Pillow River outside Gusu City
The city of Suzhou has a long history, dating back more than 2,500 years. In the ninth year of the Sui Emperor (589), Sui destroyed Chen, abolished Wuzhou, named Gusu Mountain, and was first called Suzhou.
Suzhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal
Suzhou has parallel land and water, adjacent river streets, and was associated with the Grand Canal very early, and in the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a transportation road to Guangling. After the dredging of the Sui-Tang Grand Canal, Suzhou has convenient conditions for inland navigation and maritime transportation, which has promoted Suzhou's commercial prosperity and market development. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Suzhou's commerce reached its peak, when merchants gathered in the areas of Qianmen, Xumen and Shantang Street, and Haomen was known as "the first wharf under the world". Wang Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty once wrote in his "Song of Two Mountains and Bamboo Branches": "There are few people in the village, and the husband is not at home for business. "Convenient water transportation provides the possibility for large-scale development of commerce, and at the same time, it also allows more farmers to choose urban life, which promotes the development of Suzhou's urbanization level."
Quemen
Suzhou is not only a typical Grand Canal water network city, but also a "city of a thousand bridges", a hundred steps and a cross bridge, 50 steps and a vertical bridge, is the city with the most mainland rivers and bridges, and has the reputation of "Venice of the East". Among them, the most well-known is Fengqiao, thanks to the Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Ji's "Fengqiao Night Park": "The moon is falling and the sky is full of frost, and Jiang Feng's fishing fire is sleeping." Hanshan Temple outside Gusu City, arrived at the passenger ship at midnight. ”
Maple Bridge
The Hanshan Temple in the poem is also famous because of the maple bridge. The layout of Hanshan Temple is contrary to the convention of temples generally facing south, and its temple gate is west-facing. This is because Suzhou is a water town, and the Grand Canal opened in the Sui Dynasty is located to the west of Hanshan Temple. With the increasing development and busyness of water traffic, in order to facilitate the passing merchants, boat people, farmers and believers to come here by boat to worship and enter the incense, the temple gate is opened to the west by the river.
The Grand Canal next to Hanshan Temple
When you come to Suzhou, tourists will definitely check in Tiger Hill, which is known as "the first scenic spot in Wuzhong". The Kunqu opera "Listening to the Song on the Stone of a Thousand People on the Tiger Hill" sung by Li Yu, a opera artist of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, describes it as follows: "One praise and one good, one word and one blood, a few good singers, sing to kill the tiger hill moon." "At that time, every year under the Mid-Autumn Festival, thousands of obsessed people would gather in Tiger Hill and sing Kunqu opera all night, and the scene was spectacular.
Tiger Hill Club
Kunqu opera is the "mother of Chinese opera", and the beauty of Kunqu opera lies in the neat music and elegant lyrics, which have far-reaching meaning. In 2001, Kunqu Opera was listed by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral Heritage of Humanity and Intangible Heritage. During the Wanli years, the influence of Kunqu opera spread from Wuzhong to all parts of Jiangsu and Zhejiang through waterways, and later, this local opera, which was originally only "stopped in Wuzhong", soon went along the canal to Beijing and along the Yangtze River to other parts of the country, becoming a highly influential drama at that time, and formed regional styles, such as Sichuan-Kun, Zhejiang-Kun, Su-Kun, Beikun and Shanghai-Kunming.
"When you come to Gusu, everyone sleeps in the river. There are few idle places in the ancient palace and many small bridges in the water port. After listening to Kunqu opera, it is natural to walk through the many streets and alleys of Suzhou, among which Shantang Street, which has a history of more than 1,100 years, is known as "the first street in Gusu". The street pioneer in Shantang is Bai Juyi. In 825 AD, Bai Juyi went to Suzhou to serve as an assassin, and one day, he went to Tiger Hill in a palanquin, saw that the nearby river channel was silted up, and the waterway was not accessible. After that, people planted lotus roots on both sides of the riverbank, and built a seven-mile-long Shantang Street next to the river, planting plums on both sides of the street, so that people who visited Tiger Hill could enjoy the four seasons of Jiangnan along the way.
Shantang night tour
Today, the noisy market of Shantang Street has become the best choice for people to escape from the high-rise buildings and find a secret place to getaway, which is the charm that the canal water gives Gusu City. In the slightly swaying painting in the Shantang River, accompanied by Wu Nong's soft music, you can still see the traces of red sleeves and incense. The story on the maple bridge flows along the canal water to the north and south of the river. The city of Suzhou is pillowed by the canal, and in this way, the people in the city have entered a sweet dreamland...
Review丨Chen Rui
Executive producer丨 Fan Yizi
Coordinator丨Luo Jingyue Yan Naiyi
Responsible editor丨Luo Jingyue
Copywriter丨Li Li
Art design丨Yang Hua
Proofreader丨Meng Jing
Reference丨"Six Thousand Miles Canal, Twenty-One Cities"
Image from the Internet
Produced by China Water Conservancy News New Media Center (Film and Television Production and Broadcasting Center).
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