Yangzhou, as a regional name, is recorded in ancient books such as "Shangshu" and is one of the nine states in China.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the area near today’s Yangzhou city was called Han. In 486 BC, Wu destroyed Han, built the city of Han, and opened the Hangou ditch to connect the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River. If Yue annihilates Wu, the land belongs to Yue; if Chu annihilates Yue, the land belongs to Chu. In 319 BC, Chu built a city on the old site of Han City, named Guangling. After Qin unified China, Guangling County was established and belonged to Jiujiang County. During the Han Dynasty, today's Yangzhou was called Guangling and Jiangdu, and it was a fiefdom of princes for a long time. King Wu Liu Bi "cast money from the mountains and boiled the sea into salt" and opened the Yan River (the predecessor of the Tongyang Canal). The landscape was prosperous for a while, promoted economic development, and began the first prosperous period in Yangzhou's history.
In order to improve and consolidate ethnic relations, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty married Liu Xijun, the daughter of Jiangdu King Liu Jian, to the Wusun Kingdom in the sixth year of Yuanfeng (105 BC), more than 80 years before Wang Zhaojun married the Xiongnu. During the Three Kingdoms period, there were constant wars between Wei and Wu, and Guangling was an important military center in the Jianghuai area. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Guangling experienced repeated wars and became a "Wucheng" several times. However, due to the hard work of the working people for hundreds of years, its economic status continued to improve during the recovery. In the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Guangling was renamed Wuzhou. Immigrants from Qingzhou and Yanzhou in Shandong moved south to Guangling, which promoted the economic development of Yangzhou.
In 589 AD, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty changed Wuzhou to Yangzhou and established the General Administration Office. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty opened the Universiade to connect the Yellow River, Huaihe River, and Yangtze River. Yangzhou became a water transport hub, which not only facilitated transportation and irrigation, but also played an important role in promoting the economic and cultural development and order of the three major river basins of the Yellow River, Huaihe River, and Yangtze River, laying the foundation for The foundation of Yangzhou's unprecedented prosperity in the Tang Dynasty. From 605 to 616 AD, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty visited Jiangdu (today's Yangzhou) three times. In 618, he was killed by his subordinate Yu Wenhuaji and was buried under the Wugong Tower five miles northwest of Yangzhou City (later reburied in Leitang). In 619, Li Zitong, a peasant rebel army, established his capital in Yangzhou and named his country Wu. In 616 AD, it was renamed Yangzhou, and its administrative seat has been in today's Yangzhou ever since.
In the prefectures of the Tang Dynasty, agriculture, commerce and handicrafts were quite developed, and a large number of factories and handicraft workshops appeared. Not only is it "the richest in the world" between the Jianghuai River and the Huaihe River, but it is also the largest metropolis in southeastern China. It is sometimes known as "Yang Yizhou and Yizhou" (Yizhou is now Chengdu). Yangzhou is a transportation center for grain, grass, salt, money, and iron from the north to the south and an important port for domestic and overseas transportation. It was once the governor's office, the great governor's office, and the seat of the Huainan Jiedushi, and governed the states in Huainan and Jiangbei. Yangzhou has always played a backbone role in the numerous land and water transportation centers centered on Chang'an. As an important port for foreign transportation, Yangzhou has a dedicated shipping envoy to manage friendly exchanges with foreign countries. In the Tang Dynasty, there were frequent exchanges between Yangzhou and Dashi (Arabia). There are thousands of cannibals living in Yangzhou. People from Persia, Dashi, Brahmins, Kunlun, Silla, Japan, Goryeo and other countries became merchants living in Yangzhou. Japan sent envoys from the Tang Dynasty to Yangzhou and the eminent monk Jianzhen traveled eastward to Japan, which promoted political, economic, scientific and cultural exchanges between China and Japan. On the basis of absorbing the achievements of his predecessors, Li Shan, a native of Yangzhou, re-annotated the "Selected Works" and quoted from other sources, thus preserving a large number of important documents that had been lost for future generations. His son Li Yong was not only very influential in his articles and poems, but he was also one of the great calligraphers after Yu Shinan and Chu Suiliang. The great poet Zhang Ruoxu is one of the "Four Outstanding Masters of Wuzhong". Only one poem, "Spring River Flower Moonlight Night", has the reputation of "overwhelming the entire Tang Dynasty with a single poem". In 684 AD, Xu Jingye and King Luo Bin raised troops in Yangzhou to oppose Wu Zetian's rule. At the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, warlords fought and Yangzhou was severely damaged. Yang Xingmi established a political power in Yangzhou, known as "Yang Wu" in history, and the economy recovered for a short period of time. Soon, it fell into the devastation of war again.
In 960 AD, the Northern Song Dynasty was established. Yangzhou was the seat of the governor and at the heart of water transportation. Since then, thanks to the benefits of salt and fishing, agriculture and handicrafts have developed rapidly, and commerce has further prospered. Yangzhou has once again become the economic and cultural center of southeastern China, which is almost the same as the capital Kaifeng. The annual commercial tax revenue is about 80,000 yuan, ranking third in the country. In 1127 AD, under the pressure of the Jin people, Emperor Gaozong Zhaogou used Yangzhou as his palace for a year during the process of moving the capital, which further promoted the prosperity of Yangzhou. From 1275 to 1276, Li Tingzhi and Jiang Cai led their troops and launched an unyielding struggle with the people of Yangzhou against the Yuan army. Unfortunately, they were martyred, leaving only a few thousand people in Yangzhou City. For more than 100 years, Yangzhou has been a battlefield against the Jin Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty. Han Shizhong, Liu Qi, Yue Fei and other famous generals of the Southern Song Dynasty fought hard in this area. The war caused serious damage to the economy and society, but when the situation was relatively stable, Yangzhou's economy continued to recover. In terms of culture, Ouyang Xiu, Su Shi, Qin Guan, Jiang Kui, Wang Ling, etc. left a large number of masterpieces in Yangzhou.
During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, Yangzhou's economic development accelerated. The number of foreigners coming to Yangzhou for business, missionary work, politics and settlement is increasing day by day, with Persians and Arabs still being the most numerous.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the Yangzhou section of the canal was renovated several times, basically forming its current direction. Water transportation that had been interrupted was restored, and Yangzhou quickly became prosperous again. In the Ming Dynasty, with the development of commodity economy, the germination of capitalist production relations was born. Yangzhou's commerce is mainly the monopoly of Lianghuai salt industry and the trade of north-south goods. The revenue from the salt tax was almost equal to the grain tax. Commerce expanded beyond the old city. The lacquer ware, jade ware, bronze ware, bamboo and wooden utensils, embroidery products and cosmetics produced by the handicraft workshops have reached a very high level. In order to prevent Japanese pirates from invading again, Yangzhou built a "new city" in 1556 AD. Culturally, a number of dramatists and novelists such as Sui Jingchen appeared. In the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the peasant uprising army led by Zhang Shicheng persisted for 6 years. After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, in order to prevent the Qing troops from advancing southward, Shi Kefa, the governor of the Southern Ming Dynasty, led his troops to defend the isolated city and would rather die than surrender, showing his unyielding national integrity. After the city fell, the Qing army massacred the city for 10 days, killing hundreds of thousands.
In the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi and Qianlong made many "tours" that brought unprecedented prosperity to Yangzhou. The urban population exceeds 500,000. It was one of the 10 largest cities in the world with more than 500,000 residents at that time. At that time, Yangzhou was located at a transportation hub and was rich in salt and fishery. The salt tax had a great relationship with the fiscal revenue of the Qing government. Businessmen from all over the country have increased in number and have built guild halls in Yangzhou, each with its own business scope and local characteristics. At the same time, there was also the rise of meeting notes - credit exchange. In terms of culture, some salt merchants had many scribes, were fond of collecting books, built government schools and county schools, and restored places of interest, which made certain contributions to the cultural development of Yangzhou. During this period, the Yangzhou School of Painting emerged, represented by the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" such as Jin Nong, Li Yudan, Gao Xiang, Zheng Xie, and Luo Pin, and the Yangzhou School of Painting represented by Ruan Yuan, Jiao Xun, Wang Zhong, Ren Dachun, and Wang Yinzhi's father and son. Yangzhou School. Yangzhou opera has a long history and reached its peak in the Qing Dynasty. In 1790, to celebrate the 80th birthday of Emperor Qianlong Zhong, the Sanqing Troupe with Yangzhou Baoying Gaolanting as its leader came to Beijing to perform. Together with other opera types, it had an important impact on the formation and development of Peking Opera. Yangzhou's commentary, Qing opera, Yangzhou opera, puppets, jade carvings, lacquerware, Yangzhou bonsai, Huaiyang cuisine, etc. all formed their own characteristics in the Qing Dynasty. After the founding of New China, the ancient city of Yangzhou was rejuvenated. In 1982, Yangzhou was among the first batch of cities announced by the State Council as one of the 24 famous historical and cultural cities in my country.