The "lock key" of the Yangtze River, the "Gang" spirit in the poetic Jiangnan

▲Bronze statue of Xu Xiake (courtesy of Visual China)

The Endless Yangtze River rolls in, and the diverse competitions of the Upper Bashu Culture, the Jingchu Culture in the Middle Reaches, and the Wuyue Culture in the Lower Reaches converge into magnificent poems. From the east of the Hundred Rivers to the sea, the land of Wuyue in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River is located at the confluence of major rivers and rivers, and for thousands of years, it has bred a beautiful and moving Jiangnan cultural vein that stretches for thousands of years. Among the cities along the river in Jiangsu, Wuxi on the shore of Taihu Lake has a special status and unique charm, as an important birthplace of Wu culture and Jiangnan culture, Wuxi, which has the benefit of water, its long history not only fully demonstrates the beauty of water rhyme, but also shows the thickness of humanities.

The cultural context is long, and the Wu culture originated from here

Here was once a vast ocean, the vicissitudes of the sea and mulberry fields, the Yangtze River from the upstream of the large amount of sediment, shaping the fertile Yangtze River Delta. "Taihu Lake and Taihu Lake Plain are babies left on land by the Yangtze River and the sea, and can be said to be the proud son of the Yangtze River." This is a poetic description in the documentary "Talking about the Yangtze River", and also vividly describes the deep relationship between the Taihu Lake Basin and the Yangtze River, including Wuxi.

"Wuxi is an important birthplace of Wu culture. Wuxi water network is dense, rivers and lakes are rich in form, there is the Yangtze River in the north, Taihu Lake in the south, the canal runs through the city, and various colors of the ponds and rivers are distributed everywhere, which together constitute a typical water town style, which is praised by the famous dramatist Mr. Zhou Yibai as 'the sound of the boundless wind and moon'. Professor Zhuang Ruojiang of Jiangnan University described the geography and characteristics of Wuxi in this way.

Professor Zhuang Ruojiang told reporters that the "eight provinces and one state" in the Ming and Qing dynasties, also known as the "Taihu Lake Basin" or "Jiangnan", has been the highland of domestic economy and culture since the Tang and Song Dynasties, but historically, the development of this plate is inseparable from the nurturing and driving of the Yangtze River civilization, and even some scholars believe that "the Yangtze River culture is the cradle of Jiangnan culture".

The north of the mountains and the south of the water are yin, and the yangtze river basin in Wuxi is concentrated in Jiangyin. If we want to trace the earliest humanistic history of this land by the river, many historical relics of Jiangyin are vivid witnesses.

In the east of Jiangyin City, there is a terrace about 5 meters above the ground. "Known as the Qitou Mountain Site, it is an important large settlement remnant of the Majiabang culture period, and it is also the earliest home of the Ancestors of Jiangyin that we currently know in archaeology." Weng Xuehua, director of the Jiangyin City Museum, told reporters.

The discovery and excavation of the Qitou Mountain site has advanced the human history of Jiangyin and even the Jiangnan region to the Neolithic Age 7,000 years ago. "In addition, Jiangyin also has the ruins of Nanlou, which belong to the Songze culture, the gaocheng dun ruins that belong to the Liangzhu culture, and the ruins of Shecheng that remain in the Xia Shang Zhou, which prove the continuous history of human activities on the banks of the Yangtze River for thousands of years." Weng Xuehua said.

The concept of "Jiangnan" comes from the Yangtze River. Initially, the scope of Jiangnan was vague, the scope of "Jiangnan" in the Tang and Song dynasties did not only refer to the Taihu Lake Basin, Jiangnan Province during the Tang Xuanzong period was extremely vast, although it was later split into Jiangnan East Road and Jiangnan West Province, but the scope of Jiangnan East Road still included the Ewangan area. It was not until the Ming and Qing dynasties that Jiangnan became a specific reference to the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions. For thousands of years, the center of Chinese culture has been in the Yellow River Valley, and Jiangnan is relatively barbaric. Sima Qian once said that "Jiangnan is humble and wet" and "the land is vast and sparsely populated." An important change in the history of Jiangnan is the "Taibo Benwu" 3200 years ago. The "History of the Wu Taibo Family" says: "The king of Taiwang wanted to establish the Ji calendar and Chang, so Taibo and Zhongyong were Ben Jingman. Legend has it that at that time, Tabor gave the throne "Lamphun Meili" for Zen, and "Meili" is the area around the present-day Wuxi Meicun.

"Taibo Ben Wu" brought the advanced Central Plains culture to Wuxi at that time, which also became an important birthplace of Wu culture and Jiangnan culture. Taibo dug the river here to reclaim and develop farming, and the Yangtze River culture entered a new historical period, and finally together with the Yellow River culture, it built a dualistic coupling between the north and the south of the Chinese land.

Pioneering and enterprising, the humanistic spirit is endless

More than 3,000 years ago, Taibo crossed the river from the north to Jiangnan, and since then a large number of northerners have moved south, creating the prosperity of Jiangnan; 400 years ago, another historical celebrity went from here to the whole country, and traced the river to touch the outside world. He is the famous geographer, traveler, and literary scholar Xu Xiake.

Xu Xiake (1587-1641), born in Jiangyin. "He is the body of the mountains and rivers", stepping on the mountains and rivers and studying geography exhaustively, this is his lifelong ambition. "Riding tens of thousands of miles, hesitating for thirty years", Xu Xiake's travels have spread throughout many provinces and cities across the country, "his behavior is not from the official road, but there are famous scenic spots, and he bends around to find it." During the journey, Xu Xiake encountered many times of stealing grain, but still did not change his original intention, and finally formed the emperor's huge work "Xu Xiake Travels", which is also the longest travel book in ancient times.

What is the source of the Yangtze River? Before Xu Xiake, the literature believed that it was the Min River, and the "Shangshu Yugong" recorded that "Min Shan Daojiang". In order to find out the source of the Yangtze River, Xu Xiake explored the rope with his footsteps, and finally examined that the Jinsha River was the source of the Yangtze River: "Therefore, those who push the source of the river must be headed by Jinsha." Although Xu Xiake did not really arrive at the source of the Yangtze River due to objective conditions, this conclusion really promoted the development of Chinese geography.

Xu Xiake wrote in "Tracing the Origin of the River": "Yuyi is just the rush of the great river into the sea, and the name of the river is also large and exhausted by the strength of the river." "Since he grew up at the confluence of the great rivers and the sea, perhaps it was the Yangtze River complex that guided him, which made him germinate the impulse to trace the source of the river." Hometown sets off the imagination of the far away, and the distant carries the dream of the hometown.

Regardless of the twilight, regardless of the mountains and seas, with the body of a jie, poor and supreme reason, good at exploration, brave to move forward. It can be said that this is the broad heart and cultural essence of the Yangtze River. Broad vision, keen inspection and good at discovery and creation have become important characteristics of Jiangnan culture.

Countless Jiangnan people have embraced this feeling to go everywhere, seeking the truth and taking responsibility for the country. The famous Donglin Academy in Wuxi, the Ming Dynasty thinker and Donglin leader Gu Xiancheng wrote "the sound of the wind and rain, the sound of reading in the ears, family affairs and state affairs and the world are concerned about everything", this famous association is widely recited, and the lofty ambitions and responsibilities it shows have also become the motto of many scholars and volunteers to forge ahead.

From Qian Zhongshu, Xu Beihong, Qian Mu to Gu Yuxuan, Zhou Peiyuan, Qian Weichang... To this day, we can still follow the cultural clues of Donglin Academy and feel the endless transmission of jiangnan humanistic spirit.

Unyielding, the river stirs up a strong spirit

Rigid and soft, soft on the outside and strong on the inside, here is both the poetic Jiangnan, the magnificent Yangtze River water also gives the people on the shore an indomitable cultural character, which has the fullest manifestation in Jiangyin: "Soft can raise silkworm brocade, just can burn with the enemy", the "rigid" side of the people's nature is triggered, and the bravery and fierceness are almost unmatched.

The Yangtze River to Jiangyin, the river surface is suddenly narrow, the narrowest point is only 1250 meters, known as the "Yangtze River Lock Key", just like the throat of the Yangtze River, it is a place where soldiers and families must fight for thousands of years. The agitation of the Chu wind and Wu Yu gave this land a unique military cultural characteristic.

Huangshan, located in the northeast of Jiangyin City, is named after the fiefdom of Huang Xie of the Chu State during the Warring States period. In 547 BC, wu guo built a beacon tower in the stone chamber of Huangshan Mountain in Jiangyin, stationed a water division in Shanwan during the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and built a cannon embankment in The Big and Small Shiwan during the Ming Chongzhen period. During the Opium War, in order to resist the British invasion, the Qing government built a fort in Huangshan.

The Huangshan series of forts were built on the top of huangshan's xi hat, saddle, dragon head and goosebill mountain and Junshan peaks, and there are ancient forts in the lower chicken head, big stone and small stone zhuwan, which are also known as Jiangyin fortresses. Huangshan Fort is not only the largest and most complete existing in China, but also the longest-lasting and most complete development sequence of river defense fort relics, which was listed by the State Council as the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Jiangyin Fortress is an important military base, and many historical events have occurred here. In 1937, the Anti-Japanese War broke out in full swing, fierce battles broke out in Jiangyin Fortress, in order to prevent the Japanese army from continuing to advance west along the Yangtze River, Jiangyin filled with 43 warships, 185 civilian ships, and 12 ships of various types filled with sand and gravel, sank into the water, sealed the river, and built an underwater blockade line, known in history as "Jiangyin self-sinking". In 1949, the Chinese People's Liberation Army won victories one after another, and the Kuomintang army vainly tried to rely on the natural dangers of the Yangtze River to resist and fortify the Huangshan Fort, with a total strength of more than 7,000 troops. On April 21, a million male divisions of the People's Liberation Army crossed the Yangtze River, and the officers and men of Jiangyin Fortress, under the instigation of the underground party of the Communist Party of China, successfully held a pre-battle uprising, abandoned the dark and surrendered to the light, and effectively supported the large army to cross the river.

Today, when we walk into Huangshan, we can still see ancient forts, outposts, ammunition depots and other war relics, and feel and recall unusual history. Climbing to the highest point of the Huangshan Mountain, what you see in front of you is already a new look in the country. The spectacular Jiangyin Bridge flying north and south, the south to the north of the ships bustling, the Yangtze River, this transportation artery is playing an extraordinary value in the new era.

Through the war, blood and fire have tempered the indomitable character of the people of this land. The Chaozong Gate of Jiangyin City reads "The State of Loyalty and Righteousness", and the spirit of the State of Loyalty and Righteousness has also inspired generations of Jiangyin people. Nowadays, the spirit of Jiangyin City, which is "united in the hearts of the people, strong in the people's nature, dare to climb, and create first-class", is high and upward, and the sons and daughters of the Yangtze River here have created one development miracle after another with the courage and responsibility of daring to be the first in the world.

Pragmatic and dedicated, "water culture" has spawned national industry and commerce

The old factory building has undergone vicissitudes and transformed into a modern museum, and the huge machines in the workshop seem to be able to restart the roar at any time... Located in the Wuxi Canal West Pier of the Chinese National Industry and Commerce Museum, the audience can experience the history of national industry and commerce at close range. The original site of this museum is the former Maoxin Flour Mill.

Maoxin Flour Mill was founded in the 26th year of Qing Guangxu (1900), founded by rong zongjing and rong desheng brothers, pioneers of Chinese national industry and commerce, and is a typical sample of China's modern national industry.

In 1895, the brothers Yang Zonglian and Yang Zonghan of Wuxi founded the "Yeqin Yarn Factory", which was also the first national capital factory in modern Wuxi. Since then, the national industry and commerce with cotton textile industry, flour industry and silk reeling industry as the main body have developed rapidly in Wuxi, with many factories and far-reaching influence. The sound of the machine is pinned on the ideal of Jiangnan people's industrial rejuvenation. A large group of ethnic industrialists represented by the Rong family, who adhered to the ideas of practical application and pragmatism in the Jiangnan cultural tradition, promoted the historical process of China's early modernization.

In fact, the development of ethnic industry and commerce in the Jiangnan region since the Ming and Qing dynasties is inseparable from the convenient transportation brought by the Yangtze River. Geographically, the Yangtze River can sail outward to overseas, communicate inwardly with several major lakes such as Dongting Lake, Poyang Lake, and Taihu Lake, and connect several major tributaries such as the MinJiang River, the Jialing River, the Han River, the Xiangjiang River, and the Ganjiang River, and the hinterland is vast and radiates thousands of miles.

Professor Zhuang Ruojiang pointed out that Wuxi has always been known as the "Pearl of Taihu Lake", because of the opening of the canal, Wuxi's geopolitical pattern has been changed, through the river to the lake, convenient transportation, become the "north and south will rush" land, so in the era of water transport to take full advantage of the development opportunities, Wuxi's famous "rice city" and "cloth wharf" are developed in this context, the prosperity of national industry and commerce is also inseparable from the canal and the Yangtze River.

In Professor Zhuang Ruojiang's view, such a river and lake integration of the water system not only leads to the interaction of fish, but also promotes the integration of culture, and nurtures Wuxi's unique "water culture" - both the gentle connotation of Taihu Lake, as well as the openness of the Yangtze River and canals, the courage to explore and the wit and enterprising, it is these cultural elements that work together to achieve Wuxi today.

The spirit of history becomes the driving force for contemporary development. In the contemporary era, the people of this land have created a development experience represented by the "southern Jiangsu model" with the spirit of "440,000" with blue wisps of the road and calloused hands, and continue to burn the passion for struggle in the new era.

Reporter/Gu Xingxin

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