Cangxi Wenchang Palace

　　 Wenchang was once a well-known dry port in Cangxi. This dry port is in contrast to wet ports located near rivers. In ancient times when transportation was inconvenient, people were not keen on establishing market towns at dry ports. Because market towns by rivers not only had an ample water supply, but travel, business, and the transport of goods could all make use of the waterways. Therefore, it was believed that no dry port could maintain prosperity for a thousand years.

　　 So how did Wenchangchang in Cangxi become an exception? There must be many reasons, but the presence of the enduring Wenchang Palace here may be one of them.

　　 What is Wenchang Palace? You might blurt out, “Isn’t it a temple dedicated to the God of Literature, Wenchang Dijun?” You’re only half right. The Wenchang Palace here was not originally built to worship the God of Literature, but rather as a schoolhouse.

　　 In ancient times, people were very superstitious about feng shui. Even before this place was called Wenchang, some believed it to be a feng shui treasure land. The evidence was these two lines: “Two mountains sharing one head, a lion rolling a brocade ball. Whoever is buried here will have descendants as kings and nobles.”

　　 These two mountains refer to the local Jin Kui Mountain and Quan Zi Zhai (now Quan Jia Zhai). The “one head” refers to the flatland shared by the two mountains, which is now the main part of Wenchangchang. If you stand at a good vantage point where you can see both mountains, the terrain indeed resembles two lions playing with a ball on the flatland. Since it was considered a feng shui treasure, naturally there were disputes over it. In ancient times, the area was densely populated. On the side of Jin Kui Mountain there was a Taoist temple, and on the side of Quan Zi Zhai there was a Five Fragrance Temple—both coveted this lion-rolling-the-ball land. Imagine, the flatland between the two mountains was so small—whose family tomb would it be? According to elders, when the local clans argued fiercely over it, stealing corpses and moving graves became common. What does that mean? It means families that failed to secure a burial site would secretly move the buried to another location. As a result, not only would the intended family not get the auspicious land, but they wouldn’t even know where their ancestors’ remains ended up. Eventually, the major clans had to come to the table to negotiate, and the agreed-upon solution was: no one would use the land for tombs, and together they would fund the construction of a schoolhouse. Thus, a plaque inscribed with “Wenchang Shines Over the World” was hung above the school’s entrance. This is the earliest origin of the local Wenchang Palace.

　　 Thanks to the influence of the schoolhouse, legend has it that a scholar named Hu Dahua eventually became a successful imperial examination candidate (Jinshi). People quickly erected a statue of the God of Literature, Wenchang Dijun, praying for divine blessing to ensure the enduring prosperity of literary talent in the region. It is also said that Scholar Hu once served as an official in several places in Shaanxi, and wherever he went, he built a Wenchang Palace to promote the local culture of educating people through literature. His hometown’s Wenchang Palace thus gained even greater fame. People even renamed the mountain where the scholar lived as Jin Kui Mountain, and his hometown simply became known as Wenchang.

　　 The local Wenchang Palace has been destroyed multiple times by war and relocated several times. The Wenchang Palace rebuilt during the Qing Dynasty is situated exactly midway between Jin Kui Mountain and Quan Zi Zhai. Today, the Wenchang Palace is also recorded in history as the former office of the “Commoner Marshal” and the site of the Cangxi County Soviet Government.

　　 At that time, the six committees under the county Soviet government—Land, Grain, Labor, Finance, Culture, and Internal Affairs—as well as the Security Bureau, Communications Bureau, Economic Office, Revolutionary Tribunal, and Military District Command, were all located in or near the Wenchang Palace. Many commanders of the Fourth Red Army, including Marshal Xu, planned important Sichuan-Shaanxi military operations here. Therefore, this Wenchang Palace also carries a red revolutionary legacy, adding to its fame.

　　 Although some of the ancient buildings of the Wenchang Palace have been damaged, the serene, small quadrangle courtyard where Marshal Xu once worked remains well preserved. The 12 plain rooms with mortise-and-tenon structures, moss-covered tiles, weathered wooden lattice windows and doors, sturdy plank walls and beams, the small courtyard paved with bluestone, and the old tree where the marshal tethered his horse—all stand quietly there. They stand alongside the noise just beyond the wall, and alongside those indelible years. (Text by Hu Bo)