The General History of Nanjing can be called the "encyclopedia" of Nanjing in the Qing Dynasty, which restores the life style of the people of Nanjing in the Qing Dynasty.
Speaking of Jinling City during the Qing Dynasty, the author always thinks of Cao Xueqin's grandfather Jiang Ning weaving Cao Yin. Originally, it was thought that the imperial court's appointment of Cao Yin to this position was a fat difference, but according to the records of the General History of Nanjing, this work was not necessarily a fat shortage for supervising a party's handicraft industry. The "Nanjing General History and Qing Dynasty Volume" mentions such a file, before Cao Yin went to the local government to take office, Kangxi had repeatedly told Cao Yin: "In the future, when you hear about small things in the local area, you will have to play them with secret folds." ”
From this sentence, we can know that the reason why Cao Yin was transferred to Jiangning was not because of his outstanding work ability, but because Kangxi needed an eye and ear to supervise Jiangning.
To this end, Kangxi changed the term of office of Jiangning Weaving, changing the original three-year term to an unlimited term.
In the book "Compilation of The Folds of the Kangxi Dynasty Han Dynasty Zhu Ping", a total of more than 3,000 pieces of the Kangxi Period are included, of which There are 600 folds on Cao Yin and Suzhou Weaving Li Xu, accounting for 20% of the total. In these folds, there are not only the customs and customs of the Jiangnan region, the market economy, but also the privacy of many officials and gentry, as well as the public opinion trends of the people, and so on. There are very few contents related to the "job" of weaving.
It can be seen that Cao Yin's main responsibility at that time was not weaving, and he did not have to worry about the development of local handicrafts. Cao Yin's real job was to report to Kangxi on major civil or official events in the region, such as the Jiangnan Kechang case and the Zhu Sanzi case. His existence is more like a reassuring pill for Kangxi to govern the south. It can be said that even if Cao Yin did not earn much gray income in jiangnan weaving, Kangxi's trust in him was enough to make the Cao clan a prominent family.
Of course, the content included in the "General History of Nanjing" is quite mixed, and we can see the daily life of the ancient Nanjing people in it. Taking eating as an example, the Nanjing people of the Qing Dynasty could enjoy a wide variety of cuisines.
According to the book, there are two most famous delicacies in Jinling in the Qing Dynasty:
One is the "winter bucket chicken";
The second is the "early spring brine duck".
As the name suggests, these two dishes are seasonal delicacies in early spring and after winter. At that time, there were many varieties of duck in Nanjing, and the duck meat delicacies were even more dazzling, including the crystal duck that "killed its hair and raw the cities"; there was also the roasted duck that "raised the fork and burned the fire, the skin was not scorched"; there was also the sauce duck that "spread sauce on the skin and cooked to make the stomach penetrate". However, so many categories of duck meat cuisine, its reputation is not as good as saltwater duck.
The qing dynasty gourmets called Jinling's brine duck "supreme quality", believing that no food was more delicious than brine duck. In winter, the brine duck can also be modified into a plate duck for easy storage. During the Daoguang period, an official from Guangdong, in order to be able to eat saltwater duck every day, specially asked the imperial court to transfer to Nanjing.
In addition to ducks, Nanjing's aquatic products are also quite abundant. According to historical records, the Nanjing people of the Qing Dynasty liked to eat knife fish in the spring, anchovies in the summer, crabs in the autumn, and crucian carp in the winter. Some of the more daring diners also like to eat pufferfish, but because of several lawsuits, the government gradually restricted the sale of puffer fish.
Judging from the description of the General History of Nanjing, the infrastructure of Nanjing in the Qing Dynasty was quite complete.
From the perspective of fire prevention alone, jinling set up a water dragon bureau during the Qianlong period. This institution is the same as the current fire department. It is said that during the Qing Dynasty, firefighters were divided into two types, one was "dragon carryer" and the other was "water carryer". Literally, the former is responsible for pouring fire with a water dragon in hand, while the latter is responsible for providing water for the former. At that time, a water dragon was usually equipped with ten cartons of water buckets, which meant that a firefighting unit consisted of at least eleven people, one person responsible for extinguishing the fire, and the remaining ten people responsible for carrying water.
According to the "General History of Nanjing", nanjing fires occurred frequently in the late Qing Dynasty. From 1875 to 1903 alone, there were 513 fires in Nanjing. In order to cope with this unexpected situation, Li Hongzhang purchased four new water dragons from the Shanghai Ocean Artillery Bureau in case of emergency. Because of the frequent fires in Nanjing, firefighters have also become a high-paying profession. At that time, the "dragon bearer" who was responsible for operating the water dragon received a subsidy of 1,400 yuan every time he participated in the fire fighting.
In addition, the Green Battalion, Xiang Army, and Huai Army that remained in Nanjing were often involved in firefighting work. Of course, soldiers are not responsible for the work of the fire fighting process from the "firefighters", who are usually responsible for maintaining order on the scene and assisting the "water pickers" to transport water. Sometimes in the event of a rare extraordinarily large fire, officers and soldiers also use tools to pull down the fire-engulfing buildings to prevent the fire from spreading. In the early years of Guangxu, the Taiping water tank system was implemented in Nanjing, and huge Taiping water tanks were placed throughout Nanjing, each of which could accommodate twenty cartons of water, ready to deal with possible fires.
Resources:
【General History of Nanjing", "Compilation of Han Dynasty Zhu Batch Folding of The Kangxi Dynasty"】