"Open Jiliang, from Xiyuan to the valley water, Luoshui to the Yellow River." In the first year of the Great Cause of the Sui Dynasty (605 AD), Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, as the "chief designer", ordered the digging of a Grand Canal with Luoyang as the center, Zhuojun in the north and Yuhang in the south.
From south to north, winding for thousands of years. As one of the three major components of China's Grand Canal, the Sui-Tang Grand Canal is one of the earliest canals in the world, and it is also the navigable river with the longest mileage and the largest shipping capacity in the world. The year 2024 marks the 10th anniversary of the successful inscription of the Grand Canal of China on the World Heritage List. Today, we might as well board this "big ship" that sailed to 1400 years ago, in Luoyang, in the center of the Sui-Tang Grand Canal, from the flowing water soup, to see how China's Grand Canal flows to a farther future.
【Construction】From the journey of a grain of rice to see a "grain river"
Sui and Tang Grand Canal Cultural Museum
In the middle of summer, stop on the bank of the Luo River (Luoyang section of the Grand Canal) and you can see the chic golden roof shining in the sun, like an undulating wind blowing the sails of a ship. Here, it is the Luoyang Sui and Tang Dynasty Grand Canal Cultural Museum.
Including carbonized corn unearthed in Jiacang
The decoration, the scenery, and when you walk into the museum, you can think of boats and rivers as the theme here. However, one artifact has attracted the attention of many tourists - "What does this black corn have to do with the Grand Canal?" ”
"Due to the technical constraints at that time, the way to ensure the volume of goods, the safety of ships and the speed of transportation at the same time has always been water transportation. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, grain would be 'boated' along the course of the Grand Canal from other regions to Luoyang, where it would be stored. In addition to the consumption of many people in Luoyang City, these grains can also be dispatched or used as disaster relief reserves. Cao Yuesen, director of the Luoyang Sui-Tang Grand Canal Cultural Museum, told reporters that the main function of the Grand Canal is to transport, and the main material of the canal is grain. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, most of the granaries were built along the river, and the grain was mainly transported through the Grand Canal.
Including the ruins of Jiacang No. 160 cellar
Back to the Luocang site
The black carbonized corn you see in the exhibition hall was once stored in Hanjiacang at that time. In the eighth year of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (749 AD), the country's large granaries stored about 12 million stones, and Hanjia stored about 5.8 million stones. Cao Yuesen said that the Grand Canal in Henan Province has two sections of Tongji Canal and Yongji Canal in seven world cultural heritage sites, among which the Huiluocang site and Hanjiacang site in Luoyang were once worthy of the name of the "national granary" in the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Relying on the north-south transportation of the Grand Canal, the country's granary is increasingly full. The Tang Dynasty once stipulated that the rented rice east of the eastern capital Luoyang (the field tax paid in the old days) was first concentrated in Hanjiacang, and then transported by land from Hanjiacang to Shaanzhou. At that time, Luoyang can also be described as "the accumulation of treasures, the accumulation of years, the Huaihai Transport, day and night".
The discovery of the two granaries proves that the transportation of the Grand Canal in the Sui and Tang Dynasties is a link between the north and the south and the transportation economy, and also proves the role and significance of the opening of the Grand Canal. It can be said that the enrichment of the granary is a manifestation of the prosperity of the canal. Cao Yuesen believes that the reason why Hanjiacang and Huiluocang are used as the Grand Canal World Heritage projects is because the Sui-Tang Grand Canal has undergone several diversions of the Yellow River and other reasons, and many sections of the river, riverbed, embankment, and bridge have been annihilated, and the granary buried in the ground can just become the "witness" of the busy waterway of the Sui-Tang Grand Canal at that time.
【Prosperity】From a wharf that will "block boats" to see a "business river"
"As an ancient grain transportation system and a commercial transportation channel, the canal can be re-excavated and explained how important the Grand Canal was to the economic and cultural development along the route through the inscription on the World Heritage List." Cao Yuesen believes that it is necessary to constantly bring forth the new and tell the story of the Grand Canal "alive" and "fire", so that more people can appreciate the magnificence and endless growth of the Grand Canal in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
The "out of the circle" of the ancient city of Luoyi just provides a new incision for telling the story of the Grand Canal.
The Sui and Tang Dynasty Grand Canal Cultural Museum reproduces the busy Xintan Wharf.
"The place where the ancient city of Luoyi is located today is the Xintan Wharf that flourished during the Wu Zetian period." An Feng, a sociologist at Luoyang Normal University and secretary of the Luoyang Sui and Tang Historical Society, said with a smile that now, Hanfu lovers here are "gathered"; In the past, the scene should have been hotter, and the scene of "boat blockage" was staged every day.
The soul of the Grand Canal lies in "transportation". An Feng introduced, "Not only grain transportation, but also horses, jade, glass products and other commodities transported from the Western Regions have also flowed from Luoyang to the southeast hinterland and northeast border fortresses, and even Japan and other places; The silk, silk, silk, tea and other materials transferred from all over the country were sold from Luoyang to the Western Regions."
"During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Luoyang section of the Grand Canal can be called the transportation hub center, sometimes the ships coming and going to Luoyang can reach tens of thousands a day, and the pressure of Cao Yun is gradually increasing. An Feng said, "The establishment of Xintan Wharf provides a port for boats to dock, load and unload, and trade, and also effectively enhances the capacity of the Grand Canal, making the role of the Grand Canal in China's economic transportation more important." ”
"The Grand Canal carries and transports not only food and goods, but also culture." An Feng believes that with the continuous waterways, the north and the south have shown the characteristics of inclusiveness and unity in the economy, culture, science and technology and other aspects through continuous exchanges and integration.
【Inheritance】From a bowl of canal symbols of "not turning over the soup" to see a "cultural river"
As the center of the Grand Canal of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Luoyang once became the political, economic and cultural center of the country during a long historical period of the Sui and Tang dynasties, and became an important node city at the intersection of the four corridors of the Maritime Silk Road, the Land Silk Road, the Grand Canal, and the Wanli Tea Ceremony. As a result, there were many boatmen engaged in the work of water transportation in Luoyang at that time.
The relief work "National Pulse" in the Grand Canal Cultural Museum of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
Imagine the following scene: the boatmen from the south to the north docked in Luoyang, rested, and gathered together to eat a bowl of steaming "non-turning soup" after being busy, sharing today's navigation situation with different local accents, and telling all kinds of big and small things.
"The name of Luoyang's special snack 'no soup' is also a manifestation of the prosperity and inheritance of the Grand Canal culture." An Feng introduced, "According to legend, the boatmen hope to be safe when sailing, so they have to drink a bowl of 'no turning soup' before departure, praying for smooth sailing, no turning in the waves, and a smooth arrival." ”
It is enough to see that the developed transportation and trade have created famous cities along the Grand Canal, and also shaped the local cultural environment "moisturizing things silently". It is not only food and goods that are transported by water, but also cultural symbols with their own characteristics. In Luoyang, a bowl of "no soup" is just a witness.
"The water of the Grand Canal has long nourished Luoyang into an ancient, flexible, practical and inclusive, communicative and developing city." An Feng said that just from the inheritance of such a bowl of "no turning soup", we can see Luoyang's efforts to protect the culture of the Grand Canal. Now, in order to play the ecological regulation role of the canal, Luoyang has also built Luopu Park on the section of the Grand Canal, and the restoration of the Tianjin Bridge is also continuing.
The preservation of the Grand Canal is to better tell the story of the Grand Canal culture.
"As an artificial river, the excavation of the Grand Canal breaks down the barriers between geographical space and cultural space, and promotes the mutual movement of various elements within the canal system and the close connection with external space." In An Feng's view, the reason why the Grand Canal is full of great vitality in today's era is because of its background showing the importance of exchange and integration, "In the context of multiculturalism, telling the story of China's Grand Canal can enable us to do a good job in the exchange and reference between different civilizations in the entire 'global village'."
Water holds all things. The culture of the Grand Canal connects the past and present of the Chinese nation, forming a space of identity for the nation-state. The oriental civilization represented by the Grand Canal culture is also connecting and communicating with the world through its own continuous growth. (Dong Lei, Fan Hongye/Text, Feng Jianing/Video: Yang Jiaxin/Compiler: Han Yusong/Poster)