Yangzhou is located in the middle of Jiangsu Province, on the north bank of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and has been known as the "gateway to northern Jiangsu" since ancient times. As early as 486 BC, Yangzhou had already built a city, which was Yangzhou in ancient times, equivalent to the present "province". The name Yangzhou first appeared in Shangshu? Yugong: "Huaihai defends Yangzhou". Yangzhou, as one of the earliest cities in China to carry out foreign trade and international exchanges. As early as the Tang Dynasty, Yangzhou enjoyed the reputation of "merchants are like weaving" and "rich in the world". At that time, Yangzhou had more than 5,000 overseas businessmen and became a famous port of the Maritime Silk Road. Yangzhou has been a famous tourist and leisure city in China since ancient times. The ancient poems praising Yangzhou have been handed down from generation to generation, such as "Dream of Yangzhou in Ten Years", "Spring Breeze in Ten Miles of Yangzhou Road" and "Twenty-four Bridges on a Moonlit Night".

Traditional architecture

Yangzhou gardens have been famous since ancient times. There is a saying in Yangzhou Painting Record that "Hangzhou wins lakes and mountains, Suzhou wins shops, and Yangzhou wins gardens and pavilions, which are evenly matched". Therefore, as early as the Qianlong Jiaqing period, Yangzhou gardens ranked first in the world, not Suzhou gardens. At that time, because the salt merchants in Yangzhou were rich in the world, they had a lot of wealth to build gardens, which were very luxurious. At the peak, there were more than 200 private gardens in Yangzhou. However, after the Salt Reform, Opium War and Tianping Kingdom War, a large number of Yangzhou gardens were abandoned, burned or sold, and began to decline from prosperity. Yangzhou Gardens not only have the resplendence of Royal Gardens, but also have a large number of architectural sketches of Jiangnan Gardens, which have a unique style. At present, the garden with the longest history, the most complete preservation and the most artistic value in Yangzhou is Geyuan, which is located in the north corner of the ancient city of Yangzhou. Now it is a famous tourist attraction in Yangzhou.

Chinese opera

Yangzhou Qingqu, as one of the most influential Quyi with a long history in China and Jiangsu, reached its peak as early as the years of Kang and Gan in Qing Dynasty and spread all over the country. The music of Yangzhou Qingqu is mostly developed from local minor, and its music is folk and regional, with a wide selection of themes and rich repertoire. Singers can be divided into "wide mouth" and "narrow mouth", both of which are "speaking by words" and pay attention to phonology and vocalization. Each track is sung by one person to several people. Today, the traditional form of sitting singing is still maintained. Everyone plays a musical instrument except the singer himself, accompanied by small bands of different people. Musical instruments are mainly bamboo and percussion instruments. On May 20th, 2006, Quyi was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

food culture

Yangzhou cuisine is famous both at home and abroad, and it is also called "the four major cuisines" in China with Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine and Guangdong cuisine. Yangzhou cuisine, also known as Huaiyang cuisine, has a history of 1000 years. Huaiyang cuisine is very particular about knife work and is famous for its delicacy, especially melon carving. Yangzhou cuisine is exquisite in form and mellow in taste. It makes good use of cooking time and pays attention to cooking time. Very famous dishes include stewed crab powder lion's head, boiled dried silk, three-piece duck, crystal meat, squirrel squid, Liangxi crispy eel and so on. Yangzhou Man-Han Banquet was launched on the basis of Kang-Gan Man-Han Banquet, which can be called the first Man-Han Banquet in China, and it has a food culture compatible with the North and the South. The development of Huaiyang cuisine has experienced a long history and has a profound food culture, so it has long established its position as the largest flavor cuisine in China.

Traditional handicrafts

The printing form of block printing first appeared in China. The earliest existing block printing is the Diamond Sutra in 868 AD, which is currently kept in the British Museum, but block printing probably appeared as early as about 2,000 years ago. In the history of printing, block printing is called "living fossil". Yangzhou, the birthplace of China woodblock printing, has become the only city in China that has preserved complete ancient woodblock printing technology, and has also been listed as a national intangible cultural heritage. The first step of block printing is to make the manuscript, then turn it over, lay it flat on a flat big wooden board and fix it. Finally, ink is brushed on the carved wooden board and pressed in the printing machine to form a copy of the manuscript.

Traditional art

Yangzhou, as one of the earliest areas where paper-cutting spread in China, had the tradition of "paper-cutting indicates spring" as early as the Tang and Song Dynasties. People in Yangzhou will make paper-cuts in beginning of spring that day, and cut them into the styles of "Spring Butterfly, Spring Silk and Spring Victory", which are very beautiful. In addition, paper money, paper horses, etc. Will be cut down as a souvenir. In the Qing Dynasty, with the prosperity of Yangzhou's commerce, the number of paper-cut artists increased greatly. Baojun was a famous paper-cut artist in Jiadao period, and he was famous for his exquisite skills and "divine scissors". Yangzhou paper-cut is one of the representatives of folk paper-cut art in southern China, with delicate and smooth lines, exquisite and elegant composition, exaggerated and concise image and innovative techniques.