Historical changes in the ancient city of Shangqiu

According to historical records, the ancient city of Shangqiu has been a famous capital in all dynasties. There are place names such as "Shang", "Qiu Shang", "Dayi Shang" and "Tianyi Shang" in the oracle bone inscriptions, all of which refer to Shangqiu.

History records that in the ancient times more than 10,000 years ago, the Suiren family established the Suiming Kingdom in Shangqiu and invented the method of drilling wood to make fire. This ended the history of human beings eating hair and drinking blood and created the Chinese civilization. The head of the emperor.

In the 24th century BC, the Gaoyang family of Zhuanxu, one of the Five Emperors, moved his capital to Shangqiu, and the Gaoxin family of the Five Emperors moved his capital to Bo (Shangqiu).

Later, Emperor Ku granted his son Yan Bo (Qi) to Shang (now Shangqiu). Putting aside the ancient legend of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, Ziqi (Emperor Yan) established his capital in Shangqiu. The ancient city of Shangqiu has a history of 4,500 years. The civilization created by this city over the past 4,500 years is enough to promote the entire Chinese civilization. forward.

Yan Bo is the ancestor of the Shang people. In 2400 BC, Yan Bo invented the calendar based on fire. While managing fire, he built a Vulcan platform to observe the stars, and used this as a basis for determination. The natural changes of the year and the success or failure of the year have contributed to ancient Chinese astronomy. Uncle Yan was a fire official in his fief "Shang" (today's Shangqiu) and was deeply loved by the people, so people respected him as the "God of Fire". After Yan Bo died, he was buried in the fiefdom. Since Yan Bo was titled "Shang", his tomb was also called "Shangqiu", which is the origin of today's Shangqiu. The earliest meaning of the word "Shangqiu" is "the settlement of the sub-surname clan (Shang clan) living on the hills." The word "Shangqiu" also means the ruins of the capital of the Shang Dynasty. Shangqiu is worthy of being the birthplace of Chinese civilization.

During the Qin Dynasty, the system of prefectures and counties was established, and the ancient city of Shangqiu became the political, economic and cultural center of Dang County. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, was the governor of Dang County and led an uprising with soldiers and horses from Dang County.

During the Han Dynasty, the ancient city of Shangqiu was once again pushed to the forefront of China. Liu Wu was the grandson of Liu Bang and was granted the title of Liang Guo. His capital was under the ancient city of Shangqiu. Liu Wu relied on his illustrious military exploits for the court during the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion and became a "key gentleman" in the Han Empire. The "Book of Han" records that Liu Wu "was favored by Empress Dowager Dou because she had a young son. The king had more than forty cities and lived in the most blessed place in the world. The rewards were incomparable. The treasury contained hundreds of millions of money, and there were more jewels, jade and treasures than the capital." It was this King Xiao of Liang who was deeply loved by Empress Dowager Dou and could ride with the emperor, drink with him, and go hunting with him. With his strong strength, he left a valuable asset to Shangqiu.

As if to show his special status, King Xiao of Liang built a three-hundred-mile Liang Garden in Suiyang Dazhi Palace. In the garden, there are pavilions, pavilions, villas, flowers, birds, insects, fish, and rare birds and animals. There are all kinds of rare treasures in the world, and its scale and facilities can be compared with the royal gardens. But this person was also a very elegant man. He gathered a group of literati. The famous poets Meicheng, Zou Yang, Sima Xiangru, etc. all gathered under his sect. They wrote poems and poems all day long, drank and talked happily. The city of Suiyang was decorated with gorgeous rhetoric and famous writing style. This gorgeous and dazzling literary style of Liang Garden also spread to the prosperous Tang Dynasty hundreds of years later. As a result, Wang Changling, Li Bai, Gao Shi, Du Fu, Cen Shen and other poets and poets came here to visit Liang Garden, leaving many legacy works here. excellent work. "Once in Beijing and ten years in Liangyuan," the poet Li Bai left Shangqiu not only a wonderful chapter, but also a rich cultural context that can be passed down. The ancient city of Shangqiu has been known as the "Jianghuai barrier", "a battleground for military strategists, and a gathering place for merchants" since ancient times. Especially in Shangqiu during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the navigation of the Grand Canal was very convenient, reaching the capital in the west, Jianghuai in the south, and Youyan in the north. Water transportation and business travel came from all directions, and grain merchants, salt merchants, tea merchants, silk merchants, etc. all gathered here. , which greatly promoted Shangqiu's commercial activities and made it a famous commercial metropolis at that time. The purpose of the Sui Dynasty's construction of the Grand Canal was to facilitate transportation between the north and the south and promote political and economic exchanges between the north and the south. Shangqiu was an important town in the East at that time. It was an important transportation route from the capital to the east, southeast and other places. The ancients commented on Shangqiu and said: "It leads to the river and shields the Huai River. Since ancient times, we have fought in the Central Plains. There is no place that does not take Shangqiu as our backbone." Therefore, the Grand Canal was built to abandon the ancient Bian River and divert the Sui River (Tongji Canal). , passing through Shangqiu, in addition to shortening the distance, the important strategic position of Shangqiu is also one of the factors.

Obviously, Shangqiu during the Tang Dynasty had become one of the famous metropolises in China at that time. When Du Fu visited the ancient city of Shangqiu, he wrote the poem "Reminiscences": "In the past, I traveled to the middle of the Song Dynasty, but Liang Xiaowang was the capital... There were 90,000 houses in the city, and the high buildings illuminated the thoroughfares. Boats and carriages accompanied the world, and hosts and guests were entertained." Li Bai in "Liang Xiao" It is written in "Yin in the Garden": "The dancing shadows and singing dispersed in the green pool, and the Bian River flowed eastward to the sea." The most thrilling memory of the ancient city of Shangqiu at this stage was when Zhang Xun, the famous general of the Tang Dynasty, fought here during the Anshi Rebellion. The most brutal battle to defend Suiyang. But the price paid was a painful price of ten rooms and nine empty rooms in the ancient city. As a result, Shangqiu, which was severely damaged, was quiet for a while, until Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin made his fortune here. In 1127 AD, Zhao Gou ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor in Yingtianfu, Nanjing (today's ancient city of Shangqiu), establishing the Southern Song Dynasty. The Yellow River floods that occurred during the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty caused Guidefu City to be buried under the loess. In the 16th year of Hongzhi (AD 1503), the people of Shangqiu broke ground to rebuild the ancient city near the original site of Guidefu Ancient City. It took eight years to rebuild the ancient city. It was basically completed in six years (AD 1511), and was repaired and improved several times after that. It was not until the 19th year of Jiajing (AD 1540) that a new city wall was built on a circumference of about 500 meters outside the city wall, and the trinity of city wall, city lake and city wall was formed, which is shaped like the unique "ancient copper coin" with a circle on the outside and a square on the inside. pattern. The completed city wall of Shangqiu Ancient City has a circumference of 3.6 kilometers, and the brick city covers an area of ??1.13 square kilometers. It has four gates, east, west, north and south. The topography of the city is turtle-back shaped and there are 93 streets in total.

From the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, there were two great scholars (prime ministers), five ministers, and more than a dozen ministers, governors, officials, general soldiers, and famous literati in the city. Therefore, the government and officials There are many residential buildings, and most of the ancient buildings are Zoumamen Tower and courtyard buildings. The original wells and toilets are in the shape of plum blossoms and have a reasonable layout. There are two water gates built on both sides of the south gate to drain water into the moat. A wide moat with rippling blue waves surrounds the entire city. The river in the south of the city is wider, more than 500 meters from north to south and more than 1,300 meters from east to west. The city protection embankment is about 500 meters away from the city wall, with a circumference of 9 kilometers, a base width of 20 meters, a top width of 13 meters, and a height of 3.3 meters. For the long-term existence of the ancient city, we have to consider the regular and irregular overflows, overflows, breaches and diversions of the Yellow River (according to statistics, in the more than 3,000 years before the founding of New China, there were about 1,500 overflows, overflows, breaches and diversions in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. The remaining times, among which in the 16th century, it happened once every 4 or 5 years on average). In 1986, the ancient city of Shangqiu was announced by the State Council as one of the second batch of national historical and cultural cities in China.

In the early 1990s, Professor Zhang Guangzhi, a Chinese archaeologist at Harvard University in the United States, discovered from aerial photos taken in the United States in the 1960s: In the direction of the ancient city of Shangqiu and its southwest, there are faint layers of underground structures. The ruins of several ancient cities. Later, he strongly suggested that China and the United States jointly explore the ancient city of Shangqiu, and hoped to find the pre-Shang ruins here on this basis. Four years later, the Institute of Archeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Peabody Museum of Harvard University in the United States jointly formed an archaeological team. Under the layers of yellow sand in the vast plains of eastern Henan, they found the remains of a cave that was stacked from top to bottom. There are Guide City before the 16th year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty, Nanjing City of Yingtian Prefecture in the Song Dynasty, Song City, the seat of Songzhou in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Suiyang City, the capital of the Liang Kingdom in the Han Dynasty, and the old city of the Song Kingdom in the Western Zhou Dynasty.

In 1996, the city wall of Guide Prefecture in the ancient city of Shangqiu was announced by the State Council as the fourth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

In 2006, the ancient city of the Song Dynasty, which is overlapped under the Guide City, was announced by the State Council as the sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection units. In the same year, Shangqiu Ancient City was announced as a national AAAA-level tourist attraction by the National Tourism Administration.

In 2007, the first China Tourism Forum in 2007 hosted by the China Association for the Promotion of Ethnic Trade opened grandly at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. More than 150 tourism groups from famous domestic tourist attractions, tourist hotels, and travel agencies participated in the forum. The forum also established the Alliance of Ancient Cities, Ancient Towns and Ancient Villages, and selected Shangqiu Ancient City as one of the “Top Ten Ancient Cities in China”.

On March 29, 2011, in the preliminary list of World Cultural Heritage declared by the Grand Canal, the ancient city of Shangqiu was included in the "subsequent inclusion project" in the application.

On July 8, 2011, in the official website selection of "Beautiful China? China's Most Beautiful Potential Scenic Spots Ranking", Shangqiu Ancient City ranked first in the "China's Top Ten Most Potential Ancient Cities Ranking".

On November 30, 2011, the 500th anniversary celebration of the reconstruction of the ancient city of Shangqiu was held grandly. Li Xiaolei, deputy director of the Department of Cultural Industry of the Ministry of Culture, Wang Ping, vice chairman of the Henan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, intangible cultural heritage of the Ministry of Culture Department Director Ma Wenhui, Director of the Henan Provincial Tourism Bureau Fan Xiufang, Director of the Henan Provincial Department of Culture Yang Liping and others attended the event. Dashan, honorary citizen of Shangqiu City and image ambassador of Shangqiu Ancient City, presided over the opening ceremony of the celebration.

On November 1, 2012, the ancient city of Shangqiu was approved as a national water conservancy scenic spot by the Ministry of Water Resources for its outstanding water conservancy features and high cultural taste.

On October 11, 2013, at the first Macau International Tourism Expo, Shangqiu Ancient City was finally awarded the title of "China's Top Ten Most Investment Potential Tourist Destinations" after recommendation by an expert group and online selection.

On June 22, 2014, China’s Grand Canal was successfully applied for World Heritage, and the ancient city of Shangqiu was included in the World Cultural Heritage Grand Canal’s subsequent inclusion projects.

On November 29, 2014, under the guidance of the State Council Information Office, the Information Bureau of the Cyberspace Administration of China and the External Relations Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, the "Beautiful China Development Forum and the First Session" hosted by China Daily Network The "Most Beautiful Chinese Symbol Brand List Awards Ceremony" was held in Beijing, and Shangqiu won the honorary title of "The First Most Beautiful Chinese Symbol Brand List·The Most Culturally Rich Historical and Cultural City".

In February 2016, Shangqiu Ancient City was rated as the "International Cultural Exchange Base for Overseas Chinese in China".