The Grand Canal has been around for thousands of years, giving birth to the glory and prosperity of the cities along the coast.
As the famous ancient architect Luo Zhewen said: "Without this canal, the city of Beijing may not be able to be repaired." The dragon pillars of the Taihe Hall of the Forbidden City, the gold bricks paved on the floor, including the large amount of wood and historical materials needed for urban construction, were all transported through the canal.
The spirit of the Grand Canal has nourished the lives of people on both sides of the strait, forming a unique local traditional skills, opera, food... Today, they are called "intangible cultural heritage". According to statistics, the 13 canal cities in Jiangsu have 10 items on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, 162 items of national intangible cultural heritage, and 745 items of provincial intangible cultural heritage.
△ Qianlong Emperor
The national essence of Peking Opera, the Grand Canal witnessed its birth.
In 1780, the Qianlong Emperor made his fifth southern tour. When the team sailed from Yangzhou to Zhenjiang, they saw a huge peach on the shore in the distance, which looked red and green. As the ship approached, fireworks erupted on the shore, and the peaches cracked open, revealing a theater that could accommodate hundreds of people, and began to perform a new row of Fukuyama Shouhai operas, which were extremely spectacular. This is likely to be the first national opera performance in ancient China. At that time, in order to meet the driving, there were unique opera groups in Yangzhou gathered in various places, and in the place where Qianlong passed, they showed their unique skills.
In 1782, when the fleet arrived in the capital to "perform" again, miracles occurred: Kunqu opera and Yiyang opera were in the same class, Ya opera and flower opera were mixed, and various vocal cavities such as erzhu cavity and Kunqu opera were integrated into the emblem opera, as well as the martial arts of Yiyang opera.
Eight years later, on the 80th birthday of the Qianlong Emperor, the four emblems of the Class of Jinjing, and the national essence of Peking Opera was born.
Traditional handicrafts
The witness of the Grand Canal is a "miracle", which transports a variety of traditional handicrafts.
The golden bricks of Suzhou travel north through the canal and are laid out in the Taihe Hall of the Forbidden City.
"Yangzhou Rouge Suzhou Flower, Changzhou Comb Grate First", the Qing Dynasty Suzhou Weaving House every year in the seventh month of the lunar calendar to Changzhou custom 60 boxwood combs, 60 high-grade combs depicting the four beautiful women in ancient times, together with 6 sets of dragon robes, 600 palace flowers with tribute boats along the Grand Canal all the way north to the Forbidden City.
"Hetian Jade, Yangzhou Gong", the 5,000-kilogram jade work "Dayu ZhiShuiTu" in the Forbidden City in Beijing, is to send jade to Yangzhou through the canal, which takes 6 years to complete, and then send it to the Forbidden City through the canal.
Kunqu opera, Suzhou royal kiln gold brick making technology, Changzhou combing grate, Suzhou embroidery, Yangzhou lacquerware decoration technology, Yixing purple sand pottery production technology, engraving printing technology, Nantong tie-dyeing technology...... These traditional handicrafts have been passed down along the canal and have become intangible cultural heritage that has been passed down to this day.
delicacies
△ Soft pocket long fish Zhou Jun provided the picture
△ Kaiyang pu cai Zhou Jun provided the picture
Test you, in Huai'an, what is the name of the white fish? What about yellow eels?
Answer: White strips in the waves, long fish with soft pockets.
Canals are opened, and food is eaten.
Zhenjiang pot cover noodles, Yangzhou Fuchun refreshments, Gaoyou salted duck eggs ... One of the most widely known intangible cultural heritages is Huaiyang cuisine.
Huaiyang cuisine is known for its lightness, taste and north-south. The cooking standards are: oil without grease, crisp without rotten". Huaiyang cuisine stir-fry relies on more oil and tourists, but it is not greasy, soft and delicious, but not rotten. If you take beauty as a metaphor, Huaiyang cuisine is like a noble lady - graceful and luxurious.
Huaiyang cuisine in China, the land and the north and south, on its basis, to the spicy main development into Sichuan cuisine, to the sweet mainly become Shanghai cuisine, to the partial raw mainly into Cantonese cuisine, to the hard main development into Lu cuisine ...
On September 30, 1949, the central government entertained Chinese and foreign guests attending the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China, using Huaiyang cuisine, and the first dish on the table was the famous Huaiyang dish "Soft Pocket Long Fish", which has since been called "the first dish of the founding of the country".
Folk literature
The Grand Canal flows, and there are also many folklore and literary stories.
In 2013, the tomb of The Sui Dynasty Emperor Yang Guang was discovered. As the builder of the Grand Canal, the discovery of the tomb of the Sui Dynasty Emperor was once a sensation.
Regarding the Sui Dynasty Emperor, the story of his mausoleum has also been circulated. It is rumored that the Sui Emperor died in Yu Wenhua and the rebellion launched, because he left a reputation for absurdity and cruelty in history, so folklore says that when he was buried, a sudden rainstorm poured down, thunder and lightning split his grave, the Emperor was thrown out, and the cemetery was also knocked into a deep pond. After three such burials, his burial place was called Leitang.
Du Shiniang angrily sank the treasure chest, which also occurred on the Grand Canal. During the twenty years of the Ming Dynasty, Du Shiniang entrusted her life to Li Jia, a student of tai, in order to redeem herself. The two returned from the capital by water, to Guazhou, which is today's Zhenjiang, where the big ship moored at the mouth of the shore. Li Jia hired civilian boats again and placed luggage. In Zhenjiang, Li Jia became acquainted with Sun Fu, and at the instigation of Sun Fu, Li Jia betrayed Du Shiniang, and in the end, Du Shiniang was discouraged, committed suicide by throwing herself into the river, and staged a tragic and poignant love story in the canal.
opera
Test you, what are the unique operas in Jiangsu?
Answer: Huai opera, Huaihai opera, Yang opera, tin opera, Xuzhou Gong Na, Yangzhou cane head puppet, Suzhou Pingtan, Chuzhou Shiban Gong and Drum ...
△ Courtesy of Kun Opera House in Jiangsu Province
Leisurely Grand Canal, how can there be no opera? When it comes to opera, of course, kunqu opera cannot be missing. Kunqu opera is considered to be the ancestor of a hundred plays, but you know what? Kunqu opera originated in Kunshan, Suzhou, and has a lot to do with the Grand Canal.
One day 600 years ago, the city of Suzhou made a soft sound, and the boat crowed. The reflection of the Ring Cave Bridge is like the bright moon in Half Bay. A gust of wind blew, and suddenly a melodious Kunqu opera sounded, causing ripples all over the city. Tenderness is like water, and good times are like dreams. The same out of the "water culture" and "water mill cavity", the Grand Canal, has been waiting for thousands of years in kunqu ...
When it comes to local drama, we cannot fail to mention Huai opera, because Huai opera is the only type of drama named after the word "Huai". And when it comes to Huai opera, we can't forget You Wenyan, she is a generation of masters. In fact, Huai'an opera is only developed in the south of Huai'an, that is, the area south of Huai'an City, and in the north of Huai'an, the popular is Huaihai opera, and Huaihai opera is also called Liuqin opera. Liuqin opera and Huai opera are two completely different types of drama, resulting in this "book divided into north and south versions" boundary in the Huai River.
The leisurely Grand Canal carries the cultural context of both sides of the strait.
The Grand Canal flows with living intangible cultural heritage.
Wen | Modern Express + reporter Hu Yumei
Figure | Modern Express + reporter Zhao Jie (except for some notes to the picture)