Jiangnan culture, as a large unit of regional culture, compared with Qilu, Lingnan, Bashu and other regional cultures, its uniqueness is quite obvious, and the academic community has a variety of self-consistent generalizations, such as openness and inclusiveness, pragmatic innovation, chongwen and re-education. For the richness of Jiangnan culture, there are also many studies in the academic community, but these discussions are mostly carried out from the regional culture of smaller units, such as Suzhou culture, Zhejiang culture, Huizhou culture, Shanghai culture, etc., and less from the correlation between the regional culture of such smaller units and the entire Jiangnan culture.
"Three Famous Southern Crossings in History"
Large-scale population flows stimulate economic development and bring about cultural prosperity, which is a fairly distinct commonality of the rise path and development mechanism of the Jiangnan region.
After the Western Jin Dynasty and before the Ming Dynasty, there were three large-scale population flows in the Jiangnan region, which effectively stimulated the economic development of this region and brought about cultural prosperity.
The first time, the Yongjia Rebellion at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasty fixed the capital Jiankang (Nanjing), resulting in a large number of people in the Central Plains moving south, which greatly promoted the development of Jiangnan. Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, Jiangnan belonged to an underdeveloped area, with a humble soil and sparsely populated land, and there were few cities and cultural celebrities in the country. During the Two Han Dynasties, although the economy here developed, it still could not catch up with the north. The fundamental change was after the Eastern Jin Dynasty, when Jiangnan during the Southern Dynasty was already "a beautiful domain, looking at each other, even Yu Gao Yong, and Strange as embroidery". Jiankang became a megacity with a population of more than one million and was the political, economic, military and cultural center of the country; the cities of Jingkou (Zhenjiang), Biling (Changzhou), Wu County (Suzhou), Huiji (Shaoxing), Yuhang, Dongyang (Jinhua) and other cities also developed.
The second time, the Anshi Rebellion during the Tang Tianbao period lasted for eight years, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River were tragically burned by soldiers, and a large number of people were forced to move south. After the Anshi Rebellion, the political situation was turbulent, and the residents of the north continued to move south. Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Changzhou and Hangzhou all have large numbers of people moving in. Yue Prefecture, south of the Qiantang River, added Shangyu County due to the sudden increase in household registration. In the future, Xuanzhou, Shezhou and Chizhou, which belonged to Anhui, all moved in because of their proximity to the river.
The third time, after the "Jingkang Revolution" occurred at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Northern Song Dynasty collapsed, the Southern Song Dynasty was established, and the capital was moved to Lin'an (Hangzhou), which once again led to a large-scale southward migration of the population. Hangzhou soon became a world-famous metropolis with a population of more than one million, with a developed economy and a prosperous culture. Many other cities in Jiangnan have also developed greatly.
These three famous southern crossings have greatly promoted the cultural exchanges between the north and the south and promoted the development and development of Jiangnan. The common background of these three population migrations to the south is the war in the north and the stability in the south. The form of southward migration is similar, but the connotations are different. The first time the crown crossed the south, the northern culture was generally higher than the south, so for Jiankang, Jingkou, Biling and other places, it was in a cultural super-super position. Because of this, the Southern Dynasty government would set up Qiao County, and set up another prefecture and county local government according to the name of the county where the immigrants originated, such as South Xuzhou (Jingkou) and South Langya (now part of Nanjing), etc., to show favoritism and preferential treatment. By the time of the second southern crossing, the country's economic and cultural center of gravity had moved to the south, and cities such as Yangzhou and Suzhou were inseparable from Chang'an and Luoyang. By the time of the third southward crossing, Hangzhou was actually culturally prosperous in Kaifeng, and the Jiangnan region was far superior to the Central Plains. In the Tang Dynasty, "Jiangnan" was already a prosperous and rich image pronoun, and "remembering Jiangnan", "wangjiangnan" and "Jiangnan good" were already the habitual themes of literary works, and even became the name of the word.
The three southward migrations are of great significance in terms of cultural exchanges, but on closer analysis, the meanings of the three times are different. As far as the migration dynamics are concerned, the first time is dominated by the northern thrust, and the second and third times are the result of the combined action of the northern thrust and the gravitational force of the south.
"Why did the jiangnan population move to Shanghai in modern times?"
In the history of the development of the Jiangnan region, there was also a large-scale population movement, that is, the movement of people from all over Jiangnan to the city of Shanghai in modern times.
Shanghai was opened as a treaty port in 1843, when the city population was more than 200,000, ranking fourth in the Jiangnan region, and Suzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing were more populous than Shanghai. In modern times, under the comprehensive action of a variety of factors, Shanghai's population has grown rapidly, exceeding 1 million in 1900, and is already the largest city in the country; in 1919, Shanghai had a population of 2.45 million, Hangzhou 650,000 in the same year, Suzhou 600,000, Ningbo and Shaoxing 450,000 each, Nanjing 400,000, Yangzhou 300,000, and Zhenjiang 260,000. Shanghai's population is almost the sum of the five cities behind it, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing and Nanjing. In 1947, Shanghai had a population of 4.3 million, Nanjing 1.03 million, Hangzhou 610,000, Suzhou 390,000, Wuxi 270,000, Ningbo 250,000, Zhenjiang 220,000, Jinhua 200,000, Shaoxing 180,000, Changzhou and Yangzhou 130,000 each, Jiaxing, Qingpu and Changshu 100,000 each. The population of these cities other than Shanghai adds up to 3.71 million. In other words, the combined population of these Jiangnan cities outside of Shanghai is less than 90% of Shanghai's population.
The vast majority of the population gathered in the city of Shanghai, although from all over the country, are Jiangnan people. According to statistics, in 1930, people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces accounted for 88.4% of the population of the public concession and 85.5% of the population of China. In January 1950, natives from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai accounted for 88.9% of Shanghai's total population. It can be seen that among modern Shanghainese, Jiangnan people account for more than 80%.
Famous entrepreneurs and financiers active in Shanghai, especially cultural people, mainly Jiangnan people. For example: entrepreneurs Sheng Xuanhuai, Yu Qiaqing, Zhu Baosan, Ye Chengzhen, Mu Rongchu, Rong Zongjing and Rong Desheng brothers, Liu Jingji. There are many more cultural people: such as newspaper and scholar Wang Tao, Feng Guifen, Shen Yugui, Huang Xiexuan, Yuan Zuzhi, Zhang Taiyan, Bao Tianxiao, Di Chuqing, publishers Zhang Yuanji, Xia Ruifang, Lu Feikui, Shen Zhifang, writers Lu Xun, Mao Dun, Xia Yan, educators Cai Yuanpei, Chen Wangdao, Hu Dunfu, Chen Heqin, painters Ren Bonian, Wu Youru, Wu Changshuo, Liu Haisu, Feng Zikai, and so on.
The reason why Jiangnan people have gathered in Shanghai in modern times has been attributed to the result of Shanghai's urbanization in the past, which seems to be very different from the three large-scale population migrations in History to Jiangnan, and belongs to the history of Jiangnan immigration. As everyone knows, a careful analysis of the reasons for this, behind the modernization, is still a security factor, and there is a high degree of empathy with the previous three large-scale population migrations to Jiangnan.
Jiangnan people began to move to Shanghai in large numbers, beginning with the war between the Taiping Army and the Qing army in Jiangnan.
In March 1853, the Taiping Army conquered Nanjing and changed its name to Tianjing. The Qing army built the Jiangnan camp (on the outskirts of Nanjing) and the Jiangbei camp (Yangzhou) to besiege the Taiping Army, and Jiangnan fell into a terrifying long-term war from then on. From 1856 to 1860, the Taiping Army broke through the Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps twice, and after 1860, it attacked all the provinces of Zhejiang and all the cities in southern Jiangsu except Shanghai. Until the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in 1864, the rich jiangnan land was in a tug-of-war between the Qing army and the Taiping army, and the destruction was unprecedented. In sharp contrast, from June 1860 to June 1862, after conquering Suzhou and Hangzhou, the Taiping Army attacked Shanghai three times, but failed to attack the shanghai county town and concession, and finally failed under the joint suppression of the Qing army and the "foreign gun brigade". As a result, the population of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and other places poured into Shanghai like a tide.
In the next 70 or 80 years, whenever there is a war in Shanghai, the population will grow rapidly, and all kinds of talents and wealth will pour into Shanghai.
In ancient times, the root cause of the three large-scale population migrations to Jiangnan was the war in the north, and Jiangnan was safer and easier to survive than the north. In modern times, Jiangnan people have moved to Shanghai because Shanghai is safer and easier to survive than other places. The four large-scale population movements in ancient and modern Jiangnan are very different.
"Examining the Richness of Gangnam Culture"
The commonality and difference of population mobility in the history of Jiangnan is a relationship between one and many, and it is a dialectical unity. The same is true of the functional presentation of Gangnam City.
Songjiang in the Ming and Qing dynasties is famous for producing cotton cloth, Suzhou and Huzhou are known for silk, Suzhou and Wuxi are important rice markets, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Zhenjiang are important wine-making bases, and Hangzhou, Nanjing and Suzhou are the largest garment manufacturing places in the country. The products in different places are different, but the mechanism behind them is highly consistent, which is the result of doing their best and rational division of labor. Jiangnan has a variety of terrain, including plains, mountains, hills, lakes, rivers, swamps, and a variety of products. Here the water network is developed, the transportation is convenient, and after the Song Dynasty, a diversified, specialized, refined, and relatively adequate market economic structure has been formed. In addition to the main items such as grain, cotton, and silk, tea, ramie, blue indigo, lacquer, tung, cypress, bamboo, wood, fishing, and salt are also specialized in production.
Due to the different micronatural endowments, different products, and different divisions of labor, the differences within Jiangnan are also revealed. For example, after the Tang Dynasty, Suzhou and Hangzhou were mentioned together, and the Song Dynasty had a folk proverb of "there is heaven on the top and Suzhou and Hangzhou on the bottom". However, a closer look at the two cities of Suzhou and Hangzhou shows that the difference in character is quite obvious.
Bai Juyi's "Remembrance of Jiangnan" has three poems, two of which are written about Hangzhou and Suzhou, writing about Hangzhou's emphasis on the victory of its landscape, "looking for guizi in the middle of the mountain temple, looking at the tide on the pillow of the county pavilion", and writing Suzhou highlights its humanistic characteristics, "Wu wine a cup of spring bamboo leaves, Wu Wa double dance drunken hibiscus". This great poet, who was born in Henan and served as an official in both Suzhou and Hangzhou, has noticed the differences between the two cities. Liu Daguan, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, commented on the characteristics of Suzhou and Hangzhou, and also had a similar view: Hangzhou won with Lakes and Mountains, Suzhou won with the city, Yangzhou won with garden pavilions, and the three were dingzhi and could not be xuanxuan.
What is particularly noteworthy is that since Wu Yueguo and the Southern Song Dynasty took Hangzhou as the capital, Hangzhou's political culture and consumer culture have become more prominent, while Suzhou's transportation functions, industrial and commercial functions, and leisure functions have dominated the world, and the differences between the two cities have become more and more obvious. Some people in the Qing Dynasty commented: Suzhou is a water and land rushing area, where the north and south boats, foreign traders, do not gather here... Its provincial masters, who live and stop by themselves, are also known as guild halls, which are extremely magnificent. Neighbors are known as the bustling capital of Suzhou and Hangzhou, but they do not know that Hangzhou people are not good at operation, and they are secluded in the east corner. Whoever arrives at Hangzhou and is berthed by those who are trafficked from siyuan will be unloaded and transported to Suzhou, sold in Kaifeng, and forwarded to Hangzhou. That is, Rujia and Lake produce silk, and satin yarn, Yu Su Dabei.
Similar to the difference between Su and Hangzhou, there is also a difference between Su Yang. Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, Suzhou and Yangzhou have been important cities in Jiangnan, but the rise paths of the two cities are different, and their characters are also distinctive. Yangzhou's prosperity is mainly due to the traffic benefits brought by the North-South Grand Canal and the rich Huishang; the development of Suzhou is not only due to the Grand Canal, but also to the developed industry and commerce and the culture of the imperial examination.
Taking the Ming and Qing dynasties as an example, the gardens of the two cities are very developed, but the styles are different. Rich merchants in Yangzhou always donate false titles such as Daotai and make friends with many officials and eunuchs, so in addition to poetry and painting, the gardens they create will also flaunt luxury and show off their wealth, so the scale is larger and the weather is magnificent. The owners of Suzhou gardens are mostly frustrated eunuchs who have been admitted by the imperial examination, and the gardens they create are usually small in scale, elegant in style, winding and quiet, not ostentatious, and implicit. As Mr. Chen Congzhou said: "Suzhou architecture and gardens, the style lies in softness, Wu language so-called 'glutinous', Yangzhou architecture and garden style is more elegant and healthy." ”
Studying Jiangnan culture, Wuyue is often mentioned in two places, and Wuyue culture has almost become a synonym for Jiangnan culture. In fact, Wuyue is also very different. In the pre-Qin period, the center of Wu was in Suzhou, the center of Yue was in Shaoxing, the rise of Wu was earlier than Yue, and the exchange with the Central Plains was also earlier than Yue. Although the two countries of Wu and Yue are connected by land and have been conquered by each other, "the same customs and the same soil, the same atmosphere and customs", but the differences are still obvious. The more mountains, the narrower the land, the more difficult the livelihood, so the more people have the courage to go out, or do business, after the curtain, it is also easy to be excited; Wu has more water, the land is gentle, it is easier to make a living, so the Wu people are more peaceful. In the process of the northerners moving south after the Eastern Jin Dynasty and learning from the north to the south, Wudi was more influenced by the northern culture than yuedi, and yuedi retained the rustic style of the barbaric land more than Wudi. Relatively speaking, Wu Wenren is elegant and the more powerful people are.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Huan of Qi already considered the Yue to be strong and belligerent; after the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Yue were still stronger and braver than the Wu. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Fang Xiaoru, a Native of Ninghai, would rather the Ten Tribes be condemned than to usurp the throne of Zhu Di, who would later become the ancestor of Ming Cheng, and thus lead to the condemnation of 873 clansmen and students, thus becoming a model for the ages. In the Ming Dynasty, Qi Jiguang recruited anti-Wu soldiers, mostly from Shaoxing, Taizhou and other places, and he believed that the people here were brave and fierce. The anti-Qing heroes Zhang Huangyan and Liu Zongzhou at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the anti-Qing revolutionaries Qiu Jin and Xu Xilin at the end of the Qing Dynasty were all from eastern Zhejiang.
Theoretical innovation is another manifestation of courageous character. The performance of the people of Eastern Zhejiang is particularly outstanding in this regard. Wang Chong of the Han Dynasty, Wang Yangming and Huang Zongxi of the Ming Dynasty, and Sun Yirang, Song Shu, Lu Xun, and Ma Yifu in modern times all led the new and single-minded. In the Southern Song Dynasty Yongjia School, Ye Shi and others pioneered the study of deeds, and Zheng Zhidao, Chen Qiqing, and others took the lead in expounding the idea of "industry and commerce are fundamental", which justified the social status of merchants, which was of particularly far-reaching significance. Although Wudi also has similar characters, the number of them and the majesty of the weather are ultimately slightly inferior to those of Yuedi. However, if we talk about the ability of the imperial examination and the work of art, Wu is slightly better than that. In the early days of reform and opening up, the southern Jiangsu model and the Wenzhou model, the former attached importance to collective promotion, the latter focused on individual expansion, the former was more disciplined, the latter was more autonomous, and more or less reflected the characteristics of these two places.
The construction of any regional culture has a development process from spontaneous to conscious, and from self-reliance to self-reliance. Clarifying the differences between local culture and other regional cultures and clarifying the connotation of local culture is the first step in the construction of regional culture from spontaneous to conscious. When we macroscopically grasp the characteristics of Jiangnan culture that is different from Qilu, Lingnan, Bashu and other regional cultures, we can sort out the evolution trajectory of Jiangnan culture, carefully examine the richness within Jiangnan culture, feel the difference between Suzhou and Hangzhou, the difference between Suyang and Wuyue, and even grasp the characteristics of each town, and when promoting the construction of Jiangnan culture, we can promote each other's strengths and complement each other.
(The author Xiong Yuezhi is a researcher of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, a research librarian of Shanghai Municipal Museum of Culture and History, and the president of Shanghai Jiangnan Academy)
Column Editor-in-Chief: Gong Danyun Text Editor: Xia Bin Caption Source: Visual China Image Editor: Cao Liyuan
Source: Author: Xiong Yuezhi