Gaoyou is the only city named after "post" among more than 2,000 counties and cities in China, and it is also an important node city on the Grand Canal, with a history of more than 7,000 years of civilization and more than 2,000 years of city building. This issue of the "Canal Yangzhou" column, let us step on this ancient and vibrant land together.
News Girl Yuwei:
Gaoyou is located in the central part of Jiangsu Province, most of the territory is plain, the west has a beautiful scenery of Gaoyou Lake, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal runs through the north and south. As early as 7,000 years ago, there were ancestors who slashed and burned on this land to breed and live. In 223 BC, King Yingzheng of Qin "built a high platform and set up a post pavilion" here, hence the name Gaoyou. For more than two thousand years, Gaoyou has been culturally prosperous, economically prosperous, and politically and militarily high.
Wu Jiaxing, editor-in-chief of Yangzhou Traffic Chronicle, and yangzhou water conservancy history:
Gaoyou has a relatively high system in history (Ming Dynasty) In the territory of Yangzhou Capital, there are two directly subordinate prefectures, one is Gaoyou Prefecture, one is Zhenzhou, Gaoyou Prefecture has conventional jurisdiction over Baoying and Xinghua counties, and its chief executive is appointed directly by the imperial court
Located at No. 62 Fuqian Street, Gaoyou City, Gaoyou Prefecture Office is the only remaining ancient mansion building in Gaoyou City, with a history of more than 600 years. According to legend, during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the Gaoyou Prefecture Office was expanded, and two top beams and pillars were missing in the lobby.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the wood for the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing and some royal tombs in Hebei Province was generally transported from Yunnan to the Golden Silk Nan Wood, transferred to the Yangtze River through the XiangJiang River, and then entered the Grand Canal, which must pass through the lake of the Grand Canal, that is, Gaoyou Lake, so a batch of imperial wood went north, there were always one or two left behind, and the people told the governor: Are you going to gaoyou lake to find the sacred wood? Sure enough, one day, the two pieces of wood were covered with moss, and the workers fished it up and transported it to the location of the state, a measure of size and the girder basically matched, and then the craftsmen carried out a painting, and finally this top beam and pillar came out, which is what we usually tell, called the story of "New Kaihu Sacred Wood".
This legend fully illustrates the close connection between Gaoyou and the canal. Historically, Gaoyou Lake was once an important passageway of the ancient Hangou, and then due to the large wind and waves on the lake surface, in order to sail safely, from the Song Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, successive dynasties gradually built east-west embankments that divided the rivers and lakes, excavated the Moon River, and gradually formed the Gaoyou Ming and Qing Grand Canal.
Gaoyou Ming and Qing Dynasty Grand Canal Old Road from the north of the Gaoyoujie town, south to the Gaoyou Old Locks, a total length of 26.5 kilometers, there are a large number of historical and cultural relics along the line, which reflects the dynamic process of the evolution of the Grand Canal from the lake to the river, and is a "living fossil" reflecting the relationship between the grand canal and the lake. After years of vicissitudes, the shape of the river is still clearly visible today, in 2006, the Gaoyou Ming and Qing Dynasty Grand Canal Was designated as a national key cultural relics protection unit, and in 2014 it was included in the World Heritage List.
After more than two thousand years, on the eve of the founding of New China, the canals in Yangzhou have been narrow and full of hidden dangers, and the flood control, irrigation and shipping capacity are very poor. After the founding of New China, the state began to vigorously rectify the canal, and in the territory of Gaoyou, a difficult problem was in front of everyone.
Gaoyou Town Guosi Pagoda was built in the Tang Dynasty, located in the middle of the High Postal Section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. In 1956, the Grand Canal was cut and straightened, and the Zhenguo Temple Pagoda was located within the construction scope of the renovation project of the high postal section of the Li Canal, and whether the tower was retained or demolished was directly related to the progress of the project.
One afternoon in the early summer of 1958, in a traffic hostel on Gaoyoutonghu Road, some decision-makers and project builders in the Yangzhou Special District held a full-day meeting. The meeting was presided over by Comrade Yin Bingshan, then deputy commissioner of the Yangzhou Special Region, and attended by Chen Yinghong of the Gaoyou Corps, Ding Hu of the Jiangdu General Brigade, and Ji Keyu, as well as Chen Zuchang, chief of the Yangzhou Special District Water Conservancy Bureau, and Engineer Xu Hongwu. At this time, Engineer Xu Hongwu said: During the Japanese devils invaded China, the devils of the Zhenguo Temple Pagoda did not blow up, so how can we blow it up in our hands? In this way, Chief Chen and Governor Ding both said: Yes, you can't dismantle it! Comrade Yin Bingshan took the case and took the case: I agree with the opinions of the comrades, do not dismantle! So what to do? Tell Baota to give way.
Baota gave way and opened a new river outside the east embankment of the Li Canal, and after the completion of this renovation, it not only improved the canal's water transmission, but also improved the shipping capacity. The unique landscape of "one lake, two rivers and three banks" has been formed between the Grand Canal and Gaoyou Lake, and has become an important node of the Jianghuai Ecological Corridor and the Grand Canal Cultural Belt.
After the reform and opening up, this treasure land has been fully utilized by our Gaoyou people, leaving a very good solemn pure land for our Gaoyou people and even the people of Yangzhou. Commissioner Yin's merits cannot be forgotten, which shows that our successive governments in Yangzhou have a natural cultural consciousness and cultural self-confidence in the protection of cultural relics.
From 1965 onwards, the Grand Canal renovation project entered the second phase, and the high postal section of the canal was further developed.
Successively the Shanyang River to Shaobo lock length of 96 kilometers of canal embankment reinforcement, Gaoyou, Jiangdu two sections of embankment reinforcement, new breakwater and platform and other engineering measures, in addition to solving some of the canal water transmission capacity and navigation capacity, the third phase of the continuation of the construction project occurred in the (20th century) 80s, that is, after the reform and opening up from 1981 to 1987, the Li Canal continued to continue to build to the north, carried out the section of Baoying to Huai'an in the levee stem removal, built a Gaoyou lock, Seven projects, including the widening of the waterway in the Lincheng section of Gaoyou, the Yunxi Locks of Gaoyou, the second line of Shaobo, the third line of Shiqiao, the canal highway bridge of Baoying, and the dredging of the shoal part of the waterway from jieshou to Liuwei, have further improved the flood control capacity of the waterway of the Grand Canal.
Yong Jun, director of the Resource Development Department of the Yangzhou Local History Office, is a high-poster, and he is deeply touched by the changes in the high postal section of the canal.
Yong Jun, Director of Resource Development Division and Deputy Research Librarian, Yangzhou Local History Office:
In the past, this place was relatively less visible, and now it has been rectified, especially after our recent 18th National Congress in 2012, the concept that green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains has been further implemented, and we are actually more and more beautiful for those who are familiar with Gaoyou and love Gaoyou. In the south of the canal second bridge area, gaoyou lake bridge there is a pearl lake town, now is also built well, from the north of the current Jianghuai ecological corridor construction also has a lot (change), like the Ming and Qing Canal we just passed the old road, in fact, it is excavating history and culture at the same time, but also combined with our use of the current scientific and technological means, as well as a lot of intelligent measures, including the use of the latest concept of repair and then rectification, so, the current scene presents the reputation of the scenery is much better than before.
The Gaoyou section of the Grand Canal involves multiple water systems such as the canal, Gaoyou Lake, Yangtze River, Huaihe River, etc., and its development and changes reflect the wisdom of the Chinese people from ancient times to the present, which is a veritable living heritage of the canal. For thousands of years, Gaoyou has also been a "shining pearl" on the Grand Canal cultural belt. In gaoyou, there are also many cultural relics related to the canal, and we will continue to search for them in the next program.
Source丨Yangzhou Radio and Television "Yangfan" mobile phone channel
Editor 丨Zhu Jianghui