingye" in the Ming Dynasty. According to the stars, Changsha City is also known as "Star City", which corresponds to the "Changsha Star" in the sky. Longfu Mountain, where Tianxing Pavilion is located, is the commanding height of the southeast corner of Changsha City. It was the place where ancient people observed astrology and sacrificed sacrifices to gods. Tianxing Pavilion corresponds to the "Changsha Star" in the sky and was regarded by the ancients as a feng shui treasure place with auspicious signs. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, as the Chengnan Academy was moved to the wall of Tianxin Pavilion, Tianxin Pavilion became a cultural sacrifice site corresponding to the Chengnan Academy. The two statues of Emperor Wenchang and Kuixing were enshrined in the pavilion to ensure the prosperity of Changsha's cultural destiny. In the old days, there was an endless stream of people who came to pay homage.

The base site of Tianxin Pavilion occupies the highest terrain in Changsha's Urban area. In addition, it is located on the city wall more than 30 meters high. It is accompanied by a wonderful peak. Looking at Yuelu Mountain as a screen from afar, it looks even more steep and beautiful, attracting literati and literati to climb the pavilion and look into the distance and recite poems and compose poems. There are scenery such as "high pavilions inserting clouds","green screens on the foothills", and "sparse trees containing smoke". Unfortunately, during the "Wenxi" fire in Changsha in 1938, Tianxin Pavilion turned into a piece of tiles, and Tianxin Pavilion was rebuilt in 1983. Because it is a newly built antique building, I have little interest in Tianxin Pavilion. In addition, I have no time to wait for the Tianxin Pavilion attractions to open. I only look at the ancient city wall of Changsha where Tianxin Pavilion is located.

The ancient city wall under Tianxin Pavilion was built in the fifth year of Gaozu of the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC). It was built by Wu Rui, king of Changsha. It has a history of more than 2200 years. In the fifth year of Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty (1372 AD), Qiu Guang, the commander of Changsha's garrison, repaired and reinforced it. It was 8.5 kilometers long and was long from north to south and narrow from east to west. There were a total of nine gates, which greatly enhanced the defense capabilities of Changsha's city. The Changsha Ring Road was built in 1924, leaving only the ancient city wall of Tianxin Pavilion. It is 251 meters long and 13.4 meters high. It is stored in the south and north cities. It is extremely rare among the existing examples of ancient city defense works in our country and is one of the few cultural carriers and historical sites in the ancient city of Changsha.

Because the Tianxin Pavilion attraction was not open yet, I couldn't go inside and see the scene of the Moon City inside the city wall. Only watching this section of Changsha's ancient city wall from outside the city wall, the city's bricks are mottled, and the misty rain gives a sense of historical vicissitudes.

Under the wall of Tianxin Pavilion, there is a stone carving of the Taiping Army Soul made of Sichuan's high-quality generals 'granite. It reproduces the battle scene of Xiao Chaogui, the Western King of the Taiping Rebellion, who took the lead in riding a horse and waving a sword and led the uprising army to attack Changsha City in 1852. Xiao Chaogui was also unfortunately shot and killed under the wall of Tianxin Pavilion in this fierce battle. The Taiping Army's siege ended in failure.

There is a Chonglie Gate at the north entrance of the Tianxin Pavilion City Wall. It is an arch-like building made of general stone. It was built in 1946 to commemorate the soldiers who died in the four battles of Changsha during the Anti-Japanese War. It was built with donations from Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Cheng, Zhang Zhizhong and others. The couplet in the center of Chonglie Gate "Swallow Hu Jie with spirit and bravely defend mountains and rivers."

Across the Chonglie Gate, there are also commemorative buildings such as Chonglie Pavilion and Chonglie Tower, which were also built in 1946 to commemorate the soldiers who died in the Anti-Japanese War in the Four Major Wars in Changsha. Chonglie Tower, also known as the White Tower, has a general stone structure. The tower base is hexagonal. The tower body is composed of a disk and a cylinder. There is a round ball on the upper end of the cylinder, which symbolizes the earth. The spherical surface is engraved with a map of China. A stone lion stands tall above the ball, implying the sacred and inviolable national integrity of Chinese territory.

Leave the ancient city wall of Tianxin Pavilion and cross an alley to Baisha Jing.

Baisha Jing is located on the west side of Huilong Mountain in the south of Changsha, about one kilometer southeast of Tianxin Pavilion. It has been one of the famous springs in Jiangnan since ancient times.

Baisha Well is known as the "No. 1 Spring in Changsha". Baisha Well used to have only one eye out of water, and the water was relatively urgent. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the water was divided into two eyes, and the outflow gradually slowed down. Later, after many trimming, it was expanded to four eyes. The wellhead was 0.6 meters square, and the spring water gurgled from the bottom of the well. It is clear, transparent, sweet and delicious, and continues all year round.

It is impossible to verify when the Baisha Ancient Well was first dug. All the local historical records of Changsha before the Ming Dynasty have been scattered. The remaining "Changsha Prefecture Annals" published in the 12th year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1639) records: "Baisha Well, two miles southeast of the county (referring to Shanhua County), is only a foot long, and the fragrance is fragrant and sweet, and officials from Tongcheng are endlessly drawn, making it the first spring in Changsha." The Qing Dynasty's "Yi Tong Zhi" records that "it is located two miles southeast of the county, only about a foot wide, and it is the sweetest and inexhaustible for a long time." In recent years, there has been textual research that the Baisha Ancient Well was built during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In any case, there is no doubt that Baisha Well is an ancient well in Changsha. The folk song "Wuxi Xishan Mountain, Wuxi, Pinghu Lake and horizontal Lake, Changde De Mountain and Mountains have virtue, Changsha Sand Water and Water Without Sand". The last two sentences are said to come from a couplet from the Longwang Temple next to the Baisha Well in the old days: "Changde has virtue in the mountains and mountains, Changsha has sand and water without sand." This connection road leads to the Baisha Ancient Well spring water that is extremely clear and pure. In Changsha, tea brewed from Baisha well water is called "Shashui Tea" and has a strong taste; while Changsha's famous wine "Baisha Liquid" is said to be made from Baisha well water.

In the drizzle, I came to the Baisha Well, but I saw a stone tablet in the tree against the mountain, engraved with the words "Baisha Ancient Well". The spring hole was surrounded by a guide ditch, and the high place was surrounded by stone railings, and there were stone steps on both sides. channel. Before tap water was popularized, Baisha Well was the main water source for nearby citizens. To this day, nearby citizens still come with buckets to draw water for drinking. The journey was in a hurry, but I actually forgot that I should grab water and drink it to taste the taste of Baisha well water.

After rushing to visit Huo Gong Palace, Tianxin Pavilion City Wall and Baisha Ancient Well, which I had not visited when I visited Changsha more than 30 years ago, my trip to Changsha came to a successful conclusion.