Part and Whole (See·World Heritage)
——The Grand Canal National Cultural Park connects new landscapes
Our reporter Qi Xin
It's time to walk the Grand Canal again.
With the upcoming release of the Great Wall, Grand Canal, Long March, and Yellow River National Cultural Park construction and protection plans, the Grand Canal National Cultural Park involving 8 provinces and cities has also entered a node worthy of attention.
In the land spanning 10 latitudes from the north to the south, not only more canal landscapes appear; but also the first-step practice in various regions provides experience for the overall interpretation of cultural heritage value.
More types of remains are highlighted
The spring of 2021 seems to slow down.
When I was looking at the willows across the river, I went to the South Canal in Tianjin; I arrived at the junction of Jiangsu and Zhejiang during the Ching Ming season to see the unfamiliar old town on the riverside, which is still prosperous.
When she returned to the capital in April, Chunhua seemed to be still entangled in the sand and dust, and she had not yet reached the moment of unrestrained happiness.
Those who follow the Grand Canal are particularly sensitive to the changes of the seasons.
At least from the 15th to the middle of the 19th century AD, the fleet from the south of the Yangtze River was ready to gather in Huai'an. When the rain flooded in the north, it would cross the Yellow River and enter the busy season of water transportation each year.
Tianjin is the water transportation node of the South Canal and the North Canal, and the heritage area of north and south is 71 kilometers.
To see the North Canal, you need to take the national highway G103, and to see the South Canal, you need to take G104, but I rarely enter the middle part.
I spent some time there as a teenager, and my location was between Nantouyao and Yangzhuangzi to the west.
Returning to my hometown with a very complicated mood, I want to see the prosperity and want it to remain the same-and everything I see is quite close to my inner hope.
The hometown has changed drastically.
Under the guidance of the local residents, the past can only be identified by first finding the cultural relic landmark Lu Zutang.
The Tonglou Primary School that enlightened me no longer exists.
But the meandering river is still flowing, with roads named after canals, green belts and eye-catching and solemn cultural relic signs on both sides.
This prominent canal landscape has made me surprised to tell people repeatedly: the river that I crossed every day when I was a child is a world heritage!
The place where I grew up and lived was so close to the Grand Canal!
The experience process in Tianjin helped me understand the mood and wishes of the residents of the heritage site more accurately, and also helped people experience the “VI” criterion of cultural heritage value: Why can the Grand Canal be called the “Mother River”?
This 3,000-kilometer-long common emotion also brings about the imagination of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park under construction: Will tickets be charged?
Obviously not, because there are living public spaces everywhere; does the park need to be fenced off?
Where should the gate of the park be located?
Hey there!
These can quite test the wisdom of builders.
A phenomenon by the river also caught my attention.
In 1898, the Jieyuan Water Plant was built here and water was taken from the canal.
In recent years, people have dismantled the filter tank and left a section of the pool wall 100 years ago by the river as a special historical display.
The red bricks used in the reservoir are all taken from the mud of the South Canal, and they are incredibly strong after being fired.
The wall of the pool is one meter thick.
When breaking it, use an electric drill to cut it one by one.
Hundreds of cut surfaces are delicate and smooth, giving people the artistic feeling of appreciating sculpture works and admiration of engineering.
The water plant building and its parts do not belong to the category of the cultural heritage of the Grand Canal, but the cultural park has greatly expanded its scope, leaving space for the industrial heritage related to "transportation" after the completion of the water transport, the architectural heritage of the 20th century, and even the agricultural and water conservancy heritage. .
The villages and towns along the route are called "Canal"
Leaving Tianjin, I turned around and headed south.
High-speed rail trains, the old Jinpu railway line, highways, and national highway G104 accompany both sides of the Grand Canal, spreading south like a waterfall on the North China Plain.
Imagining the scene of water transportation, I have been recording news of the spring northbound all the way.
The trees between the Duliujian River and Machangjian River have not yet fully spit green, and the partially turned green ridges are very conspicuous on the yellow-brown land.
When we arrive at Wuqiao and Dezhou, the green areas will increase significantly.
The rainy season is not really coming, and the stream that flows into the river is not full; but the riverside is active with the breath of spring, and even the fields at sunset are also boring due to the monotony of the retreat in winter, which contains the hope of a bumper harvest, which makes people feel more refreshed. Pleasant and brisk.
Across the Yellow River, the earth has been covered by green.
My actions aroused people's curiosity and imitation.
There are many people in the carriage looking out the window or raising their hands to take pictures, but I may be the only one who is recording the ratio and changes of yellow and green in the fields. Without understanding the north’s hope for the nourishment of the earth, it is difficult to understand why the south can see "lucky" everywhere today. Landscape; more difficult to get close to.
Therefore, consciously choosing the north and south "parks" that are far apart and have their own characteristics, as the starting point and the end point of each other, and jointly interpreting a specific value of the Grand Canal has become an interesting experiment.
Entering 2021, the enthusiasm for practice in the Grand Canal Cultural Belt and the Grand Canal National Cultural Park, which have been blocked by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, suddenly bursts across all regions.
During the Qingming Festival, I arrived at the junction of Jiangsu and Zhejiang and avoided the big cities. In the drizzle, I saw Wangting in Xiangcheng, Hushuguan in Huqiu, Pingwang in Wujiang, Wangjiangjing in Xiuzhou, Chongfu and Haining in Tongxiang Chang'an.
They are well-deserved "pearls" no matter from the perspective of history, humanities or economic development; but when the Grand Canal is the theme, they are also regarded as "rookies" who have not yet made their debut in terms of cultural popularity.
Wangting is located at the northern end of Suzhou. It is the closest location of the Grand Canal to Taihu Lake and within easy reach of Wuxi District.
But who would go to see the Wangting in a corner because of the Grand Canal?
This may be a feature of my trip: I want to see how these originally hidden villages and towns, especially located on the "edges" of the administrative region, enter the National Cultural Park.
Starting from the heritage site of Suzhou Precious Belt Bridge and heading south, whether walking, cycling or driving, it is best to choose National Highway G524.
The line from Wujiang to Pingwang is almost close to the west side of the canal, just like the scene of G104 crossing the Qiantang River into Shaoxing.
Boats go by on the river.
On the other side are still endless factories, docks and warehouses.
After entering Wujiang, people will stop involuntarily to look at the precious fibers.
In the drizzle, Baodaiqiao Park is under construction and Wujiang Trail Park is under construction; G524 crosses National Highway 318 and enters Pingwang Ancient Town, where it is also under construction and the changes are surprising.
Pingwang has a long history and is located at the junction of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, surrounded by river networks.
Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the town’s means of transportation were boats and a few bicycles.
I ate lunch in the town, and the people around me seemed to be mostly locals, with very few visitors.
The advantage of this is that you can enjoy authentic snacks quietly.
Pingwang Henggang Road is very common in the local area, but it is worth stopping to observe. Many people think of "local" and "live" on the street: the chefs and busy aunts of the old restaurant in Pinxian have gray hair.
Next to the Pingwang Engraving Store is the Xiaomei Cake Shop, which has been in business for 40 years, and the door is like a flower shop filled with cakes of all kinds and colors.
When people pass by, they can pick up one or two when they pick up a car.
As soon as I stop, I always look for opportunities to chat with the locals and get to the Grand Canal to see what everyone says.
The store narrated Pingwang and the cake group in a loud voice, showing deep affection and trust in my own culture. I suddenly found the feeling of being on the South Canal in Tianjin.
Pingwang is the place I have visited many times.
The bustling today is very different from the impressions observed in the past few years.
How deep is the influence of the National Cultural Park?
The Grand Canal culture has been consciously embedded in all aspects of the landscape. After the completion of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park, I will calculate how many "Canal Roads", "Canal Bridges" and "Canal Gardens" along the Grand Canal; then they belong to the same heritage. Make a comparison between the “Great Wall” and “Giant Panda” brands in the region-on Henggang Road in Pingwang, you will find that even on the roadside classification cleaning box, there is also a unified release of “Tongyun Jiangnan Yuanlaiping”. "Wang" brand logo of Pingwang.
It used to be that the obvious traces of canal culture can be seen only by Yingcai Lake, but now the fitness trail along the ancient fortune stele corridor extends to the inner streets of the ancient town, forming a brand-new canal block.
In the 15 years since China's Grand Canal began to be inscribed, people have focused on famous canal cities or large heritage sites; and this round of park landscape construction has expanded to many small cities and towns along the river and appeared in groups. .
Many villages and towns along the route have begun to add "Canal" as a core brand, and the transformation from resource protection to resource application is obvious.
Continue to go south, this kind of changes and characteristics will appear repeatedly.
Looking for the "triangular monument"
Along the Wangli Highway to the Wangjiangjing Changhong Bridge, it means entering Zhejiang.
From here, passing Luofan Pavilion to the south and crossing the Jiaxing Ring River. The Grand Canal as a cultural heritage route is divided into two roads with Chongfu as the center: Hangzhou Tangxi to Tangqi; Chongchang Port to Chang'an Town to the south, starting Connecting to the Shangtang River into Hangzhou.
Whenever I have a chance, I will turn to Wang Jiangjing to take a look at the beloved Changhong Bridge, and even stay around it for one night.
Because it is an important heritage site of the Grand Canal, the Changhongqiao National Cultural Park area has actually taken shape long ago, but now the "Zhejiang Jiaxing Canal Bay Wetland Park" has been newly superimposed.
The “330400-A009” Grand Canal cultural heritage area boundary pile is located on the west side of Changhong Bridge.
It is adjacent to the national key cultural relics protection unit logo, Jiaxing Greenway and the planned "Grand Canal Heritage Trail" southward route.
The triangular heritage area boundary pile is the most intuitive embodiment of the overall value of the Grand Canal.
Therefore, the pursuit of "triangular steles" is not only the basic method of the Grand Canal heritage trail, but also an important experience content in the future national cultural park.
Today's main channel of the Grand Canal has two difficult big turns in Shimen and Chongfu.
Such artificial traces are very conspicuous on the map.
A scholar once described to me a unique phenomenon in this area: only on the same side of the river, there are many place names with "Jianqiao".
"Jian" is a kind of water diversion project.
There are so many "Jianqiao" on the same side of the river, which are actually traces left by the trail.
But these landscapes are not easy to see. The two sides are not towns or factory areas, but typical suburban sections of the Grand Canal.
This makes it very difficult to reach the river, let alone want to open up an experience road along the river embankment.
I met enthusiastic people while looking for the Chongfu Canal.
As the nearby bird bridge is being rebuilt, the map and intuition are messed up.
I was surrounded by bumps along the river in the city, and was finally blocked in front of the gravel pile.
A passerby stopped the car, heard that he had made a special trip to see the Grand Canal, and immediately gave directions very enthusiastically.
Along the Grand Canal, I can meet my enthusiastic people in Pingwang and Chongfu on the side of the South Canal in Tianjin everywhere.
Later, he actually picked up the phone to tell the front, and let people take me to an "accurate location" that no one else could see-it really happened!
Arriving at the big bend, you have to enter the busy cargo yard, named "Tongxiang City Chongfu Shen Jianzhong Gravel Field".
Standing on the shore and looking around, thousands of tons of cargo ships came from different directions one after another.
The waves slapped toward the shore with the roar of motors.
Under the constraints of speed, currents, rivers, piers and traffic, each ship is trying its best to move in a staggered way.
Sooner or later, this busyness will cause the "park" to extend to the shore.
In the 1970s, the Grand Canal was diverted to the north of the town, and the middle section of the city was left unused and gradually developed into a landscape river.
Like other ancient towns I have seen, Chongfu is also preparing for the Grand Canal brand.
Go south along the Chunfeng Bridge and you can enter Chongfu Heng Street.
In early April, Hengjie was undergoing extensive repairs and renovations.
Walking in a quiet neighborhood can also hear the hawking of the vegetable market next to the street.
The vegetable market in the sunset is the busiest time, and the baskets of vegetable vendors are arranged one by one. This kind of firework is hard to see in big cities.
Chongfu also retains the style of a traditional market.
This kind of peace and quiet is actually an extremely important component of the "park".
Need to connect the "pearls" together
Chang'an Town in Haining is far away from the busy Grand Canal, but it is also a respectable heritage site of the Grand Canal.
People may have overlooked the preciousness of Chongfu, Chongchang Port, Chang'an, and Shangtang River in the past.
The authenticity is very good, and the historical stories are exciting.
At the end of the autumn of 2017, I started from the "Triangular Stele" of Chang'an Lower Gate in Chang'an Town, and spent two and a half days riding on the Shangtang River, passing the Fengshan Water City Gate and Longshan River through the Zhonghe River in Hangzhou to reach the Qiantang River. The "triangular stele".
Since then, the Grand Canal Heritage Trail Experience Route has completed the planned exploration between the Qiantang River and Changzhou.
Unlike the cycling route in 2017, this time I chose to enter Changan from Chongfu along Chongchang Port.
These two lines are connected, that is, the Yuan army attacked Lin'an line in 1276.
General Boyan from Jiaxing "to Chongde", along the "Second Chang'an Town" of Chongchang Port and stationed troops on Gaoting Mountain in the northeast of Lin'an.
Today, beside the Yijin Bridge on the Shangtang River, you can see the statue of Wen Tianxiang who was in danger, the "triangular stele" of the Grand Canal and the mileage sign of the Shangtang River fitness trail.
Chongchang Port is still navigable, and the development of towns along the route is in full swing. The winding village roads have been widened ten times. The construction sites on both sides proudly declare their location: "Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, 320 National Road traverses, Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway crosses ".
Wangting, Pingwang, Wangjiangjing, Chongfu and Chang'an...These ancient towns with a long history are all running into the queues of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt and the Grand Canal Cultural Park.
The three characters "Grand Canal" not only highlight cultural elements, but also change and reshape the style of the ancient town, forming a new landscape.
Where are the key steps in the next step?
Need to connect one by one "pearls" together.
From Suzhou Fengqiao to the north, the two sides of the strait entering Wuxi via Hushuguan and Wangting have always been the focus of the experience.
Because from the map, the two sides of the strait are full of busy factory docks, and it is almost impossible to install experience routes that can be passed through.
But this time, Suzhou brought surprises.
Now from Hushuguan Shuicheng Road to the north, the east bank of the river has been developed as a high-quality cycling route, which can even meet the needs of road bikes for fast and long-distance cycling.
The line has reached the Sugang Bridge and gradually extended to Wangting.
If you look at the significance of this route from the perspective of a "park", it far exceeds all the newly built landscapes in Suzhou at the same time-it offers an exciting possibility: the most difficult-to-plan industrial sections on both sides of the canal are included In the overall cultural circuit.
National cultural parks such as the Great Wall, the Grand Canal, the Long March, and the Yellow River are born with genes for long-distance experience, so the establishment of pavilions and the formation of routes in linear experience are a natural result.
This can answer the question raised when thinking about the future of the Grand Canal Cultural Park: Where should the gates of the parks be located?
At least along the upstream and downstream directions of the river, there should be preset passages. Do not use administrative divisions, park boundaries or even excessive fences to cut the integrity and continuity of the Grand Canal.
It is a great landscape unique in human history.
link
Tianjin invests 5.2 billion yuan to build Yangliuqing Grand Canal National Cultural Park
The Tianjin Municipal People's Government announced on April 15 that the construction plan for the Yangliuqing Grand Canal National Cultural Park had been reviewed and approved by the Tianjin Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government at a special meeting, with a total investment of 5.2 billion yuan.
Yangliuqing Grand Canal National Cultural Park is located in the ancient town of Yangliuqing, with a planned area of more than 2,800 acres, divided into three sections: historic town, Yuanbao Island, and cultural town.