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A Visit to Lili Ancient Town
To help students understand Chinese culture and to celebrate China’s National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival, Silk Road School staff and students visited Lili Ancient Town on the 27th of September. This was the first cultural visit for the 2020-year students.
Lili Ancient Town, known as Lihua village before the Tang dynasty, is hidden in Suzhou’s corner of Wujiang district and is well known for its picturesque landscape and historic relics such as 100 year-old bridges dating back to the Qing dynasty. It is said to be the most authentic waterside ancient town in the southern Yangtze River.
The history of Lili Ancient Town dates back to Spring and Autumn Period (770 – 476 BC), and it was a prosperous town with high boats traffic and crowds of people on the streets during the Qing Dynasty, under Emperor Jiaqing (1762 – 1820). It is also the hometown of Chinese poet and social activist, Liu Yazi, who is also known as the “last most outstanding poet of the traditional school”.
The ancient relics such as verandas and bridges embody the wisdom of Lili people, and emoting the unique life of Jiangnan people.Lili Ancient Townhasaccumulated a long history and rich culture with its preservation of heritage such as ancient architectures of Ming and Qing dynasty.
The visit began at the Dong Sheng Tang (Jiangnan Folk Museum) where they saw antique treasures,from Jiangnan agricultural products to wedding customs artefacts. Seeing artefacts such as calligraphy and paintings, jade ware, the four treasures of study, white plymouth rock, angora rabbit, bamboo hat and marriage contract, expands the students’ knowledge of the ancient life lived in this town. Learning about the local customs and practices allowed the participants gained a deeper understanding of values and concepts such as harmony is to be prized, carrying on the family line and the 5 kinds of moralities – benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom, and trustworthiness.
Moving on, participants visited to Liu Yazi Memorial Hall, which is the education base for patriotism and history of the Revolution Committee in Jiangsu. The memorial hall has 6 sections such as the foyer, carpark, main hall and living quarters, and the 4th section which is the main exhibition hall of Mr Liu Yazi’s life story, captured the attention of the students. It told the story Liu Yazi’s patriotism and his fight for the liberation of the Chinese, which enabled students to understand the reason the Chinese were able to save the country from disaster and strive towards independence, rejuvenation and a splendid future were because of the effort of countless people like Liu Yazi. The decorations, such as carp, on the entrance of the memorial halls holds different meaningsand left a profound impression on the students. The decorations portrayed expectations the people such as education can change one’s fate, which is still presenttoday.
Students also participated in traditional Chinese culture activities such as the tea ceremony, Chinese calligraphy and guzheng.
Valery Shen, a year 2 student, shared that Lili Ancient Town was a place filled with historical heritage, with interesting items such as antique embroidery and former residences of great men. “People respect history and the tranquil pace of Lichuan. The past that was poured out of Lichuan, carried along wishes of its people into the future. Bit by bit, people of Lili are immersed in innovation and enjoying themselves in the powerful currents of the times.” To her, Lili is a place that respects the history while looking forward to the future.
AlinaRyzhkina, a year 1 student, shared that it was her first trip with SRS, and she was impressed by the beauty of this small, quiet, and peaceful place. “Our guide told us many amusing facts about Chinese way of life in the past like customs, traditions and ceremonies, some kinds of sports. We looked at traditional musical instruments, clothes and some tools Chinese people used before to gather the crops.” Thanking SRS for organising the trip to Lili Ancient Town, she expressed that she is looking forward to visiting more places in and outside Suzhou.
The goal of this visit was to deepen the understanding of Jiangnan folk culture and traditional Chinese architecture while enabling students to experience the Chinese national spirit and the unique beauty of Jiangnan water towns. Prof. Jiang Xiaoli, Deputy Dean of SRS and International College, hoped that everyone can study hard and fly in the sky like a dragon, and contribute to the construction of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in one’s own ways. SRS will be organising more field trips toshow students a comprehensive understanding of China.
Written by: Lim Yin Ru
Edited by: Catalina Chen Li
