What are the historical stories behind the interesting place names across China?
1. Dongying
When Qin Shihuang conquered the Jiaodong Peninsula, he stationed in what is now Dongying for repairs. The location of Dongying is now Dongying Village, and the location of West Daying is now Xiying. Camp village. Later, the Shengli Oilfield battle was fought here and the city was established. It took the name of Dongying Village and named it Dongying City, which governed two districts and three counties including Dongying District.
2. Shuangtuo Bridge
It is said that in the past, a man of Wang family and a woman of Tao family were in love. Their parents did not agree with the marriage, so they committed suicide by drowning themselves in the river on this bridge on a moonlit night. . However, the standard explanation should be that this bridge was originally named "Hechao Bridge", which originally connected two rivers. Together with another previous bridge, "Fa Miao Bridge", it is collectively known as "Shuangtuo".
3. Qingdao
The first place name to appear in documents was in the Ming Dynasty. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Zheng, the magistrate of Jimo County, stated in the "Proposal on Local Affairs": "The east coast of this county is the eastern boundary of China. There is no end of the sea as far as the eye can see, but there are only islands in the middle. The islands are habitable. Qing (i.e. Qingdao), Yuefu (i.e. Dafu Island)..."
At that time, Qingdao, Dafu Island, etc. were under the jurisdiction of Jimo County. The "island habitable" here does not refer to the uninhabited "Little Qingdao" in Qianhai, but refers to the title of land villages and towns, which was used until the Qing Dynasty. After the Germans occupied Qingdao in 1897, they signed the "Jiaoao Concession Treaty". Because the scope included the Jiaozhou Bay area, the entire concession was called "Jiaoao".
It is commonly known as "Daqing Mansion" among the people. In 1899, the Kaiser ordered the urban area of the leased area to be called Qingdao. In 1929, the entire area was called Qingdao City.
4. Elephant Mountain
A long time ago, there was a big white elephant in the sky, which was the mount of the Jade Emperor. The elephant always wants to go to the mortal world, but God has laws and cannot go down to earth privately.
On this day, the elephant was grazing at the gate of Nantian. When he saw the gatekeeper King Kong taking a nap, he secretly ran out of the gate of Nantian. Looking down, he happened to see a beautiful island on the seaside. He thought: There are wonderful places in the world. It would be great if I could go and visit them! As soon as he was tempted, regardless of the rules of nature, he transformed into a young young man, riding on the auspicious clouds, and landed on the island in a short while.
When an old man on the island saw this strange person, he stepped forward and asked: "Where are you from and what is your name?" The elephant thought about it and replied: "My name is Axiang. The strong wind brought us here because of the fishing." The old man saw that his clothes were shabby, so he said, "Please come to my house! There are only two old men in my house, and they are deserted."
Axiang said: "Then I will be your son!" The old man liked it very much and happily took Axiang home. A Xiang never wants to go back to heaven.
One day in heaven and one year on earth. After a year and a half in the mortal world, the Jade Emperor found out about the elephant's private descent to earth. The Jade Emperor Long Yan was furious and ordered the general to capture the elephant. One evening, Axiang finished catching fish and planned to go home. Suddenly, there was thunder and lightning in the sky, as if it was about to collapse. Xiang knew something was wrong and ran home quickly.
The two elders saw him running over in a panic and asked him what happened. Ah Xiang is in tears, don't gossip. At this time, Tianjiang had broken into the yard, and the two old men were so frightened that they fainted to the ground. The elephant ran to the beach, looked back at his two relatives, sighed, and jumped into the sea. Just hearing the sound of "boom", a mountain rose from the sea, tightly connecting the mainland and the island, forming a peninsula.
Later, as more people lived in this place, they called it "Xiangshan".
5. Penglai
A long time ago, there were three sacred mountains in the Bohai Sea. Everything on them was white, with gold and silver as palace palaces, and trees with pearl trunks growing in clusters. All the flowers and fruits had a flavor. , eating it can make you immortal. After Qin Shihuang unified the six kingdoms, in order to ensure the eternal stability of the Qin Dynasty and personal immortality, he came here to look for the sacred mountain and the elixir of immortality.
He stood on the beach and looked at the sea. He saw a red light floating at the end of the sea and sky. He asked the alchemist accompanying him what it was. The alchemist replied: "That is the fairy island." Qin Shihuang was overjoyed and asked again What is the name of Fairy Island?
The alchemist could not answer for a while. Suddenly he saw some water plants floating in the sea. He had an idea and answered with the name of the grass "Peng Lai". "Penglai" means "Pengcao Haolai".
It is said that this is how the name of the sacred mountain Penglai came from.