Cangzhou Museum Canal Exhibition Hall, more than 100 cultural relics, 8 scene restorations, multiple pictures and solicitations——
Tell a different "Grand Canal North"
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You can see the history of the canal and keep the memory of the city. In the Cangzhou Museum, in the canal exhibition hall (Grand Canal North - Hebei Grand Canal Culture Exhibition), which has precipitated thousands of years of history and culture, the rippled canal water, the mottled canal boats, the cultural relics and porcelain that have experienced vicissitudes, the scene restoration, exquisite pictures, sand table models, folk collections, and various canal symbols tell a different "Grand Canal North".
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More than 100 cultural relics show the prosperity of Caoyun
Porcelain artifacts unearthed from the canal
"Industry and commerce are like Yuntun, and the boats are dragging the car together." Cao Chu flew day and night, and the two sides of the strait heard noise. The poems left by the predecessors vividly depict the once prosperous scene of cangzhou canal transportation.
Many of the ships that shuttle day and night have been shipwrecked due to river undercurrents or bad weather, resulting in artifacts unearthed hundreds of years later. In the canal exhibition hall of Cangzhou Museum, cultural relics excavated along the Cangzhou Canal and in the cellar, including porcelain, iron, stone tools, etc., are dazzling and colorful.
"2001 West China Community", "2001 Temple of Literature Dongjin Street", "2001 Xinhua Bookstore on Shuiyuesi Street"... In a group of cultural relics display cabinets, different styles of porcelain bowls, porcelain plates and other cultural relics are displayed, and the text next to them explains the source: excavated from the canal in the central city of Cangzhou in 2001. "This section should be the gathering place of the Cangzhou Canal Wharf, and the porcelain transported by some ships was directly buried in the soil after being broken, and it is also possible that there was a shipwreck." Wang Wei, deputy director of the Cangzhou Museum, said.
In another set of display cases, the display is basically a porcelain artifact excavated from the Toko shipwreck in 1998, and one of the stacks of porcelain bowls with silt, although broken, is very new in color, and you can almost see the delicacy of the canal sediment. "Of the more than 40 shipwrecks found in the Cangzhou section of the canal, most of the excavated porcelain from the Yuan and Ming dynasties." Wang Wei said that 90% of these porcelains were produced by Cizhou kilns, which is enough to reflect that the canal has become an important output channel for Cizhou kiln porcelain at that time.
There is also a group of porcelain with the words "Fengchengguan", which has been excavated along the canal in Cangzhou city in recent years, especially the porcelain excavated on the east bank, from bowls and plates to other utensils, each of which has the words "Fengchengguan" on it. It is inferred that the "Fengcheng Hall" should be a super-large merchant gathering inn on the canal side of Cangzhou in the Jin Yuan period, so it has the strength to customize porcelain, and all of them have fixed logos.
In addition to porcelain, the bronze coins, pipes, shell decorations, iron stoves and other cultural relics in the exhibition hall also tell the past of the canal in their own ways, and the prosperity of the Cangzhou Canal is so deeply rooted in people's minds that it has become a cultural pride.
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Scene restoration, awakening brilliant memories
Cangzhou Museum Canal Exhibition Hall
If the art of display gives the museum an image, then the restoration of the scene is the "life" of these many images. In the canal exhibition hall, many scenes are restored, which makes the history and culture of the canal come alive.
At the entrance, a grand scene of canal excavation instantly brings people into the long river of canal history. Soldiers and civilians, some armed with shovels, some pushing carts, digging with a shovel, in the midst of busy toiling, spilling blood and sweat, showing the greatness of the working people. "The canal embodies the will of the king, but the river is dug by the iron pickaxe in the hands of soldiers and common people." Digging a river is a very hard labor, and how many people's lives have remained here forever. Wang Wei's words made people ponder.
In another dock scene, the shipwrights are carrying goods on the simple shore dock, a sack of goods is carried on the shoulder, accompanied by wooden carts, dustpans, buckets, liters, hemp ropes and other supplies. Looking into the distance, the light fog is thick, the sails are lined up, the goods are full of warehouses, and the ships are shuttling back and forth, a prosperous scene. "It echoes the downtown area adjacent to the ancient houses in the city, with its shops and tourists." Through this scene, people imagined the prosperity and bustle of Cangzhou City.
One of the most notable scenes is the restoration of the Ruins of Toko Pier and the shipwreck scene. An ancient cargo ship was planted in the silt of the canal, and the porcelain on board was scattered. "This scene is a combination of the excavation of the Toko shipwreck, and many of the porcelain in the canal exhibition hall comes from this shipwreck." Wang Wei said that Dongguang was once a very prosperous canal dock, and a large number of goods were loaded or landed every day.
In May 1998, archaeologists discovered the wreck of the Jin Dynasty at the site of Dongguang Pier, and the bow and front of the ship were pressed down the eastern slope of the canal. Archaeologists cleaned the middle and rear of the hull alone, and unearthed more than 100 pieces of porcelain, of which representative porcelain was displayed in the Cangzhou Museum.
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Linkage of maps and objects Brings together canal culture
River supplies collected by the people
In the exhibition hall, the elaborate pictures, the objects collected by the people, and the copied inscriptions instantly bring people into the long river of canal history.
Bringing together the pictures of the history and culture of the canal throughout, walking through the prologue hall, looking at the Qianqiu Canal, tasting the treasures of thousands of miles, reviewing the road to apply for heritage, rich pictures and texts, the context and history and culture of the North Grand Canal are clearly presented to tourists.
Cloaks, buckets, gongs and drums, back baskets, buckets, liters... Items related to the canal are displayed in the exhibition hall in different categories, including river tools, grain transport tools at the wharf and daily necessities of the people on both sides of the canal.
"The cloak and the fence lamp are necessary things for river workers, and the gong and drum are used for the canal to alarm the danger, generally according to the agreement on the two sides of the river embankment, such as the left bank drum and the right bank to knock the gong, as soon as everyone hears the gong or drum, they know which side has the situation." Wang Wei said that most of these exhibits were collected from the people.
In the exhibition hall, two replica stone tablets stand out, recording the major events that occurred along the canal in that era and the protection measures for the canal. "No matter whether the soldiers or civilians are allowed to break the ground and divert water..." A copy of the Qing Dynasty Constitutional Tablet densely records the local protection and management measures for the canal at that time, and when the Bao Ancestral Hall was repaired, the relevant contents of the Bao Gong Ancestral Hall were engraved on the back. According to reports, the original stele of this xianshi monument is now in cangxian Jiedi Royal Monument Garden, which is equivalent to the public notice board at that time, and has been copied because of its representativeness.
Another replica stele is from the ruins of the Xingtai Canal Wharf, which records the outbreak of an armed struggle between two villages on the bank of the canal at that time due to a dispute for water for irrigation, and the coordinated content was engraved on the stele after the mediation of the two counties.
"The collection of cultural relics, the preparation of the outline, the production of pictures and sand tables, many links have undergone a tortuous process, bringing together the wisdom and sweat of many museum people." Wang Jianshuang, deputy secretary of the party committee and deputy director of the Cangzhou Museum, said that it is not easy to do so, and hopes to present the history and culture of the canal to the citizens of Cangzhou at most.
Source: Cangzhou Daily
Reporter: Zhao Baomei