Yiwu Heritage Park Opens

    For several years, Yiwu has been committed to transforming the Green Power Town into the largest automotive power production base in the world with a complete automotive industry chain, exceptional supporting facilities, and talents from all over the world. On July 10, with the Geely DHT Special Hybrid Transmission Project beginning operations, the Geely Power Train Base at Yiwu produced its first engine. At the same time, the construction of the scenic spot in the town is also in full swing. So far, both Wayaoshan Heritage Park and Houlonghu Park have been opened to the public.

    Wayaoshan Heritage Park is located on the east side of Nanqingkou Village, Chi'an Town, and neighbors Shicheng Village to the south. Yiwu was one of the main producing areas of the Wuzhou kiln in older times, while the rich resources of the ancient pottery heritage in Chi'an remain little known. At present, Yiwu has found more than 30 ancient kiln sites from the Song, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties.

    With a total area of 30,000 m², the park is ingenious and delicate. Walking on the winding path, you can see a huge carved stone saying Wayaoshan Yizhi Gongyuan (瓦窑山遗址公园; Wayaoshan Heritage Park) standing under the green trees. The vivid craftsmanship on the stone will take you back to ancient times.

    It is said that history is the memory of a region, and culture is the soul of a village. Dating back to the Qin Dynasty, Chi'an Town was first named Puxu, then Nanxiang in the Spring and Autumn Period, and Huachuan Town in the Tang Dynasty. In the northeastern part of the town stand many hills, including Wayao Hill located north of Erwo Hill. In the Song Dynasty, there were many kilns in the hills to produce dishes for the average villager. The kiln workers lived here and gradually formed a village called Taozhai (the Chinese means “a dwelling made from pottery”).

    Rambling along the clear pond, you can find the traces of fragments of the bowls and jars used by long-gone people. When walking along the green slope, you will be attracted by a large area encircled by stones. The park manager said that there are fragments of nearly a thousand bowls and jars underground in this area.

    During the Tang and Song Dynasties, trade in Chi'an was prosperous; merchants gathered, the porcelain industry was well-developed, and people lived and worked in peace. A famous scholar of the Southern Song Dynasty, Xu Qiao (1160-1237), established a school here and taught for 16 years. He is the successor of the northern branch of Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucianism (Zhu Xi was a famous Chinese historian, philosopher, politician, and writer of the Song Dynasty). More than ten of his students become scholars. His son-in-law came from Nanqingkou Village, and his great-grandson Wang Longze was the last Zhuangyuan (“Number One Scholar”) of the Southern Song Dynasty.

    In the late 1980s, many experts and scholars in Yiwu visited Chi'an and discovered the ancient kiln sites, which are of great value to the study of the history of ceramics in Yiwu in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. 

(By Wang Shuguang, translated by Li Ziyi, edited by Kendra Fiddler)