The Grand Canal is not only an important transportation channel and economic lifeline in ancient China, but also a river containing rich cultural deposits, giving rise to a diverse canal culture covering literature, art, folk customs, intangible cultural heritage, opera, etc. Place names that bear historical imprints are naturally an important part of canal culture.
A few days ago, the book "The Story of the Place Names of the Grand Canal" compiled by Gu Jianguo, a professor of Huaiyin Normal Studies and a scholar of the Grand Canal, was published, which reproduces the continuous history of China's Grand Canal by combing the context of the place names of the Grand Canal.
"Starting from the original ditch, in the history of more than 2,000 years, countless place names have been born along the Grand Canal. Gu Jianguo listed them one by one, Tongji Canal, Guhangou, Li Canal, Middle Canal, Mokou, Huaisikou, Qingjiangpu, Shaobo, Guazhoudu, Hushuguan...... Whether it is a river, or a water mouth, or a town, or a village, or a water conservancy hub, the place names of the Grand Canal are full of water charm, recording the long past of the Grand Canal from different angles.
Huai'anli Canal.
Many canal names have long been household names, but there are also some that are relatively less well-known. For example, in the place names of the canal, there are quite a lot of the word "mouth", including the end of the mouth, Huaisikou, Daqingkou, Xiaoqingkou, Yongkou, Tianjin Sanchakou, Nanwang water outlet and so on. Gu Jianguo introduced that the so-called "mouth" mostly refers to the mouth of the water, that is, the confluence of two waters, and looking back on the origin of these names, it is often possible to excavate a story of the evolution of a certain river in the Grand Canal system.
"Huai'an is an important canal hub city, and the ancient place name 'Mokou' is not only the earliest canal hub in Huai'an, but also the birthplace of this canal capital. In the book "The Story of the Grand Canal Place-Names", Gu Jianguo explained in detail the thousand-year-old evolution of the "last mouth" place name. In 486 B.C., "Wu Chenghan, communicate with Jianghuai", Wu Wangfu dug a ditch, communicated the Yangtze River and Huai River, and also provided convenient conditions for the Wu navy to use the Hangou waterway to go north to compete for hegemony. As the name suggests, "the end of the mouth" refers to the confluence of the northern extension of the ditch and the ancient Huai River. In the literature, "Mokou" also has names such as "Beikou", "Shanyangkou" and "Beichenyan".
古末口遗址
In the long period of 2,500 years, the end of the mouth has been abandoned several times, to the Ming Dynasty Wanli years, because the Yellow River broke in the eastern suburbs of Huai'an City, seized the old road into the sea, cut its own bend and straightened, the end of the mouth is no longer open to ships, lost the status of water transport hub. However, the descendants have not forgotten the starting point of the history of Huai'an city, not only confirmed the historical coordinates of the end according to the historical data, but also listed the site of the end as a national key cultural relics protection unit. The reporter visited the site of the end in Huai'an. It is located next to Xiangyu Avenue, Huai'an District, Huai'an City, and has a huge stone tablet of "the end of the ancient mouth", which is inscribed by the famous calligrapher Fei Xinme, and the stele is the famous Grand Canal scholar Xun Delin wrote the "Ancient Late Word of Mouth".
"Bianshui flow, Surabaya flow, flow to Guazhou Gudutou, Wushan is a little sad", this is the Tang Dynasty great poet Bai Juyi's popular poem "Sauvignon Blanc Bianshui Flow", Bianshui and Surabaya are an important part of the Sui and Tang Dynasty Grand Canal, they also left Huai'an Huaisikou, Daqingkou, Xiaoqingkou and other place names.
Gu Jianguo introduced that Huaisikou is located near Matou Town, Huaiyin District, Huai'an City, and is the intersection of ancient Huaishui and Surabaya. Surabay water flows out of Shandong and flows into Huaishui all the way through Xuzhou and Suqian. Legend has it that when Han Xin, the founder of the Western Han Dynasty and the Marquis of Huaiyin, was in trouble, he went fishing at the place where Surabaya entered Huai and got the help of his mother. Huaisikou is also called "Qingkou", because the ancient Surabaya looks clearer than Huaishui, so it is called "Qinghe". In the late Northern Song Dynasty, the Qing River diverted into the Daqing River and the Xiaoqing River, where they flowed into the Huai River, derived from the Daqingkou and Xiaoqingkou, both located in the territory of Matou Town. In the Ming Dynasty, the Yellow River seized the Xiaoqing River into the Huai, and the concept of "Qingkou" changed, mainly referring to the place where the Huanghuai meets.
The remains of the Qingkou Water Conservancy Project found in archaeology
The control of the three rivers of Huang, Huai and Yun, Qingkou is self-evident as an important water conservancy hub. Qing Dynasty scholar Wei Yuan once said: "Clear your mouth, your throat is also." Gao Weir (i.e. Hongze Lake Embankment), henchmen also. "The Qingkou Hub is composed of Huiji Gate, Tongji Gate, Fuxing Gate, Stone Foreman, Huiji Temple, etc., which is one of the most high-tech hub projects on the Grand Canal and has been included in the World Cultural Heritage List.
When it comes to "bay", many people will think of bays, such as Jiaozhou Bay, Bohai Bay, etc. In fact, there are many "bays" along the Grand Canal, and in Jiangsu, there are Shanyang Bay in Huai'an and Zhuyu Bay in Yangzhou. Gu Jianguo told reporters that the "bay" along the canal does not necessarily refer to the bend of the river or the bay. For example, "Shanyang Bay" is a "U" shaped river channel of the ancient Huai River flowing through Huai'an, which is named because it is close to the county seat of Shanyang. "Shanyang" is an ancient county in the history of Huai'an, set in the seventh year of Emperor Yongxi of Jin'an (411). In ancient times, the south of the mountain and the north of the water were "yang", and this county was located in the south of the bowl pond mountain, so it was named "Shanyang County".
Yangzhou Zhuyu Bay
The importance of Shanyang Bay in the history of Huai'an is self-evident. Gu Jianguo introduced that Shanyang Bay, starting from the Caowan River in the northeast of Qingjiang Pudong, turned to the south, turned to the north at the end of the ancient era, and then flowed into the sea through Yunti Pass in the east after reaching the Chiyan Temple in Lianshui. After the Sui Dynasty dug the Tongji Canal, with the increase in the volume of grain transportation from the south to the north, the ancient Huai River transportation channel, including Shanyang Bay, received more and more attention, and ships continued to come and go. However, Shanyang Bay is located at the bend of the Huaishui, the water flow is fast and dangerous, and there are often dangerous conditions, and this problem was not basically solved until the Ming Dynasty opened the Caowan River at the northern end of Shanyang Bay. Since then, Shanyang Bay has gradually turned into a gentle river due to sediment accumulation, and finally became land, leaving behind the old place name of "Shanyang Bay", which records the transportation of the Grand Canal.
Yangzhou's Dogwood Bay is also an ancient canal channel, named after the dogwood planted all over the banks in ancient times. In the book "The Story of the Grand Canal Geographical Names", Gu Jianguo wrote that Zhuyu Bay is located in Wantou Town, in the eastern suburbs of Yangzhou, between the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the Mangdao River. In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Bi, the king of Wu who lived in Guangling (Yangzhou), chiseled the mountain to cast copper, and boiled salt around the sea. He dug the ancient Yun Salt River, one end is Zhuyu Bay, and the other end is the Panxi River in today's Rugao, transporting the sea salt from Hailingcang to Yangzhou, accumulating a lot of wealth. Zhuyu Bay has also become the earliest wharf for transporting salt rivers in ancient times, and business travelers come and go, noisy and lively. Yangzhou folk have the folk proverb of "going to Yangzhou, closing the bay head, one stumbling and two dang", which means "killing two birds with one stone".
Tongyang Canal, its predecessor is the ancient salt river dug by Liu Bi
During the opening of the Tang Dynasty, the Japanese monk Yuanren entered the Tang Dynasty to seek the Dharma, came along the boat of the Salt River, and went ashore in Zhuyu Bay to enter the bustling Yangzhou City. It is difficult to remember at first sight, and it is very strange", leaving a vivid record of the prosperity and prosperity of Zhuyu Bay due to the salt transportation of the canal. It is worth mentioning that Zhuyu Bay still retains a piece of "Wantou Stone Gecko" carved in the Ming Dynasty, which is a part of the "water god object" such as "nine cows, two tigers and one chicken" along the Grand Canal, which entrusts the good wishes of the ancients to eliminate floods and calm water.