From “Maotanchang” to “Maotan Factory”, from horse breeding to business, the ins and outs of this charming ancient town

Speaking of Maotanchang, it is estimated that no one will be associated with the ancient towns and old streets of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. When I came to Lu’an, Anhui, someone mentioned: There is a Ming and Qing old street in Lu’an, which is worth visiting. This raised my interest. I, who have a strong interest in ancient cities, ancient towns, ancient villages, and ancient streets, will naturally not miss such a place. Only when I came here did I know that Maotanchang used to be a wide and fertile thatched beach, which is a good place to raise horses. In the Ming Dynasty, the three-sided wallless shed for horse raising was called the “factory”, hence the name Maotanchang. The factory was later passed by word of mouth that “Maotan Factory” was replaced by “Maotan Factory”, and the name has since been given.

Maotan Factory is affiliated to Jin’an District, Lu’an City, Anhui Province, and is located at the junction of Shucheng, Huoshan and Jin’an counties. This is an extremely rare and well-preserved ancient Anhui architectural complex in the Jianghuai area. Fortunately, this all-ancient Huizhou ancient architectural complex has been well preserved so far, and it has become more and more unique with the passage of time. Although it has experienced wars, social turmoil, and the erosion of wind and rain, the street is still intact, without losing the ancient charm of the old street.

Speaking of the history of Lao Cai, people will naturally think of the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. Indeed, the initial formation of Lao Cai began in the Ming Dynasty, but this land has a glorious history. In ancient times, this was the place of enfeoffment of Gaotao, the originator of justice, which opened the origin of ancient civilization. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, Maotanchang Town was once the fief of countless nobles in the ancient six countries. The pass fishing in Lidi, the names and stories of places such as Ganyuling and Gudiaotai are still talked about by future generations; celebrities such as Sun Bin and Wu Zixu in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period have all left their footprints near Maotan Factory; the end of Qin Dynasty In the early Han Dynasty, the capital of Jiujiang Wangyingbu was established in the sixth period; from the Jin Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, the ancient town has gradually taken shape; to the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the rebels rose, the rags were everywhere, the lives were wiped out, the fertile land was abandoned, and it became a sparsely populated and thatched “thatched beach”.

In the 1980s, a group of Wangchong villagers in Bajiaotang Village, Maotanchang Town, excavated a tomb of Zhou. The unearthed bronze ware was identified as a marquis ritual object by experts and is now in the Anhui Provincial Museum. This shows that during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the Maotanchang area was already a thriving place deep in the mountains.

Zhu Yuanzhang won the world from the horseback uprising and established the Ming Dynasty. After taking office, he had a deep attachment to horses, paid high attention to horse raising, and actively promoted “horse governance”. He believes that the number of horses is an important indicator of whether a country is prosperous and strong, so he vigorously advocated raising horses in the “land with abundant water and grass” across the country. Zhu Yuanzhang’s hometown is in Anhui, and he attaches great importance to the horse breeding industry here. According to historical records, “the Ming Dynasty has 14 prisons for horse breeding in the Mainland, of which there are five prisons and 33 groups in Anhui.” The “Maotanchang” was luxuriant with water and grass, and the people who fled due to the war were also unable to leave their homeland. They returned one after another to feed military horses for the court to replace taxes and food. Soon this area gradually prospered due to horse breeding. This is the development history of Maotan Factory.

The old street is a 3 Huali old street with a complete set of ancient Huizhou buildings preserved along the street. On the streets paved with bluestone strips and cobblestones, the old wooden wheelbarrows and carriages have left deep ruts. Since the Ming Dynasty, the commerce here has been very developed. Various local products, tea, department stores and even foreign goods are traded here, forming an unprecedented trade market and also promoting the development of Lao Cai. Coming here makes people feel like they are in the time and space of Ming and Qing Dynasties, with people coming and going, shops, merchants going north and south, pedestrians passing by, a lively and noisy scene. The purpose of coming to Lao Cai is to experience this kind of feeling, and to understand the true meaning of life from the calm, peaceful and quiet life of the people in Lao Cai.