There is a "buying and selling city" that has disappeared but should not be forgotten on the Wanli Tea Ceremony
Author/Sun Shuheng
One
In the early morning, I woke up to the sunshine, thankful that it was another day full of spring.
For a long time, I stared at the electronic map of the Wanli Tea Ceremony, which was dotted with natural landscapes and historical and cultural cities like a network of Wanli Tea Ceremony. Let my thoughts and emotions live forever along with these cultural landscapes.
Existence does not necessarily have to pass away, but some cities have become prosperous, some have declined, and some have disappeared forever, and there are not many relics that can interpret this Wanli Tea Ceremony, and one of my dreams is to imagine those places that have been witnessed and glorious in the Wanli Tea Ceremony, and carefully sketch them, so that people can see them, and it is best to like and appreciate them, and never forget.
I imagined donkeys and yaks crossing mountains and rivers, merchant ships cleaving waves in the sea, camel caravans climbing ice and snow in the Gobi, deserts and grasslands, and forcibly walking out of an internationally famous tea trade road submerged in the dust of history, only to be awakened by people hundreds of years later.
In the book "The Road of Tea", the writer Deng Jiugang, who measured the tea ceremony with his footsteps, once made a simple comparison between the tea road and the Silk Road, and made an analogy, saying that the Silk Road was romantic and the tea road was realistic. The road of tea is also a real road to wealth.
In St. Petersburg, in Irkutsk, in the famous international trading port of Kyakhta, in the Chinese steppe city of Hohhot, in Zhangjiakou, in the many compounds of Jinzhong, you can find evidence of this effortlessly.
Speaking of the famous international trading port Kyakhta, we must talk about the Sino-Russian border at that time, only 300 meters south of Kyakhta, the "trading city", this twin city, however, although it has disappeared, but what has passed away is destined to be resurrected and eternal in history.
At 49 degrees north latitude, the subarctic steppe, which at that time belonged to the territory of the Qing Dynasty, now borders Mongolia and is 800 kilometers away from the nearest Chinese border
It is built by the Jin merchants, the regulation is the same as the Shanxi Jin Shang compound, the typical Chinese architectural style, the whole city is centered on the crossroads, there is a gate in the east and west, three gates in the north and south, there are four big characters above the gatehouse, there is a Guandi temple in the east of the city, Da Shengkui has a semicolon here, and the shops and courtyards stand along the street. A group of businessmen with Shanxi Jin merchants as the main body.
The trading city is 1,500 kilometers away from the hometown of the Jin merchants and 3,000 kilometers away from the starting point of the tea road.
Merchants are not allowed to bring their families, they are all Mongolian merchants. There is hardly a woman to be seen in the buying and selling city.
The Qing government sent officials, managed by 30 soldiers, who traded freely during the day and curfew at night. Festivals can visit each other. In the 18th century, the Russian scholar Parshin traveled here and experienced the "Sino-Russian friendship" in the residence of the Director General of Russian Customs, which he wrote about in his book "Chronicles of the Transbaikal Territory". This is a gathering of political and business figures from both sides during a Russian-style festival: "The Chinese are very particular about dressing," and "the city lanterns are bought and sold." Russian women take their children to see lights and fireworks, Chinese please eat sweets, desserts, drink Shaoxing wine and grass-soaked wine, wonderful performances of entertainers. ”
It is the most important tea distribution center. There are 6,000 tons of annual trade, the trade volume accounts for one-fifth of the Qing Dynasty, 95% of it is tea, in addition, China also exports silk, cotton, fruits, porcelain, rice, candles, rhubarb, ginger and musk and other goods to Russia, since Jiaqing, Daoguang, China exports to Russia of goods, tea has been the most important, this business has been monopolized by Jin merchants. In the TV series "Da Shengkui", tea is trafficked from Wuyi Mountain in Fujian Province to Kyakhta and then sold to Russian merchants.
But these fragments seem to have roughly pieced together the vague outline of a "buying and selling city".
Kyakhta relied on the nourishment of "the city of trading, and the weak Russia rose rapidly." It has liberated countless Siberian natives from their primitive state of drinking blood, putting down their shotguns and harpoons and becoming traders...... Let the Russian merchants and Jin merchants have a lot of money in their pockets! This international trade route, which lasted for two and a half centuries, is a road of wealth flowing with gold and silver.
Without the disappearing "city of trading", there would be no meritorious Kyakhta. They coexist with each other, share glory and disgrace. It is awakened by tea, the unique vitality, that is, the constantly gathering soul fire, the soul fire is an extension of life in a broader space, and jointly creates a business miracle. It has also brought traditional Chinese culture to the North Pole of Cyprus, becoming a place of Chinese civilization embedded in the depths of the grassland and on the Russian-Mongolian border.
Two
It is a national interest that opens a closed door and the dawn of the times. Ambiguity and chaos are the source of all things, not the end.
Perhaps people have waited for many years to see the camel caravan slowly walking from the vast Gobi Desert. As they walked, they stopped, and the housekeeper and the camel rider closed their eyes and prayed silently in the silence of their souls.
How can I go away in peace, I want to see the outside world, and only take a box of tea with me, no, if I don't have a holy decree, I can't get out of this realm.
The Tea Road was first opened in 1693.
In 1689, after the signing of the Treaty of Nebuchu between China and Russia, the two countries began to move towards peace and mutual trade.
In 1692, Peter the Great of Russia sent the first caravan from Moscow to enter China through the village of Erguna, and after a year, it arrived in the capital in March 1693, opening the international trade route "Tea Road". At that time, it was called "tribute trade", and the Russian side sent caravans to bring Russian specialties to the Qing Dynasty to pay "tribute", and then the Qing Kingdom "gave" some goods, gold, etc. as gifts.
In 1725, the Russian Empress Catherine I summoned Count Sava to the Earl of Savoy, a descendant of the Prince of Bosnia who had served as a foreign adviser to Peter the Great. In order to expand eastward in search of more wealth, the empress gave Sava the task of negotiating a new trade agreement with the Qing Empire to compensate for the shortcomings of the Treaty of Nebuchu.
In October 1726, the Sava mission arrived in Beijing and began a lengthy negotiation. It was not until April of the following year, after satisfactory results, that Sava left Beijing. Since the Qing government only accepted fixed-point trade, on the way to China, Sava chose a future trading point: a small valley near the Sino-Russian border, with a small river flowing through it, which would not be poisoned, and which originated in Russia. Xiaohe's Mongolian name at that time was "Kyakhta".
On August 20, 1727, China and Russia formally signed the Treaty of Kyakhta. As early as the Count of Savoy had chosen the site, a new city of bazaars, settlements and barracks had been built, a typical Russian fortress with a square fortress pattern, surrounded by tall fences and gates, and fortified with turrets at the corners. Merchants' wooden houses, shops, and inns were built in the city. This is the city of Kyakhta. Subsequently, the Jin merchants also built the "Buying and Selling City" 400 meters south of Kyaktu.
Officials from each side and 30 military personnel are in charge.
According to historical records, it was first traded on September 5, 1728. 4 Chinese businessmen and 10 Russian businessmen negotiated and traded in Kyakhta. Marx talks about a legendary city and a magnificent history. "This trade, in the form of an annual meeting, was run by twelve merchants, six of whom were Russian and six of whom were Chinese. They held meetings in Kyakhta and decided on the proportion of the exchange of goods between the two sides - trade was entirely barter, with tea as the main commodity in China and cotton and wool in Russia. ”
The bulk of Sino-Russian trade has always been tea. Since the opening of the market, tea has maintained more than half of Kyakhta's total annual trade. The reason for this is the extraordinary enthusiasm of the Russian people for this drink, "it is better to go without food for three days than without tea for a day". This is especially true for Siberians whose diet is more meat-oriented.
In the first few years, the trade was dismal, with an average of 10,000 rubles per year, and in 1733 it was only 1,508 rubles. In 1734, there was a Jin merchant named Zhu Chenglong. He did not trade according to Kyakhta, the location of the imperial court ticket, but went to another place, and was seized by the local Qing Dynasty official Cha Kedan, and all of them were confiscated on suspicion of smuggling, and Zhu Chenglong killed himself. A small businessman went down in history.
During the past two hundred years, the Qianlong period was intermittently closed for 15 years, and the tea system played a very good effect. In 1792, the retreat ended, and both China and Russia opened up their policies, ushering in a period of 60 years of stability and prosperity.
The Russian scholar Silin said, "Every merchant flaunts his wealth with tea." ”
Parshin recounts: "The inhabitants of this place, rich and poor, old and young, are fond of brick tea. Whenever you go to a house, the host will always entertain you with tea. Kyakhta, like a golden key, opened a heavy door, through which the small tender green leaves of the two lakes of China and the tea-picking girls of Jiangsu and Zhejiang passed through this door, traveled thousands of miles, and finally arrived in the silver teacups of the Russian noblewomen.
In 1744, bilateral trade in Kyakhta amounted to about 300,000 rubles, by 1760 it had risen to 1,100,000 rubles, in 1830 it was 8 million rubles, and by the middle of the 19th century it had reached 16 million rubles. The vibrant market has made Kyakhta a city of rich people.
In 1870, an American traveler came to this place, and he described it this way: "In Kyakhta, you are embarrassed to greet people without four or five million people on you!" But the magic of Kyakhta is not only in its daily progress, but also in the unimaginable communication between different cultures facilitated by daily life.
If a serious linguist breaks into Kyakhta's bustling bazaars, he will probably be amazed at the variety of languages. You can hear Russian in Chinese, Chinese in Russian, Mongolian in Russian and Chinese, or Russian and Chinese in Mongolian, and all languages communicate "barrier-free".
He Qiutao, a Qing scholar, wrote in his book "Shuo Fang Beicheng": "At the beginning of the market trade between foreigners (Russians) and the people of the mainland, everything was afraid of laughing, so his tone seemed to be less and inferior. The prosperous economy has created a different social picture for Kyakhta, which has the atmosphere of "knowing etiquette and etiquette".
Three
In 1917, the October Revolution broke out in Russia, and trade between China and Russia completely stopped. This 10,000-mile tea road opened the door to Sino-Russian trade, spreading China's tea and tea culture to the Mongolian steppe, Siberia and Europe, and was another trade and cultural corridor across the hinterland of Eurasia after the Silk Road. With tea as a link, in the afterglow of the sunset in the Sino-Russian imperial era, a memory of prosperous trade, national exchanges, ethnic interaction and integration has been left behind.
On February 11, 1921, the army of the White Russian power Engern, with the support of the Japanese Kwantung Army, entered Kulen (Ulaanbaatar). The garrison of the Chinese Beiyang government evacuated Kulen, some returned to the mainland, and some moved to the city of Buyingcheng, preparing for another battle.
On March 18, the Outer Mongolian army, with the support of the Soviet Red Army, captured the city of Maimai and drove away the Chinese garrison, leading to the mass withdrawal of Chinese merchants. On March 21, the Outer Mongolian forces established the "Mongolian People's Government" here. After that, the Soviets defeated Engern's army and supported the Outer Mongolian forces to establish power in 1924.
After the "independence" of Mongolia, the trading city became the territory of Altan Prague, also known as Aldanbulak, and due to war and destruction, the trading city that flourished for nearly two centuries was abandoned in the wilderness on the western outskirts of the small town of Alatan Prague on the border of present-day Mongolia. This Chinese homeland has become someone else's. Later, Erenhot assumed the role of a trading city. Erenhot became an important trade port for China with the Soviet Union and was called "Little Moscow".
The small city of Kyakhta still stands in the south of Russia, becoming the last outpost of Christianity and Orthodox culture before the arrival of Mongolian Buddhism, and the church of the resurrection of Jesus and the Holy Trinity Cathedral are still preserved in the city, bringing the gospel of prayer to the border residents, and also becoming a physical symbol standing on the border of civilization and culture.
Judging from the satellite map, the ruins of the trading city, the historical traces of the cross street are still clearly visible, telling the stories related to camel caravans, tea and trade more than 100 years ago, and I am amazed from the heart, and a commemorative medal is engraved for the Wanli Tea Ceremony in the form of ruins.
It was already dusk when I finished writing this article, and I listened to the echoes of history with gratitude, prayed heartily, chanted, and praised the "City of Trading", and immersed myself in my own reverie.
(Author's file: Sun Shuheng, pen name Hengxin Yongzai, Inner Mongolia Naiman Bannerman, member of China Financial Writers Association, member of China Essayists Association, member of Inner Mongolia Writers Association, member of Inner Mongolia Poetry Society, member of Western Essayists Society, deputy secretary-general of Inner Mongolia Popular Literature and Art Research Association, senior researcher and deputy secretary-general of Inner Mongolia Poetry, Calligraphy and Painting Research Association)