My trip to Deyang introduced me to the beautiful city of Mianzhu. Mianzhu, known as the ‘Sichuan Historical and Cultural City’, is rich in intangible cultural heritage. It is the birthplace of New Year paintings and Jiannan Spring liquor. It is also the origin of Zhaopo tea, a tribute tea from the Tang Dynasty. Mianzhu boasts abundant tourism resources and is one of the ‘Seventy-two Cavern Paradises’. The Jiuding Mountain National Geopark is also located here. In just one day, let’s see how I enjoyed my time~
A Glimpse into the World of Paper: Visiting the Mianzhu New Year Painting Village. The Mianzhu New Year Painting Village in Sichuan is a village in Western Sichuan illuminated by bright New Year paintings. It is one of the four major New Year painting villages in China, and the world-famous ‘woodblock New Year painting’ originated here. It is a national intangible cultural heritage.
Strolling around the New Year painting village, the doors and walls of the villagers’ houses are covered with wonderful New Year paintings. Elderly people sit at the door making fires, and old friends gather around the fire chatting, full of strong local characteristics. The village also has a Mianzhu New Year Painting Exhibition Hall that integrates the production, display, and sales of New Year paintings. There are various forms of New Year painting-related works here with high collection value. You can also make New Year paintings by hand and experience the joy of making Mianzhu New Year paintings on the spot.’A Glimpse into the World of Paper’, New Year paintings have high inclusiveness and can contain a lot of content. They can vividly depict the joys and interests of the common people. The paintings depict bumper harvests, favorable weather conditions, educational achievements, and grand prospects, recording the straightforward expectations and joyful life of the common people.
‘On the day of the new year, thousands of doors and households are bright, always replacing the old peach symbols with new ones.’ New Year paintings become a very important thing during the New Year. It is a warm memory of the years and the most profound traditional memory of Chinese people from generation to generation.
In addition to being the birthplace of New Year paintings, the filial culture in Mianzhu New Year painting village also has a long history. For thousands of years, speaking and practicing filial piety has become a noble virtue of the villagers. Stories of filial piety through generations have been featured on CCTV’s ‘Remembering Nostalgia Season One’. The program tells the touching stories of filial piety of three villagers in the New Year painting village.
Meeting the World as Imagined? Jiannan Old Street in Mianzhu. A favorite writer once wrote a scene, saying that when she was a child, she would return to her grandmother’s house in the countryside during the Spring Festival. The village’s ancestral hall would perform operas, and the whole village would gather to watch the opera, lively and warm.In Jiannan Old Street in Mianzhu, I encountered a scene unfamiliar to me. It was raining and the whole Jiannan Old Street was deserted. The air was filled with the fragrance of wine. At the end of the old street, there was a large stage where actors were performing wholeheartedly. Under the stage, there were many people, including the elderly and children. They were listening to the opera attentively with masks on, brewing a pot of tea. No one was in a hurry to leave. This scene was mesmerizing.
Jiannan Old Street is one of the must-visit attractions in Mianzhu. Every building is full of ingenuity and the cultural atmosphere is very strong. The whole street is also full of New Year paintings and Jiannan Spring elements, making the street poetic. Walking along the bluestone slabs, you can see the ‘Tianyi Old Number’ ancient cellar group that has been passed down for thousands of years. There is still a well used for brewing during the Qing Dynasty here, as well as a large number of traditional production tools, which is enough to see the long history of ‘Jiannan Spring’.
Sit by the stove and eat firewood chicken in Mianzhu. In such a cold winter, eating firewood chicken is the best. Firewood chicken is a specialty of Mianzhu. It is made from local chickens and secret recipes and cooked with earth stoves and firewood. There are small houses one by one. Inside each house, there is a large stove. In a large pot, there are surprises. In addition to a whole chicken cut into pieces, there are also abundant meat and vegetables.An aunt kneads dough and makes pancakes. She pastes pancakes around the edge of the iron pot. In a while, a large circle is pasted. Then, cover the pot. After more than ten minutes, uncover the wooden pot cover. A rich aroma comes rolling in. The pancakes are cooked. The whole pot of meat and vegetables is shiny. Let’s start! Everyone can’t wait to pick their favorite food in the pot. After being stewed with secret sauce, it is spicy and fragrant. Once you start eating, you can’t stop.
Recommended restaurant: Fang Xiaochu Firewood Chicken.
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