People in small places say the atmosphere, and some people may not be convinced. In fact, Yangzhou is so famous that it has not always been small. Before liberation, Shanghai was called "Shili Yangchang". A city with ten miles of streets seems too big. However, you should know that Yangzhou had a "Spring Breeze Miles Yangzhou Road" as early as the Tang Dynasty.
Before the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Yangzhou was like Shanghai in China today.
The development of Yangzhou benefits from the unique geographical climate and agricultural ecological conditions, as well as the extensive waterway transportation. Yangzhou is a natural treasure land and a standard land of fish and rice. The territory is basically a plain with criss-crossing water networks. Here, the Yangtze River, the largest natural moat in China, and the Grand Canal, the longest artificial river in China, have two main arteries connecting China from east to west, connecting the north and the south. In the long history of China, Yangzhou has always played the role of a waterway transportation hub.
It seems inevitable that the decline of Yangzhou began with the war. In the history of China, foreign invaders often invaded from the north and then pushed south. Patriotic soldiers, in order to keep half of the country in the south, stubbornly resisted to death in Yangzhou, the last bridgehead
After the failure of Shi Kefa's anti-Qing campaign in Ming Dynasty, Yangzhou suffered a heavy blow. In Blood Spill, it is said that Dourgen slaughtered Yangzhou at that time, killing all the people in Yangzhou, leaving none. When I was a child, I heard stories told by the older generation that women's feet were cut off and piled up into mountains. I don't know if I mean this massacre. Later, Yangzhou people all migrated from other places.
In the past, there were no trains and cars, and the main way to extend in all directions was by water. Although the Qing soldiers carried out a massacre in Yangzhou, from an economic point of view, Yangzhou, as an important port, cannot die. Therefore, with the heyday of the Qing Dynasty, Yangzhou ushered in new prosperity. Emperor Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River, and Yangzhou was his must-visit.
After the Kingdom of Tian Ping, after several riots and the gradual rise of maritime traffic, Shanghai, a new dock in a peaceful corner, gradually took over Yangzhou's economic status.
Yangzhou gradually declined and became a small and medium-sized city.
Born and raised in Sri Lanka, the local people are used to the local history and live a quiet and indifferent life. It is often not Yangzhou people who lament the vicissitudes of Yangzhou, but tourists who come here: perhaps the gap between reality and imagination is too big. People are disappointed and of course calm.
For me, without any historical knowledge and literary skills, you'd better not come to Yangzhou. This place will let you down-don't take my words too seriously. I'm a real person, I'm a village girl, so let me get this straight, hehe.
Yangzhou is long and Yangzhou is short. I've said a lot. In fact, fundamentally speaking, I am not from Yangzhou: my ancestral home is in Suzhou, not far away. For generations, I have been an official in business. When I was a child, I heard something about "biography", but I didn't seem to understand it. Now I have basically forgotten it. My grandfather, who originally made a living in Shanghai, naturally did not come from a peasant family; When land reform was carried out in the early days of liberation, he was tempted by the fields. After some excitement, he left Shanghai and moved to a small town in Yangzhou. However, his grandfather only had a nominal rural hukou. He has never been to the fields in his life. It is my uncle who farms at home. Because of the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, he worked part-time after finishing junior high school.
My hukou, after I graduated from college, returned to Shanghai. For my family, this ordeal can be said to be an earth-shaking change. Nevertheless, I still consider myself an out-and-out Yangzhou native and an out-and-out village girl in northern Jiangsu, and I am proud of it.
Yangzhou is not big. Since Santai (Taizhou, Taixing and Taixian) was divided, Yangzhou has become smaller and smaller, but the mentality of Yangzhou people is much more atmospheric than that of Shanghai people.
The people here are full of books and have a strong sense of local pride, but there is no regional discrimination. Both locals and outsiders live comfortably here.
Of course, this is just my personal feeling. I have been away from Yangzhou for many years, and I don't know if it has changed.
The second feature is literary spirit.
Yangzhou is a famous historical and cultural city. Among the ancient poems, there are only a handful of poems about Yangzhou.
Yangzhou, just look at these two words, it doesn't seem to be humble. But once embedded in poetry, it has a unique charm-don't believe it, try to change Yangzhou in Tang poetry and Song poetry into a place name. After the change, it's completely different.
Just say a few familiar poems:
(1) rich, riding a crane to yangzhou.
2) Who knows Zhuxi Road? Song is Yangzhou.
3) Spring breeze travels ten miles along Yangzhou Road, so it is better to roll a bead curtain.
4) Three minutes on a moonlit night, Yangzhou is helpless for two minutes.
5) The ancients said West Yellow Crane Tower, and fireworks went down to Yangzhou in March.
6) Ten-year dream of Yangzhou won the name of brothel.
7) Life is just like Yangzhou's death, and Zen Zhishan makes a good tomb.
In high school, Yangzhou Radio held an essay contest, which was completed within a limited time without knowing the topic in advance. It's a bit like the college entrance examination. I was lucky to win this prize. It is an ancient collection of poems called Yangzhou, Natalie Tong, which is full of beautiful sentences related to Yangzhou. I remember the first poem at the beginning, which was "A Moonlit Night on the Spring River" by Zhang, a native of Yangzhou. This poem is very important in Tang poetry.
In such an environment, naturally more people are influenced, and they can write poems and essays. In the small town where I grew up, many neighbors can dance and write, and they can play chess, chess, calligraphy and painting when they put down their hoes. There are many people.
I have seen calligraphy exhibitions in cultural stations around the world, and I have to say that their level is quite good. When I visited their house, I found that most of them were neat, and many people planted flowers and bamboo in their yards.
I remember that the educated sons of the five fathers across the hall are professors of mathematics at Zhejiang University, and the old couple are at home, growing pomegranate, Toona sinensis, Impatiens balsamina, yam eggs and many kinds of unknown herbs.
And my grandfather, who trained my father, was also a college student before the Cultural Revolution-unfortunately, he died soon after graduation. My family grows Chinese rose, elm, neem, paulownia, ginkgo, morning glory, impatiens and towel gourd. In addition, my grandmother keeps a group of chickens that lay eggs all the year round.
Here, I want to say, don't look down on farmers. Farmers should be a profession, not a racial symbol. In the future society, people should be able to choose their jobs freely according to their abilities and hobbies.
People always leave their homeland for various reasons. In the past ten years, a large number of rural people have left their homes, which is somewhat forced. Some of them are struggling for life on the surface, but their bones are often full of unyielding will and their blood is full of the spirit of struggle.
Please listen to my heart as a countryman in northern Jiangsu: be kind to people, don't look at how much money they have in their pockets, don't look at what kind of education they have received, and respect what is in their bones and blood!