Lili Town perches on the verge of Taihu Lake and the Grand Canal, belonging to Wujiang District of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province. Situated in the southeast of Wujiang, it is in a less than an hour’s drive to Shanghai Hongqiao Airport. Su-Jia-Hang Expressway and Taipu River run through the town. Moreover, Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou High-speed Railway and Nantong-Suzhou-Jiaxing High-speed Railway will meet here in the near future. Suzhou South Railway Station (Fenhu Station) is located in Lili as well, whose construction was commenced in July 2023. The town boasts in a superior geographical location with convenient water and land transportation. It covers an area of 256.75 square kilometres. The old town area extends from the Zhongli Pavilion in the east, Nanhuan Road in the south, the Wangping Bridge in the west and to the Xihu Taoist Temple in the north, covering an area of 0.69 square kilometre.
Lili was the venue of numerous battles between the States of Wu and Yue 2,500 years ago. Even today, place names such as “Yuerhang” (meaning “the lake where resistance against troops of the Yue State was conducted”) and “Guitoutan” (meaning “the pond where heads of executed soldiers of Yue were buried”) are still in use, serving as a historical footnote for the fierce warfare between the states of Wu and Yue for supremacy. In the first year of the Yongxi era in the Western Jin Dynasty (290), the Buddhist master Fading founded the Putong Temple here. In the Tang Dynasty, the area was named Lihua Village (“Li (“梨”) hua” means “pear blossoms”). The head of the village Li Fengjia (“黎逢甲”) had floods controlled and always kept villagers’ well-being in mind. On several occasions, Li was so preoccupied with his duties that he did not afford the time to step into his own home when passing by. To commemorate him, villagers changed the character “梨” in the village name to “黎.” During the Jingkang Incident of the Song Dynasty, many aristocrats and governmental officials immigrated to the south. As a result, the population in the southern area of the Yangtze River underwent a sharp increase. Lihua Village and Hejiabang Village merged to form a market town. As recorded, “During the Chunxi era, the deputy minister of works Zhao Panlao took up residence in Lili, and the name Lili began to known to all.” In the first year of the Chunxi era in the Song Dynasty (1174), Emperor Xiaozong granted a plague inscribed with “Luo Han Jiang Si” (meaning “the temple where arhats deliver lectures”) to the Putong Temple. Then “Arhat Temple” became its alternative name and the temple grew increasingly famous in the south of the Yangtze River. In the Ming Dynasty, Lili gradually developed into a major town in Wujiang. According to Chronicles of Lili compiled in the Jiaqing era of the Qing Dynasty, “In an area with the length of three and a half miles from east to west, and a perimeter of over eight miles, people’s houses were densely packed. They all had tiled roofs and lined together in close rows resembling those scales on fish bodies. Along the street winds a roofed corridor. Even if it rains, you don’t need your rain gear. The town centre, known as Zhongshi, has two residential areas — the Uptown and the Downtown — and four markets — the east, west, north, and south fairs. Many scholars and bureaucrats lived in Uptown, who have lofty academic pursuits and often chant poems and other works at night. The eastern part of the town is called Dongzha. Every dawn, villagers gather here for either shopping or trading. The major commodities are rice and ‘You Bing’ (Deep-fried flat dough cakes which are round in shape). At the port, boats crowd together. In the streets, there are a great many people coming and going. Bustling activities at the port and the market make Dongzha the most prosperous spot of the town.” The description is so vivid that one may have the illusion of travelling back in time. The aroma of deep-fried dough cakes (“You Dun”) greets him through the words and phrases in the local chronicles.
The Puji Temple Stele at the Dongsheng Temple (the original Puji Taoist Temple) and the Lingxing Gate in front of the Quanzhen Taoist Temple mark the beginning of Lili’s glorious history. Those deep alleys are connections between the past and the present. The numerous stones for hitching boats at the port are stony records of the town’s past prosperity.
In Lili, there are 115 alleys, including 90 indoor alleys and 25 open ones. Their names bear a distinct folk touch, most of which adopt the family names of people living there, such as Zhoujia Alley (meaning “the lane in Zhou’s house”), Chenjia Alley, and Kuaijia Alley, etc., totaling 72 ones. The longest one is Liting Alley with a length of 135.7 meters. The widest one is South Chaijia Alley whose width is 1.6 meters. South Dingjia Alley is the narrowest with a width of only 0.7 meter. The designs of these alleys are greatly varied as well. In some cases, an open alley parallels with an indoor one, while in other cases two indoor alleys run parallel with each other. Exceptional cases are also great in number, for example, the one in which two alleys meet at their right angles, or the one in which an alley nests in another, known as a “parent-child alley,” and still another in which two indoor alleys meet to form a right angle. Those indoor alleys in Uptown residences resemble time warps, linking the present with the days in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and taking one travelling back and forth through time.
Carved stones for hitching boats are another unique feature of Lili. Elderly people in Lili call them “Eyes of Elephant Trunks” (meaning “elephants’ nostrils”) The number of these stony hitching posts embedded along the embankments or at the ports of the town river account for more than two hundred and fifty. These stones may help one acquire a better understanding of the life and people of ancient towns in the south of the Yangtze River. The two hitching stones in the shape of perch and pear blossom allow visitors to see local people’s love for their hometown. Those bear the shapes of auspicious grain seedlings, silkworms, and cotton show that in the area south of the Yangtze River, the three economic pillars were grain, silk, and cotton during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In those days, Lili was a key base of grain economy.
Other interesting designs include three halberds in one bottle (The combination shares the similar pronunciation with the phrase in Chinese meaning “smooth and quick promotion.”), a deer squatting on a Ruyi, and a bottle holding a bee and a monkey (The description of this image sounds similar to “quick promotion and awarding of aristocratic status” in Chinese). They are expressions of scholars’ dreams to be successful in imperial examination and attain positions in governmental departments. Hitching stones with designs of cranes and chrysanthemums suggest that those hermits, though holding lofty aims, chose to live a solitary life in this ancient town. The patterns of double swords and the eight treasures belonged to the legendary Eight Immortals symbolize respectively townspeople’s resistance against oppression and their unrealistic wish to seek divine help when their livelihood was severely threatened by natural disasters. In the dawn of the Republic of China period, far-sighted designers in Lili carved two hitching stones featuring the five-color flag and a wine vessel, which voiced people’s opposition to Yuan Shikai’s restoration, and wish to actively participate in discussing and handling state affairs.
Due to its long history and highly developed economy, Lili hosts quite a few old mansions. Shihe River flowing through the town from the east to the west is 1,980 metres in length. It intersects with another river which runs from the north to the south with a length of 500 metres. The two of them meet to form a T-junction. The townspeople live along the rivers, and streets stretch along the watercourses as well. So far, the well-preserved old houses constructed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the Republic of China period cover an area of 97,000 square metres. Lili constantly accommodated about tens of thousands of families in ancient times. During the Qing Dynasty, there were eight large and influential families in the town, namely the Zhou’s, the Chen’s, the Li’s, the Kuai’s, the Ru’s, the Lu’s, the Xu’s and the Cai’s. Each family had a big mansion with spacious courtyards. These houses usually had five to six successively arranged courtyards, while some larger ones even hosted eight to nine ones.
The ancient town has 28 buildings ranked as national, provincial, and municipal cultural relics protection units and municipal controlled and protected ones, among which is the former residence of Liu Yazi. The residence, now a key cultural relics unit under national protection, has six courtyards and a garden with a pastoral touch. The place was first owned by Zhou Yuanli, the Minister of Works during Emperor Qianlong’s reign of the Qing Dynasty. Later it changed hands twice. During the period of the Taiping Uprising, Tan Shaoguang, known as the King of Mu, renovated it into a palace for temporary stays. Today, visitors still can see those eave tiles bearing patterns of dragons and phoenixes added to the original building during the renovation. During the Republic of China period, Liu Yazi, the founder of the Southern Society (or Nanshe), lived here by means of pawn land rent. The Hongshou Hall, built during the Ming Dynasty, is a key cultural relics unit under provincial protection. The Hall is in the third courtyard inside the residence. It boasts in 18 cone-shaped pillar bases made of Phoebe zhennan, which have remained intact for over 600 years. The plaque of the fifth courtyard bears the name of “Luoya Thatched Cottage,” which was handwritten in the seventh year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty (1802) by Wu Tingchen, a Suzhou scholar who came first in the highest level of the imperial examination.
Small as it is, Lili has boasted in a great many talents since the Southern Song Dynasty, including a top scholar who came first in the national imperial examination, 26 successful candidates in the national level test, and 61 successful ones in the provincial level of the examination. Celebrities and great scholars are also great in number. In the Southern Song Dynasty, such natives as Zhao Panlao, Wei Xian, Wei Zhi and Wei Ruxian were distinguished scholars or officials. In the Yuan Dynasty, Ru Shangzhi established an army of volunteers to protect Lili. In the Ming Dynasty, the town took pride in the famous female painter Ru Wenshu and Ling Xin, who served as the minister responsible for religious and protocol affairs and successfully pacified Annamite rebellion with his eloquence. In the Qing Dynasty, Zhou Yuanli, serving as Viceroy of Zhili and later minister of works, was known to all for his unwavering commitment to justice and integrity. Kuai Shixiang, chief prosecutor of the high judicial court of Zhejiang Province, was diligent with his work throughout his career though dishonorably involved in the unjust case of Yang Naiwu and Bi Xiugu nicknamed “Little Cabbage”. In his later years, the man took his own life by swallowing gold. Zhang Yao was another famous native who founded Songwu Army. His achievements included his effective conquer over the Russian troops and pacification of rebellions in Xinjiang. Zhang died of illness at the site of his flood control project at the age of 59.
In modern times, there are even more famous figures from Lili, for example Ni Shouzhi who founded the first women’s school in Wujiang in 1903, and Yin Peiliu who declared Wujiang’s independence during Yuan Shikai’s restoration. Yin Mingzhu, Yin Peiliu’s niece, was socially active in Shanghai during her teenage years. She was the first actress who appeared on the big screen and played leading roles in over 30 films. She established herself as an important figure among the first generation of Chinese film stars. Jin Songpan so wisely integrated the essence of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine that he was called “the country’s medicine sage” by Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Jin was appointed as the director of the Medical Department of the Huangpu Military Academy. During the War of Resistance against Japan, he risked his own life to save the wounded and even was trapped in the Japanese-occupied Nanjing. Ni Zhengyu, known for his meticulous thinking and sharpness in expression, persistently pushed the progress of the Tokyo Trials, which eventually led to the death sentences of such Japanese war criminals as Tojo Hideki. In addition, there are many other renowned natives of Lili, including the female hero Zhang Yingchun, the agronomist Ni Weinong, the expert in water conservancy Ru Xian, the translator and publisher Kuai Sixun, the educator Liu Wuji, the bamboo carving artist Xu Xiaomu and the members of the Southern Society and the New Southern Society initiated by Liu Yazi.
Liu Yazi was a leading figure in the Southern Society. When the Society reached its peak, some far-sighted intellectuals concluded that “without Liu Yazi, the Southern Society would not have been so successful,” which has long remained a common view. Boasting in its large membership, the Southern Society was the largest and most influential advanced cultural group in modern China. In Lili, there are several architectural complexes related to this Society, including the Liuyazi Memorial Hall and the Zhou Shou’en Hall. There were 36 Southern Society members in the town. When Yuan Shikai restored the imperial system, Liu Yazi and a few others set up a branch of the Southern Society named “Jiu She” (meaning “the wine society”) to organize campaigns against Yuan’s restoration. The Zhou Shou’en Hall, used to be the Communications Office of the Southern Society, where Liu Yazi lived for 24 years. At the Hall, Liu met members of the Southern Society here, and compiled the book series “Block-Printing Books of the Southern Society.” He left behind a large number of precious historical materials. The highbrow culture and refined art of the Southern Society prepared a platform for modern Chinese intellectuals, which took Liu Yazi as its founding father and took its root in the town of Lili.
As is a branch of Wu Songs, Luxu folk songs popular in Lili have been included in the first batch of the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Luxu folk songs originated in the area around Fenhu Lake. The spread of these songs started from Luxu and radiated to Shenta, Jinjiaba, and the ancient town Lili. These songs feature varied themes and tunes, among which over 20 have over 1,500 lines. In 1982, the narrative folk song “Wu Gu Niang” (meaning “the fifth daughter”), based on the materials collected by Zhang Fanglan, Ma Hanmin and Lu Qun, was completed which contained more than 4,000 lines. It filled the void that the Han nationality lacked long folk songs. In terms of contents, Luxu folk songs can be divided into work songs, ritual songs, and songs about everyday life, legends and historical events, etc. As far as genres are concerned, there are nursery rhymes, miscellaneous songs, new-style folk songs and so on. Luxu folk songs have quite a few singing styles, including solo singing, duet singing, and one-to-many singing. With the quick pace of urbanization, Luxu folk songs have shifted their performing grounds from fields and fishing village workshops to communities, theatrical stages, and even classrooms. To adapt to the new social environment and new aesthetic tastes, these folk songs have experienced further development and innovation.
