Chapter 23 Section 4 River Transport after the Sui and Tang Dynasties

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, my country's inland waterway shipping entered a new historical development period.After the construction of the North-South Grand Canal was completed in 610 AD, it greatly facilitated the north-south transportation and strengthened the water transportation between Kyoto, Hebei and Jiangnan.At that time, the fleet of ships sailing in the canal traveled from south to north, traveling thousands of miles, presenting a busy scene.However, the Sui Dynasty was a short dynasty, and it perished shortly after Kaihe was opened.Therefore, the role of the Grand Canal is mainly manifested in the subsequent dynasties.

After the demise of the Sui Dynasty, the Tang and Song dynasties followed.Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, imported a large amount of materials and grain from the Jianghuai region every year.In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, the amount of grain transported by the Grand Canal was only 200,000 shi per year, but in the Kaiyuan period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the amount of grain transported increased rapidly, reaching a maximum of 7 million shi a year.At that time, the development of water transportation in Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty can be reflected from the "Water Transportation Exhibition" held by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty. "Old Tang Book·Wei Jian Biography" records the grand occasion at that time: a large-scale water transportation exhibition was held on Guangyuntan in the west section of the canal under Wangchun Tower in Chang'an. There were two to three hundred boats, all according to the brand name It is clearly marked on what ship and what goods are loaded.In addition to loading food, the ship is also loaded with local products from all over the country.For example: the boats in Guangling County are loaded with brocade, mirrors, bronzes, and seafood produced in Guangling; the boats in Danyang County are loaded with silk and satin from Jingkou; The ships of the county are loaded with bronze wares, Wu Ling, and crimson yarn; the ships of Nanhai County are loaded with tortoiseshell, pearls, ivory, and agarwood; the ships of Yuzhang County are loaded with famous porcelain, wine vessels, tea pots, and tea Pans and tea bowls; ships from Xuancheng County are loaded with empty bluestones, paper, pens, and yellow lotus;There are dozens of counties in total.The boatmen who drive the boat all wear big bamboo hats, wide-sleeved clothes and straw sandals. They sing and dance with the accompaniment of drums, flutes and sheng.The people in the first boat lead the singing, and the other boats sing along. More than 100 women in bright costumes performed beautiful dances with singing.One boat led the way, and the rest of the boats followed slowly.When we arrived at Wangchun Tower, the boat masts stretched for several miles, and the grand occasion was unprecedented.The crowd of visitors was full of laughter and laughter, and it was very lively.What should be noted here is that the hundreds of boats exhibited materials produced in various places, not only food, but also everything else.They are mainly sent to Chang'an, the transportation center, through the Grand Canal.After the mid-Tang Dynasty, inland waterway navigation with the Grand Canal as the backbone became more and more important. This Grand Canal is indeed as important as the main artery to the body.At that time, the Jianghuai region was almost responsible for 9/10 of the tax sources of the feudal dynasty, and so much taxation was almost entirely transferred by the Grand Canal.

In the Song Dynasty, the capital was moved to Bianliang (now Kaifeng City, Henan Province) on the south bank of the Yellow River, which was relatively close to the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, and the role of the Grand Canal was even more obvious.At that time, people said that food was mainly transported by water, and water transport was mainly by the Grand Canal.They believe that if the canal is abandoned, "the masses cannot gather."In the Northern Song Dynasty, the grain transported by the ruling class from the south of the Yangtze River to Kaifeng through the Grand Canal was generally around five or six million shi, and it even reached 8 million shi in many cases, exceeding the water transport volume of the Tang Dynasty.As for the quantity of gold and silver, cloth, fragrant medicine, tea and other native products, it is difficult to count them.The "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival" painted by Zhang Zeduan, a painter of the Northern Song Dynasty, truly depicts the scene of the busy traffic in the Bianhe River at that time.Water transport not only plays an important role in the capital, but also ensures the military needs of the northern frontier.

The Yuan Dynasty had the largest territory, surpassing all previous dynasties.After it established its capital in Dadu (now Beijing), it needed to transport a large amount of grain from the south of the Yangtze River, so the inland waterway transportation during this period was still mainly water transportation.The Yuan Dynasty excavated the "Huitong-Jezhou River" and the Tonghui River successively, making the entire Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal open to navigation.In this way, grain boats depart from Hangzhou, enter the Yangzhou Canal via the Jiangnan Canal, and then enter the Yellow River and Sishui in the north, pass through the "Huitong-Jezhou River", and then enter the Tonghui River from the Weihe River to reach Dadu.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Beijing was successively established as the capital.Although the shipping of major rivers such as the Yangtze River, Pearl River, and Heilongjiang and their tributaries has developed, the Grand Canal was still the main channel for north-south transportation in my country for about five or six hundred years, and a large amount of grain and goods were mainly transported to the capital.At that time, the canal was full of ships, and the number of ships transporting grain reached more than 12,000 at the time, and the number of boatmen exceeded 120,000.In addition to grain ships, there are many official ships, merchant ships and civilian ships sailing on the canal.The silk, tea, and porcelain produced in the south and the local specialties such as beans, wheat, pears, and dates produced in the north all exchanged through the Grand Canal.During this period, more than 30 emerging commercial cities emerged in my country, and most of them were distributed along the Grand Canal.Dezhou, Linqing, Dongchang, and Jining in Shandong, Huai'an, and Yangzhou in Jiangsu all became prosperous commercial ports for a while.From the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the germination of my country's capitalist economy and the brewing of anti-feudal democratic ideas first appeared here, all of which have a certain relationship with the canal.

During this period, the Yangtze River, the main road of east-west water transport, the largest river in our great motherland, as well as the Pearl River, Heilongjiang, Huaihe and other rivers, also played an increasingly important role with the development of social politics, economy and culture. effect.