Inheriting the Millennium Cultural Context of the Grand Canal, Fenghua Pizhou City continues to promote the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt.
The water of the Grand Canal flows continuously for thousands of years. In February 2017, General Secretary of the Supreme Leader made an important instruction that "protecting the Grand Canal is the common responsibility of all areas along the Canal".
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which runs through the east of China, is a north-south water traffic artery artificially dug in ancient China. As the "North Gate" of Jiangsu, Xuzhou is one of the earliest cities that became attached to the Grand Canal. Pizhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is 56.1 kilometers long. Since ancient times, it has been a golden waterway for north-south shipping and a land-water hub in southern Jiangsu. For thousands of years, it has accumulated rich cultural heritage in Pizhou.
On March 7th, Cao Zhi, deputy secretary of Pizhou Municipal Party Committee and mayor, made a special investigation on the construction of Pizhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal Cultural Belt, stressing the need to thoroughly study and implement the important instructions of the Supreme Leader General Secretary on the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt, earnestly implement the central, provincial and municipal decision-making arrangements, and make overall plans to protect, inherit and make good use of the cultural resources of Pizhou Grand Canal around the functional orientation and target requirements of the shipping irrigation and drainage corridor, the green ecological conservation corridor and the cultural tourism landscape gallery, so as to promote the cultural belt of Pizhou Grand Canal with high quality.
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Flying across the rainbow is the context of the Grand Canal.
On March 9, it rained in the spring rain. Along the eastbound Huolian Expressway, passing the Rainbow Bridge on the canal, Xubao Rong Media visited the Grand Canal, and the reporting team boarded the boat northbound at the dock in the environmental comprehensive improvement headquarters of Pizhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. The exciting waves at the stern draw a huge arc on the calm river, and a group of herons fly in front of the water, decorating the green wicker on both sides and the deep blue tugboat in the distance.
Rainbow Bridge on the Grand Canal
Pizhou section of the Grand Canal belongs to the middle canal system, starting from Taierzhuang in Shandong in the north and entering Suqian in the south, passing through Pizhou City and 9 towns, and connecting with Taogou River, Xiqiao River, Bulao River, Flood Diversion Road, Chenghe River, Guanhu River, Liubao River and Fangting River along the way.
People in Pizhou, who live by the river, regard the canal as the mother river, and the common people customarily name their lives as "Canal": the resident of Pizhou municipal government is called Canal Town, the highest local institution of higher learning is called Canal Normal School, and the key middle school is called Canal Middle School, as well as the grand canal soap that old Xuzhou people can’t live without and the delicious canal that Pizhou people love to drink.
"The Great Wall is a solidified history and the canal is a flowing culture." Yang Guangzheng, vice-president and secretary-general of Pizhou Grand Canal Culture Research Association and editor-in-chief of the Grand Canal Culture Research, said: "There are many historical sites along the Pizhou section of the Grand Canal, including Dadunzi site more than 6,000 years ago, liu ling site in Neolithic Age and Liangwangcheng site in Spring and Autumn Period. The people of Pizhou have created a lot of folk art, dance, literature and folk art, and formed a unique Pizhou Canal culture. "
Pizhou Grand Canal Culture Research Association, established in 2012, is the first county-level non-governmental organization in Jiangsu Province to study the Grand Canal culture. Liu Fufan, president of the research association and general manager of Phoenix Group Pizhou Xinhua Bookstore, presided over the creation of the Grand Canal Theme Bookstore, which was rated as the "most beautiful Xinhua Bookstore" in China. The "Old Ferry on the Canal" compiled by the seminar will be published soon, and the "Local Textbook on the Grand Canal" is being organized to tell the story of the canal well through the rural customs and people’s feelings.
On January 16th, this year, the documentary "Unable to Stop", a national intangible cultural heritage project, was launched in Pizhou. Pizhou bamboo horse running began in the first year of Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty, and it is most famous in Tanshang Township. Qu Shaojin, a 76-year-old national non-genetic inheritor, said: "Running bamboo and horses in Pizhou reflects the prosperity of Tanshang Township bred by canal culture in the past. People have ample food and clothing and a comfortable life, so they have time and energy to change their ways to play."
A fellow photojournalist is a native of yangshan, Pizhou. After 80s, he recalled his childhood full of joy: after school, he went to the riverside with his friends to herd sheep, play in the river, and catch shrimps in the net. Of course, he spared no effort to do farm work. As long as he can remember, he went to the fields on the other side of the river to help adults bundle rice and carry grass, and then lined up to go home by ferry.
Pizhou clay sculpture works
Nowadays, with advanced technology and convenient transportation, the farm work that the whole family used to do in two days can now be completed in half an hour with a harvester. The drudgery that disappeared in the process of modernization, as well as the boatman. The canal boatman’s chant handed down by the trackers has been listed in the intangible cultural heritage list of Xuzhou City. Its rough and bold, vigorous and passionate chant records the perseverance of the working people and the perseverance of the local soil and water.
Reaching the Four Sides and Stimulating the Vitality of Ancient Waterways
China’s topography is high in the west and low in the east, forming a number of east-west natural rivers. During the Spring and Autumn Period, many sections of north-south canals were excavated. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal began in the late Spring and Autumn Period in the 5th century BC, and was dug twice in the Sui and Yuan Dynasties, forming a north-south golden waterway from Beijing in the north and Hangzhou in the south.
In Pizhou, it is known as the direction of transporting east, west, south and north. Why is there a difference between the south bank and the north bank of the North-South Grand Canal? It turns out that there are two Grand Canal in Pizhou, one is the unstable section of the Grand Canal from the west of Pizhou to the downtown of Pizhou, and the other is the middle section of the Grand Canal from Taierzhuang to luoma lake.
Ships used to be an important travel tool for Pizhou people, and the whistle of the Grand Canal ships spread far away in the silent night, deeply calling travelers to set out. Waterways leading to all directions bring wealth and opportunities, knowledge and vision to Pizhou, and also bring warmth on the tip of the tongue and nostalgia for hometown.
Zack Zhang, the author of Wuhan, recalled in the essay "New Pizhou with Beautiful Literature in the Canal Culture Belt" that more than 40 years ago, her mother rushed to the food store every day to get the goods, and then walked to the canal pier to sell them. No matter how good the business was, her mother would purposely leave a cake, exchange the Yuanxiao in Ningbo, the spiced broad beans in Shanghai and the rice cakes in Shaoxing with tourists from all over the country, and give them as snacks. "Mother’s mind is as vast as the Pizhou Grand Canal in a dream."
With the development of highways and railways, slow-paced water passenger transport has no advantage, but low-cost water freight is still booming. Pizhou Port is now a large-scale modern coal port along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, with railways, highways and waterways in northern Jiangsu connecting the logistics center in East China. It undertakes the important task of transporting coal from the north to the south. The coal transferred through the port is continuously transported to southern Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang through the Grand Canal.
Pizhou has two trunk waterways of 66.5 kilometers, and has a group of inland river ports headed by Pizhou Port, including 29 large and small ports such as Suojia Port, Dongfang Port and Yizhou Port, with an annual designed throughput of 35 million tons. When the water transportation is busy, a series of tugboats move slowly and proudly in the clear water, far and near, and the water and the sky are connected, attracting countless photographers to take pictures here.
When driving on the Grand Canal waterway, there are towering towers on both sides, and red, green and white lights are flashing orderly at the top of the tower. According to the crew, this is a beacon light to ensure the safe driving of ships. In order to maintain their normal operation, the staff of the channel station set up a ledger for each beacon and monitored it from time to time.
"The Grand Canal is an important flood channel in Pizhou, and the land along the river has won the benefits of drainage and irrigation, which has effectively promoted the development of agriculture; The Grand Canal has always been a golden waterway connecting the north and the south, which has greatly promoted the circulation of materials and the prosperity of commerce and trade along the way; The Grand Canal culture has a long history, which has had a far-reaching impact on the production, life and ideological culture of people along the river. Take a yacht and paddle the canal. On this flowing world cultural landscape heritage corridor, you can fully feel its ancient atmosphere and customs on both sides. " Zhang Linwei, a writer in Pizhou, praised the Grand Canal in his hometown with affectionate pen.
Optimize the environment and create a high-value ecology
"In the second year of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression’s victory, I graduated from primary school. Because there was no middle school near my hometown, I had to go to Xuzhou to take an examination of the school nearby. When my mother sent me to the canal ferry, I looked up … … The willows on the shore have been cut down completely, and the riverbank has been dug with holes, like the old lady’s gums are incomplete. "
This is the description in Memory of Mother River by Cheng Shuzhen, a Pizhou-born writer and former editor-in-chief of People’s Literature magazine. More than half a century later, when he returned to his hometown again, he saw a bustling modern city. "What is shown to the wandering people in the distance is a thriving city with flowers."
At one time, with the rapid development of urbanization along the canal and rural urbanization, illegal construction, deforestation and illegal discharge occurred from time to time. Because luoma lake is rich in yellow sand, the canal has gradually become a distribution center for yellow sand trading, which not only affects the safety of sailing, but also pollutes the water source and surrounding environment.
Pizhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal is an important node of the national South-to-North Water Diversion Project and an important section of the "Jianghuai Ecological Corridor". It is also an important drinking water source in Pizhou City, and has been designated as a key protected area of the ecological red line by Pizhou City. In order to clean the beach of the mother river, Pizhou city has continuously carried out the water ecological environment improvement with the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal as the main line, classified the existing problems and formulated rectification plans one by one.
Bird’s eye view of the old city
Liu Chuansong, a member of the party group of Xuzhou Pizhou Ecological Environment Bureau, said that since 2017, Pizhou has successively carried out the work of reaching the standard of drinking water source construction in Zhanglou, the Green Shield Action, the special rectification of ports, and the investigation of illegal villas, and supported the development space with the "ecological space" and optimized the "living space" to effectively guarantee the ecological security of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. In 2019, the quality of water environment in Pizhou ranked first in Xuzhou, and Zhanglou Water Quality Automatic Monitoring Station was rated as the only "National Most Beautiful Water Station" in Xuzhou.
In order to excavate and inherit the canal culture, protect and restore the canal ecology, the Water Affairs Bureau of Pizhou City completed the sewage interception and diversion project in Xuzhou City on the east route of South-to-North Water Transfer Project in 2010, and launched the comprehensive improvement project of the water environment of the Grand Canal in Pizhou City in 2018. The project includes hardening the road on the top of the dike and the road on the embankment, reducing the soil erosion of the dike, facilitating the local villagers to travel, clearing the garbage on both sides of the dike, planting turf and ginkgo trees, etc., beautifying the environment and improving the quality of life of people along the dike.
"Next, the Water Affairs Bureau will also use ‘ One stop and one scene ’ For the node, to create a modern water conservancy landscape belt of the Grand Canal, according to ‘ Both practical and heavy ’ Based on the principle of ‘, 26 pumping stations along the Pizhou Grand Canal will be transformed into scenic spots, and water conservancy culture and leisure culture will be perfectly combined to gradually realize & lsquo; Smooth river, clear water, green shore and beautiful scenery ’ The new look of the ecological canal. " Cao Xiangdong, deputy director of Pizhou Water Affairs Bureau, said in an interview.
On November 5, 2019, the photo report of Xuzhou Daily’s Colorful Maple Grand Canal showed readers the achievements of the construction of the Pizhou Grand Canal Cultural Belt: Hongfeng Park, located in the canal street of Pizhou City, is full of forests and picturesque. The park covers an area of 10,078 mu, with planting colorful tree species as the main direction of industrial development, with more than 400,000 trees with special color leaves such as American red maple and blue fir, making it a punching place for tourists to visit online celebrity.
Huifu people’s livelihood and strengthen water culture brand
There are many tributaries in Pizhou section of the Grand Canal, involving many management departments such as housing construction, transportation, water affairs and environmental protection. Han Zhaojun, deputy director of the Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning of Pizhou City, introduced that in order to strengthen organizational guidance and gather together the efforts of Pizhou in the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt, Pizhou City set up a leading group for the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt in Pizhou City in 2018, with the main leaders of the municipal party committee as the team leader and the main leaders of 25 towns (districts, streets) and relevant units directly under the municipal government as members, and set up an office for comprehensive environmental improvement of the Pizhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, with scientific layout and precise policies.
In order to strengthen the guidance of planning, the Master Plan of Pizhou City’s Land and Space (2019-2035) is being compiled, which takes the study of urban features including the Grand Canal as one of the important chapters. According to the requirements of the National Grand Canal Cultural Park Construction Plan, it sorts out the characteristic elements of Pizhou Canal, guides the layout of characteristic space to the canal in planning, and creates a world-class cultural heritage centralized exhibition belt that integrates the ancient and the future and embodies the characteristics of Pizhou.
Lion Dance
Build characteristic agricultural products area, and strive to create characteristic agriculture such as "the scenery of a tree", "the beauty of a flower" and "the health care of a garlic". Towns such as Gangshang and Zouzhuang promote Ginkgo biloba in sparse ginkgo forest — Chinese herbal medicines, ginkgo edible fungi and other three-dimensional planting of 11 thousand mu, Balu, Xinglou, Daizhuang and other towns added flower seedling tissue culture, high-grade intelligent greenhouse of 50 thousand square meters.
Build a port-facing industrial park along the river, complete the construction of Pizhou Port New Port with an investment of 100 million yuan, reshape the advantages of the Grand Canal as a "golden waterway", build a port logistics park, develop port logistics, and provide convenient water transportation services for the development of industries such as electronic new materials, environmental protection chemicals and high-end machinery and equipment manufacturing in the city.
Develop leisure and cultural industries along the coast, clean up the beach surface of the canal as a whole, make unified planning, plant dried and fresh fruit trees along the whole line, build parking lots, leisure sketches, hydrophilic platforms and sightseeing trails, and create a canal-style town with "one clear water and ten miles of peach blossoms"; Transform and upgrade the Tushan Guandi Temple along the coast, rectify and dredge the ancient Weihe River, and build a cultural town of Guan Gong; Explore lotus root planting and three-dimensional breeding by using inefficient canal beach along the Grand Canal, scientifically introduce 300 mu of lavender, and build a lotus sightseeing park and a lavender ecological demonstration park.
Canal boatswain
Protecting the water ecology of the Grand Canal and developing the tourism of the Grand Canal not only eased the contradiction between canal development and heritage protection, but also painted a win-win picture of water environment management and ecological enrichment. In interviews and daily encounters, the reporter felt that the Pizhou eco-tourism brand of "Hundred Miles Metasequoia Picture Scroll, Millennium Ai Shan Buddha’s Light and Wan Qing Ginkgo Forest" has been recognized by more and more people.
Non-legacy event running bamboo horse
Cheng Wanli, deputy director of the Bureau of Culture and Tourism of Pizhou City, said that in line with the principles of protection, inheritance and utilization, the Bureau of Culture and Tourism of Pizhou City has deeply explored the rich connotation of the Pizhou section of the Grand Canal cultural belt, accelerated the upgrading and transformation from "geographical space" to "cultural space", made efforts to create more characteristic tourism products that reflect cultural connotation and humanistic spirit, and promoted the multi-directional and deep integration of "culture+"and "tourism+"with other related industries, and shared resources and complementary advantages.
(Source: Xuzhou Daily Editor/Yu Siqiong)