Marco Polo's words are not false at all!
Wen | Qingfeng Mingyue wsy
In 1282 (Yuan Dynasty), on a wooden sailing ship south along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, a young foreign man wearing a Mongolian-style silk leather robe, a ribbon tied around his waist, and leather shoes with feet up to his knees, while enjoying the scenery along the way with his attaché, while speaking half-unfamiliar Chinese, told the story of his last trip from Dadu to Xi'an to Kunming. The man was the Venetian merchant Marco Polo.
Xiangtai Prefecture - Taizhou (Qingfeng Mingyue wsy/photo)
When the boat arrived in Yangzhou, he landed from the canal dock and entered the city. This time, he came to Yangzhou on the orders of Kublai Khan to perform the post of salt official (no exact record, historians speculate). Marco Polo served as an official in Yangzhou for three years and traveled to 27 cities around him, including Baoying, Gaoyou, Zhenzhou, Taizhou and so on. In a passage in his travelogue, he wrote about Taizhou: After a day's walk, along the way through many villages and cultivated land, he finally reached Taizhou City, which is not very large, but all the necessities of life are very rich. The inhabitants were mostly merchants and owned many merchant ships. There are many birds and beasts. The city is located in the southeast of Yangzhou, on its left, that is, in the east, three days away is a sea. There are many salt farms along the road, producing large quantities of sea salt.
Schematic diagram of Marco Polo's journey to and from China (transferred from the network)
Taizhou is close to Yangzhou, and the current taizhou city was divided from the administrative district of Yangzhou in 1996. Despite this, the saying that "Yangtai does not separate families" still remains in the mouth of the people of the two places. I went to Yangzhou, Taizhou many times last year, and I felt everywhere that the Yangtai area has me and you in your family life in the economic and trade, workplace, culture, society and even family life, and I can't tell you and me apart.
Taizhou Great Bell Pavilion (Qingfeng Mingyue wsy/photo)
More than 700 years ago, Marco Polo came to Taizhou, and the small town of Taizhou attracted this well-informed traveler with a rich life scene, resulting in the above wonderful text. More than 700 years later, I would like to verify that Marco Polo, as a salt official (it is said that he performed the duties of the mayor of Yangzhou, but it is unlikely after examination), was he riding a horse, a sedan car, or a boat to Taizhou City on that time or several times later? I had no choice but to look up a lot of information, and I couldn't figure out a reason.
The vivid shape of puffer fish (Breeze Bright Moon wsy/Photo)
I thought that although Taizhou in Marco Polo's time was not as prosperous as the rouge of Yangzhou, the happiness index of people's lives was also very high. Taizhou is adjacent to the river and near the water, which is a background of life paved with morning tea, river fresh and river fresh. Taizhou morning, from the beginning of chewing slowly, after a day's work, in the evening people entered another kind of life, that is, "daytime skin wrapped water, evening water foreskin" - this "leather bag water" refers to morning tea, "water foreskin" refers to the night life and fragrance of bathing culture. Taizhou people will live and enjoy. I have been to Taizhou several times over the past 20 years, and the hospitality of local friends, the food on the tip of the tongue, and the warm and comfortable "water culture" have always made me unforgettable.
Corner of Old Street (Breeze Bright Moon wsy/Photo)
In the middle of January this year, I came to Taizhou again. Walking on the old street, the shops, tea houses, snacks, steam, fragrance, full of seats, the street full of fireworks, in my vision and taste to form a unique scenery. When I walked, sometimes I thought I had arrived in Guangzhou, Lingnan, sometimes I thought I had arrived in Lijiang, northern Yunnan, and sometimes I thought I had arrived in Chengdu, the capital of Tianfu... The most irresistible thing is still the cage of food on the eight immortals table of the old tea house: the bright dry silk of the dish is cut out of pieces of tender tofu, as thin as a line, and it is particularly smooth and tender in the mouth, and it melts in the mouth; the filling of the cage of meat and vegetarian superimposed, steaming, biting a mouthful of juice, full of fragrance. In particular, the palm-sized crab yellow soup bun is made of hairy crabs, hens, pork skin, and high-gluten flour, the skin is as thin as paper, blown and broken, it looks like autumn chrysanthemums, and the color, aroma, taste and shape are all good.
Fragrant raw fried buns on the old street (Breeze Bright Moon wsy/Photo)
The articulate hostess stood aside, and when the soup bag cooled, she taught everyone to hold up the dish, bite open the corner of the soup bag with her teeth, and gently suck, and the rich, delicious juice flowed into the stomach and heart of the diners. After sucking in the soup, guests put the bun skin with Zhenjiang balsamic vinegar and ginger shreds in their mouths, and the taste is delicious. That night, I tasted a kind of soup bun at the Jingjiang Hotel, which was supported by a silver plate, the surface of the soup bun was soft, but the bottom was baked hard and golden, and before it was ready, the fragrance had already drifted to the front, and the taste was really indescribable! That soup bun was the most delicious soup bun I'd ever seen or eaten in my life. Seeing my admiration, the master said that Jingjiang is the birthplace of soup buns, and only Jingjiang's soup buns can make such a hunger strike!
Charming dishes in old street restaurants (Breeze Bright Moon wsy/photo)
Eating in Taizhou is just a microcosm of the happy life in this small city. Since May last year, I have accompanied 5 teachers to Taizhou, and what has left us with a deep impression is that the city has both the ancient city of Mashi Old Street and Green Brick Dewa, as well as the theater bookstore and grassroots culture; there are both the night color of the Fengcheng River and the spectacular scenery of thousands of acres of water around the city; there are pavilions and pavilions, overlooking the railing, as well as high-rise buildings, modern prosperity and grandeur...
Unique Jingjiang soup bun (Breeze Bright Moon wsy/photo)
Happy water paradise, ecological livable place. Today's Taizhou people will say that Marco Polo praised in his travels that "this city is not very big, but there are many kinds of earthly happiness." In the tone, there is a sense of happiness and pride.
Delicious fish noodle soup (Breeze Bright Moon wsy/Photo)
I believe that their words are from the heart. [Breeze] [Breeze]
[Chinese praise] [Teeth]