You pass by the gate every day, do you know its mystery?

I wonder if any neighbors have the same habit as Ejiajun: Whenever I pass by those old houses in Xiguan, as long as I hold the door open, I always like to take a look inside to see the people living in such quaint houses. What kind of life are people living?

Sometimes, you will see a grandfather sitting against the door reading a newspaper; (Internet picture)

It is a child\’s toy; (Internet picture)

It is also a paradise for cats; (Internet picture)

This is the symbol of Xiguan life. (Internet picture)

I don’t know why, but this long door in the old house in Xiguan has an inexplicable attraction; it separates the life inside and outside the house, and closely connects the two spaces. You can see the gate every day, but do you know its mystery?

It was used to prevent theft during the Ming and Qing Dynasties

※ The most standard door of a Xiguan mansion should consist of three doors. The first door is a screen door, which looks like two sash windows and blocks the view of passers-by outside. The third gate is the real gate. And this second door is the Changzhimen. At first glance, it is a large wooden frame with more than a dozen logs stretched across the middle.

The swaying door (also known as the pushing door) is a unique ancient door and window art inherited from the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Lingnan, Guangdong and Guangxi. Most of the materials are ironwood. The components of the sliding door include the foot door, the sliding door and the main door. The structure of the sliding door is quite remarkable. There is not a single nail up and down. All key parts are connected with tenons. After hundreds of years of history, it is not easy to rot. collapse.

At first, Mr. E always thought that this door opened and closed from front to back, and he always wondered how laborious it would be to have such a huge door. One day at the elderly care center, when I wanted to go out after the interview, I couldn\’t open it no matter how hard I pushed it back and forth. Uncle Chen looked at me and kept smiling. Then he went up and pulled horizontally, and the door opened easily. Uncle Chen said that the door is an ancient \”anti-theft door\” that opens from left to right, which not only allows ventilation but also ensures basic safety. Both the foot door and the sliding door have the functions of ventilation and anti-theft security. They are specially designed building parts to adapt to the hot and rainy climate of Lingnan. When the sliding door is closed, the owner of the house can see the outside clearly without opening the door, and the people outside can It is difficult to enter the house without permission.

What does \”倠\” mean?

※ \”Pa\” means sliding and pushing in Cantonese; in Cantonese, \”Pa\” refers to a wooden box. \”Pa\” is a movable fence that opens and closes horizontally. When opened, it means \”Pa\”, and when combined, it means \”Pa\”. , so it is called a sliding door. The sliding door is a horizontally moving fence with a pulley at the bottom and a vertical latch at the rear.

The round logs must be in the odd numberThe gate is usually 3 meters high and more than one meter wide. The number of horizontal wooden bars in the middle is very particular. It is said that it must be an odd number, because in Cantonese the words \”double\” and \”double\” The word \”mourning\” has the same pronunciation as \”mourning\”, which is unlucky. Most doors are made of logs with 13 or 15 logs.

It is used for lighting and ventilation. In many old houses now, only the sliding door and the last door are left, and only a few houses still have screen doors. Basically, as long as there is someone at home, the household owner will just close the sliding door and rarely close it. The last door.

Actually, the Xiguan House looks very quaint, but most old houses don’t have very good lighting and ventilation, such as If the door is closed tightly, the house will be airtight. When the door is closed, the indoor and outdoor spaces can be separated, but cool breeze, fresh air and light can still enter the house, providing ventilation, lighting and privacy. It plays a role in security and other aspects. It has become a typical Xiguan residential house and witnessed the details of life in the deep houses in the old alleys. It is the same as the big house in Xiguan behind it. , telling history and culture in the increasingly modern city of Guangzhou

Now it has become a rare antique

※ When eJiajun was searching for information on the Internet, he found that many antique collection websites had information about the gates. Although you can still see many gates when walking in the alleys, it is not difficult to find them. , more and more old houses have been renovated, and after renovation, these old doors left over from the Ming and Qing Dynasties have become antiques worth collecting. /p>

Little e’s Notes

Perhaps modern people pay more attention to privacy, so they need a completely closed door. However, from the design of the entire door, this door is very different. The door is really very practical. For people who have lived in the Lingnan area since childhood, it may be very sad to see the old objects in their memories disappear.Something that hurts. I just hope that the remaining old houses can still preserve antiques.