Looking for the remains of Cao Xueqin by the canal
2022-06-24
According to documents, CaoXueqin's family once had fields and pawnshops in Zhangjiawan, Tongzhou, Beijing. In 1992, the stone carvings of Cao Xueqin's tomb were also unearthed in Zhangjiawan. In Zhangjiawan Park, which has been officially opened in recent years, there is a "Cao Shi's mark" scenic spot. A large number of scenic walls and windows tell the story of literary giant Cao Xueqin, Zhangjiawan and the Grand Canal through poetry and carving. Zhangjiawan, an ancient town along the canal, has been merged into the "Beijing historical context" for a long time because of this wonderful fate with Cao Xueqin. I It has been my long cherished wish for many years to visit Zhangjiawan and CaoXueqin's old shop. In his new biography of Cao Xueqin, the red scientist Mr. zhouruchang said that Cao Fu, Cao Xueqin's father, "succeeded Jiangning weaving in the 54th year of Kangxi (1715).". According to relevant documents, in July of that year, Cao Fu said in his "recital of household property book" that "there were only two houses in central Beijing, one empty house in Xianyukou in the outer city, a typical land of 600 mu in Tongzhou and a pawn shop in Zhangjiawan." Cao Jiazu was originally a slave of Dourgen, the leader of Zhengbai banner. He was born in Zhengbai banner in Manchuria. His house in Beijing should be located on the left wing of the inner city of Beijing, starting from the south of Dongzhimen in the north to the north of Chaoyangmen in the South; From Huangchenggen in the west to Dongzhimen and Chaoyang Gate in the East. However, the "residence" of the Cao family is hard to find because it refers to the alley where Zhengbai banner is stationed in Fangdi. Xianyukou, located in the east of Qianmen Street, faces the famous commercial street Dashilan across the street. It was formed in the Ming Dynasty and is called "fresh fish lane" -- it is named after the nearby traders who fished in the "Dishui River" (later called "Sanlihe") outside the front gate to protect the city. In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the Sanlihe River dried up, and Xianyukou developed into a commercial street with shops connected. However, the "Xianyukou empty house" is difficult to find because there is no specific house number or alley. What about Zhangjiawan in Tongzhou? The so-called "Dian Di", that is, the land pledged to other people for use in exchange for money and silver; It is also called "pawn" when the fixed number of years is agreed and no interest is paid, and the repayment can be made at that time. The "pawnshop" opened by the Cao family, who belongs to the Zhengbai banner of the capital's internal affairs office, in Zhangjiawan should be similar to the architectural pattern of the pawnshop in the capital. In the article "three wharves on the ancient canal of Zhangjiawan", Mr. Zhou Liang said: "in the Yuan Dynasty, the North terminal of the Grand Canal was located on the West Bank of the East Canal of gaolizhuang in the south of Tongzhou. It was named Zhangjiawan because tens of thousands of Zhang Jindu transported by sea to the capital by land. GuoShouJing opened the Huihe River and entered the Baihe River (North Canal) ... Emperor Yongle ordered Beijing to be built in preparation for the relocation of the capital, and a large number of timbers collected and transported from the south of the Yangtze River were transported to Zhangjiawan for storage... Zhangjiawan, the central wharf, is very large. "All the contributions of the four sides and the building of the Dynasty by scholars and bureaucrats, as for this, the city's horses and carts will reach the capital, so its land and water meetings and department stores will be gathered." This means that the name "Zhangjiawan" came from the Yuan Dynasty and gradually became a settlement. During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Zhangjiawan became more and more prosperous because of the construction of Beijing, the water transportation of grain, building materials, north-south merchants, officials, boatman and sailors. Later, Zhangjiawan city wall was built to prevent Japanese pirates from invading along the canal. In the 34th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1695), the Luhe Shuima Posthouse was merged with Zhangjiawan. Business travelers, officials and students who went to and from the capital along the canal passed through Zhangjiawan, either staying overnight or changing cars and horses. In that year, there were more than 30 commercial houses in Zhangjiawan, including 3 pawnshops, one of which was run by the Cao family. In the 48th episode of a dream of Red Mansions, CaoXueqin said "Zhangjiawan": "one day, after Daiyu finished grooming, Xiangling smiled and sent a Book..." Xiangling and Daiyu talked about the poem, Xiangling said, "when we came to Beijing that year, we stayed in the bay the next night. There was no one on the shore, only a few trees. Several families in the distance cooked dinner. The smoke was green and straight up the clouds. But I read these two words last night. It seemed that I had gone to that place again." The words "stay in the bay that night" and "there is no one on the shore" obviously refer not to the Datong bridge near the DongBianMen in the capital, but to the "Zhangjiawan" in Tongzhou. One morning in the middle of March 2021, accompanied by my daughter, I took a bus to TongZhou Beiguan and called "didi express" from my mobile phone. The car went east, South and West, and stopped in an old town full of bungalows and courtyards; I saw a large courtyard on the right side of the road, and the sign next to the door was "Zhangjiawan village committee". When I walked into the yard, several aunts with red armbands on their arms greeted me with smiles. It turned out that the village committee was holding an election meeting here. I talked about CaoXueqin, the author of a dream of Red Mansions, and asked about the pawnshop of the Cao family. My aunt told me to walk along the street and turn right at an intersection. There is Dashiqiao. It is said that there is a pawnshop of Cao family. Aunt said again, after walking through Dashiqiao, you can go back to the current road, and then go straight ahead. There is a statue and tombstone of Cao Xueqin. Turning into the horizontal street, he asked an old man for directions. The old man pointed to the front, said about the bridge, and out of the gate, there were two big trees on the left, between which was the pawn shop of the Cao family. At the end of the street, walk down the stone steps from an iron fence to the stone bridge. Under the bridge is the dark green water, and the curved banks are covered with weeds, showing signs of primitive ecology. At the beginning of the bridge parapet, there is the legendary "eight Xia", one of the "nine sons of the dragon", a water god beast with good sex (the word "eight" and "Xia" are added next to the word "insect"). It may be built under the bridge - it is said that when the water level rises to its belly, it can suck in water and protect the bridge; Or for the drainage "dragon head" protruding from the altar platform - the accumulated water spouted from its mouth, making it known as "water spraying beast". In addition, other dragons are: the good sounding "Pulao", lying on the button of the clock (it is also said that the good sounding "prisoner cow" is engraved on the head of the piano); Good hope, located at both ends of the ridge of a Chinese house, is called "Ling kiss"; Good load-bearing, carrying the stone tablet is "Pang"; It's delicious. The one beside the two ears of the tripod is "Taotie"; Good lawsuits, which were often seen on the prison gate in the old days, were called "Pangpang"; Like fireworks, the lion dragon is common on the incense burner; "Jain canthus" inlaid on the swallowing mouth or scabbard of the sword; The children of dragon are often called "Jiaotu" on the knocker of the gate of the house. Before the Tang Dynasty, folk river bridges were mostly built of wood with vermilion beams; After the Song Dynasty, most of the river bridges were made of wood and stone, and most of the structures were arch ring holes. In front of us, the three hole arch bridge is paved with huge stones; However, it is not as flat as it used to be, but rather uneven. Some of them show deep ruts - this is obviously the mark left by heavy-duty trucks in hundreds of years. At the other end of the stone bridge stands a section of city wall. Facing the stone bridge is a tall city gate. This section of the city wall and the door opening, with the breath of reconstruction; The stone railings and lions on the ancient bridge also seem to have been built and repaired in recent years. But these can not hide the ancient meaning of the bridge paved with huge stones. On the wall, there is a Chinese and English signboard made by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of cultural relics, which is labeled "Tongyun bridge and the Wall Relics of Zhangjiawan Town" -- Yuntong bridge was built in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty and is located at the wharf outside the South Gate of Zhangjiawan City, an important waterway at the north end of the Grand Canal. It is commonly known as "Empress Dowager Xiao bridge" because it crosses the grain transporting river of Liao empress dowager Xiao. The stone bridge is north-south, with three holes and a joint arch. The middle coupon is high, and a tablet is embedded in it. The relief lotus leaf shaped vase patterns inside and outside the stone bridge are unique and rare. To the north of the bridge is the Wall Relics of Zhangjiawan Town. The town was built in 1564, the 43rd year of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty. There are gates on all sides. Now, the ruins of the south wall of the ancient city still exist... It was announced as a municipal cultural relics protection unit in Beijing in 1995. The 48 year period in which the emperor Shenzong of Ming Dynasty took "Wanli" as the year, i.e. from 1573 to 1620. Based on this calculation, the Yuntong bridge has been built for at least 400 years. II Zhangjiawan is linked with the "Empress Dowager Xiao's grain River". According to the history of Liao Dynasty, Empress Dowager Xiao, named Yan Yan and "Xiao Chuo" in the Han Dynasty, was originally the daughter of Xiao Siwen, an aide to the emperor Mu Zong of Liao Dynasty. When Mu Zong was assassinated and killed, Xiao Siwen and the Privy envoy of the southern Council, gaoxun, and others supported yeluxian as Emperor (liaojingzong). Yeluxian ascended the throne and granted Xiao Siwen the title of privy Minister of the northern Council and Prime Minister of the northern mansion. Xiao Yanyan, the daughter of Xiao Siwen, entered the palace as a royal concubine; A few months later, xiaoyanyan was made queen. Yelv Xian suffered from wind disease and often did not go to the court. Empress Xiao presided over most political affairs. Yeluxian died of illness, and his son yelulungxu, who was only 12 years old, succeeded to the throne (liaoshengzong); Xiaoyanyan, with the help of Yelv Xieyu and Han Derang, was appointed as empress dowager to Regent. The song and Liao dynasties faced off on the Baigou River and Daqing River. Yangliulang and yangyanzhao, a popular general of the Yang family, once served as the Deputy capital deployment (deputy commander in chief of the local Garrison Army) of gaoyangguan (east of Gaoyang, Hebei), an important military town bordering Liaoning Province. In the first year of the reign of emperor Shengzong of the Liao Dynasty (1012), the Liao Dynasty changed the Youdu Prefecture of Nanjing (also known as Yanjing) into the Xiejin Prefecture of Nanjing (Wanping County in the West and Xiejin County in the East) and added troops. In order to transport goods from Liaoyang prefecture (Liaoyang, Liaoning) to Nanjing, the goods need to be transported by sea to Beitang Haikou (within the Ninghe River in Tianjin), and then the ship will turn to Bailonggang River, and then enter Lushui (the upper reaches of which were the Baiyu River in those days) at Qilihai (within the territory of Baodi), and reach the wharf in the south of Luxian county (later Zhangjiawan), where it meets with the canal leading to Nanjing, the grain river of Empress Dowager Xiao. Based on the first year of Kaitai (AD 1012) of the Liao emperor Shengzong, the Yunliang river was built more than 1000 years ago. Yunliang River, named after empress dowager Xiao, started from Yingchun gate (today's Guang'an gate), the east gate of Nanjing (Yanjing) in Liao Dynasty; It meanders eastward and is now submerged in the long river of history. However, Empress Dowager Xiao improved the imperial examination, absorbed a large number of Han Confucians, reduced taxes, persuaded Nongsang, and urged the Liao Shengzong and song Zhenzong to enter into a "alliance of the deep and the deep", so that there was no large-scale war between the Liao and Song Dynasties for a long time, leaving her name in history. Nanjing (Yanjing) is one of the five capitals of Liao; In addition to the Liaoyang Prefecture in Tokyo mentioned above, the other three capitals are: Shangjing linhuang prefecture (now the south of Balinzuoqi in Inner Mongolia), Zhongjing Dading prefecture (now the west of Ningcheng in Inner Mongolia), Xijing Datong prefecture (Yunzhou). Nowadays, it is difficult to see the map of the capital, lanes and villages in the south of Liaoning Province; However, to the southwest of Xibianmen in Beijing, there still stands the Tianning Temple Tower, which was built in the Liao Dynasty. It is 57.8 meters high and is a solid brick octagonal tower with dense eaves. At that time, there was a large-scale Huayan Temple built in the Liao Dynasty in Beijing Datong, western Liaoning, and now in Datong, Shanxi; In the Bodhisattva hall, there is a complete preservation of China's ancient clay sculpture treasures - 31 body statues of the Liao Dynasty. The wooden pagoda in Yingxian County, Shanxi Province was built in the second year of Qingning in Liao Dynasty (1056); With a height of 67 meters, it is the largest and highest existing wooden structure pavilion type Pagoda in China. In the wooden pagoda, carved copies of the "danzang" (the Tibetan Sutra in Khitan) Buddhist scriptures carved and printed in Yanjing (today's Beijing) of the Liao Dynasty have been found one after another. It fills the gap in the history of block printing in ancient northern China, and is a precious material for studying the Buddhist culture and history of the Liao Dynasty. From Yanjing (Liao Nanjing) to Datong prefecture (Liao Xijing), and from Yongding River to Sanggan River, we can see a cultural belt with long-standing communication. Refer to lighting and hutongs in the streets and alleys of the capital in the north of the Qing Dynasty to look for relics. Empress dowager Xiao Yun of that year
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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