Written by Zhu Haiyan
[a]
I sat on a simple wooden boat, with no sails and no need to borrow the wind to sail, and the woman holding the boat, dressed in a blue cloth robe, paddled lightly. One street and one river, the streets and rivers are parallel, the water lanes extend in all directions, and the boats in the water lanes are like shuttles. The river is in the city, the city is on the river, and most of the people on the boat are outsiders who come to visit Suzhou. There were also a few locals, who were selling things from their boats to the ordinary people who lived on both sides of the creek. As a result, there is a sound of selling on the water along the river that no other city has. Most of the buyers were laundry women on the river port, who bought fresh and bright vegetables from the boat, bought live fish and shrimp, and after a while, the sound of crackling oil pan stir-fry sounded in the kitchen of the house. In this way, walking through the quiet water alley, you can more truly appreciate the water style of Gusu.
(Image source: Internet)
If it is in the morning, taste the small river of Suzhou, it is a different style. The day has just dawned, and you can see farmers in the suburbs rocking small boats, full of vegetables and fruits, rocking on the river. The gentle sound of the waves, the sound of the swaying oar, converged into a small river ensemble with shallow singing and low chanting. The small rivers one after another are like threads, pumping out wisps of Suzhou's poetry and mood to the outside world. However, this kind of "silk" will never dry up the style of Suzhou, and it will be more abundant and fulfilling in this special release.
When the morning sun rises, the glittering river begins to come alive, and the women washing by the river port beat the rhythmic sound of pounding clothes, one after another, accompanied by the echo of the water of the small river, it is wet, moist, so wonderful and pleasant. The sound of the hammers was mixed with the whispers and profligate laughter of the women who could only squat on the river. The whispering of Suzhou women is not understood by outsiders, and the whispers and laughter are even more mysterious in the eyes of outsiders. It will make people feel that the stone-built river port only belongs to Suzhou women, and only Suzhou women squatting there can be embellished into a unique style of a water city.
/Suzhou Creekside scenery (picture source network)/
Water is the mother of Suzhou, and because the mother is water, the city it gave birth to is different from other cities. The water in Suzhou is simple and quiet, and there is no wind and water. However, in the secluded water alley, between the ancient temples of the sunset, the story of Suzhou is so blurred. The history of Suzhou is actually the history of water, and the history written by water has become more and more vivid in the millennium.
In the eyes of ordinary people, in the long river of history, any civilization will be lost, but in Suzhou, a real water city, its classic significance lies in its ability to survive forever. In the future, the once clear and transparent water of Suzhou will exist in another way, and the Wu culture, which was derived from the water and has deeply influenced Chinese history, will also deeply affect generation after generation.
Water is the soul of Suzhou, and water is the dream of heaven. It is precisely by virtue of the deep nourishment of this kind of natural water that is not sharp but full of calm, that the products of this water town and the oriental water city are so rich, the life is so comfortable, and even the human nature is so gentle. Isn't it? It is precisely by virtue of the infiltration of this continuous water of history that has been sprinkled with more than 2,500 years of ancient city, although it has gone through wind and rain, the city site is basically unchanged. It is precisely by virtue of the nourishment of this profound and profound cultural water that the Wu culture has lasted for thousands of years, which has impressed and amazed the world.
[b]
Generations of our ancestors have warned their children and grandchildren: Be neighbors with water. According to the ancestral legend, everything in the world is nothing more than the five elements, water comes first, without water, culture will dry up, and human beings will die. And the city of Suzhou has won the first of the five elements. Traditional Chinese culture believes that water gives birth to wood, wood gives birth to fire, fire gives birth to earth, earth gives birth to gold, and gold gives birth to water. This regular cycle naturally also contains the meaning of "water is the source of life".
/Night view of Suzhou City (picture source: Internet)/
The people of Suzhou are very fortunate that their ancestors chose such a side of water and soil for their future generations, as the township well Sangzi. Standing on a high place and looking at Suzhou, you will find that Suzhou is a place that borders the sea in the east, Taihu Lake in the west, canals in the south, and the Yangtze River in the north, and it has a dense water network composed of more than 20,000 large and small rivers, and it has more than 400 large and small lakes connected to the sky.
The power of water is truly magical, it can change infinite body forms, and it can also take on a variety of personalities. The water of Suzhou did not choose the danger of the river, let alone the majesty of the sea, but chose a calm will on the land of Wuzhong. Perhaps, only in this way can we provide people with more abundant water products. The character of water will naturally affect the character of people. Imagine, on this side of the water and soil, the fine grains of fine rice, plus fresh crabs and live shrimps, plus white lotus and red ling, can not help but nourish the introversion of water, the beauty of water and the gentleness of water.
Suzhou is a very typical water city, it not only cherishes a water city gate that is rare in the country, but also still retains the old appearance of the water management city in the Spring and Autumn Period. It is often said that Suzhou City has both the layout of "three horizontal and four straight" and the characteristics of "double chessboard", which refers to the different directions of water and the arrangement and combination of water. For Suzhou, these rivers are flowing, or they are living rivers in the first place.
/Suzhou Waterway near Pingjiang (picture source: network)/
Suzhou, a water city, is the river of these large and small rivers that weave the streets in the city into a longitude and weft, and connect them with the traffic outside the city into a network, so it not only nourishes the city, but also revitalizes Suzhou. Among the many canonical cultural relics in the ancient city of Suzhou, the Song Dynasty stone carving "Pingjiang Tu" is very eye-catching, it is the ancestor of the map of Suzhou, and it is also the masterpiece of the Song Dynasty stone carving. On the "Pingjiang Map", the geography of the surrounding area, the face of the city, the arrangement of the streets, and the direction of the water flow are all drawn in great detail. The word "Pingjiang" implies the meaning of water control, and was also another name for Suzhou. This clearly shows the relationship between water and Suzhou.
Because of the special amount of water in Suzhou, there are rows of dwellings on the rivers. The Tang Dynasty poet Du Xunhe's "Jun to Gusu to see, people pillow the river" of the word "pillow", used very wonderfully, it is extremely vivid to say the life of Suzhou people, originally "pillow" on the river. The river under the pillow is also known as the water alley by people.
There are three forms of water lanes in Suzhou: one is the water lanes where rivers and streets are juxtaposed; the second is the water alley with rivers and no streets; The third is the water alley between the two streets. No matter what form of water lanes, they can reflect the life of Suzhou people and water from different angles. As for the water lanes like the Qili Shantang, because it contains the characteristics of three kinds of water lanes, it is undoubtedly a typical example of Suzhou.
/Suzhou Qili Shantang Scenery (Image Source Network)/
Qili Shantang is also a river, a street, and a typical water alley.
Although Qili Shantang is only seven miles, it has been a thousand years. In 825 AD, Bai Juyi came to Suzhou to do the assassin history, and before that, he had also done the same official position in Hangzhou. During his tenure in Suzhou, the poet left many works and achievements, one of which was the excavation of this seven-mile pond that connects urban and rural areas.
Since the completion of the project, Qili Shantang has gradually integrated into the prosperity of Suzhou, so that there have been a full of lanterns and wine banners, and a river of painting boats and sheng songs. The Qili Mountain Pond excavated by Bai Juyi not only communicates the water transportation of urban and rural areas, but also provides convenience for generations of people who have visited Tiger Hill. "Seven miles of mountain pond to Tiger Hill", throughout the ages, this river, that boat, has carried how many yearning for the mountain, and how many pairs of water to linger. It is at the end of this mountain pond that there is a water-related relic, which is the tablet of "Suzhou Mansion Forever Ban Tiger Hill Opening Dyeing Workshop".
From today's point of view, this is undoubtedly a masterpiece of harmony with nature, protection of the environment, and people-oriented. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the continuous prosperity of the economy in the south of the Yangtze River, the weaving and dyeing industry in Suzhou has also been vigorously developed. The economy has developed, but the colorful dyes have not only dyed the fibers of the commodity, but also the water quality of Suzhou. In this case, the prosperous and endlessly developing mountain pond is the most. At that time, the water of the beautiful mountain pond had gradually turned into a river full of blue, red, black and purple, endangering the lives of the people.
Suzhou needs development, but Suzhou needs rivers even more. Wealth may make Suzhou rich for a while, but wealth also has poison that can suffocate the city's life. In the choice of wealth and rivers, Suzhou chose the latter. They understand that only this clean water is the eternal culture and wealth of Suzhou, the deeper and broader historical connotation of Suzhou, the richer cultural connotation and the more elegant aesthetic style.
While the water pollution was still spreading, 108 people of insight in Suzhou signed a letter asking the government to implement a ban.
/The proclamation stele of "Tiger Hill is forever forbidden to open a dyeing workshop to pollute the river" (picture source: Internet)/
In the 2nd year of Qianlong, that is, in 1737, the Suzhou government issued a proclamation that "Tiger Hill will forever prohibit the establishment of a dyeing workshop to pollute the river", and clearly demarcated the specific section of "east to Caiyun Bridge and west to the Four Corridor Bridge". This proclamation was then carved into stone and erected by the water's edge to show the significance of its eternal prohibition.
At that time, if Suzhou did not have the concept of scientific development, I am afraid that Suzhou would not be the current Suzhou. Suzhou's concept of development is not only a material driving force, but more importantly, it has been transformed into a cultural driving force. In its entire history, culture has determined the direction and the fundamentals. In this sense, the water in Suzhou has cultivated and created a cultural psychology of Suzhou people that is profound rather than shallow, calm rather than impetuous, healthy rather than kitsch, and long-term rather than short-lived. Their care and protection of water provide us with an aesthetic photo of Suzhou's thousand-year-old history, and a profound interpretation of the cultural personality and aesthetic characteristics of Suzhou people.
It is said that this surviving stele is the earliest preserved regulation on the mainland to protect local water quality, but the handwriting has been mottled over the years, and the reading is intermittent and unwritten. Just like an elderly man's last advice before his death: protecting the water of Suzhou Creek is related to the past when Suzhou people are neighbors with water, and it is also about the future when Suzhou people are neighbors with water.
[c]
There are so many rivers in Suzhou that some people have surveyed that the longest period in history is 58 kilometers. The formation of these rivers has formed the so-called "double chessboard" pattern in Suzhou, that is, there is a river in front and a street in the back, and the river in front of the street or the river in the back street. So from the perspective of Suzhou itself, these rivers in the city were originally natural rivers, but after careful combing and renovation, they have become a combination of artificial and natural rivers.
/Suzhou Shantang Ancient Street (picture source: Internet)/
Because of this natural pattern, the main means of transportation in the city, besides cars, is the boat on the river. When people go out, most of them have to travel by boat. The boat will take you where you are going, and you may jump off the boat and climb the stone steps at the head of the river and take a few steps up to the house of your grandmother, aunt and aunt.
This city, because of the water, has become particularly distinctive, and there are many of Suzhou's own very distinctive urban components, such as bridges, such as ports, and so on.
On both sides of the small river in Suzhou City, there are many water ports, and the water ports have various forms, some are single-sided, some are double-sided, some are vertical, and some are horizontal. Bridges, too, are various. These are not only for people and cars, but also for connecting land and water transportation. At the same time, it is also a very important urban landscape, which relieves the noise and congestion of the city a lot. This kind of relief is not only the relief of building components, but more importantly, it is also a kind of soothing for people's psychological tranquility and indifference. When we say that there are 360 bridges, it reflects that the bridges in Suzhou are like beautiful paintings, giving people beautiful enjoyment.
Suzhou's transportation is formed by the intersection of waterways and bridges connected by waterways. It can also be said that in Suzhou, wherever there is a river, there is a bridge. Therefore, most of the places that can be called water towns are bridge towns. "Small bridges, flowing water, people" is already people's daily words to describe water towns. In the middle, the bridge is ranked first. In Suzhou, places named after bridges abound.
/Suzhou Fengqiao (picture source: Internet)/
From ancient times to the present, the people of Suzhou, who live next to the water and by the river, have built many bridges that are difficult to determine. The construction of the Dafan Bridge was originally only for practical purposes, but because the water flowing under the bridge has passed through the years, it has a span connecting the ancient and the modern. The bridges that depend on the ancient style are indeed the cultural scenery of Suzhou, because through these bridges of different shapes and categories, people can not only experience the evolution of Chinese bridges, but also relive the history of the ancient city of Suzhou. Those bridges that have gone through countless ups and downs are witnesses of the changes of time and the vicissitudes of life.
The bridge is the first image related to the river, and it is also the enduring theme of writers' writing, and the bridge is also the central image of the writer's text. One writer wrote about the bridge in Suzhou:
In this way, when he walked for about 5 minutes, he saw the Monk Bridge, which was the dusk of the setting sun on the back of a bird, and the Monk Bridge was lying on the river in an ancient and graceful manner, like a jade shrimp, and each piece of bluestone radiated a magical warm color. And the little broom trees that grew out of the cracks in the bridge wall, green, swayed gently in the wind......
But throughout my youth, I had to cross the monk's bridge almost every day, and go to school from home. Intellectually speaking, the bridge crosser should not ruin the reputation of the bridge. Standing at the head of the monk's bridge, looking down at the crowded Toon Tree Street, counting how many windows there are in the Meijia Teahouse, thinking about the history is really an inexplicable mess, it is illusory and absurd, far less real and reliable than the row of red lacquered toilets in front of the toilet.
/Suzhou Dusheng Bridge (picture source: Internet)/
This is a typical Suzhou bridge. The monk's bridge in the writer's pen not only has the "ancient and beautiful" posture of the small bridge in the water town, but also integrates with the Chunshu Street of the work, harmonizing with the style of the southern world constructed by literature, depicting the decay and decline of the ancient bridge.
Many things in the world are created by people, so they have the attributes of a big culture, and they also have the character given by people. The ancient philosopher Zhuangzi once said; "Heaven and earth have great beauty and are speechless." What about these bridges that have benefited mankind for hundreds of years and thousands of years? Of course, in the long-term process of water management, people not only built the culture of the bridge, but also shook the history of the boat. The boat is a thing born of the river, the boat is an illustration of the river, and the river without the boat is like a book, there are only words in it, there are no illustrations, and there is no life. Where there is a river, there is a boat, and in reality, the boat occupies an important position in the river. So the boat in the Suzhou Creek is also the note of the city's flow.
In addition to bridges and boats, it is necessary to note another concept connected to water: "wells". In Suzhou, there are many ancient wells, embedded in the streets and alleys. According to the statistics of the early 50s of the last century, there were more than 10,000 wells in Suzhou at that time, and a considerable part of them were ancient wells of the past dynasties. Later, because of the changes of the times, those ancient wells gradually decreased, and only the place names were left as commemorations. This is the case with Shiquan Street in Suzhou. The word "complete" in "Shiquan" turned out to be the "spring" of "spring water", and what it commemorated was the ancient well on that street, and the ten clear springs.
/Suzhou Wumen Bridge Smoke and Rain (Image source: Internet)/
Suzhou is known as the rainy Suzhou. This is due to the fact that it rains all year round. In fact, the nourishment of Suzhou benefits not only from the water of the sky, but also from the clear underground springs. If water is the source of life, then, for a long time, a well is the source of life for Suzhou people. Because Wuzhong Fertile Field has many water conditions, it also has the convenience of many wells. Therefore, it can be said that in Suzhou, the positioning of the city is water, and the positioning of the well is home.
Walking in the streets and alleys of Suzhou, you will find many wells, and deep traces have been left on the wellheads. Those marks were apparently pulled with chains and ropes. It is estimated that it will take hundreds of years for each trace to appear. Without that long time, you can't grind the wellhead that deep.
At that time, in Suzhou, laundry and rice washing, there was a public well in every alley. This public well is a place where people in the alley meet in the morning, where people meet, and all kinds of strange stories are spread there. From a certain point of view, the history of the well is the history of Suzhou, the ancestors of the ancestors, the descendants of generations, is from the well, to know the depth of human feelings; It is on the well fence that I understand the square circle of the world; It is by the well that the distance between people and the city, culture and the market is shortened. (To be continued)
Introduction of Zhu Haiyan
Zhu Haiyan, a native of Lixin, Anhui Province, enlisted in the army in 1976 and served as a soldier, platoon commander, deputy instructor, and cultural officer of the division's Political Department in the Seventh Division of the Railway Corps.
In 1983, he was transferred to the "Railway Soldier" newspaper, and in February 1984, he was transferred to the "People's Railway" newspaper, and served as the reporter*, chief reporter, and chief reporter. In 1998, he served as editor-in-chief, president and editor-in-chief of China Railway Construction News, and a senior reporter. In March 2010, he was transferred to the Engineering Management Center of the Ministry of Railways as the deputy director at the bureau level, specializing in the writing of railway construction reports.
The winners of the 6th Fan Changjiang Journalism Award are the "four batches" of talents in the national propaganda system, leading figures in China's press and publishing circles, and senior experts directly controlled and contacted by the central government. He has won the China Journalism Award eight times, won the first and second prizes of provincial and ministerial news awards more than 90 times, and won the "Five One Project" award of the Central Propaganda Department for his long-form reportage "There is War in the North". He has published 40 collections of various works, with a total word count of 20 million words. He enjoys the allowance of the State Council and is a member of the Chinese Writers Association.
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