The Wuqing section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is the last section in Tianjin, as the last stop before entering Beijing, Wuqing plays the role of a logistics park, where goods from the south are stored and sorted, and then transported into the capital. During the Yuan Dynasty, the government set up fourteen warehouses in Wuqing, which is the official logistics warehouse, and the fourteen warehouses ran for 600 years from the Yuan Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, and there are still many mysteries to be solved about the fourteen warehouses. In 2021, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage approved the excavation application of the fourteen warehouse ruins project of the national cultural protection unit, and this year, the excavation work will officially begin, as the "last secret" of the Grand Canal, the dusty fourteen warehouse site will tell us more about the past of the canal.
High-specification logistics park
Hexiwu Town, Wuqing District, was already an important transportation hub before the Yuan Dynasty, known as the "First Station of Jinmen", after the Yuan government established the capital Beijing in 1267, in order to ensure the supply of materials to the Yuan Capital, it began to organize large-scale caoyun, and from 1275 onwards, it transported grain north of the Jiangnan River according to the Yongji Canal dug by the Sui Dynasty Emperor, and in 1287, the "Ducao Transport Division" was separated from the Gyeonggi Transport Division, and the Yamen was set up in the "First Town of Jingdong" Hexiwu, "the first town of Jingdong" in the "cluster of hotels, the accumulation of department stores" and "the throat of the Caoqu". After that, the Yuan Dynasty divided the Caoyun Division II inside and outside, and according to the Yuan Haiyun Zhi, "those who are outside the yuan are placed in Hexi to take over the sea affairs." "And build fourteen warehouses in the north of the city to reserve grain and materials."
In 1289, the Yuan Dynasty excavated the Huitong River, boats along the canal can go directly to Beijing, from 1283, Cao grain can be shipped from the Mouth of the Yangtze River to Zhigu, and then transferred to Beijing, whether it is river transport or shipping, The Zhigu area is the only place for boats, and hexi affairs are particularly important. "The Fourteen Cangs were the seat of the high-level Caoyun Administration during the Yuan Dynasty, which can be seen from the level of officials appointed, and the Yuan History records that the Fourteen Cangs of Hexi Wu were ranked Seven Pins. At that time, the county order was only seven products, and the fourteen warehouses were only a warehousing institution, but the manager was at the same level as the county order, which showed its scale, reflecting the importance attached by the imperial court to this place. Wuqing District Museum Changsha Fushan said.
Old objects that appear from time to time
The Grand Canal flows through Wuqing, leaving many traces. "When we were young, we heard old people say that it is not uncommon for things to be dug up or to be fished out of rivers." Zhang Jing, a docent at the Wuqing District Museum, told reporters that she was a native of Wuqing.
According to the existing records, ancient shipwrecks have been found many times in Wuqing District, mainly including the Yang horse shipwreck in Daliang Township, the Triangle Dam shipwreck in Dashahe Township, the Chenzhuang shipwreck in Xiawuqi Township, the Shuangshu Village Shipwreck in Shuangshu Township, the Fifth Street Shipwreck in Yangcun Town, the Dongxicang Shipwreck in Dashahe Township, and the Nieguantun Shipwreck in Nancai Village.
On May 31, 2002, the construction of the Guangming Bridge of yangcun north canal unearthed two huge bronze statues of the protector and a stone stele, the stone stele records that these objects belong to the Yangcun Xuandi Temple, the temple was built in the early or middle Ming Dynasty, rebuilt in the 35th year of the Ming Wanli Calendar, the two bronze statues are Ma Lingyao and Zhao Gongming, the bronze statues are equal in height as the real people, the height of 176 cm, now displayed in the Wuqing District Museum.
A bronze statue excavated from the Construction Site of guangming bridge in yangcun north canal
In the farmland, farmers will also dig out things from time to time when they cultivate, "because the fourteen warehouse ruins are not far from the surface, and it is possible to dig into the ruins layer by digging a little deeper in a greenhouse, which is one of the reasons why we want to excavate the fourteen warehouse ruins, in order to better protect." Shafushan curator said.
Fourteen warehouse conjecture
The fourteen warehouses are Yongbei South Warehouse, Yongbei North Warehouse, Guangying South Warehouse, Guangying North Warehouse, Overflow Warehouse, Chongyong Warehouse, Daying Warehouse, Daying Warehouse, Daying Warehouse, Daying Warehouse, Sufficient Warehouse, Feng storage warehouse, Fengji Warehouse, Hengzu Warehouse, and Existing Warehouse. According to exploration, the site of The Fourteen Warehouses is located on a high land, about 1 km long from north to south, about 0.5 km wide from east to west, with an area of 500,000 square meters, a cultural layer thickness of 1-2 meters, spanning multiple dynasties from Jin to Qing, mainly composed of 3 gangzi, with the largest number of porcelain pieces scattered in the east gangzi, and the underground buried wall tiles, sewers and other relics. In the Yuan Dynasty, the Fourteen Cangs were a forbidden area and uninhabited, and now the ruins are basically covered by farmland.
The Fourteen Warehouses gradually declined with the abundance of shipping channels in the Qing Dynasty, and although the age is not very long, many details about the Fourteen Warehouses have not yet been clearly and clearly recorded. For example, as the largest grain warehouse and wharf outside the capital during the Yuan Dynasty, what kinds of goods would be stored in the fourteen warehouses, how these goods were classified and stored, and how large the storage capacity of each warehouse could be, researchers hope to find the answer through the excavation of the fourteen warehouse sites. "Among the fourteen warehouses, there are 5 warehouses that are particularly special, they are Yongbei South Warehouse, Yongbei North Warehouse, Guangying South Warehouse, Guangying North Warehouse, And Overflow Warehouse, according to the "History of the Yuan", these 5 warehouses each have a member of the Supervision Branch, Zheng Qipin, ambassador two members, from seven pins, two members of the column, and eight pins, while the remaining 9 warehouses are ambassadors and envoys. Why these five warehouses should send two more people and what is stored in them is something we would like to know. Shafushan said.
It is also rumored that there was "Haizi" on the southeast side of the fourteen warehouses as the stopping place, the uplift near Haizi as the wharf, and the large ships of the canal were replaced by small boats at Haizi to transport goods to the fourteen warehouses, and the urgent goods entered Beijing through land transportation. Whether this rumor is true or not may also be found through archaeological excavations.
Fourteen warehouse blind boxes
Although archaeologists never measure the value of archaeological projects by the level of excavated cultural relics, it is undeniable that excavated cultural relics have indeed brought some "blind box" surprises to archaeological work, such as piles of gold in the tomb of Hai Xiahou, even well-informed archaeologists are shocked.
In 1982, the Tianjin Municipal Cultural Relics Department excavated parts of the fourteen warehouse sites, found rows of house base sites and underwater pipes and other remains, and unearthed a wealth of Yuan Dynasty relics, including "Huangfu" and "Nanjing" and other memories of copper rights, iron rights, stone stones, Longquan kiln shadow green lion, Ding kiln small porcelain man, copper mirror, as well as Ding, Jun, Cizhou, Longquan and other kiln systems of bowls, plates, pots, pots, furnaces, cups and other porcelain, some of which are displayed in the Wuqing District Museum, such as the shadow green and convex phoenix pear-style pot, Unearthed cultural relics such as blue and white glazed printed bird pattern flat pots, although the appearance is incomplete, you can still see that they are exquisitely made. "Some of these items were the daily necessities of the people guarding the fourteen warehouses at that time, and some were the items stored in the warehouse, and judging from the specifications of the fourteen warehouses, there should be an official kiln in the warehouse." ShafuShan curator said.
Exquisite wine utensils and kiln plates excavated from the fourteen warehouse sites
In 2021, the archaeological excavation project at the Shicang site was approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and preparations for excavation are expected to begin in March 2022. The Fourteen Warehouses are one of the few cultural relics about the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal that still has unsolved mysteries, and the last secret of the Storage of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in the Yuan Dynasty may be solved. (Jinyun News reporter Gu Mingjun)