The scenery of the canal Sanwan Scenic Area in Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province is beautiful. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of the Yangzhou Municipal Party Committee
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the successful inscription of China's Grand Canal on the World Heritage List. On June 22, 2014, China's Grand Canal was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List at the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee.
The Grand Canal of China, composed of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the East Zhejiang Grand Canal and the Sui-Tang Grand Canal, is the world's largest, longest and longest canal. A river is connected and all industries are prosperous, and the story of people, cities and rivers relying on each other for evergreen and beauty is being staged on the banks of the Grand Canal. In this issue, a reporter from China City Daily selects Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, and Kaifeng City, Henan Province, which are important node cities along the Grand Canal, to explore the vivid practice of symbiosis and co-growth of people, cities and rivers along the Grand Canal.
Yangzhou, Jiangsu: A river of clear water flows northward
Jiangsu Province is the origin province of the Grand Canal, and the Jiangsu section of the Grand Canal stretches for 790 kilometers from north to south. Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, a famous historical and cultural city built by the water and thriving by the water, is the origin city of the Grand Canal. In 2023, the Yangzhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal will pass 300 million tons of ships and 250 million tons of cargo. Practicing the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and making every effort to protect the "clear water of a river to the north", Yangzhou has effectively shouldered its mission and written a new chapter in water control and rejuvenation.
As early as 2016, Yangzhou initiated the construction of the Jianghuai Ecological Corridor to polish the ecological background of the Grand Canal. In recent years, Guangling District of Yangzhou City has integrated the ecological concept into urban development while promoting the construction of the Jianghuai Ecological Corridor, so that the surrounding parks can achieve beautiful water, beautiful forests, good fields and green grass.
Sanwan is an important water conservancy project and hydrological landscape on Yangzhou's ancient canal, but before 2014, it was home to high-polluting enterprises such as cement factories, tanneries and pesticide factories. After years of ecological restoration and management, Yangzhou Sanwan has reproduced the beautiful scenery of the ancient canal with clear water and beautiful banks, and has become the "most beautiful curve" of the millennium canal.
Relying on the scenery of the three bays of the canal and the surrounding wetlands, Yangzhou has vigorously built the three bays of the canal ecological and cultural park to help the rebirth of the canal. In the spring of March, the Sanwan Ecological and Cultural Park of the Canal in Yangzhou City is in full bloom and the willow branches are green, attracting many surrounding residents and tourists to take pictures.
Since ancient times, literati and scholars who have traveled from south to north have sung the praises of the busy shipping of the Yangzhou section of the Grand Canal, the prosperity of both sides of the river, and the beautiful scenery in their poems and songs.
Located at the confluence of the Grand Canal and the Yangtze River, Guazhou is one of the important passages of the Grand Canal into the Yangtze River. Guazhou is a famous ferry port in ancient China, where famous poets such as Li Bai, Bai Juyi, Wang Anshi, Zhang Ruoxu, and Lu You have left a large number of ancient poems, and countless celebrity allusions have also laid a profound cultural heritage in Guazhou.
One day in September 2019, the weather was getting cooler, and the ancient town of Guazhou looked a little quiet under the morning light. The residents of Guazhou, who got up early to exercise, were surprised to find that in front of the old movie theater, which had been abandoned for many years, there was a gold-lettered signboard overnight - "Zhang Ruoxu Memorial Hall and Chunjiang Flower Moon Night Art Museum", which shone against the backdrop of gray walls and tiles. At present, it has become a cultural place in Yangzhou to promote the culture of the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal, inherit the excellent Chinese tradition, and carry out classic recitation and poetry education.
Looking at the present, Yangzhou literary and artistic workers have deeply excavated the stories along the Grand Canal and launched excellent literary and artistic works with the theme of the Grand Canal, so that the stories of the canal are full of vitality of the times.
In 2023, the novella Yangzhou Quyi work "The River to the North" created by the Yangzhou Quyi Research Institute will premiere. The story is based on the source of the eastern route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the Jiangdu Water Conservancy Hub, from the construction of the 60s of the last century to the unforgettable journey of realizing new achievements in the new era. In the process of creating the work, the main creators went to the Jiangdu Water Conservancy Project for many times to collect wind on the spot, and invited experts and old workers to have a discussion, looking for stories in the materials, life, and the telling of old workers.
Located at the confluence of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the Xintongyang Canal and the Mangdao River at the end of the Huai River, the Jiangdu Water Conservancy Project is the largest power drainage and irrigation project in mainland China. In order to ensure that the eastern route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project becomes a representative project to optimize the allocation of water resources and ensure the safety of drinking water for the people, in 2023, the relevant working groups of the Jiangdu Water Conservancy Hub will conduct 86 inspections of the "two rivers and four lakes" (Huai River, Canal, Hongze Lake, Baoying Lake, Gaoyou Lake, and Shaobo Lake), and carry out 16 joint inspections, with a total of about 26,000 kilometers of inspections.
Ningbo, Zhejiang: Follow the water and touch the changes
The Ningbo section of the Grand Canal is located at the southernmost point of China's Grand Canal and is the intersection of China's Grand Canal and the Maritime Silk Road. Ningbo, Zhejiang, has always been an important international port on the southeast coast of the mainland, with the dual characteristics of a canal city and a seaport city, and is representative of the cities along the Grand Canal.
In Ningbo, there are some people who make a living by running boats, and they spend most of their lives on the canal, watching the changes on both sides of the canal.
The Hangzhou-Ningbo Canal (Zhedong Canal) is 200 kilometers from Ningbo to Shaoxing, and there are many boat runners floating on the canal day and night, and each boat is a mobile home. "Ship dynamics, Zhejiang Shangyu cargo 0595 turned around and left berth in Qingfeng Bridge, and the relevant ships strengthened their lookouts and paid attention to avoiding ......" Su Yunlong, 54 years old this year, is a native of Anhui and has been running ships for about 30 years. "My father's generation also ran boats, and the canals were narrower and the boats were smaller," he said. At that time, there were no walkie-talkies, high-frequency radars, and GPS, and they all relied on manual operation, but now it is much more convenient to go digital. ”
Talking about the changes in the Hangzhou-Ningbo Canal, Su Yunlong said that when he first ran the boat, some places were shallow, but now they have been dredged and dredged, and the navigation facilities are also sound; At that time, the ship could only carry more than 200 tons, but now it can carry 500 tons; The banks of the canal have also changed a lot, and now the water is clear and the banks are beautiful, and the greening is getting better and better......
How can Ningbo protect, inherit and make good use of this thousand-year-old canal that prospers Hong Kong and the city and benefits the country and the people?
In terms of protection, Ningbo has gradually promoted the revival of ancient towns and villages along the canal, the repair and maintenance of former residences of celebrities, and water conservancy and shipping facilities, so as to improve the pastoral scenery and rural scenery along the canal. At the same time, we will strengthen digital empowerment and improve the cultural heritage monitoring and early warning platform for the Ningbo section of the Grand Canal.
In terms of inheritance, Ningbo has set up a volunteer team for the protection of the cultural heritage of the Grand Canal, and promoted the cultural elements of the canal into institutions, campuses, families, enterprises, communities and villages through book donations, photo exhibitions, sending classes to schools, community publicity, field research and intangible cultural heritage performances.
In terms of utilization, Ningbo takes "how we make the canal better" and "how the canal makes life beautiful" as the thinking, and actively promotes the integration and coexistence of the cultural, ecological and tourism belts along the canal.
For example, Ningbo takes Cicheng Ancient Town as a typical example, and does a good job of fireworks in canal settlements, so as to retain the canal scene in the mouth of the older generation of Ningbo residents and the "small days, small moods, and small tastes" on the banks of the canal; With Ningbo Sanjiangkou as the core, we will do a good job in the cultural and creative industry, and keep the years and create the future under the light and shadow of the wharf, chimneys, railroad tracks, and warehouses.
In recent years, according to the update of people's life concepts and tourism methods, Ningbo has paid more attention to transforming the natural scenery and cultural customs along the Grand Canal into "poetry and distance" suitable for "micro-vacation" and "light travel", forming a number of popular and mature play experience projects such as "Tracing History - Canal Settlement Walking Tour", "Discovering the Countryside - Canal Intangible Cultural Heritage In-depth Tour", "Encountering the River and Sea - Canal Mix and Match Tour", "Freeze Time - Canal Waterfront Camping Tour" and so on.
Ningbo has also tried to launch activities such as "Ningbo Sanjiangkou - Tanghe River System - Dongqian Lake" upstream and "skewer tour" of water conservancy and shipping facilities along the canal, so that citizens and tourists can touch the "flowing history and culture" while walking along the water.
Kaifeng, Henan: a city of Song Yun and half a city of water
"Bianhe passes, Kaifeng Xing", this folk song is widely spread in Kaifeng, Henan. As an important part of the Grand Canal, the Bianhe River has greatly promoted the economic and social development of the Kaifeng area. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Bianhe River became a gathering place for materials from the north and south, making Kaifeng an economically prosperous metropolis. During the Northern Song Dynasty, the world-famous "Qingming Riverside Map" vividly depicted the busy transportation scene of boats and trees on the Bianhe River.
The state bridge is located in the south of the intersection of Zhongshan Road and Freedom Road in Kaifeng City, 50 meters south, also known as "Bianzhou Bridge", "Bianqiao", "Tianhan Bridge" and "Royal Bridge", it is an important ancient bridge on the Bianhe section of the Grand Canal, and "Mingyue of the State Bridge" was one of the famous eight views of Bianjing.
Nowadays, the state bridge located in the downtown area of Kaifeng and the nearby Bianhe ruins have not only witnessed the changes of the Bianhe River, the rise and fall of water transportation, but also witnessed the flow of history and the development and prosperity of the city.
The Grand Canal created the "Tokyo Dream", and Kaifeng wanted to build a museum for a bridge. This year's Kaifeng Municipal "Government Work Report" proposes to strengthen the protection and utilization of historical and cultural heritage, start the creation of a national cultural relics protection and utilization demonstration area, strengthen the protection of the state bridge and the ancient Bianhe ruins, and accelerate the construction of the Zhouqiao Bianhe Ruins Museum and the Shuntianmen (Xinzhengmen) Ruins Museum of Tokyo City in the Northern Song Dynasty.
The cultural context blends the ancient and the modern, and today's Kaifeng reshapes the grand scene of "one city with Song Yun and half a city of water", develops the urban water system, and forms a characteristic cultural tourism road.
A reporter from China City Daily learned that Kaifeng has renovated and upgraded a number of distinctive, cultural, and functional historical and cultural blocks and historical districts in accordance with the "new Song style" of "external classicism and internal fashion". In addition, resources are also coordinated to reproduce the "Northern Water City".
The Drum Tower is a landmark building in Kaifeng, and on holidays, the Drum Tower characteristic cultural block is brightly lit, with rich night market food, unique cultural customs, and a strong atmosphere of the ancient capital, attracting countless tourists to come to experience.
"Once you step into the picture scroll, you dream back to a thousand years in one day". In the Kaifeng Qingming Shanghe Park Scenic Area, antique shops are built along the river, and tourists can feel the folk customs and market culture of the Northern Song Dynasty everywhere, and feel the prosperous scene of Kaifeng, Tokyo thousands of years ago.
Facing the future, Kaifeng will continue to do a good job in the protection of the cultural relics of the Grand Canal and tell the story of the Grand Canal in the new era.
■China City Daily reporter Hu Anhua