Liuzi Grand Canal wharf site of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Liuzi Grand Canal wharf site of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Liuzi Town, known as Liuzi town in ancient times, is located in Suixi County, Huaibei City, Anhui Province. It was built in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Because the Tongji canal section of the Grand Canal excavated by Sui Yang emperor passed through the town, Liuzi town gradually flourished. It became an important political, economic, military and cultural town in Huaibei area during the Tang and Song dynasties. After a long-term research, the archaeologists in Anhui believe that there is an ancient Wharf in Liuzi town. In order to protect this historical relic, they decided to carry out rescue excavation in Liuzi area. On April 8, 2000, Zheng Xinmiao, deputy director of the State Administration of cultural relics of China, solemnly announced to the world after a field visit to Liuzi that "the archaeological excavation of the Grand Canal site of Sui and Tang Dynasties in Liuzi is a major achievement of Chinese Canal archaeology, which proves the route of the Grand Canal and fills the gap in Chinese Canal archaeology.". It became a world cultural heritage in 2014.

Archaeological blank

According to Suzhou records, Liuzi is a huge town with 99 temples and 100 wells. Huan Yi, a famous musician in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and Jikang, one of the "Seven Sages of the bamboo grove", grew up here, which shows the flourishing style of Liuzi's writing at that time. However, in the fifth year of Guangzong in the Southern Song Dynasty (1194 AD), the Yellow river overflowed, and the flood took the Huaihe River into the sea. Tongji canal was silted up and Liuzi town declined. A century later, today's Liuzi town has once again attracted the attention of the world because of the major archaeological discoveries made here by the archaeological excavation team of Anhui Provincial Bureau of cultural relics. The discovery of eight Tang boats, docks and a large number of famous Tang and song porcelains confirms the prosperity of the land in the past.

Freight terminal in Northern Song Dynasty

At the turn of spring and summer in 1999, Huaibei City decided to widen and rebuild a section of highway from Suzhou to Yongcheng. Part of the widened highway just passed through Liuzi town along the South dyke of ancient Yunhe River (known as Sui dyke in History). After dozens of days and nights of excavation, the exposed area is 900 square meters, and the experts' prediction has been confirmed. A stone wharf built along the South Bank of the canal from east to west is displayed in front of people. The whole wharf is a rectangular building, 14.3 meters long, 9 meters wide and 5.5 meters high. The east-west and south sides are built with cornices from top to bottom, and the two sides are protected by rammed earth. The stone wall on the water side is steep and high, which is convenient for berthing and loading. After investigation, this wharf was a freight Wharf in the Northern Song Dynasty. This is the first discovery of the Grand Canal in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

The eight shipwrecks of the Tang Dynasty are the first in China

However, what is more exciting is that when the archaeological team excavated the deep soil around the wharf, they unexpectedly found eight ancient sunken ships. Among them, three sunken ships are relatively complete. Ship 1 is a wooden structure with a length of 2.6 meters and a width of 1.92 meters, and its tail rudder is like a broom. Ship 2 is a canoe made of a huge round wood carving with a length of 0.6 meters and a width of 1.10 meters. When it was unearthed, there were pottery pickle jars and other cultural relics of Tang Dynasty glaze in the cabin. Ship 3 is a wooden structure with a length of 23.6 meters. Due to the discovery of blue glaze, tricolor porcelain and "Kaiyuan Tongbao" coins and other artifacts in the buried soil, the age of the shipwreck was identified by experts as the Tang Dynasty. The shipwrecks were found at the bottom of the ancient river in the South and inclined to the north. Experts speculate that it was caused by the flood of the Yellow River and the overturning of the river. It is the first time in China that so many sunken ships have been found in the canal.

Ceramic ware

Liuzi site also unearthed a large number of ceramics, including porcelain, other copper coins, iron, stone and so on, pottery gray, red pottery, glazed pottery and architectural pottery. It is shaped like a jar, a basin, an altar and bricks. Copper coins are square hole round coins, including Kaiyuan Tongbao, Jiayou Tongbao and Xining Tongbao. There are three legged cauldrons and axes in iron ware, and grinding, stone pillars and anchors in stone tools. There are many kinds of porcelains, such as green, yellow, white, black, white ground black flower, black on the outside or sauce, white on the inside. Generally, the glaze is coarse, and a few of green and white glaze are fine. Most of the porcelain bodies are thick yellowing or gray ones, and a few white ones are white and delicate. Most of the porcelain bodies are plain faced, and a few of them are printed, engraved, tricolor, stippling and stacked with ornaments. Bowl is the most important shape, followed by pot, basin, tripod, cup, pot and so on. According to the glaze color and shape of porcelain, the kilns of Sui, Tang and Song dynasties are preliminarily identified as Shouzhou, Xiao, Jizhou, Yaozhou, Cizhou, Jingdezhen, Jian, Ding, Yue, Changsha and Jun kilns. There are still some unknown kilns to be further confirmed. The quantity of ceramics unearthed from Liuzi site and the number of kilns are rare, which provides precious material materials for the production, transportation and export of ceramics in Tang and Song dynasties.

The riddle is the answer

Tongji canal, also known as new Bian canal, was called Bian River in Tang and Song dynasties. According to the records of emperor Yang in the Sui Dynasty: "in March of the first year of Daye (605), the Xinhai incident broke out in all the counties of Henan Province, with more than a million men and women, and the Jiqu canal was opened From Banzhu to Huaihe After Tongji canal was built, a complete system of water transport and river transport management was established in Tang and Song dynasties. Because of bearing the sediment of the Yellow River, it was dredged once a year in Tang Dynasty. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the regime declined, the canal management system gradually relaxed, and the Yellow River burst several times, which led to the Tongji canal being as high as 5 meters above the ground. Tongji canal has different views and historical records, and there are old and new theories. The old Bianhe river flows eastward to Xiaoxian and Xuzhou, and then to Sishui. In the Western Han Dynasty, it was called chaku or Langtang canal. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was called bianqu canal. Until the early Sui Dynasty, the ancient Bianhe river was still in use. Xinbian river is another channel excavated by Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty, which is called Tongbian canal. The bifurcation point of the new and old Bianhe river is in Kaifeng. After passing Kaifeng, Xinbianhe River turns southeast, which is shorter than the ancient Bianhe river.

As for the route of Tongji canal, the archaeologists have been arguing for a long time. One way of saying is that through Chen Liu, yongqiu, Xiangyi, Ningling, kaocheng, Songcheng, songqiu, Yucheng, Xiaoxian and Xuzhou, they converged into Surabaya. According to the records of Yuanhe County, lainanlu and kaiheji, after the separation of Tongji canal and bianqu canal, Tongji canal entered the Huaihe River through Chenliu, yongqiu, Xiangxian, Ningling, Songcheng, Yucheng, Gushu, Yongcheng, Linhuan, Yongqiao (now Suzhou) and Hongxian to Hongze Lake in Sizhou. There are other different documents and expert opinions.

The great archaeological discovery of Liuzi Grand Canal site in Sui and Tang Dynasties has solved the mystery of the route of the Grand Canal, proved the exact direction of Tongji canal, and filled a gap in the history of Chinese archaeology. And found a breakthrough for the study of the ancient history of the Chinese canal.

Canal function

Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty excavated Tongji canal, Jiangnan canal and Yongji canal. It connects the five water systems of the sea, the river, the Huaihe River and the Qiantang River, with a total length of more than 5000 Li. It is the earliest, longest and most magnificent man-made canal in the world. Song Xinchao, director of the Archaeology Department of the State Administration of cultural relics, said with pride when talking about the Grand Canal of the Sui and Tang Dynasties: "China has two great man-made projects: one is the Great Wall, the defense project of the first emperor of Qin Dynasty; the other is the Grand Canal, the transportation project of emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty. It is also a man-made canal project that no country can match. It is a symbol of the Chinese nation and should be listed in the world cultural heritage."

The Grand Canal was the main artery of transportation in Sui, Tang and Song dynasties. Tongji canal connects the Yellow River with the Huaihe River and transports the rich products and grain from the south of the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River to the north to supply the capital and the army. This can not be solved by the land transportation of rickshaw. The Grand Canal also promoted the prosperity of cities and towns on both sides of the Strait, promoted the great development of Commerce, foreign trade and tourism across the country, and formed the canal economic belt. The Tang and Song dynasties are the period of the development of water transport in China. It is the grand canal that ensures the supply of materials and makes it to the peak of Chinese history. No wonder Zhang Jiali, director of Anhui Provincial Bureau of cultural relics, said: "the Grand Canal of Sui and Tang Dynasties was the lifeblood of the dynasty at that time, and its prominent role surpassed that of the silk road.".

World Cultural Heritage

At 15:20 p.m. on June 22, Beijing time, good news came from the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee, which was being held. It was successfully selected into the world heritage list.

Address: Liuzi canal site (303 Provincial Road North), Suixi County, Huaibei City

Longitude: 116.603963

Latitude: 33.822154

Chinese PinYin : Liu Zi Sui Tang Da Yun He Ma Tou Yi Zhi