China News Service Nanjing, April 27 Title: He Yun'ao: How does the Grand Canal connecting the north and south of China communicate "east and west"?
China News Service reporter Yang Yanci
The canal is the remarkable creation of human beings in the process of living with nature, and is a great witness to human civilization. There are many cities around the world that originated in canals and prospered in canals, and canals became the blood of these cities, and the canals also left a variety of human fireworks. Together, these material and intangible heritages constitute a "nother window" for cultural exchanges between the East and the West.
Night view of the Jiangsu section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. China News Service reporter Yang Bo photographed
The Grand Canal of China is the world's earliest excavated, the largest span, the longest mileage and the longest-used artificial canal, which can be called a "living cultural heritage corridor". He Yun'ao, professor and doctoral supervisor of the Department of History of Nanjing University and director of the Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage of Nanjing University, has been studying the Grand Canal of China for more than ten years. Recently, in an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "East and West Question", he said that the Grand Canal played a lasting role in the process of connecting Ancient China and the world, creating a large number of Stories of Chinese and Foreign Characters and Cultural and Economic Exchanges. At present, through the beauty of the living Grand Canal of China, under the perspective of "seeking common ground while reserving differences" and "harmony and difference", we should tell the story of the beauty and commonality of the east and the west.
The interview transcript is summarized below:
China News Service: In your opinion, how should China's Grand Canal be better "revitalized" at present? How to tell the story of China's canals to the outside world?
He Yun'ao: Originally a transport channel with functions such as irrigation and water supply, the Grand Canal of China has become a "river of culture" and "river of stories" since it was successfully declared a world cultural heritage in June 2014.
Since 2017, the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt and the Grand Canal National Cultural Park has been launched successively, the culture accumulated by the Grand Canal that has flowed for thousands of years has been better excavated and presented, and the ancient and vivid story of the Grand Canal has entered thousands of households.
The story of the canal is closely related to the people who have lived on both sides of the canal for generations, and it is necessary to find the story from the excavators, planners, managers, maintainers, protectors and users of the canal throughout the generations. Canal stories should also be told in different ways through the construction of different cultural carriers such as the Canal Archaeological Site Park and the Canal Museum. Of course, today is the information age, but also to make full use of the Internet channels, so that the canal story spread on the "cloud".
The Grand Canal Museum of China is full of light. China News Service reporter Yang Bo photographed
At present, there are more than 500 canals in more than 50 countries around the world, and there are nearly 4,000 canal cities alone. The canals of various countries have a common feature: they are all water transport systems excavated and built by the people of various countries in different historical periods, using wisdom and perseverance, showing the common pursuit and achievements of mankind.
It can also be believed that the "canal" is a global cultural symbol, and we must link the canal cultural symbols of different countries and nationalities into cultural ties of international peaceful exchanges, so as to tell the story of China's canal well and share the canal stories of other countries, so that each country can be beautiful and the United States is united.
China News Service: There are many famous canals in the world, which have become distinct historical and cultural symbols of various countries and have gone global. What are the differences between the canal culture and inheritance development of China and the West, and how to achieve mutual reference?
He Yun'ao: Canals are a product of history, because they are located in different countries and regions, different geographical forms, functional needs, engineering technology, cultural backgrounds, etc., resulting in the diversity of canals and canal cultures in the world.
The scale, excavation age, historical function and cultural accumulation of China's Grand Canal are second to none in the world. Of course, there are many other canals in the world that are also very famous, and the canals inscribed on the World Heritage List are also very different. For example, Canada's Rideau Canal has now lost its main transport channel function, but as a cultural heritage, it is more combined with the tourism and sports life of local people, known as "the world's longest ice skating rink"; France's Midi Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, and there are more than 300 tunnels, locks, bridges and towns along the river, and people living on both sides of the river use canal scenery and facilities to carry out different cultural heritage, cultural tourism, cultural consumption and other activities.
Although the cultural forms and connotations of the canal in China and the West are different, the profound relationship between the canal and the production and life of the country, the city and the people is the same.
People boat in the Grand Canal at the Palace of Versailles in France. Photo by Li Yang, a reporter from China News Service
As a cultural form, canals are cultural corridors with profound connotations, there are various stories from canal excavation to canal use, and in the context of modernization, they will encounter various similar challenges in the protection, inheritance and utilization of canal culture. I believe that different countries should focus on sharing their own creative experiences and solutions to problems to achieve the sustainable development of canals and canal cultures.
China News Service: While the East and West canals are beautiful, how to find the "entrance" between the United States and the United States?
He Yun'ao: In the long history of China's Grand Canal for more than 2,500 years, there are too many stories that can be passed on and sung. It connects the five major river basins of the Qiantang River, the Yangtze River, the Huai River, the Yellow River and the Haihe River into one, forming a canal network that runs through the north and south and connects the east and the west, and it organically connects the south and north of China, the economic center and the political center, the Maritime Silk Road and the overland Silk Road, and has played an unimaginable role in the sustainable development of Chinese civilization.
The Grand Canal is not only Chinese, but also the world. At least since the Three Kingdoms and Two Jin Dynasties, many foreign envoys have walked on China's Grand Canal.
Since the Tang Dynasty, foreign emissaries, monks, missionaries, etc. have not only sailed on the Grand Canal of China, but also left many written records and works of art. For example, during the Tang Dynasty, the Japanese monk Yuanren's "Journey to the Tang Dynasty and Seeking the Law", the Japanese monk Chengxun's "Records of The Five Terraces of The Heavenly Terrace" during the Song Dynasty, the Italian Marco Polo's "Travels of Marco Polo" of the Italian Marco Polo during the Yuan Dynasty, the "Notes of Matteo Ricci's China" by the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci during the Ming Dynasty, the "Record of Drifting the Sea" by the Korean Cui Pu, the "Entry into the Ming Dynasty" by the Japanese monk Ceyan Zhouliang, the "Record of the Dutch Envoy's First Visit to China" by the Dutchman John Niekhov during the Shunzhi Period of the Qing Dynasty, and the "Notes of the British Envoy Macartney" during the Qianlong Period The British envoys saw the Qianlong Chronicle" and so on.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were even some foreign envoys who died of illness on the way from the Grand Canal to Beijing, and there are still the tombs of king Sulu in Dezhou, Shandong, and the tomb of Zheng Wenying, the general secretary of the Ryukyu Kingdom in Huai'an, Jiangsu.
Although the Grand Canal of China is within the territory of China, it is also the gateway for Chinese culture to the world.
In recent years, the Black Stone shipwreck found in Indonesian waters has produced more than 60,000 pieces of Changsha kiln porcelain from the Tang Dynasty of China, and when these Changsha kiln porcelain arrived in the international port city of Yangzhou at that time, it was necessary to pass through the Yiyang Canal in Yangzhou today; the Xin'an shipwreck found in South Korea, a large number of Yuan Dynasty ceramics from the water came from the Longquan kiln, Yixing kiln, etc. When these ceramics were transported to Ningbo Port or Taicang Port, they were inseparable from the role of the Grand Canal. There are many such examples, which fully show that the ancient Grand Canal has always linked China with the world. These are the canal stories and resonance points that China and other countries in the world care about.
China News Service: At present, what kind of way do you think the Grand Canal of China should connect the cultures of the East and the West?
He Yun'ao: Today, China's Grand Canal is also moving towards rejuvenation, and the restoration of the Grand Canal, the protection of cultural heritage, the integration of culture and tourism, the improvement of the environment, and the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt and the Grand Canal National Cultural Park are being actively promoted.
In recent years, the "World Canal Historical and Cultural Cities Cooperation Organization (WCCO)" has been established in Yangzhou, the origin city of the Grand Canal. As an international canal organization in China, WCCO has carried out a series of fruitful work in promoting the cultural interconnection of East-West canals.
Aerial photo of Jiangsu Yangzhou Canal Sanwan Scenic Area. China News Service reporter Yang Bo photographed
I believe that China should further carry out canal cultural exchanges through cooperation between UNESCO, the World Heritage Organization, the WCCO and nearly 4,000 canal cities around the world, seek opportunities for cooperation, and innovate cooperation methods. In this process, we must pay attention to exchanges and cooperation at the international and national levels, but also pay attention to the exchanges and cooperation between canal cities, towns and people, and create conditions for seeing, swimming, tasting and appreciating on the canal for common topics, talking about friendship and seeking common development.
The story of the canal is the story of the people and the story of the world. To connect the "east and west", we must use the language that the whole world can understand, use the direction that everyone is interested in, and use the way that is convenient to use, tell the story of canal fireworks, write the article on canal happiness, and create a better future for the canal. (End)
Respondent Profiles:
He Yun'ao, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor of the Department of History of Nanjing University, Director of the Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage of Nanjing University, member of the Expert Advisory Committee on the Construction of National Cultural Parks, Chief Expert of Jiangsu Provincial Decision-making Consulting Base and Jiangsu Historical and Cultural Research Base, Deputy Director of the Professional Committee of The Three Kingdoms to Sui and Tang Dynasties Archaeology, Urban Archaeology and Cultural Heritage of the Chinese Archaeological Society, and Deputy Director of the Public Archaeology Expert Steering Committee of the Archaeological Society of China. He Yun'ao has presided over more than 300 projects such as the application for the Ming Tombs, the fujian Mindu cultural research, the Grand Canal cultural heritage investigation and research, the Jiangsu Maritime Silk Road, the Yangtze River culture, the Yellow River Ancient Road culture investigation and research, and a number of field archaeology projects. He has published millions of words of papers and treatises on archaeology, cultural heritage, history, etc.