Yuyuan Village俞源太極星象村

Sara Naumann

Nestled1 in the bamboo forests south of Wuyi in Zhejiang Province is the ancient village of Yuyuan. This small village truly seems to have fallen off the rapid-fire modernization road that the rest of the country is on. Old buildings are clustered2 together and the only mode of transport is your feet. There are no souvenir shops， no touristy restaurants and no hawkers3 trying to get you to buy their things.

俞源古村落坐落在浙江省武義縣以南的竹林。這個小村莊似乎和在現(xiàn)代化道路上飛速發(fā)展的其他地方脫節(jié)了。老建筑都聚集在一起，唯一的交通方式就是你的腳。這里沒有紀念品商店，沒有旅游餐館，沒有小販拽著讓你買他們的東西。

Location 位置

Yuyuan Village is officially called “Source of the Yu Family Tai Ji （Tai Chi） Astrological4 Village”. It is about thirty minutes by car southwest of Wuyi.

俞源村的正式名稱是俞源太極星象村。在武義縣西南部乘車約需三十分鐘的地方。

History歷史

The history of Yuyuan is one of the most interesting aspects of the place. What I have been told is that an adviser of the first Ming emperor named Liu Bowen came to Yuyuan Village in the 14th century. After examining its layout5 and relationship to the surrounding area， he deemed6 it would behoove7 the residents of Yuyuan to change the course of its river in order to make it into an “S” shape and therefore create a more proper feng shui setup.

俞源的歷史是其最有趣的地方之一。據說，14世紀，第一位明朝皇帝的開國謀士劉伯溫來到俞源。在檢查了它的布局和周邊地區(qū)后，他認為俞源的居民應該改變其河道使它成為一個“S”形，以創(chuàng)建更適宜的風水格局。

What this translates into is a giant taiji or yin-yang symbol being created in the fields beyond the village.

這使村外的田野里形成了一個巨大的太極或陰陽魚符號。

Supposedly this reshaping of the river granted more prosperity to the village and the villagers began adopting the taiji sign into much of their local architecture8 and decoration9. Therefore today， you can find the taiji symbol in much of the modern signage10 as well as the ancient architecture. This is why the village is officially called the Tai Ji Astrological Village.

據說這條河的改造使村子更加繁盛，于是村民們開始在當?shù)氐慕ㄖ脱b飾中大量使用太極符號。因此，今天，你可以在村子許多現(xiàn)代標志以及古建筑中找到太極符號。這就是為什么這個村子被稱為太極星象村的原因。

（And as for the “source of the Yu”， as in much of this part of China， villagers mostly come from the same clan11， in this case， the Yu Family.）

（說到“俞源”，在中國這一地區(qū)，同村村民大多來自同一家族，因此俞源村民大都出自“俞”姓。）

Architecture 建筑

The village itself is clustered tightly in the foothills of the local mountains. A good way to get a good lay of the land is to climb up to the local viewing platform. Youll see the layout—the snaking12 river intersecting13 the land to form the Taiji symbol for the village farmland and buildings.

村莊本身緊密地聚集在當?shù)厣絽^(qū)的山腳下。好好觀察這片土地的方法是爬上當?shù)氐挠^景臺。你會看到村落的布局——蜿蜒的河流將田野和村落分割形成了太極的形狀。

Many of the buildings are under protection as they were built over 600 years ago. But they arent just old buildings—many are still inhabited and the whole village becomes a living museum when youre walking through it. During our visit， a few residents welcomed us inside their homes and one woman showed us a Qing-era wooden bed that her family still uses.

許多建筑物都受到了保護，因為它們是在600多年前建造的。但它們不僅僅是老建筑——許多建筑仍有人居住。當你步入其中，整個村莊就是一個活生生的博物館。在我們參觀期間，一些居民把我們迎進家中，一位婦女給我們看了一張她家仍然使用的清代的木床。

Compared with other historic “charming” villages such as the heavily touristed water towns in the Yangtze Delta or old cities farther afield like Lijiang or Dali， Yuyuan is characteristic for its complete dearth14 of tourist-related rubbish. Cars cant fit in the narrow alleys so everyone ambles15 about doing their business. You truly get the feel you have stepped back in time. A highlight was seeing an old farmer heading off wearing his rain-gear made of thatch16—something Id only seen in a museum.

與其他“迷人”的歷史村落，如人滿為患的長江三角洲的旅游水鎮(zhèn)或像是麗江或大理的更遠的老鎮(zhèn)相比，俞源的特點在于毫無旅游相關的垃圾。汽車無法開到狹窄的小巷里，每個人都悠閑地做著自己的事情。你真的感覺像是時光倒流。最有趣的是，一個老農夫穿著他用茅草做成的蓑衣，這種雨具我只在博物館里看到過。

Notes：

1. nestle vt. 抱；安置

2. cluster vt. 使聚集

3. hawker n. 叫賣小販

4. astrological adj. 占星的；占星學的

5. layout n. 布局；設計

6. deem vt. 認為，視作；相信

7. behoove vt. 理應；對…有此必要

8. architecture n. 建筑學；建筑風格

9. decoration n. 裝飾；裝飾品

10. signage n. 引導標示

11. clan n. 宗族

12. snake v. 迂回前進

13. intersect vt. 橫斷，橫切；貫穿

14. dearth n. 缺乏

15. amble vi. 緩行；從容漫步

16. thatch n. 茅草，雜草