China News Service, Taiyuan, March 26th, Title: Traveling through historical time and space to read the millennium city with the word "鰰"
Author Ren Lina Wang Zheshi
Xi County, Shanxi. Photo courtesy of Xi County Party Committee Propaganda Department
A historical place name is not only a cultural symbol, but also the carrier of a city's long history and humanistic connotations. The "Xi" in Xi County, Linfen, Shanxi, was established in the fifth year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign in the Sui Dynasty (585).
A historical slice of the development of Xi County
The establishment history of a local administrative district reflects the historical inheritance of the economic and social development of a region, and is also the historical context of the development of a city.
Xi County has a long history. The Shang Dynasty was the country of Ji Fang and Fu, and bronze wares of the Shang Dynasty were unearthed from Pang Village, Chengnan Township, Xi County. The Wayaopo Cemetery excavated in 2005 is the largest Eastern Zhou cemetery ever discovered in Xi County. It is also an important discovery of Eastern Zhou archaeology in Shanxi in recent years.
In 665 BC, Shi Qiang, the envoy of Duke Xian of Jin Dynasty, built Pu for Chong'er and called it Pu Yi. From the Warring States Period to the Qin Dynasty, it was Puyang, and in the Western Han Dynasty, Puzi County was established. In 488 AD, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, a Xianbei native, renamed Puzi County Fenzhou. In 526 AD, the Shanhu uprising army surrounded Puzi, and Fenzhou was replaced by Puzi City and Xicheng County of Xihe County (today's Fenyang). In the fifth year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign in the Sui Dynasty (AD 585), the Xifenzhou General Administration Office was renamed Xizhou General Administration Office. The administrative offices were all located in today's Xi County. Fenzhou and Changshou County were reestablished here in the Northern Zhou Dynasty.
In 598 AD, the county government was renamed from Changshou to Xichuan. If the relationship between Xizhou and Xi is not taken into account, this can be regarded as the beginning of the relationship between the county and the word Xi. For nearly a thousand years from Puyi to Xichuan, Xidi has been the regional center at the southern foot of Luliang Mountain.
Taking Fenzhou as an example, the entire territory stretches from the present-day Pianguan Great Wall in the north to present-day Hejin in the south, stretching for more than 480 kilometers. Taking the Xizhou Governor's Office in the Tang Dynasty as an example, it controlled six states and eleven counties. The territory of the two states was very impressive. During the Republic of China, the Office of the Inspector General of the Sixth Administrative Region of Shanxi Province was located in Xi County, with 15 counties under its jurisdiction.
Xi County was liberated in 1946. The Ninth District under the leadership of the Communist Party was stationed in Xi County and administered 7 counties. The retreat area is located in the central county of Xi County, which governs 6 counties.
In 1958, Xi County and Daning County merged to form Xining County, and soon merged with Pu County, Daning, Yonghe, Shilou and other counties to form Luliang County. The Kangxi edition of "Xizhou Chronicles" says: "A place is sometimes a county, sometimes a prefecture, sometimes a county, sometimes a general manager's office, sometimes divided or combined, and built infrequently. This can be seen from the changes in the world."
The word "鰰" has been used for more than 3,000 years.
The word "簰" was first seen in the bronze inscriptions of the Shang and Zhou dynasties 3,000 years ago. The earliest poetry monograph in China, the Book of Songs, has the word "xi" 26 times.
When Xi County got its name, various historical records adopted the explanation in "Erya·Shidi" for the meaning of the word "Xi": "Xia Shi means Xi". In ancient times, Xizhou was located at the intersection of two rivers, and the south of the city also merged with the Xichuan River. It was a wet, flat, fertile, and ecologically sound land with many underwater areas.
Xi County, which has spanned thousands of years, now presents to the world a charming scene of "the original Xi County is lush and the grass is flourishing"; the jasper blue sky, the green waves of the forest sea; the apricot rain and the pear clouds, and the new scenery of the old village.
"China's Great American Pear" Xixian Yuluxiang helps fruit farmers embark on the road to wealth. Photo by Ren Lina
From "Xi has a pear tree" in "The Book of Songs", to Xi County has a good pear - "China's great beautiful pear" Xi County Yulu Xiang, and then to become "China's No. 1 County of Yu Lu Xiang Pear", now, Xi County is famous for a pear Pears became famous at home and abroad and made people rich.
From "there are lotus flowers in Xi" to "good people" in Xi County, the phenomenon of good people in Xi County has become common, like the fragrance of lotus flowers. Today, Xi County is known as "China's Good People County".
Today's Xi County has one city and three "National Protected Areas" (national key cultural relics protection units). The Thousand Buddha Cave Grottoes in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Grand View Tower in the Ming Dynasty and the Thousand Buddha Temple (Xiaoxitian) in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Their survival inherits the city's cultural heritage and is in the The integration of history and culture into modern life demonstrates the humanistic spirit and extraordinary character of Xi County.
Today's Xi County has three arteries in one county: the Wari Railway, the Hubei Expressway, and the Huoyong Expressway pass through the city, forming a transportation hub in the Xishan area of Linfen City. The modernization of the location advantage has accelerated the urbanization process.
Taste the origin of the character "Xi", reproduce the past of the historical place name Xi County, and let the world understand this thousand-year-old city with its thousands of customs inherited from the same origin. (over)