Yuyuan Village俞源太极星象村

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义县以南的竹林。这个小村庄似乎和在现代化道路上飞速发展的其他地方脱节了。老建筑都聚集在一起，唯一的交通方式就是你的脚。这里没有纪念品商店，没有旅游餐馆，没有小贩拽着让你买他们的东西。

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.

俞源村的正式名称是俞源太极星象村。在武义县西南部乘车约需三十分钟的地方。

History历史

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.

俞源的历史是其最有趣的地方之一。据说，14世纪，第一位明朝皇帝的开国谋士刘伯温来到俞源。在检查了它的布局和周边地区后，他认为俞源的居民应该改变其河道使它成为一个“S”形，以创建更适宜的风水格局。

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

这使村外的田野里形成了一个巨大的太极或阴阳鱼符号。

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.

據说这条河的改造使村子更加繁盛，于是村民们开始在当地的建筑和装饰中大量使用太极符号。因此，今天，你可以在村子许多现代标志以及古建筑中找到太极符号。这就是为什么这个村子被称为太极星象村的原因。

（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.）

（说到“俞源”，在中国这一地区，同村村民大多来自同一家族，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.

村庄本身紧密地聚集在当地山区的山脚下。好好观察这片土地的方法是爬上当地的观景台。你会看到村落的布局——蜿蜒的河流将田野和村落分割形成了太极的形状。

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护，因为它们是在600多年前建造的。但它们不仅仅是老建筑——许多建筑仍有人居住。当你步入其中，整个村庄就是一个活生生的博物馆。在我们参观期间，一些居民把我们迎进家中，一位妇女给我们看了一张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.

与其他“迷人”的历史村落，如人满为患的长江三角洲的旅游水镇或像是丽江或大理的更远的老镇相比，俞源的特点在于毫无旅游相关的垃圾。汽车无法开到狭窄的小巷里，每个人都悠闲地做着自己的事情。你真的感觉像是时光倒流。最有趣的是，一个老农夫穿着他用茅草做成的蓑衣，这种雨具我只在博物馆里看到过。

Notes：

1. nestle vt. 抱；安置

2. cluster vt. 使聚集

3. hawker n. 叫卖小贩

4. astrological adj. 占星的；占星学的

5. layout n. 布局；设计

6. deem vt. 认为，视作；相信

7. behoove vt. 理应；对…有此必要

8. architecture n. 建筑学；建筑风格

9. decoration n. 装饰；装饰品

10. signage n. 引导标示

11. clan n. 宗族

12. snake v. 迂回前进

13. intersect vt. 横断，横切；贯穿

14. dearth n. 缺乏

15. amble vi. 缓行；从容漫步

16. thatch n. 茅草，杂草