Quanzhou City was renovated on a large scale in ancient times, forming a pattern of "official city inside, sub-city outside, Luocheng outside and Yicheng outside", with long east and short south. In the early years of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, a small east gate was built between Renfengmen and Tonghuaimen in the east of the city, directly facing the famous scenic spot East Lake outside the city. He said, "Little East Gate, the door goes straight into the mouth of East Lake. Get up early and the lake is as bright as a fish." This is also a scene of "carp spitting pearls" widely circulated by Quanzhou people. There is a poem on Xuanqingyuan Mountain by Zheng Mingzhi: "The fireworks in the fish market are looking forward to, and it has been boarded again and again in front of Baizhangping." The so-called "fish city" is the carp city. In the Qing Dynasty, there was a poem by Shi Yu: "On the third day of the third month of Licheng, Wu Yuchuan practiced Lanheng." Quanzhou City Wall was demolished in the 1940s, but the outlines of some urban foundations still exist. Now, when we climb the top of Qingyuan Mountain and overlook Quanzhou City in the south, the scene of "carp spitting pearls" is still clearly visible. However, there are many houses in the city, hidden in evergreen trees. Looking west along the ruins of the ancient city, there are two big bends on the west wall, like fish tails; Looking eastward, there are also two smaller bends in the east gate wall. The original position of the small east gate is just in a sunken place, that is, the fish mouth, and the East Lake is rippling with pearls like carp spit; The north wall is the belly of the fish; The south wall is far away, only one straight line can be seen. As far as the shape of the whole city wall is concerned, it is quite like a big carp drinking water from East Lake with its mouth open.
Quanzhou is also called Licheng, because it looks like a carp, so Quanzhou belongs to the carp cave. People assume that people have a navel, and infer that fish will also have a navel, and the position should be at the center. Because the navel is round and concave, an ancient well in the center of Licheng is called "carp navel". This well, commonly known as "downtown well", is located in Jingting Lane between West Street and Hu Axiang Lane. There is a brick tower next to the well, named "centering tower", which was built in Wanli period of Ming Dynasty. Although it is nonsense, there are many wells and springs in the city center, which never dried up in the drought year, which is also a miracle. During the reign of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, Li Lan, a former magistrate of Fujian, was "skilled in the art of bluebird, taking spring as the carp fruit, so it is better to move than to be quiet, so the race must meet God and pray for the peace of the country and the people", which shows that there was a practice of activating "carp" by meeting God at that time.
From the early Ming Dynasty, there was a legend that Quanzhou was a carp, which spread for hundreds of years and also influenced other parts of Quanzhou. On the one hand, it continued to evolve, on the other hand, other types of carp legends appeared.
Gong Shumian, a famous female writer and painter in Taiwan Province Province whose ancestral home is Quanzhou, mentioned in the article Memories of Quanzhou Bay: "When I was a child, my father always liked to tell me some local anecdotes after dinner. For example, why Quanzhou is called Licheng, because the terrain is like carp, and the adjacent Yongchun City is like a big fishing net. Yongchun people are good at doing business. Since Yongchun built the city, they have come to Quanzhou for trade every year. Therefore, Quanzhou's power is rampant, and other encounters are full of difficulties. Later, it was decided to build two towers on both sides of Kaiyuan Temple as a symbol of piercing fishing nets, which was safe and smooth. This is a myth, but it is incredible that it has survived to this day. In Shandong Province in the north of China, there is a beautiful water area called Weishan Lake. A beautiful love story is widely circulated around Weishan Lake. Carps in Weishan Lake all have four nostrils. Of course, it is not really four nostrils, but carp has two dragon whiskers, which look like the other two nostrils. There is a story about its origin.
A long time ago, there lived an old Li Han who made a living by fishing on Weishan Island. He has a 18-year-old daughter named Ada. Ada has an oval face, white and clean, double eyelids and big eyes. She is very handsome and lovely. Moreover, punting and casting nets are good at everything, and father and daughter live together. Ada fell in love with Liu, a young man from the same village. They often hold the boat together, singing fishing songs, talking and laughing. The old man's eyes are happy. I'm going to save money to build a new house, buy some dowry and give them a wedding.
At that time, society was eat small fish, eating big fish. The fish ate the shrimp, and the shrimp ate the mud. There are tyrants in the line, tyrants in the city, tyrants in the ground and tyrants in the lake. Ordinary people have no good life. There is a lake tyrant in Weishan Lake. His family name is Hu Hansan. He colluded with the government and oppressed the people. He grew up eating crabs, rich and powerful, and has always bullied the weak. He has a spoiled rogue son who is two or three years older than him. He was born with a crooked mouth, two slanted eyes, two bowlegged legs and a disgusting face. He played around and dragged his eldest daughter home when he saw her beautiful. He has ruined countless good girls, and people say that Hu Hansan and his son have sores on their heads and thick heels-terrible.
One day, the old man said to Ada and Liu, "I went to the cliff to sell fish today, sold some money and bought some moon cakes and so on." Tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival, so my father and son have a happy holiday. You two go fishing in the lake and go home early. " Say that finish, he picked up the fresh fish alive and kicking, and walked sparkly. Be careful that the lake is deep and full of fish. This is a good place to cast a net. San Xiao and Ada set up fishing nets, propped up boats and entered the lotus pond. While picking ling and lotus, they talked about the happy life in the future, not to mention how sweet it is. Suddenly, just in the south, a big yellow ship with a loose mast came straight. There was an aggressive mob on board, surrounded by a young man dressed as a son.
Ada and Xiaosan couldn't dodge, so they had to step aside. As the saying goes, "A greedy cat has a sharp nose, but a traitor has a poisonous eye." The guy on this ship is called Hooper Pi, the son of the Great Lakes tyrant Hu Hansan. Hu Poppy squinted at Zhao Sangu, the attendant: "Whose Xiao Ni is this? It's so beautiful. I didn't expect such a handsome woman in Weishan Lake. " Zhao San bowed with a stick and said, "Master Hui, this is the daughter of Weishan Island Li Laotou, a rare beauty in the world." "Children, let her get on our boat and marry me tonight." At the command of Poppy Hu, too many cooks and lackeys caught Ada on the boat. How could Liu resist? He watched his beloved being robbed on the big ship.
Ada struggled for a long time, but she still couldn't run away or die. She made up her mind. I promised to be obedient and willing to marry Hooper. Seeing Ada's obedience, Hu was very fond of it. He was busy buying wine and cooking, and got married on the boat at night. Just as Poppy Hu and his lackeys were busy holding a wedding ceremony, Ada saw two steel forks behind the boat. When people weren't looking, she grabbed a fork and stabbed herself in the face. Suddenly, blood dripped all over her and she fainted on the spot. Strange to say, two hours later, Ada came back to life, only to see two blood holes above her nose after the steel fork was pulled out. Hu Poppy still won't let go and wants to marry Ada. On the wedding day, Ada was forced to wear new clothes embroidered with gold thread. Ada looked at all the maids and women around her and said to them, "We are going to worship heaven and earth. No one comes from my family. Please do me a favor and let me kowtow to my parents at the bow. " As he spoke, he came to the bow and suddenly a dive plunged into the water. How many people went down to salvage, but no one was seen. Hu Poppy worked in vain for many days, and finally a cat bit the urine bubble-it was a vain joy.
Ada jumped into the lake and immediately became a big carp. In the evening, I had a dream for Liu. The next morning, I punted into the lake and cast a golden carp with four nostrils and red tail in the net. Knowing that this was Ada's support, she held it in her arms and wept bitterly. After crying for a day and a night, the tears dried up, but the fish could no longer be an adult. I only felt that the sky turned over and the water turned over, and suddenly I jumped into the lake with a carp in my arms and turned into a carp. A pair of lovers were forced into a pair of carp and lived freely in the big lake. Since then, the carp in Weishan Lake has become a golden tail with four nostrils. Carp in Weishan Lake has four nostrils, which is unique in China.
Why do carp in Weishan Lake have four nostrils?
According to legend, carp in Weishan Lake, like carp in other waters, had only two nostrils at the earliest. One year, the Dragon King of the East China Sea came to the world in human form and was inspired by the implementation of the scientific examination system to select talents. He also wants to select talents through examinations to help him manage government affairs and waters. After returning to the Dragon Palace in the East China Sea, he asked the Prime Minister to order the selection of talents in various waters, and then came to the Dragon Palace for an examination. The selected talents stay in the Dragon Palace for reuse to help him manage and revitalize the aquarium. After receiving the order, the waters did not dare to neglect, and immediately selected them, and then sent them to the Dragon Palace in the East China Sea to take the court exam of the Dragon King. Weishan Lake selected carp, snakehead and crab to test.
The Dragon King has set three levels for candidates who come to take the exam: the first level is the cultural exam, the second level is the interview, and the third level is the skill exam. In the first cultural examination, carp, snakehead and crab all passed smoothly. In the second interview, the crab failed because of its ugly appearance and was brushed off. The third skill test is Yuelongmen. The snakehead didn't jump over several times and was brushed off again. Only carp jumped once, which was very light and elegant. Selected by the Dragon King, he stayed in the Dragon Palace as a talent for reuse. However, carp was born in poverty and came from a small place like Weishan Lake. After being reused by the Dragon King, there are still some nobles who look down on it, which makes carp depressed and unhappy all day. In order to let the carp work for it with peace of mind, the Dragon King betrothed his little daughter, Xiaolong, to it, and played in the sky, opening two eyes to the carp-turning the carp into four nostrils, which not only increased its wisdom, but also became a noble position. Since then, no one in the Dragon Palace has looked down on carp. Carp and little dragon girl live a rich, busy and stressful life in the Dragon Palace.
After a few years in the Dragon Palace, carp hated the intrigue and intrigue of the official life in the Dragon Palace. They missed their hometown Weishan Lake, their relatives and friends, and yearned for a quiet and peaceful life in Weishan Lake. So they resigned from the Dragon King and returned to Weishan Lake with the little dragon girl. Their children and grandchildren were full and they lived a leisurely pastoral life. Of course, the descendants of carp also have four nostrils, but people at that time were careless and didn't notice the subtle changes of carp in Weishan Lake.
It was not until many years later that Emperor Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River and passed through Weishan Lake that the secret that carp in Weishan Lake was four nostrils was revealed. Emperor Qianlong was the ninth son of the East China Sea Dragon King. He was reincarnated and reincarnated as an emperor on earth. Of course he knows that carp in Weishan Lake is the secret of four nostrils. When crossing Weishan Lake, he stayed in Nanyang Town of Weishan for a day and a night. After stopping in Nanyang Town, Gan Long took a group of ministers to visit Weishan Lake, hoping to meet his sister Xiao Longnv and her brother-in-law. However, for some unknown reason, I spent a day in the upper reaches of the lake, but the little dragon girl and her brother-in-law Lao carp didn't come out to see him. Emperor Gan spent a day in the upper reaches of the lake. When he saw that his sister and brother-in-law didn't come to visit him, he was a little angry, but he couldn't talk about it, so he wanted to make the secret of the four nostrils of carp public. So he said to the ministers: Do you know how many nostrils the carp in Weishan Lake has? The ministers answered in unison without thinking: two. Gan Long said: No, the carp in Weishan Lake has four nostrils. Ministers don't believe it, so they look for local fishermen to salvage it. It is really four nostrils!
From then on, it is no secret that carp in Weishan Lake has four nostrils.
The carp in Weishan Lake has a beautiful figure. People often use a catty and a half of carp-a smart one-to describe a person with a well-proportioned figure and a beautiful figure. The carp in Weishan Lake is tender and delicious, which is the top grade of fish and a rare delicacy. It used to be a tribute and was given by the feudal emperor. It is a good dish and a good gift. The locals regard carp as a mascot, and if they invite a matchmaker after the wedding, they will eat "big carp"; When the old man lives to be 73 years old, the daughters must send two "big carp" to their parents; It is called: "Seventy-three people eat carp and run around", which means that the 73-year-old man has not been sick this year. Even if he eats the big carp given by his married daughter, he should skip it and wish the old man a long life.