economy
After the opening of Huitong River and Tonghui River in Yuan Dynasty, the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal was built. Large-scale repairs were carried out in the Ming Dynasty, and a perfect water transport management system was established. In the past 600 years, the canal has become a real north-south traffic artery, and commercial transportation has flourished. Dozens of commercial towns have sprung up on both sides of the canal, making immeasurable contributions to the ancient economy.
The Yuan Dynasty opened maritime transportation, but every year millions of stone grains, tributes and hundreds of millions of consumer goods from the southeast have to cross the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, and goods from overseas have to pass through the canal to Yanjing. Huitong River was named Huitong because "the Yangtze River and Huaihe River arrived in Linqing, business and trade exchanges, and officials traveled between Fujian, Guangdong, Jiaoguang, Qiongchuan and Sichuan."
From the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, 4 million stones (1 stone is about 27 kg today, and 4 million stones are about 54,000 tons) were transported from the canal to the north every year. In addition, hundreds of thousands of Suzhou-Hangzhou woven silk products are shipped to Beijing, Jiangning and Suzhou-Hangzhou weaving bureaus, which specialize in official silk, satin, yarn, silk and cloth. Bamboo and wood from Huguang, Sichuan and Guizhou went down the river, went north into the canal and went to Beijing to build palaces and temples.
Product exchange and economic exchange have been greatly enriched. Cotton planting was very common in the north of Ming Dynasty, and the developed textile industry was in the south of the Yangtze River. As a result, cotton was transported to the south and cloth was transported to the north. Taihu Lake Basin is called the world of clothes and quilts, and cotton and silk products have been the main commodities on the canal for hundreds of years.
Hangzhou, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Huai 'an, Jining, Linqing and Tianjin, cities near the canal, have thus become commodity distribution centers, and the rise and fall of commerce has always been related to the canal. During the Qianlong period, the canal wharves outside Xumen and Lumen in Suzhou "were called the first wharves in the world since ancient times because of the gathering of passengers and goods in various provinces." Shaobo Town, with cotton, summer, kudzu, standard, yellow grass, rice, beans, bamboo and wood as its main commodities, is known as "the largest town in the north of the Yangtze River, with a length of ten miles and a large number of passengers and goods".
According to Marco Polo's Travels, he traveled south along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, moved to Suzhou and Hangzhou, and finally arrived at Erythrina Port (Quanzhou, Fujian). Every town on the canal can find praise from his travels: there are many goods transported north and south on the Ling (Texas) Canal, most of which are silk and spices. Jining's commercial handicraft industry is very developed, "the number of ships is unbelievable". Xuzhou, Pizhou, Qingkou, Huai 'an and other places are well developed in commerce, industry and agriculture, and the freight in Huai 'an can reach more than 40 cities. Baoying, Gaoyou and Yangzhou are all prosperous cities with commercial handicrafts as the mainstay. Zhou Zhen (Yizheng) is one of the Tongjiang ports of the Canal. There are only 200,000 ships sailing on the Yangtze River every year, each carrying about 500,000-1.5,000 Jin. Zhou Zhen is a distribution center for salt, timber, marijuana and other commodities. Guazhou is dominated by industry and commerce, producing silk products and agricultural products. Suzhou is the largest industrial and commercial city, and Hangzhou is the most prosperous. "There are so many businessmen and so much money that it is difficult to describe them in words."
After Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, in addition to official transportation, commercial transportation on the canal gradually increased, and tariffs were set on the canal. In the 20th year of Daoguang (1840), the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs collected a fixed tax of 4 million taels from the whole country, of which nearly13 was collected from merchant ships traveling on the canal.
Shichahai and Houhai areas in Beijing, including Jishuitan, were the end points of navigation and water transportation in those years, and Qian Fan competed for berths, which was very lively and prosperous. There should be more than one dock in the Jishuitan, which can berth on both sides around the Jishuitan. The Travels of Marco Polo recorded the prosperous scene of the Yuan Dynasty. "Relatively large docks and the most lively scenes should be concentrated in the vicinity of YinDing Qiao, which is closest to the Drum Tower, and Xie Jie, Dai Yan. At the peak, the Jishuitan was covered with water, which is unprecedented. "
At that time, literati gathered in Jishuitan to enjoy wine ingredients, and restaurants and goulan developed rapidly. The most famous urban zaju in Yuan Dynasty was mainly active in Jishuitan, where a group of famous zaju artists gathered. Historians said that almost all social, economic and cultural activities in Yuan Dynasty were concentrated in Jishuitan.
The North Canal and the South Canal meet in Tianjin, enter the Haihe River and finally flow into the Bohai Sea. At the peak of water transportation, more than 20,000 water tankers, 6,543.8+0.2 million officers and men and 30,000 merchant ships travel from Tianjin to Tongzhou every year. The opening of the canal has turned a small ancient village into a well-known Tianjinwei.
The water transport in Ming Dynasty made the Tongzhou Wharf of the Canal very prosperous. In the Ming Dynasty, there were 12 143 water tankers in the Canal every year, divided into ten groups. 124 More than 20,000 non-commissioned officers from the health station are responsible for transportation. Due to the distance, the arrival date of each group was stipulated, which was orderly, and most of the waterwheels returned to Tongzhou empty warehouse. Each ship can only stay in Tongzhou for ten days, and the last batch of ships must return on 10/day. With the arrival of the first oil tanker on March 1, there are also a large number of merchant ships. When Cao Cao moved to another division, he would set off a "ten thousand whips" and hold dozens of flower fairs. Shops along the way offered tea and fruits, and Jia Chuan threw silver and materials, which was comparable to the temple fairs in Beijing. This system was used in Qing Dynasty until the last tanker left Tongzhou Wharf in the 27th year of Guangxu (190 1).
/kloc-shipping rose in the 0/9th century. With the opening of the Jin-Pu Railway, the role of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal gradually decreased. After the migration of the Yellow River, the water resources in the reach of Shandong Province were in short supply, and the siltation was shallow, and the north-south navigation was cut off and silted up to the ground. The section of Jiangsu with large water volume and good navigation conditions can only sail in Xiao Mu.