放簰会：重现56年前的风景

●王福田



放簰会：重现56年前的风景

●王福田

“咚咚咚！咚咚咚！”、“嚓嚓嚓！嚓嚓嚓！”、“砰啪！嘭啪！”……

2015年12月25日上午9时，一向平静安详的浙江德清县筏头乡东沈村锣鼓喧天、鞭炮齐鸣，贯穿村庄的盘溪两岸人声鼎沸，武侠小说中的“水上漂”神功在这里惊现，溪流中间飘荡着长长的如游龙般的竹排。来自四面八方的人们，沿着岸边奔跑着、呼喊着、拥挤着，争相用手机拍照，更有大批专业摄影师托着长短镜头、支起三脚架，记录着热烈而惊人的场景。盛行千百年而于1959年中断的筏头乡“放簰会”在这里重新上演。

溪流中的竹排击浪奋进。Bamboo rafts ride down on the river.

激流中的竹排和岸上的人Spectators watch the rafting for the first time in their lifetime in excitement.

恢复传统技艺：乡贤资助、山民踊跃

据清道光《武康县志》记载，自唐宋时期，德清西部山区南、北、中三路的竹木做成排，随水放运到秋月潭汇聚。各竹木户主找到买主出卖后，买主把竹排随水放至武康，再与各地买主成交转运。聚排于此，放排于此，故称“排头”。放排者聚会的团体简称“放排会”。

据秋氏祠堂家谱记载：明清时期，竹木山货盛行，在排头挂牌做生意的竹木山货店多达七十余家，显示出放排业的兴旺发达。这时，章家秀才章百万适时提出改排头为牌头的主意，很快得到了行家、店主和百姓的赞同，排头地名被商业名称替代，牌头叫响了。元泰定年间，为突出竹乡特色，“牌”转变为“簰”。清道光《武康县志》记载：竹木出山，簰行必始于此，故号簰头。早年的“放排会”也逐渐成了“放簰会”。

东沈村是德清西部山区毛竹主要产区，千百年来，山民砍竹、拖竹、放排，形成了独特的生产、生活方式。竹排是西部山区传统的水上运输毛竹的工具，在没有公路的年代，山里的毛竹全部是通过竹排运输的。直至1959年，对河口水库建成以及公路建设的发展，汽车运输代替了水上放排，竹排渐渐淡出了人们的视线，扎竹排这项传统技艺也就慢慢消失了。

2015年8月，东沈村在建造农村文化礼堂、挖掘山村民俗文化时，通过资料查证，特别是与大批乡贤交流中，大家一致觉得应该恢复水上竹排运毛竹的传统技艺，郎妙金当场表示出资赞助这项活动。随之，74岁的郎庆林、70岁的单利荣主动担当召集人，聘请80岁的宣阿道进行现场指导，村民积极贡献毛竹、报名撑排、疏浚河道、围堰蓄水等，经过4个多月的谋划、准备，选定12月25日“开水放排”。

三位放排手顺利抵达目的地。Three rafters pose proudly for a photo after their successful trip down the river.

老少携手：272根毛竹顺水漂流抵达目的地

“放竹排”是一项动人心魄的民俗文化活动。

“现在50多岁的人基本上都没有现场观看过放竹排。我从1956年、自己20岁开始学撑排，也只干了四年多，就没有机会再干了。”宣阿道说，放排是既艰苦又充满风险的活，抢排、撞排、扭排、堆排的凶险事，随时可能发生。放排工在放排时遭伤残的更是屡见不鲜，丧命的算来也不少。因为放排过程惊险，所以身手敏捷、头脑灵活的青壮年才能参与、担当。

今年5 6岁的孙财福是这次“放簰会”上头排工，他曾经是30多年的拖拉机手。虽然自己没有干过放竹排活计，甚至没有在电影电视上见过，但是他聪明好学、水上功夫较好，特别是有股闯劲。被大家选中后，自己又提议61岁的宣根火作排尾。接着，70岁的单利荣主动在中间配合。

在长长的弯弯曲曲的盘溪上，272根毛竹以帖相聚，帖帖相连。三名撑排工头戴斗笠、肩披蓑衣、脚蹬山袜、手持长篙，威风凛凛站在水中央，时而点篙索篙，时而勒篙牵篙，绵延80多米长的竹排顺溪漂流，急速直下，时而如长蛇游动，时而似蛟龙翻腾。经过两个多小时的奋力拼搏，竹排终于抵达终点。

上图 “放竹簰”水上活动吸引四方人群。下图 竹排破浪穿越激流。Bamboo rafting on the river attracts a lot of spectators.

记得乡愁：绿水青山就是金山银山

记得乡愁村史，传承传统文化，体验户外乐趣，“放簰会”为文化旅游撑起了好平台。

今年30岁的施晨霞是东沈人，现在杭州萧山工作。这次恰巧碰到“放簰会”。他在微信朋友圈里这样写道：“这是传承老一辈的技艺，我们年轻一代都没见过。想当年，老一辈就是用这样的交通工具运输毛竹。今日看到感触特深，感叹老一辈人的智慧与辛苦。今天，我那2013年出生的小宝宝也看到了这一幕，虽然他还不懂，但如果这样一直传承下去，孩子长大了也会懂得的！”微信发出不到30分钟，点赞的就达80多人，许多朋友不停地问放簰会在哪里举行？是干什么的？明天来能看上吗？

来自上海的陈兰已经在东沈投资开办“富源山居”民宿。她说：东沈村森林覆盖广阔，辖区过境雨量充沛，河道宽阔，碧波荡漾，两岸青山秀美犹如“画廊”，很适合发展休闲旅游产业。正在现场考察德清山岙的一家户外运动公司负责人黄希睿接着说：“我们打算跟东沈合作，将放排作为今后的一个户外运动项目推出去，打造东沈特色旅游产品。”

望得见山、看得见水、记得住乡愁，东沈“放簰会”也引起了筏头乡82岁的民俗研究者王凤鸣的赞叹：1949年前，筏头有南路、中路、北路共三路放竹班。各路竹排汇聚到秋月潭进行交易，然后由合记放竹班运输到武康。当年，这些活动非常热闹，如今，东沈率先恢复这项古老的活动，既为传承非物质文化遗产撑起了一个好平台，还可以成为摄影、观光、休闲等户外体验项目，为各种旅游文化活动的开展打造一个好品牌。

Bamboo Rafts League Resumed in Deqing

By Wang Futian

青青竹排溪中游Bamboo rafts are a thing to watch against a picturesque background.

Nine o’clock on the morning of December 25, 2015 was a big moment for local people at Dongshen Village, Deqing County in northern Zhejiang. Firecrackers were set off among the loud rhythmic performance of percussion music along the Panxi River. The spectators crowded on the river banks cheering loudly while a long procession of bamboo rafts traveled down from mountains.

It was the big comeback of bamboo rafting on the river, which had not been seen since 1959 when a reservoir and a network of country highways ended the tradition of more than 1,000 years.

The transportation method in the region goes back to the Tang (618-907). According to the local annals compiled in the mid 19th century, bamboos and timbers harvested in the mountainous region of the county were first made into rafts for the purpose of transporting. The rafts came from mountains and got on a long drive to Autumn Moon Pond where owners met buyers and made deals. After the money and the ownership changed hands, the rafts went on another long drive to Wukang, the seat of the county, where sellers and buyers from outside the county made deals.

Back then, Dongshen Village was called Paitou, referring to the bamboo trade and rafts. In the Ming and the Qing, Paitou had more than 70 businesses engaged in transactions of bamboo, wood timber and mountain produces. The village is a major producer of bamboo in the western Deqing. For more than 1,000 years, bamboo has been a major pillar of the local economy. Before the era of highways, all the bamboos were rafted down streams and rivers.

It was not until August 2015 when villagers were exploring local history and culture that bamboo rafts were mentioned again. The elders of the village were excited by a proposal that it was high time to bring the tradition back as a cultural project. They got themselves organized and preparations started. Funds were raised, bamboos were donated, volunteers were picked, advisors and organizers were elected, the river was dredged, and a dam was built to raise the water level.

Xuan Adao, now 80, started his rafting job in 1956. He rode rafts down the river for only four years. He said the villagers now in their 50s had no memory of seeing rafts come down the river. Raft drives were dangerous. Rafts could get entangled in many ways and rafting people got hurt easily. Some were disabled by injuries and some got killed. Only the young people were allowed to ride rafts.

But this time, three relatively old people were chosen to drive the rafts. The 80-meter-long fleet of the rafts was made of 272 bamboo poles. The 56-year-old Sun Caifu steered the rafts in the front. The 61-year-old Xuan Genhuo brought up the rear whereas the 70-year-old Shan Lirong coordinated in the middle. They rode the rafts, maneuvering them with long poles in their hands. It took them more than two hours to travel down the river and reach the destination.

Wang Fengming, an 82-year-old local folklore researcher, recalls how the rafts operated before 1949. Back then, rafts came out of mountains following three routes. All the rafts came to Autumn Moon Pond for deals. Then a new team took the rafting over and drove the rafts down to Wukang. Wang has endorsed the comeback activity at Dongshen Village, saying that the comeback is more than about intangible cultural heritage. It can also be a platform for rural tourism to attract photographers and tourists.

Apparently the rafting has attracted the attention of investors. Chen Lan, a Shanghai investor, has set up a hotel at Dongshen. She believes the village is an ideal tourist destination thanks to its dense forest coverage, ample rainfall and crystal-clear rivers. A local outdoor sporting company is also considering the possibilities of working with Dongshen Village and including rafting as an attraction.