Chinanews.com, Beijing, October 6th. Title: Wang Zifu: Walking the Canal and Writing the "Water Transport History" of the Canal

　　Author Du Yan Xu Jing

　　"Don't underestimate the Grand Canal, let alone the glorious history of the Grand Canal." After nearly 30 years, the writer Wang Zifu walked the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The wish of "The Canal is Biography".

The paradise in memory has changed

　　The boat runs thousands of miles, running through the north and south, and the canal has a long history.

Beijing Tongzhou is located at the northern end of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The Grand Canal covers an area of ​​189.9 square kilometers and a length of nearly 60 kilometers in the Tongzhou drainage area.

　　Wang Zifu is a native of Tongzhou, Beijing. He played and played by the canal since he was a child.

He recalled when he was a child. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Tongzhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was a river close to the original ecology. Paradise", in the quiet town of Tongzhou, he and a group of friends always walk or bike to the river to play.

　　The Grand Canal, which once had the grand occasion of "a gathering of thousands of boats, numerous sails and boats covering the sun", once became the "urban sewage river" in modern society.

Due to the low terrain of Tongzhou, this section of the Grand Canal is flooded with industrial and domestic sewage from upstream cities.

In addition to the collapse of the river bank, serious siltation of the river course, the rise of the river bed, and the narrowing of the water surface, it is not only impossible to navigate, but in the rainy season, some low-lying areas cannot be drained. In the event of heavy rain, river water recharge often occurs, even threatening the coastal bungalows. The lives and property of the people in the district are safe.

　　Wang Zifu, who is engaged in writing work, sees it in his eyes and is anxious in his heart.

Seeing that the original ecology of the Grand Canal was gradually destroyed, and a steady stream of industrial waste water and domestic sewage flowed into the canal. "At that time, the Grand Canal did not dare to approach, nor did he want to approach." He sprouted in his heart to make the canal its former glory. The impulse to record, "I want to tell everyone, don't underestimate this'stinky ditch', let alone its glorious history; you should use words to express this history."

On the evening of June 28, the lighting show of the North Canal Bridge in Beijing's sub-center was opened.

The picture shows the tourists on the cruise ship in the Grand Canal watching the light show up close.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Jia Tianyong

Old objects "witness" the history of water transport

　　With impulse and conviction, Wang Zifu began to dig deeper to collect historical materials on the canal, and to make field trips along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

He listened to "Old Tongzhou" telling old stories, and in the homes of these old people, "meeting books, ledgers, and Dendrobium used to weigh rice during the transportation period, I wrote down the stories behind these objects."

　　What impressed him was a fan of secret charms.

The full name of "Secret Talisman Fan" is "military ration broker secret Talisman Fan". It is a job certificate granted by the court to Cao Yun ration brokers.

　　During the visit, an old man learned that Wang Zifu was collecting and recording the history of the canal. He mentioned that there was a secret fan in his home, which was left by an ancestor in the family when he was an agent. The fan has a history of more than 150 years.

This is the only secret talisman fan that Wang Zifu has seen during his many years of visits.

　　This "surprise" discovery made Wang Zifu more deeply aware that there are many historical stories waiting for people to uncover behind the Grand Canal, which are worthy of being recorded and should be known to people.

　　Since then, he has walked the streets and alleys of Tongzhou more frequently, "Sometimes walking in the hutongs, seeing or closing or opening the door, those anecdotes and old news that he heard will automatically appear in his mind, as if'crossing' back. Generally in historical scenes."

The trilogy of "coming out"

　　Wang Zifu's footsteps are all over the city of Tongzhou in Beijing, and archives and libraries are also places he frequents. Unknowingly, he has collected and accumulated a large amount of historical materials related to the canal, and his understanding of the canal has become more and more in-depth.

　　Not satisfied with understanding the "fragments" of the canal, Wang Zifu began to think about walking out of Beijing along the canal in the 1990s.

Since then, he has "walked the canal" with his "canal friends" who share the same mindset from time to time.

　　The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which starts from Beijing in the north and reaches Hangzhou in the south, is the man-made canal with the longest mileage and the largest engineering volume in the world.

It winds 1,794 kilometers across the five major water systems of the Haihe, Yellow, Huai, Yangtze and Qiantang Rivers, 6 provinces and cities in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, connecting the north and the south.

　　"Sometimes I walked from Beijing to Shandong and then came back, and sometimes walked back to Hangzhou." Wang Zifu said that at that time, he would drive away when he had time and conditions. When there was no car, he had to take the bus.

　　In this way, he left footprints in every province and city along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and remembered the story of every passing city in his heart.

Because of this, he has the reputation of "Shi Gong of Water Transport".

　　Because of his work as a screenwriter, Wang Zifu originally planned to create a canal-themed drama, but in the process of sorting out the material, he found that “a drama is difficult to fully present a story that can be called an'explosive' magnitude. canal."

　　As a result, the "Water Transport Trilogy" took root.

　　In 2002, the novel "Water Transport Wharf" was published. This is the first part of the "Water Transport Trilogy". It describes the folk customs on both sides of the Grand Canal, blending suspense and legend into a whole, with a new folk perspective.

At that time, "Water Transport Terminal" once became a hot cultural IP, and the 40-episode TV series of the same name was also broadcast as a new year drama celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China.

　　In 2013, the second novel of the "Water Transport Trilogy" "Ancient Water Transport Town" was published, focusing on the water transport wharf of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the ancient water transport town of Zhangjiawan.

　　In March of this year, the last part of the "Water Transport Trilogy"-the novel "Water Transport Ship Gang" was officially launched, recreating China's water transport grandeur three hundred years ago, the water transport system, transportation regulations, and the docks on both sides of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The interaction between culture and the sentient beings of the Grand Canal demonstrates the important role and profound influence of the Grand Canal in history.

The stupa of Burning Light Buddha is one of the eight scenic spots in Ancient Tongzhou, located on the west bank of the canal at the northern end of Tongzhou District.

The picture shows the "burning lighthouse" lit up at night from the water surface of Xihaizi Park.

Photo by Shi Chunyang of China News Service

　Let more people approach the "Cultural Canal"

　　After the publication of "Water Transport Ship Gang", the "Water Transport Trilogy" came to an end. Wang Zifu summarized his "Canal Story" with three works:

　　The first is the "Water Transport Trilogy" dedicated to telling the story of the canal;

　　The second is the long novel "Lihuadu". This book takes a rural woman from Tongzhou as the protagonist and restores the changes in life along the canal in the decades since the 1970s;

　　The third is "Tongzhou Fu", "World Beijing, a thousand-year-old opportunity; an international new city, a great chapter of a century. Cutting-edge planning, a giant pen like a rafter. The core area, ecological low-carbon; three-dimensional transportation, public welfare first; long building street , Green cycle; Headquarters apartment, commerce and research. Garden city, blue water and blue sky."

　　Wang Zifu has seen for himself that over the years, Beijing has strengthened the construction of sewage pipe networks, dredged rivers, and coordinated watershed management. The smelly water and unpleasant smell have disappeared. The canal water not only clearly reflects the reflections of the trees on both sides of the river, but also Official tourism is open to navigation, and citizens take a cruise as if traveling in a painting.

　　"Those who are born in Sri Lanka are full of ambition; those who live in Sri Lanka are calm and at ease. Those who swim in Sri Lanka, dream around the soul. Beautiful and peaceful, wonderfully peaceful." As the "Tongzhou Fu" said, Wang Zifu was very happy. Started to enjoy the days of being "accompanied" by the canal again.

　　Walk about 20 minutes from Wang Zifu's house to the bank of the canal.

In the new cultural plaza, the public can not only see the ancient canal wharf ruins and experience water transport, but also hold folk performances and display intangible cultural heritage during festivals...The story of the canal is continued in the place where it took root, and then told to new listeners .

　　Talking about the hope for the canal, Wang Zifu said that for the surrounding people, what is most needed is a clean and livable canal.

He hopes that more people will come closer to the canal and experience the canal culture. “The canal has received more and more attention, and I look forward to the canal of tomorrow.” (End)