Pujiang County, Zhejiang
| Pujiang County | |
|---|---|
| County | |
| Chinese transcription(s) | |
| • Chinese | 浦江县 |
| • Pinyin | Pǔjiāng |
 | |
| Country | China |
| Province | Zhejiang |
| Prefecture | Jinhua |
| Time zone | China Standard (UTC+8) |
Pujiang County is a county of Zhejiang, China. It is under the administration of the Jinhua city.
Tourist attractions are Xianhua Mountain, Baishiwan, Shenli Gorge, Songxi Village, Ma Ling and the First Family of Southern China
Folklore
The Legend of Baozhang Valley
There is a temple situated on Baozhang Mountain, east of Pujiang Xinhua Mountain, known as the Baozhang Temple.
Behind the temple is a mountain hill that resembles an “Emperor’s Umbrella” (in Chinese called “Huangluo Gaisan”, which translates to yellow dragon umbrella cover - an ancient umbrella cover used as the emperor's shelter on his travels).
There is a famous legend associated with the above mountain.
Once upon a time, there was a small village located at the foot of Baozhang Mountain. The inhabitants of the village was a closely knit community. Amongst them lived a married couple, with two black dogs. The husband was a farmer.
The couple unfortunately had no luck in bearing a child for years. One night the farmer's wife dreamt of a dragon flying to their house and landing on their roof. Having inspected no trail of a dragon on their roof and realising it was only a dream, the couple paid no serious attention to this dream.
A couple of days later, their dogs started taking turns climbing up the roof and stood by, no matter rain or shine. Soon after, the farmer’s wife found out that she was pregnant.
The couple was puzzled why their dogs were climbing up their roof everyday and were frustrated since the dogs refused to listen and stay off the roof no matter what the couple did.
The farmer, frustrated by the dogs, killed one of the dogs on the ground as a lesson to the other dog on the roof. Despite this, the dog on the roof remained persistent and stayed on the roof for couple of weeks before succumbing to death from hunger and fell off the roof.
On the same day, a fortune teller passing through the village and by the farmer’s house, paid the couple a visit and spoke to them, “Your house is filled with the omen of luck, although suppressed by an evil force....…”. After talking to the couple and learning of what had happened during the last few weeks, the fortune teller explained to the farmer, “Your wife is pregnant with an emperor son - the son of heaven - and the two black dogs were here to protect your family. They climbed up to the roof to protect your wife's pregnancy and your child's identity. Now that the dogs are dead, the incumbent emperor has become aware of your wife's pregnancy and to secure his throne, he will despatch his soldiers to kill the two of you.”
The farmer, panicked and desperate, begged for a solution to escape. Unknown to the couple, the fortune teller is actually a deity and come to their rescue. He gave the farmer a handful of sand and a chopstick, and explained carefully, “When you are running away from the soldiers, throw a handful of sand behind you and the chopstick in front of you. The sand will turn into a mountain and the chopstick will open up a road path for you. The soldiers will not be able to pursue you further.” He then disappeared into the thin air.
On that night itself, as predicted by the deity, soldiers invaded the village and the couple knew it must be the soldiers searching for them, and thus they escaped from the house. The soldiers saw them and gave chase to them. Just when the soldiers were gaining on them, the farmer, reminded of the deity’s words, threw the chopstick behind him and a handful of sand in front of him. Immediately, a mountain blocked the couple’s way ahead whilst a wide road path extended behind him. They were hunted down by the soldiers without much effort, and they and the unborn child killed at the site.
Subsequently, the mountain hill behind the Baozhang Temple took the shape of the Emperor’s Umbrella (Huangluo Gaisan) and it is said that it was probably formed as a memorial for the unborn son of the heaven......
Famous People
Hong Xuntao (1928.4.9 - 2001.9.22) was a famous children's literature author and theorist. His most notable work is his adaption of the folklore story "The Magic Paint Brush - The Story of Ma Liang." He dedicated his life to writing and studying children's literature and has been recognized for his contributions and was a member of the Chinese Writers Association, China Film Association, China Folk Literature and Art Association, Director of the Shanghai Writers Association, was Executive Director of the Chinese research society for children's literature.
The Magic Paint Brush - The Story of Ma Liang
Once upon a time, there was a young man called Ma Liang. He was poor and kind and helped a rich man to tend cattle. He liked drawing and drew pictures everywhere. One night, he dreamed that an old man gave him a magic paintbrush and asked him to use it to help poor people. When he woke up, he found the magic paintbrush in his desk.
From that day on, he used the paintbrush whenever people needed help. When he saw that people had no water to use in the fields, he drew a river and the river came to life. People could bring water from the river to the field and save a lot of time and energy.
When he saw it was difficult for people to till lands, he drew a cow and the cow came to life. People could use the cow to till lands very easily. So when he saw the peoples' troubles, he would use his magic paintbrush to help. Then many people knew about the magic paintbrush.
But a few days later, the rich man whom Ma Liang helped heard that the magic paint brush could turn everything to life. He was a bad man so he had an idea to steal the paint brush from the young man. He knew that he could make a lot of money by turning things to life and keeping them, so he sent some people to the Ma Liang's home and took him to the prison. He got the magic paintbrush and felt very happy.
Then he invited a lot of his friends to come to his home and showed them the magic paintbrush. He drew a lot of pictures, but they could not become real. He was very angry and asked some people to get Ma Liang.
When Ma Liang came, he said to him, "If you draw some pictures for me and turn them to life, I will set you free." The young man knew that he was a bad man in the village. Of course he did not want to help him. He had an idea. He said to the bad man, "I can help you, but you should obey your words." The bad man felt very happy and said, "I want a golden mountain. I will go there to gather gold." The young man drew a sea first. The bad man was angry and said," Why did you draw a sea? I do not want this. I want a golden mountain. Draw it quickly."
Then the young man drew a golden mountain which was far away from the sea. The bad man saw that and felt very happy. He said, "Draw a big ship quickly. I want to go there to gather gold." The young man smiled quietly and drew a big ship. The bad man jumped into the ship first and a lot of his family and friends jumped in too. When the ship sailed to the middle of the sea, the young man drew a large wave and it destroyed the ship. So the bad man and his friends died.
After that, the young man lived with his family happily and kept on helping the poor people. So the magic paintbrush was known by everyone.
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Coordinates: 29°27′37″N 119°53′10″E / 29.4603°N 119.886°E