On April 28th, the control gate of the South Canal of the Sinu Temple Hub in Dezhou, Shandong Province, was opened, and the water of the Yuecheng Reservoir merged with the water of the North Extension Project of the East Line of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project and the Yellow Water to enter the South Canal; the Control Gate of the South Canal of the Jiuxuan Gate Hub in Tianjin Jinghai District was opened, and the water from the south converged with the local water of Tianjin through the South Canal, so that the water flow of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was completed. The millennium canal, which stretches from Hangzhou in the south to Beijing in the north, has revived again with a total length of nearly 1,800 kilometers.
Cheng Zhangcan, a professor at the Faculty of Letters at Nanjing University, said that "there are two Grand Canals in this world at the same time", one is flowing on the land of China, flowing through Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei and the two cities of Beijing and Tianjin. The other is the Grand Canal that flows through ancient Chinese poetry, "through the Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, over a thousand years, in the hands of many famous poets and lyricists represented by Song Zhiwen, Zhang Ruoxu, Wang Wei, Meng Haoran, Han Yu, Liu Yuxi, Bai Juyi, Du Mu, Li Shangyin, Liu Yong, Fan Zhongyan, Zhang Xian, Yan Shu, Mei Yaochen, Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi, Zhou Bangyan, Yang Wanli, Wen Tianxiang, Wang Mian, You Dong, Chen Weisong, Zhu Yizun, Wang Shichen, Zheng Banqiao, Yao Nai, Gong Zizhen, and others. This river produces a harmonious rhyme and beauty, but also flows out of the colorful and endless timelessness. ”
The earth, stone, water and grass are mixed into the flowing road of the Grand Canal, and the words and sentences carry the history and the sorrows and fates of the people who have survived and breathed, and are constructed as a river of texts; the physical canal preserves historical sites and cultural relics, and the canal of the dictionary records the figures, voices and feelings of the ancients.
Tracing up, where is the time and space starting point of the Grand Canal?
In the Spring and Autumn Period, Wu Wang Fucha excavated the Hangou Ditch in Yangzhou in the tenth year (486 BC) to open the Jianghuai River, and the canal sprouted. In the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Wen of Sui, especially the later Sui Emperor, centered on the eastern capital Luoyang, excavated the Shanyangdu, Tongji Canal, and Yongji Canal, and then re-dredged and expanded the Jiangnan Canal and the Zhejiang East Canal, so that the canal was fully connected and became a nationwide canal system.
Map of the Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty
In the Yuan Dynasty, the geographical location of the Yuan capital objectively required that the canal must be further developed to transport grain, so three sections of the river were excavated successively, and the Sui Dynasty horizontal canal, which was originally centered on Luoyang, was built into a longitudinal Grand Canal centered on Dadu and directly to Hangzhou in the south, and the Focus of the Yuan Dynasty was on the dadu to Tongzhou section at the northern end and the Surabaya to Weihe section in Shandong. By the 30th year of the Yuan Dynasty, the Grand Canal of the Yuan Dynasty was fully navigable, and the boats could go directly from Hangzhou to Dadu, becoming the predecessor of the present-day Beijing-Hangzhou Canal.
The current Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is divided into seven sections according to geographical location: Beijing to Tongzhou District called Tonghui River, 82 kilometers long; Tongzhou District to Tianjin called the North Canal, 186 kilometers long; Tianjin to Linqing called the South Canal, 400 kilometers long; Linqing to Taierzhuang called Lu Canal, about 500 kilometers long; Taierzhuang to Huaiyin called the Middle Canal, 186 kilometers long; Huaiyin to Guazhou called the Li Canal, about 180 kilometers long; Zhenjiang to Hangzhou called Jiangnan Canal, about 330 kilometers long.
Today the canal connects the city
Thoughts on the Bian River: the waves soak in the slanting sun, and the thousand miles dissolve
In the face of the long history of the Grand Canal, poets are observers and feelrs; they are commentators and recorders.
Chen Zhangcan believes that in the eyes of poets, the Grand Canal is a river of imagery, flowing with countless images. The imagery is grand and concrete, but it is full of natural or humanistic historical connotations. The large ones such as the Qiantang River, the Yangtze River, the Huai River, the Yellow River, the Beishui, Surabaya, the Jishui, the Haihe River and other water system imagery, the middle such as the ditch pond, the ferry, the bridge, the pavilion, the temple, the Sui Causeway and other spatial imagery, the small one such as Qionghua, Huaibai, Wu Japonica, perch, Guanliu and other wind objects imagery. After the excavation of poetry, these images have become increasingly rich, deepening from literary imagery to cultural imagery, and becoming an important symbol of scenery and historical culture along the canal.
Merchant ships have always been on the canal
The Tongji Canal dug by the Sui Dynasty Emperor, the Tang and Song people called it the Bian River, because it connected luoyang, Bizhou City (Kaifeng), Suzhou and other important cities, became the only way for eunuchs and traveling Tang and Song people, and the Water became the most inked image of the poets.
Because of a long-term artistic conception and unique form of "Yellow Crane Tower", Li Baidu sighed that "there is a scene in front of you, And Cui Hao's inscription poem is on the top", the famous Tang Dynasty artist Cui Hao once wrote "Late into the Water": "Last night, I went south to Chu, and now I am heading north to trace the river." How many days can you be worried? There are not many township roads. The sunny scenery shakes the trees, and the spring breeze sings. The long Huai is also exhausted, and It is better to be afraid of the tide waves. "Sunny scenery" and "spring breeze" are the lightness and cheerfulness of writing scenes and poems when approaching hometown.
The Tang Dynasty poet Meng Yunqing also felt a kind of joy when he looked at the Bian River, and he wrote in "Blocking the Wind in the Bian River": "In the early morning from Liang and Song, hang up the Chu Jing of the mat." The wind is getting worse and worse, and the beach boat is ready to cross. The big river sprays east, and the group movements are all meditative. White mist fish dragon qi, black cloud cow horse shape. The sky is confused, and the danger is afraid of peace. Believe in this heaven and earth, whoever lives is light. If the husband has not yet reached it, he must be sincere. The road ahead is gone, and the southeast is still sunny. "Because the canal has to walk on a large boat to transport grain, the water is wide and the river is deep, and it is easy to have big waves. What Meng Yunqing felt was a very different experience from walking on the gentle water, the wind gradually rising, the canal stirring, and making people feel emotionally excited.
However, the thought of traveling is always full of sadness that is difficult to discharge, and Bai Juyi's "Feeling of the River Road" writes: "Thirty years ago, the road was returned by a lonely boat. Surround yourself with new dependents and look up at the old township. When things go, only water remains, and people not only see mountains. Crying and melancholy, this day is two spots. Du Mu's "Fenhe Freeze Blocking" wrote: "When the thousand-mile-long river first froze, Yuke Yao pei was uneven. Floating life is like ice bottom water, day and night east flow people do not know. Mengjiao's "Beizhou Farewell Hanyu" wrote: "Do not drink turbid water, empty this Beihe River." Sit around the water around the shore and return the waves. Four hours are not at home, and there are many broken threads. The distant guest is lonely and haggard, and the spring is falling. The water is full of twists and turns, and the wild mulberry has no straight ke. But for the gentleman's heart, the sigh finally swept him. Drowning in other places, drifting on the canals, the fading years are like rolling rivers, "the deceased is like a sifu, not giving up day and night."
Outside the capital gate, by the bian river
During the Northern Song Dynasty, because the capital was located in Kaifeng (汴京), many farewells and partings occurred outside Kaifeng or along the Bian River, which made the poems related to the Bian River stained with a strong parting mood.
Liu Yong's famous poem "Raining Bells": "The cold cicadas are miserable, the long pavilion is late, and the rain begins to rest." Dumen tent drinking nowhere, nostalgic, Lan Zhou urged. Holding hands and looking at each other with tears in their eyes, they were speechless and choked. Thoughts go, thousands of miles of smoke, twilight and mist. Among them, the "thousand miles of smoke and waves" can just describe the endlessness of the canal.
Ouyang Xiu's "Wen Mei Er Nan Gui in Illness" wrote: "Wen Jun dissolved the boat, and the autumn water was being swept away. The wild shore returned to thought, and the dumen passed away. A little bit of business sail companionship, the first with the flock of geese. The mountains are more than Huaidian out, and the willows are divided into rivers. Chu se wu is still green, and the river is half a day. Ke Yihao is far away, away from Huaining Fuyun. Xuancheng has a good wind and moon, when will it be heard when it will be believed? "The distinction outside the capital gate, the canal seems to have become an indispensable component of the poem.
By the Southern Song Dynasty, the old courtiers in a remote corner could no longer hold hands outside the capital gate and next to the water, nor could they write poems on the spot, and the "Qinguan Water" was stained with the situation of Mai Xiu's departure, becoming a kind of nostalgia for the country and regime that had passed away. Wang Yuanliang wrote: "Things go to the empty stream of the East Bishui, and I am worried about not seeing the West Lake Moon." Who knows, the sea weeps Chan Juan, the diamond flower is lacking. Zhu Dunru wrote: "The full moon is also the Mid-Autumn Festival." West end of the South China Sea. Wild clouds miasma rain is difficult to harvest at night. The northern guests sat in tears when they met, and they hated and shared sorrows. No wine to sell. But say Imperial State. TianjiaGong Que Restaurant Building. Tonight you should only clear the water and whimper in the east. "Grief is like the water in memory, endless.
In the article "Tang Poetry and Song Poetry and the Grand Canal", the author Miao Jing pointed out that some river names, place names and related titles and scenic spots in the canal water system formed by the opening of the river have become cultural symbols often used by the Tang and Song people in the creation of poetry. For example, Song Zhiqing's "Night Crossing Wu Songjiang Huaigu" and Wu Rong's "Thirty-two Rhymes of Zhu Feng" are all written about the scene when passing through the South Canal, and they respectively wrote: "Sufan Zhenzekou, Xiaodu Songjiang", "Songjiang flows next to it, spring and summer are bitter", the "Songjiang" here is actually talking about the South Canal. Another example is Bai Juyi's "Long Rain idle, to the wine doll" to write about Luoyang, in which "miserable rain dark copper camel, cool breeze up the Cao River" verse, the "Cao River" as a representative scenery of Luoyang to describe. Mu Rong's "Sending Fan Envoys": "Autumn is not the end of autumn, and the Loujiang Road is blocked", Xue Feng's "Send Liu Lang to Hangzhou": "The water of the Wu River is wide, and the more vulgar sound is across the shore", Wei Zhuang's "Crossing Yangzhou": "The Twenty-Four Bridges are empty and lonely, and the green poplars destroy the old Guanhe", the "LouJiang", "Wujiang", and "Old Guanhe" written in these poems are the specific names of the canal water system in different sections of the river.
The Tongji Canal in the historical map shows it
What was the grandeur of the Beihe River during the Northern Song Dynasty? We can perceive one or two from the famous "Map of the Upper River of the Qingming Dynasty".
From the Tang Dynasty onwards, the imperial dynasties with the Central Plains as the axis relied on the supply of rice grain and other agricultural products in the Yangtze river and Huai River basins, and by the Northern Song Dynasty, most of the rice grain needed by the huge cities was transported from Jianghuai through the Grand Canal to the capital by the Bian River. In the "Map of the Upper River of the Qing Ming Dynasty", there are many kinds of boats that are moored or traveling on the Bian River, such as boats, passenger ships, general cargo ships, cruise ships, passenger and cargo ships, and small boats (miscellaneous boats) that are scattered. Because of the geographical high in the north and low in the south and the weak wind in May to October during the navigation season, most of the canal boats have no sails, and they rely on water drifting when they are launched (downwater), and pushed by pulling fibers or "waving" and "crossing" when they are on the water (against the water).
A boat that pulls fiber by hand
A river boat moored on the shore of the large pier
The Northern Song Dynasty poet Zhou Bangyan praised the prosperity of Fenjing in a beautiful text in the "Fendu Fu", in which he also wrote about the Northern Song Dynasty's Caoyun: "Then from Huai to the south, where the state is admired, where the people lose, the gold valley is rich, and the years are often adjusted; the ship is linked, and the thousands of miles are endless." Yue Yu Wu Fu, Guan Jia Jia, Min Acura Chu Language, Wind Sail Rain. Lian Fei Fang Zai, Bo Drum Boring, People Are Safe and Comfortable, and the National Endowment should be festivald. ”
Map of the Territory and Canals of the Northern Song Dynasty (Picture of the Upper River of the Qing Dynasty and the Urbanization of the Northern Song Dynasty)
The southern section of the canal writes the beauty and elegance of Jiangnan
Regarding the Grand Canal, there is another picture that has to be said. The Tongzhou District Library has a Qing Dynasty "Complete Map of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal", which is a survey and mapping diagram of the Grand Canal, but along the two banks of the canal, it details the 13 provincial stations, 50 county stations, 12 prefecture stations such as Suzhou Prefecture and Shuntianfu through which the canal passes, and also marks many sluice dams and the mileage between them. Today, based on this mapping map, we can clearly understand which places the canal has been connected in history.
The southern section of the Grand Canal gathered the richest cities at that time, such as Huai'an, Yangzhou, Gaoyou, Zhenjiang, Suzhou, etc. in the Jiangsu section, and Jiaxing City, Huzhou City and Hangzhou City in Zhejiang Province. These bustling cities traveled and traveled, and the literati and inkers of the past left countless poems.
Taking Yangzhou as an example, in the ninth year of the Sui Kai Emperor, Emperor Wen of Sui changed WuZhou to Yangzhou and ordered that Yangzhou "open the mountains and Yangdu, in order to transport Cao", to the Sui Emperor, and then "cross the Jiangnan River, from Jingkou to Yuhang, more than 800 miles, more than 100 zhang, so that the dragon boat can be passed, juxtaposed with the Yigong, Caodun, and the Eastern Tour will be audited." At this point, the five major water systems of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, the Huai River, the Hai River and the Qiantang River are connected by a grand canal running through the north and south, and Yangzhou has become a place where "the north and south are greatly charged and the department stores are gathered", and has become the economic and cultural center of the southeast and an important port for foreign trade.
Yangzhou Capital of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal
Yangzhou, a city that has been revitalized because of canals, appears prosperous and dreamy in the poet's pen, such as "the late people said the Yellow Crane Tower in the west, fireworks in March under Yangzhou", "the world is three clear moonlit nights, two rogues are Yangzhou", "Spring wind ten miles Yangzhou Road, rolled up the bead curtain is not as good as", "Ten years of Yangzhou dream, won the Qinglou Bo fortunate name", "Oh Sai Hong jing Chu Ze, light and deep mangroves to see Yangzhou", "I dream of Jiangnan good, The conquest of Liao has been confused" and so on. The Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Hu also wrote: "Ten miles long street city well, on the Moon Ming Bridge to see the gods." Life is only for Yangzhou to die, zen zhi mountain light good cemetery. Zhang Hu is not from Yangzhou, but he hopes to be buried in Yangzhou after death, thus expressing his love for this canal city.
The prosperous city has also spawned high-quality culture, Yangzhou poet Zhang Ruoxuan's "Spring River Flower Moon Night" "lonely", some people say that this poem was created in Guazhou Town, some people say that it was created in the land of Guangling Ancient Qujiang, in short, it is the product of the Yangzhou Canal Cultural Center. There is also the song "Berthing Guazhou" that we are familiar with: "Jingkou Guazhou is a water, and Zhongshan is only separated by a few heavy mountains." Spring breeze and the south bank of the Green River, when will the bright moon shine on me? Wang Anshi is writing about the scenery of Guazhou Town, Hanjiang District, Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province.
The Suzhou section, today we are familiar with the Baodai Bridge, Tiger Hill Mountain, etc. are marked. Suzhou Prefecture is marked with symbols representing the city wall, surrounded by a moat, and even the surrounding river peaks are clearly depicted. The Zhu inscription above Suzhou Prefecture reads "Suzhou Fu Gu Su Yi to Wuxi County one stop, counting ninety miles".
Suzhou Prefecture of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal
The canal seems to have become gentle and gentle to jiangnan, and the Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Ji's "Fengqiao Night Berth" wrote: "The moon sets and the frost is full of frost, and the River Maple fishing fire sleeps." Hanshan Temple outside Gusu City, midnight bell to the passenger ship. Cheng Zhangcan believes: "Only when combined with the background of the Grand Canal, only in the dynamic night boat, will it look particularly wonderful." The city is getting farther away, the mountain temple is approaching, the sound in silence, the switching between time and space, and the travel experience of many people on the Night Cruise ship of the Grand Canal are all endorsed by this short poem. ”
Suzhou Fengqiao Night Berth Scenic Area
Qianlong South Tour with Canal
In addition to the themes of nostalgia, exile, parting and sending off, etc., the poems related to the Grand Canal are also entered from the historical and political perspectives of the time, such as the later dynasty, when summarizing and reflecting on the previous dynasty, it will always associate the overthrow of the state with the pleasures of the emperor, the huge fortifications of the country or the poor military.
The huge canal left by the Sui Dynasty may have been the first thing that the Poets of the Tang Dynasty felt was panic, the Sui Emperor and the canal were bound together, Bai Juyi's "Sui Di Liu" wrote: "The financial resources in the sea are exhausted at this time, and the song in the boat is laughing and resting." Soon after the upper and lower levels were in trouble, the danger of the clan community was like a semblance. As the Sui Dynasty became more and more distant from this dynasty, the story of Emperor Jue became an allusion and an emotion in the ancient Times, such as Du Mu's "Bian River Huaigu" wrote: "Jin cable dragon boat Sui Emperor, platform to restore the Han Liang King." Tourists idle before the recitation, "Folding Willow" lonely groan to kill the intestines. ”
Another emperor closely associated with the canal was the Qianlong Emperor, who made six southern tours in the sixteenth year of Qianlong (1751), the twenty-second year (1757), the twenty-seventh year (1762), the thirty-fifth year (1780), the forty-ninth year (1784), and the sixth.
According to the book "The Imperial Court on Horseback", judging from Qianlong's first tour, the Qianlong Emperor and Hu Cong took the land route through Zhili, Shandong, and northern Jiangsu to the confluence of the Yellow River and the Grand Canal in Qinghe County (today's Qingjiang). The Qianlong Emperor inspected the comprehensive water conservancy facilities such as, ponds and weirs there. After crossing the Yellow River, Qianlong and his party took a boat along the Grand Canal to the main counties, prefectures and other administrative offices, such as Baoying, Gaoyou, and Yangzhou. Just south of Yangzhou, the royal boat crosses the Yangtze River and stops in important cities along the route such as Changzhou, Wuxi, and Suzhou before arriving in Zhejiang. In Zhejiang, the emperor and his party continued south, through Jiaxing Province, and then to the provincial capital of Hangzhou, where the Qianlong Emperor held a summons test to review local troops and tour the city's attractions, including the famous West Lake.
Qianlong's first southern tour was recorded by the Qing Dynasty painter Xu Yang with a full set of 12 volumes of the long scroll "Qianlong Southern Tour Map", in which the Grand Canal appears repeatedly, such as the second volume depicting the Qianlong Emperor crossing the canal from a pontoon bridge near Dezhou, Shandong Province, in which the water surface of the canal is extremely wide.
Part of the second volume of the Qianlong Southern Tour Map
The fourth volume of the Qianlong Southern Tour depicts the emperor's viewing of the fortifications of the Huanghuai River. After the Qianlong Emperor crossed the Yellow River, he inspected the scene of the dangerous project at the confluence of the four major water systems of the Yellow River, the Huai River, the Canal and Hongze Lake on the same day and the next day. At the confluence of the water system, the tide is stirring, which is a unique landscape of the canal fortifications.
Part of the fourth volume of the Qianlong Southern Tour Map
Qianlong believed that the inspection of the river industry and coastal defense was very important, and he recalled in his later years: "The six tours of Jiangsu and Zhejiang are as important as the people's livelihood, just like the river industry and coastal defense, all the remedies for making up for the shortcomings and saving the shortcomings according to the conditions of the time, and also painstakingly thinking hard, paying attention to it all the time, and sparing no expenses of tens of millions of dollars, so as to make sure that once and for all, it is a plan for the eternal safety of billions of trillions of living beings." ”
The water conservancy projects on the canal have also been the object of poetry, such as the important water conservancy project along the Grand Canal in the Song Dynasty, the Lake Lock, when the water level of the canal is low, that is, the gate is opened to divert the lake water. Yang Wanli's "Lianhu Lake Gate (Part I)" describes the scene of opening the gate and releasing water: "Full of thunder and thunder, the silver waves of the peeping window hit the boat. LianHu only put an inch of water and jumped into an ice river of ten thousand snow piles. ”
Some of the content is synthesized from:
Chen Zhangcan: Endless Flow through the Ages- Preface to "Three Hundred Ancient Poems of the Grand Canal"
Miao Jing: Tang poetry and Song poetry and the Grand Canal
Xue Fengxuan: "Map of the Upper River of the Qing Dynasty" and the Urbanization of the Northern Song Dynasty
Lin Jiling: Qianlong Southern Tour and Its Impact on the Canal Area