Activity Review | Muser Action: Cultural Exploration in Ancient Town
On 4 February 2021, Musers and Muse College staffs launched an exploration trip toward Shajing, an ancient town located in Ban’an District in Shenzhen, to trace memories and histories of this city.
Located in the northwest of Shenzhen city, Shajing is near to the Pearl River Estuary. Therefore, early residents there lived on oysters and other seafood. Today, residents and their lives in Shajing still represent typical life style of the old generations. Let’s have a look of the spots we have visited in this charming old town.
The First Stop: Antique Temple
Fishermen living in Shajing constructed numerous temples to pray for harvest and safety at sea. We visited two antique temples during the journey. The Tianhou temple, named after the god of the sea, locates in the east and faces the west. It is constructed in the traditional Lingnan style and has a history of near a hundred years.
Then we moved to the famous Hongsheng temple, which embraced by mountains. In the palace, the God of South China Sea has been worshiped there in the Song dynasty. It also contributed to the military defense in modern China.
The Second Stop: Chen’s Clan Temple
The Chen’s Clan Temple witnessed the development and prosperity of the Chen’s family. Also called as Yide Tang, it locates in the Shasan community. It follows the traditional architecture structure, and it’s made of stone and brick with delicate stone sculptures. A lion dance performance was ongoing when we visited there.
The Third Stop: The Museum of Oyster
Shajing is famous for oyster. It is praised as ‘the town of oyster’ and owns the largest museum of oyster nationwide, displaying hundreds of precious collection. There’s a relief sculpture 11 meters in length and 2 meters in width, named ‘Hao Yun’, in the center of the museum, which vividly show the conventions of oyster production. The history of oyster industry and generations of oyster production constitute the special ‘culture of oyster’ in Shajing, underlying the abundant history of Shenzhen.
The Fourth Stop: Stone Pagoda and Well
Along the path we reached the Longjin Stone Pagoda which was built in 1220. Small but delicate, it has a relief sculpture in the shape of a Buddha. Longjin Stone Pagoda is the earliest existing ground building in Shenzhen, which is the material evidence of the long history of Shenzhen and Shajing, and is as well of great significance to the study of the development history of Buddhism and architecture in Shenzhen.
The last stop of our visit was the Weitou Well, an ancient well made of granite in Ming dynasty. It is one of the most well-preserved ancient well, and it is also the origin of the town’s name, Shajing. It is not only the connection between locals and the water source, but also a symbol of nostalgia.
