China News Service, Jincheng, February 11th, Title: Visiting the only Crucible Castle in the world: the flavor of the New Year is in full swing
China News Service reporter Yang Jieying
Encouragement, ghost wrestling, donkey playing... On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the Spring Festival activities with the theme of "Fantasy Castle Tour, Hot Chinese Year" are being held in Dijie City. Diji City, known as the "Crucible Castle", is full of flavor of the new year.
Diji City is surrounded by water on three sides and is shaped like a peninsula. Photo by Zhang Yun
Diji City, located in Runcheng Town, Yangcheng County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province, is a national key cultural relics protection unit. The most unique thing about Dijie City is the crucible city wall, which is made of poured cylinders and looks like a honeycomb. It has been identified as the unique city wall in the world by ancient architecture experts.
"This castle is built on a large stone in the Qin River. It is surrounded by water on three sides and close to residential areas on one side. It is in the shape of a peninsula." Wei Lifang, publicity committee member of the Runcheng Town Party Committee, said that Diji City is a defensive castle. It is a representative of the Ming Dynasty folk houses that still exist in North China and is a rare material in the history of architecture.
The most unique thing about Diji City is the crucible city wall, which is made of cylinders and looks like a honeycomb. Photo by China News Service reporter Yang Jieying
After entering the city gate, on the left hand side, you can see the honeycomb-shaped thing high on the city wall, which is the crucible (that is, the discarded iron cylinder after the molten iron is melted and poured out during ironmaking). In ancient times, the local iron smelting and casting industry was very developed. The iron produced in Yangcheng and Zezhou alone accounted for 70 to 80% of the country's iron production.
Yuan Fuqiang, the person in charge of the Tijie City Scenic Area, said that using waste crucibles to build city walls can not only reuse waste, but also make the city walls strong. This shows the wisdom of the ancients and reflects the local economic prosperity during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Diji City is very particular about its physical specifications, construction materials and practical value. The houses are arranged in an orderly manner, with scattered heights. The alleys are deep and the walls are high, making the roads particularly narrow. Most of the residential buildings have single-entry and two-entry courtyards. The middle courtyard of each square is integrated with the courtyard, connecting each other and extending in all directions.
Wei Lifang said that in recent years, the local area has renovated and repaired the surrounding environment of the castle and some courtyards, and combined the revitalization of the castle with cultural tourism, gradually forming a new ignition point for the castle tourism economy.
"We are vigorously developing homestays to allow tourists from outside to live, eat and play in the ancient castle." Yuan Fuqiang said that at present, the Dijicheng Scenic Area has created employment for more than 50 local villagers. The annual reception volume reaches more than 200,000 people.
During the Spring Festival in 2024, Dijiecheng Scenic Area will hold a series of activities to attract more tourists to come for vacation. Photo by Chen Feifei
During the Spring Festival this year, Dijie City Scenic Area held a series of activities including "real-life interpretation and creative parade", "fantasy experience, hot New Year flavor" and "hot food experience" to attract more tourists to come for vacation.
Exciting performances such as ghost wrestling and donkey playing with local characteristics were performed; various lanterns were hung high in the lantern alley; antique dragon flags were hung on both sides of the road and on the city walls to show the characteristics of the ancient castle; Runcheng jujube cake, Specialties such as raw meatballs are mouth-watering...
In this castle, a New Year's feast with traditional charm and creativity is being staged. (over)