In China, when we mention "Spring City", we will think of Kunming, where the four seasons are like spring; when we mention "Flower City", we will think of Guangzhou, where flowers are like flowers; when we mention "Jincheng", we will think of Chengdu, which "sees the red and wet place, and the flowers are heavy in Jinguancheng"; when we mention "Rongcheng", we will think of Fuzhou, the cradle of China's modern navy.
The reason why Fuzhou is called "Rongcheng" is naturally because the city is full of banyan trees, so that the whole city is surrounded by greenery. Banyan trees are the "city trees" of Fuzhou, and there are nearly 1,000 ancient banyan trees in the urban area. In Fuzhou National Forest Park, there is a thousand-year-old banyan tree, the height of the tree is 20 meters, the canopy ground projection area is more than 1330 square meters, that is, the size of two acres of land, which can be called "a single tree into a forest", so it is known as "the first big banyan tree in Fuzhou" and "banyan tree king".
The largest banyan tree in Fuzhou
The history of planting banyan trees in Fuzhou begins with a Northern Song Dynasty official named Zhang Boyu.
Zhang Boyu (張伯玉), courtesy name Gongda, was a native of Jian'an County, Jianning Province (present-day Jian'ou, Fujian), born in 1003. Zhang Boyu studied diligently, entered the high school at the age of 21, and then was admitted to the Book Judgment And Excellence Department, entered the official field, and served as a waiter under the recommendation of Fan Zhongyan, a famous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty.
At that time, the chancellor in the imperial court was Chen Zhizhong. Chen Zhizhong was deeply trusted by Song Renzong and his power was tilted for a while. Zhang Boyu did not bother him, but also said: "The world is not ruled, and it has not yet been the true prime minister." The implication is that Chen Zhizhong is not a competent prime minister. Chen Zhizhong listened, of course, he was very unhappy, and found an excuse to send Zhang Boyu to a foreign country as an official. Emperor Renzong of Song pitied Zhang Boyu for his rare talent and ordered a reward of 50,000 silver coins. Chen Zhizhong was reluctant and said that there had been no such practice before. Despite Chen Zhizhong's objections, Emperor Renzong of Song rewarded Zhang Boyu.
Zhang Boyu sculpture
After many years in the local area, in 1065, Zhang Boyu, who was already 62 years old, was transferred to Fuzhou as Fuzhou Zhizhou. Since then, Zhang Boyu has formed an indissoluble relationship with the city.
Fuzhou is located on the southeast coast of China, and the summer weather is extremely hot. At the same time, frequent typhoons and rainstorms have caused the people of Fuzhou to suffer from flood disasters and many people have fallen ill. After Zhang Boyu arrived in Fuzhou, after field investigation, he decided to plant banyan trees on a large scale in Fuzhou, "so that the Tongqu households dredged up ditches for six feet, and the banyan trees were planted outside, and the years did not wither." The banyan tree is a tall tree that belongs to the evergreen tree and does not wither all year round. After the banyan tree is planted into a forest, it can not only reduce the summer heat, but also resist the invasion of typhoons and rain, which is really killing two birds with one stone.
Because the effect of planting banyan trees was very good, Zhang Boyu ordered it to be promoted throughout the city of Fuzhou. Just a few years later, Fuzhou "was full of greenery and traveled without a cover." "This is to say that when banyan trees grow up, the city is full of greenery, and pedestrians walking in the city do not need to wear umbrellas to shield them from the scorching sun.
Fuzhou banyan tree
What is valuable is that the banyan tree is a perennial tree, and it takes a certain number of years for the banyan tree to grow into a forest. When Zhang Boyu served as Zhizhou in Fuzhou, he was already old, and Zhizhou could not serve for a few years (he only served as Fuzhou Zhizhou for 3 years), and planting banyan trees in Fuzhou was a completely thankless thing. However, Zhang Boyu still had an unshirkable obligation to do so out of the concept of serving as an official and benefiting one party.
Fortunately, for Zhang Boyu's contribution, posterity has not forgotten. In 1068, Zhang Boyu left Fuzhou and succeeded Zhizhou as Cheng Shimeng. Cheng Shimeng continued to plant banyan trees in Fuzhou in accordance with Zhang Boyu's practice, and wrote a poem praising Zhang Boyu: "The third floor looks at the corner of the pillow city, and when he leaves, he plants ten thousand trees." If you ask the people of the country where they come and go, do you know that you have ever remembered the king? ”
The people of Fuzhou walk in the greenery of banyan trees, and they will naturally miss Zhang Boyu's exploits. In order to commemorate Zhang Boyu, in 1994, Fuzhou erected a sculpture directly opposite Jinniushan Park, at the intersection of Yangqiao Road and Beijiangbin Avenue in Fuzhou. The protagonist of the sculpture is Zhang Boyu. In the sculpture, Zhang Boyu holds a hoe in his hand, personally plants a banyan tree, and when he is resting, he helps the hoe to see the lush and green scene, and an image of "planting banyan trees too guarded" full of feelings for the people is about to come out.
Zhang Boyu left Fuzhou a "green wealth" that has been passed down for thousands of years, and won the reputation of "Rongcheng" for Fuzhou. Since then, "Rongcheng" has become synonymous with Fuzhou. When many literati and inkers mention Fuzhou, they often refer to "Rongcheng".
Fuzhou city
In 1895, after the signing of the Treaty of Maguan, the patriotic poet Xu Nanying threw pen from Rong and led his troops to guard Tainan and guard Baodao. Because the enemy was outnumbered, Xu Nanying was forced to return to Fuzhou. When he sent his friend Li Kaisun back to Wuyi, he wrote a poem: "After the rain and clouds overturned, we met the ancient Rong City." Pingshui new deed, Tess cen old alliance. Fuqin thinks of changing tones, and listens to the controversy. Looking forward to the long sky, the weathering Dapeng. "A strong sense of home and country, overflowing with words.
On February 8, 1985, the 12th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth People's Congress of Fuzhou City decided to name the banyan tree as the city tree.
Since Fuzhou is called Rongcheng, how many banyan trees are there in the city?
According to statistics, in the past thousand years, after the hard work of successive generations of people, the total number of banyan trees in Fuzhou today has reached 160,000, which is a well-deserved "banyan capital". Among them, there are nearly 1,000 ancient banyan trees, 6 with a history of thousands of years, and more than 600 trees with a history of more than 100 years. Today, these 160,000 banyan trees of different ages are distributed in various areas of the city, and the streets and alleys form a unique and beautiful landscape, attracting many tourists to stop and watch and take photos.