The folk tales circulating around the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal can be described in about twenty characters, at least three.
1. There was originally a Dahe Shrine in the north of Balimiao Village. It was built during the Jingtai period of the Ming Dynasty. It is located in the middle of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, 4 kilometers away from Zhang Qiunan, the important canal town. In ancient times, it was located on the west bank of the Yellow River, known as the "Mother River of China", and on the east bank of the Beijing-Hangzhou Ancient Canal, known as the largest man-made river in Chinese history.
According to legend, during the Jiajing period, a fourth-grade official named Zhou Zhou escorted a canal to the Shawan section of the canal (at the Bali Temple). He fell into the water and drowned when releasing the lock. He was named the "Great King" and was offered sacrifices in the shrine. Therefore, the local people also call the Dahe Shrine the Dawang Temple.
The Dahe Shrine originally occupied an area of more than 150 acres, covering two cliffs of the canal, with a total length of 60 kilometers. There were originally more than 100 Taoist priests in the Dahe Shrine, which was extremely prosperous. The surname Chen of the Bali Temple was a hereditary Taoist The grandfather of the owner, villager Chen Decheng, was originally the Taoist master of the Dahe Shrine. After liberation, the Taoist priests were disbanded, and the Dahe Shrine was no longer as prosperous as it once was.
2. The Monument of the Cut-crotch Maiden Mother is located in the west of Baipu Village, Jiahe Township, Taiqian County. In the autumn of Gengzi (1720), Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, it was composed of thirty-two people from the village and two villagers. Ten people and fifty-five people were erected to commend the filial wife Wang.
The Baiwang family was born in Maowang Village, Dongping Prefecture (now part of Dongping County), with ominous dates of birth and death. She married Bai Xiaodong of Baipu Village at the age of seventeen. Later, due to successive floods, her life became increasingly difficult, forcing Xiaodong to travel far away to make a living. Only her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law depended on each other at home. Bai Wang is a loyal and honest person, good at etiquette and righteousness, filial to her parents-in-law, good at weaving, and friendly with her neighbors. She has a resolute nature and can barely survive by weaving.
At that time, her mother-in-law suddenly fell ill and was bedridden for several months. Wang sought medical advice and bought medicine. She was gentle and respectful. Fortunately, her mother-in-law gradually recovered from her illness. Wang had no money to buy meat, so she had no choice but to cut off the meat from her own legs for her mother-in-law to eat. As a result, Wang's reputation for cutting meat to serve her mother-in-law spread throughout the countryside, and her neighbors began to plan. More than fifty people set up a monument to praise Wang.
3. As early as the Northern Wei Dynasty more than a thousand years ago, the ancient town of Nanleyuan Village had already built an earth city, and it was not converted into a brick city in the late Qing Dynasty. Tucheng has four gates. The east gate is called "Yingyang", the south gate is called "Fengle", and the west gate is called "Daihe". Only the north gate has the most grand name, called "Wangjing", which faces Dadukou at the dock of the ancient town.
It is said that the two characters "Wangjing" on the north gate have a great origin and were written by the Empress Dowager Cixi. To this day, the stone plaque on the city gate is still preserved in the ancient town of Yuancun. The inscription is "Shangsi, the first year of Tongzhi", which is March 3rd of the lunar calendar in 1862.
The reason why the North Gate is called "Wangjing Gate" must start from the Xianfeng period. At that time, Yuancun Ancient Town had become a well-known commercial center on the Weihe River, with saltworks, coal shops, grain stores, cloth shops, pharmacies, grocery stores and other businesses scattered all over the docks, ancient streets, and riverbanks. Beijing and Tianjin Foreign goods, Jiangxi porcelain, Suzhou and Hangzhou brocades, Jiangnan tea, and Nanjing fans are all dazzling, and even gambling houses, theaters, and brothels are also mixed in, adding a different kind of excitement.
The prosperity of the ancient town has encouraged some wealthy businessmen to bring their beautiful families, wives and children to do business or live in the most beautiful places along the river. At that time, green gauze sedans, flower curtain sedans, chariots, and even sliders from the south appeared from time to time in the streets and alleys of the ancient town. The formation could not hold up half of the prefectural city, but also half of the county seat.
During the Republic of China, there was an old saying that "a bend in Yuancun Yuhe River can withstand Nanle for half a day." The wives and concubines of merchants living on the south bank of the Wei River and in the streets of the ancient town, as well as the wives and concubines of merchants who came to the ancient town with merchant ships to seek a living, took some time off from their busy schedules and constantly went to the ferry terminal to watch the excitement and have fun.
Especially in spring when flowers bloom, the pear blossoms on both sides of the Wei River are white, the peach blossoms are red, the green willows are blowing in the water, and the wild flowers are arching the embankment. In addition, the river flows golden, and people are rowing and rowing. It is really a picturesque scene. , the beauties of wealthy businessmen and their sons and daughters were enjoying their spring outings. Especially people from Beijing and Tianjin, admiring the scenery on both sides of the Wei River and looking at the northern sky, they will inevitably miss their hometown and feel a little nostalgic.
The Yuancun area has had the custom of "Go back to your parents' home on March 3rd" since ancient times. At this time, it is the Shangsi Festival. Passionate men and women like to fight grass in Xiaogu by the Wei River. They feel particularly homesick, or Recalling the poem by the great poet Du Fu, "The weather is new on March 3rd, there are many beauties by the water in Chang'an", the more I recall the feeling of missing my relatives in my hometown. The fair lady is indispensable, "the silk threads are soaked with tears, and the dew is soaked with lead."
So, she (they) climbed up together and looked at Beijing and Tianjin in the distance. Most of them concentrated on the North Gate, looking northward and calling their relatives in Tianjin Gate, Kyoto.
According to legend, a capable "meddler" spread the news to the capital and the palace. It just so happened that Emperor Tongzhi ascended the throne for the first time. His biological mother, the Empress Dowager Cixi, was so happy to hear such an emotional story from her personal eunuch that she wrote the two characters "Wangjing". The place was engraved on a stone plaque and inlaid in the ancient town. In the middle of the north gate, it has become a legend.
However, legends are legends. It is difficult to verify whether the word "Wangjing" was inscribed by Empress Dowager Cixi. The beautiful legend is indeed moving. With the prosperity of Weihe Ancient Town, it has been shining in people's memory. Here, it is being passed down.
Characteristics of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal Water System
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is 1,794 kilometers long. It is the second "golden waterway" in China after the Yangtze River, and its value is comparable to the Great Wall.
It is the earliest and longest man-made river in the world, nine times as long as the Suez Canal (190 kilometers) and 22 times as long as the Panama Canal (81.3 kilometers). ?
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal flows through Beijing, Tongzhou (district), Tianjin, Hangzhou, Zhenjiang, Qingjiang, Yangzhou, Taierzhuang, Tengzhou, Linqing, Suzhou, Huzhou, Xuancheng, Huai'an, Xuzhou, Liaocheng, The 18 urban areas of Jining, Dezhou and Cangzhou connect the five major water systems of Haihe River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River and Qiantang River.