As the ancient capital of the 13th Dynasties, Xi'an does not lack history and culture, but it seems that there are not many ancient alleys preserved. Going south from the Bell Tower, there is a tall archway with ancient charm at the street corner. Three golden characters "Academy Gate" are marked above it. On both sides are eye-catching couplets "The forest of steles hides national treasures, the academy educates outstanding talents." You can smell out from these words. The cultural depth of this neighborhood. The origin of the place name of Shuyuan Gate comes from the Guanzhong Academy inside it.

Guanzhong Academy was a famous institution in Shaanxi during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It was founded during the Wanli period of Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty. It was also the highest academic institution in Shaanxi during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, one of the four famous academies in the country, and the crown of the four major academies in the northwest. It is a place that Shaanxi people are proud of.

Nowadays, with the expansion of the city and the number of universities, Guanzhong Academy has lost its former prosperity. However, this ancient street leading to Guanzhong Academy has been partially preserved and become a witness to history.

It is not as tall as imagined. The inner and outer doors of the academy separate the modernity from the simplicity. However, Xi'an's market and fireworks also permeate this street.

At the end of December, Xi'an is about to enter 2020. Compared with the severe cold in most areas in the north, Xi'an is much warmer, and sometimes some places are still filled with greenery and flowers. However, it was a bit cold in the morning and evening, so residents all put on cotton-padded clothes when traveling.

Before entering the academy, an ancient tower stands in front of you. The roadside sign shows that this tower is the Baoqing Temple Tower.

[Baoqing Temple Tower]

Baoqing Temple was built during the Sui Emperor period (601-604). Data show that the original site of the temple was not here, but moved from Anrenfang. In the second year of Jingtai in the Ming Dynasty, that is, in 1451, Baoqing Temple was moved to its present site. After the completion of Baoqing Temple, during the Tang Wenzong period, a pagoda was built with five-color bricks in the temple, so Baoqing Temple was also called Huata Temple.

Why people nowadays only see the pagoda but not the temple? It stems from the Five Dynasties period, when the temple was destroyed by war and fire, and the temple was no longer there, leaving only the pagoda. The Baoqing Temple Tower we see now is 23 meters high, has seven floors, and has a hexagonal plan. It contains stone Buddha statues from the Wei, Sui, Tang and other periods. An existing stone tablet was renovated in the second year of the Ming Dynasty (1451).

Although today's Baoqing Temple Pagoda has gone through hundreds of years of vicissitudes, it is much smaller than the size of the Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an, and not many tourists know about it, but it silently guards the gate of the academy and exudes its vitality. Under the blue sky, the pagoda has clear edges and sharp contrast between white and gray. It has a sense of history and a beauty of vicissitudes.

On the roadside beside the Baoqing Temple Tower, there is also a pair of stone sculptures that highlight the ancient charm of this ancient tower and ancient street. I don't know who they are or why they are used to protect them. Due to its age and lack of special protection on the roadside, the surface was touched to be bright and the stone statue was damaged, but it still showed the superb craftsmanship at the time of production.

Looking at the ancient tower from afar and then moving forward, you will arrive at the "Academy Gate". Walking in from here is another world. Outside are high-rise buildings in Xi'an, while inside the street, the floors are paved with bluestone slabs, some of which are dilapidated, and a variety of grocery stores, large and small, are also coming to the face. Looking around, you will find that most of the four treasures of literature, calligraphy and painting, and folk arts and crafts are filled with the atmosphere of calligraphy and painting. This place is called "Xi'an Ancient Culture Tourism Street".

Shushumen Ancient Street starts from the Xi'an Forest of Steles Museum in Wenchang Gate in the east and ends at the Hua Pagoda of Baoqing Temple in the west. It is only 570 meters long. According to local people, there are more than 200 facade houses and more than 100 stalls on both sides of this nearly 600-meter-long street, mainly dealing in the four treasures of literature, jewelry and jade, celebrity calligraphy and painting, handicrafts, etc. "Although there are not many tourists on the ancient streets now, during holidays, the maximum number of tourists can reach 10,000," they said.

Looking for ancient buildings in the ancient street, I found an old-fashioned two-story building. There is a Zhuangyuan Building. The first floor is decorated in bright red for selling clothes, while the second floor retains the same appearance as a hundred years ago. I wonder which champion once lived in this building.

The most famous place in the gate of the academy used to be the Guanzhong Academy. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I didn't go inside. However, there is a primary school at the door of Shuxiang. The door is antique and is an old building left over from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It has a sense of time.

[Former Residence of Yu Youren]

Today's Shushumen Ancient Culture Tourism Street may seem ordinary, but it carries Xi'an's profound and long-lasting folk culture. At No. 52 on this ancient street, opposite the ancient tower, there is a deep courtyard where a well-known cultural celebrity once lived. He was Mr. Yu Youren, a master of calligraphy, educator, pioneer of democratic revolution, and patriot. He is the most famous celebrity on the street.

This ancient house No. 52 was the residence of Mr. Youren in Xi'an before he went to Taiwan in 1949. In November 1949, Mr. Yu was forced to move to Taiwan, but his original wife Gao Zhonglin and eldest daughter Yu Zhixiu remained in the mainland and lived in this old house until the two passed away one after another.

Today, this old house of Mr. Yu Youren has been developed and protected, and the Memorial Hall of Yu Youren's Former Residence has been built. Tourists can visit it for a 20-yuan ticket.

The old house of Mr. Yu's family is a Guanzhong courtyard house during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It covers an area of more than 800 square meters. It consists of a porter, a front yard, a wing room, an upper room, a backyard and a basement. It is a brick-and-wood structure courtyard. The entire house is decorated with wide corridors and garden flowers and plants. It is simple, elegant and solemn.

The old house was built in the late 19th century. In the early 20th century, it has been more than 100 years since the second brother of the right, Yu Xiaoxian, purchased it as a family house. The current ancient house looks relatively new. The old house has been renovated in a later period. It was completed and opened in May 2019 on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of Mr. Yu Youren's birth.

In this Guanzhong courtyard house, there is a patio in the middle and a hexagonal water-receiving stone jar below, which is still rare. This design just fits the idea of building half of the house built by one of the eight great monsters in Guanzhong, so that no fertilizer will flow into the fields of outsiders.

Yu Youren, whose ancestral home was Jingyang, Shaanxi Province, was born in Sanyuan, Xianyang in 1879. He is a democratic revolutionary, a famous poet, and a master of calligraphy of a generation. He is known as the "Contemporary Grass Saint." Since the old man went to Taiwan, he has never returned to the mainland. After his death, he was buried in Taiwan, which is also a big regret for the old man.

Walking out of Mr. Yu's house, it was getting late, and in the College Culture Street, tourists came to buy paintings and shop, and the street became lively. Calligraphy and painting are originally high-end objects, but they are ultimately not worth the modern "rolling wheels". Today's calligraphy and painting shops are mixed with various grocery stores, making Xi'an's most cultural street classified as ordinary.