preface
In the past, after the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal flowed into the Yangzhou boundary, before it was diverted from Sanjiangying into the river, it had been flowing along such a route for thousands of years: from The Ancient Town of Wantou - flowing through the Golden Dam - running through the urban area - flowing through dashuiwan - reaching the "Sanwanzi" - flowing to the Sanjie River, a total distance of 13.5 kilometers.
However, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal flows here, only out of the city. Then the water of the Grand Canal is divided into two under the Gaomin Temple, a thousand-year-old temple: one along the Yilang Ancient Canal, flowing south to Guazhou to join the Yangtze River; the other, flowing west along the Yiyang Canal and entering the Yangtze River from the Twelve Wei in Yizheng County.
The Grand Canal has flowed through the ancient city of Yangzhou for thousands of years, leaving rich historical sites and many cultural landscapes on both sides of the strait, which has engraved the imprint of the past for future generations. Among them, the many ferries opened around the Yangzhou City Gate witness the history of the development of the ancient city in that period.
In the old days, the ancient canal was a golden waterway in Yangzhou City, and thousands of sails on the river all day long, end to end, it carried on the economic interconnection between the north and south of China, and converted passengers and goods from all sides. With the prosperity of waterway transportation, the ferries, wharves, freight stations, commercial houses, shops, workshops, etc. on both sides of the ancient canal lining the city are built along the river, and business is booming. Daylight, traffic, shoulder to shoulder, ten miles of riverbank, scale after scale; at night, the lights along the coast are brilliant, the moon shadow is suspicious of flowing water, and the spring wind contains night plums... Zhenge is a paradise on earth.
From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China period, the yangzhou urban section of the ancient canal, the two sides of the river all relied on ferries or pontoon bridges built with wooden boats. These ferries, along the ancient canals, are scattered at the various gates of the ancient city for people and goods to pass.
A statistic shows that until the 1950s, the Yangzhou section of the ancient canal, along the direction of the Grand Canal through the urban area, was distributed from northeast to southwest at the ferry ports on the opposite bank of the city gates, as many as 13.
Below, Xiaobian tries to briefly describe the distribution and function of the above ancient ferry ports as follows:
(1) Bay Head Gudu. It is located in the territory of Zhuyingwan Community in present-day Wantou Town. Zhuying Bay has a number of water systems converging here - the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the Mangdao River, and the Liaojiagou River, which divides the bay head into three convenient water transport channels. This is the first ferry port for water traffic into Yangzhou. From the Western Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, Zhuyi Bay has always been the gateway and important port in the northeast of Yangzhou City, and a necessary place for salt transportation and water transportation.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhuyi Bay became a special wharf of the Two Huai Salt Transport Division, which was the head of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal from north to south into Yangzhou Thirteen Dao Bay, and was originally named "Bay Head". In the years that followed, it gradually became a bustling place, with shops and the city constantly sounding. This is the ancient town of Wantou.
Wantou Ancient Town now retains a thousand-year-old street about 2 kilometers long, and the stone inscription of "Ancient Zhuyu Bay" inscribed by Qing Nguyen Yuan University is still embedded in the stone arch gate of the ancient street. The old street of the ancient town still exists, and the only remaining circle gate still preserves a typhoon shelter for the boats of the ancient canal to rest their sails. In the early Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, floods were a disaster, coupled with wars and wars, Zhuying Bay gradually went into decline.
In 1958, the Yangzhou area organized 200,000 migrant workers to straighten the ancient canal and opened a new channel from Zhuying Bay to Liuwei into the Yangtze River, and the project was completed in 1960. Since then, the Bay Head Ferry port has been moved to the Grand Canal. The ferry was also changed to a motorized iron-hulled ferry, and in 2002, the Jiangyang Bridge was completed and opened to traffic, and the ferry was suspended.
(2) Yanting Ferry, located in Dongzhuang, Golden Village, north of the city. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, with the development of salt transportation in Yangzhou, the government has built a wharf here. And here a special establishment of the anti-smuggling salt agency, known as the Salt Hall. In the 1960s, there were still ferries on the site to connect the north and south banks of the ancient canal. In the 1970s, when dredging and widening the channel of the ancient canal, the Yangzhou Locks were built and the Yanting Ferry Port was suspended.
(3) Wutaishan Ferry, formerly known as Gaogongdu, is located in Gaoqiao, outside Benyimen. Located on the ancient canal on the northeastern outskirts of Yangzhou, this ferry port not only has a wide river surface, but also sets up an earlier and longest-used ferry port. On the opposite bank is the Caohe Gaoqiao Gate.
In 1988, the port was converted to a motorized boat ferry; in June 1997, the Wutaishan Bridge was completed and opened to traffic, and the last ferry port on the ancient canal was removed.
(4) At the ferry port of the silkworm breeding farm, it is located in Beilai Temple, Benyimenwai Street. In the sixth year of the Republic of China (1917), on the east bank of the ancient canal, wutai mountain was built on the earthen hill of Wutai Mountain, and the "Model Original Silkworm Breeding Farm in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province" was built. In the past, on the side of the ancient canal in front of the west gate of the field, there was a archway about 10 meters high, which was engraved with ten characters of "Yangzhou Former Silkworm Breeding Farm in Jiangsu Province". It is far away from the Beilai Temple on the other side (changed to the second grain depot in Yangzhou in the 1950s) and the Yangzhou Wheat Flour Factory. The ferry port is set up here, which greatly facilitates the exchange of materials and pedestrians on the east and west banks of the ancient canal.
(5) Yanchi Street Sanmao'an Ferry Port, located at Yanchi Street Exit Tianxing Bridge. In the past, Erpanpu and Yanchi Street, located on the east and west banks of the ancient canal, were bustling with merchants. Along the canal, there are hundreds of shops such as fresh fish, poultry eggs, bamboo, grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, inns and so on. Heavy-duty vehicles such as unicycles and rickshaws must cross the river through this ferry, so the ferries of Sanmao'an are large and wide. In addition, there is also a Dongguan steamship station at the south end of Yanchi Street, where the Taizhou class, Xinghua class and Huaiyin class of the steamship company often pick up and drop off passengers on and off the ship.
(6) Dongguan Pontoon Bridge Ferry, located at the gate of Dongguan City. In the old days, on the side of the ancient canal in the west of Wazi Street, there was a west circle gate that was built in the fourth year of the Qing Dynasty (1878) and re-erected in the eighth year of the Republic of China (1919), towering over the ancient canal. The arch is embedded with the "Second Port of the Ancient Yangtze River", and a horizontal stone stele. On the west side of the West Circle Gate, downhill along the stone steps to the south is a pontoon bridge spliced together by 5 wooden boats, and across the river with the stone steps can be directly reached to the gate of Dongguan Castle. This is the main passage to the city along the Lower River in Dongxiang, known as the East Gate of Yangzhou.
In March 1951, the city wall was demolished to ring the road. In May of that year, a reinforced concrete bridge was built on the ancient canal and completed and opened to traffic in January 1952. Because this bridge was built in the early liberation period, it was named "Liberation Bridge". Since then, the Dongguan Pontoon Bridge has been removed, and the ferry port has been moved north to the front of the Hanxingxiang Egg Factory, where it was converted into a ferry port until the ferry was stopped in the 1980s.
(7) Gap Ferry, located at the gate of Gap City. In the old days, Gap Ferry was a major thoroughfare in Yangzhou City leading to Yinan. Passers-by and farmers who sell vegetables and pick up manure on the streets stop here, and over time, a gap street is formed at the East Ferry Port. There are more than 10 families living on the street, including Xujia Tofu Shop, Li Ji Grain Shop and some cake noodles and snack stalls, as well as a donkey market and firewood and grass shops of considerable size. Gap Ferry is bustling with people and traffic all day long, a busy and lively scene.
In May 1962, after the first phase of the Yuejin Bridge, which was built during the "Great Leap Forward" era, was completed and opened to traffic, the gap ferry was stopped.
(8) Xuningmen Ferry, located in Xuningmen. In the past, this area was called Pifang Street because there were many leather workshops along the street; there were also several firewood tents, wooden rows and bamboo rows on the beach on the south bank of the ancient canal. As a result, it became the main ferry port for farmers and urban residents in the Nanxiang area to enter and leave the city, and pedestrians, porters, and porters flowed endlessly.
In the 1960s and 1970s, with the completion and opening of the Yuejin Bridge and the Xuningmen Bridge, the Xuningmen Ferry Port was suspended.
(9) Fuyunmen Pontoon Bridge Ferry, located in Fuyunmen. In the twelfth year of the Republic of China (1923), the Zhenyang Bus Station was set up on the south bank of the ancient canal in the southern suburbs, and at the same time, the Fuyun Gate was newly opened between The Banknote Pass and Xuning Gate, and the ferry boat was spliced into an active pontoon bridge to communicate cross-strait traffic.
Since then, passengers from the south to the north have changed to new roads, and the bustling city of The Former Banknote Pass has gradually shifted to Fuyunmen. At this time, the Fuyunmen pontoon bridge has become very crowded, the wooden boat pontoon bridge is full of passengers, the traffic is busy, often people accidentally fall into the water, and the people complain.
In the 36th year of the Republic of China (1947), Da Rong, director of the Shanghai Barber Industry in Yangzhou, donated money to build the Da Rong Bridge, which is a wooden simple pedestrian bridge with a width of 3 meters and a middle hole of 6 meters. Because the bridge is too low, the bridge deck should be hoisted when sailing, and in 1953, the Daei Bridge was demolished after the construction of the River Crossing Bridge.
(10) Banknote Pass Ferry, located at Banknote Pass. In the old days, it was an important transportation port on the water in Yangzhou. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, pontoon bridges spliced together by wooden boats were erected on the canal to communicate cross-strait traffic. During the Republic of China, since the opening of the Fuyun Gate and the completion and opening of the Tongyang Bridge, passengers from the south to the north changed to a new road and the ferry port was suspended.
It is worth mentioning that in the past, whenever Yangzhou City held the Dragon Boat Festival, most of the dragon boat events were held at the Cheguan Ferry Port. According to historical records, on the fifth day of the first month of May in the thirty-third year of the Qing Dynasty (1907), men and women competed to win the bid, and hundreds of people crowded onto the passenger ship surnamed Pan, causing the ship to capsize and drown more than 100 people.
(11) The horse ferry in front of the inn is located in Anjiangmen. Originally the former site of Guangling Yi in the Ming Dynasty, it was a large-scale official-run pavilion for officials and messengers who delivered official documents to rest and change cars, boats and horses, and as a place for local officials to welcome and feast.
At the guanyi river, there is also a ferry port dedicated to stagecoach, called "horse ferry". The port was not closed until the 1950s, but its place name is still in use today.
(12) Small Pier Ferry, located in Small Pier Desheng'an. Due to the wide river surface of the ancient canal in this area, the flow of the river is smooth, which is convenient for docking ships. Along both sides of the river is the shortcut trunk road of Yangzhou City to the Sanfen River, Guazhou and Yizheng, and the agricultural and sideline products on both sides of the river are in and out here, so the ferry port is bustling and bustling.
According to local elders, after the 1970s, the small pier ferry port no longer existed.
(13) Ryu-an Ferry Port. Located in Ryugi-an. Longyi'an is across the ancient canal from Wenfeng Pagoda, the nunnery gate faces north, there are two ancient ginkgo trees more than 400 years old in front of the mountain gate, and there is a stone barge boat dock by the canal.
In the past, the ferry boat here could lead to the pesticide factory on the east side of the canal, Baolun Temple and other places, but because of the new construction of modern bridges on the ancient canal and the convenience of land transportation, the ferry port was closed at the end of the last century.
(Yangzhou ferry port drawn by foreign painters)
Since 1935, Yangzhou City erected the first Tongyang Bridge on the ancient canal, and in the past 86 years, more than 10 bridges have been erected on the ancient canal around the city. Since the completion and navigation of the newly opened Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in 1960, boats have been successively diverted to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, enterprises, commercial houses and wharves along both sides of the canal have been relocated, and ferries on the ancient canal have been stopped.
Today, although the ferry port on the ancient canal no longer exists, it has left people with the historical memory of the vicissitudes of the canal.