Wulinmen Wharf, located in Gongshu District, Hangzhou, was built in 1978 and is still the passenger transport center of Hangzhou water transport. Wulinmen Wharf has a construction area of 3,925 square meters, and there are several water bus lines running in the wharf. 1 Line runs between Wulinmen Wharf and Chen Gong Bridge, and Line 2 runs between Wulinmen Wharf and Xixi, with regular departures every day and multiple shifts on holidays. These two water bus cars are driving on the ancient Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, carrying residents and tourists through the main city of old Hang Cheng.
Chen Gong Bridge is the terminal of water bus 1 and an ancient trade center at the southern end of the Canal. Chen Gong Bridge has a history of nearly 400 years. Built in the fourth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, it spans the ancient canal from east to west, starting from Lishui Road in the east and reaching Qiaonong Street in the west. It is the longest and tallest ancient stone arch bridge in Hangzhou.
Chen Gong Bridge is a three-hole stone bridge with a length of 98m and a height of16m. Its name comes from the Analects of Confucius, which is a political article, "Governing the country by virtue, like Beichen, is full of stars." As the name implies, as the tallest stone arch bridge in Hang Cheng, it has become the traffic artery of urban docks for hundreds of years, connecting the commercial trade between the east and the west of the canal.
Today's journey begins at Wulinmen Wharf. In recent years, the rebuilt waiting hall of the new wharf is equipped with indoor air conditioning and security check, which makes the passengers waiting for the ship more comfortable. Set sail at a fixed point and board the ship in an orderly manner. The bus is a 48-seat passenger ship, with a one-way fare of 3 yuan, passing through Fang Xinyi and ending at Chen Gong Bridge. The whole journey takes 20 minutes.
The passenger ship runs on the ancient canal, passes through Zhangjiang Bridge, Daguan Bridge and Dengyun Bridge from south to north, and finally reaches Chen Gong Bridge. The ancient bridge spans the canal from east to west, connecting the trade on both sides of the canal. In ancient times, trade started in Beijing and Tianjin, went to Jiangsu, Shanghai and Ningbo, and finally reached the dock in Gongshu District. This Chen Gong Bridge is the beginning and end of the southern end of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Merchant ships from Chen Gong Bridge to Jianggan District went deep into Hang Cheng.
The Gongshu section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is 26.5 kilometers long and is listed as a world cultural heritage. The commerce on both sides of the canal developed in the Song Dynasty and reached its peak in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Xinyi Square, Dadou Road, Mishi Lane, Fuyicang and other areas centered on Chen Gong Bridge are prosperous, with houses, docks and water ports on both sides of the strait, and commercial trade is in full swing.
At that time, the banks of Chen Gong Bridge were the distribution centers for goods of northern merchants. In the Song Dynasty, there was a poem of "a thousand miles to Hangzhou", and local department store merchants gathered.
It is said that once you read Chen Gong Bridge, you will know half the history of Hang Cheng. When you get off the passenger ship, it is the east bank of Chen Gong Bridge. When you climb to the highest point of Chen Gong Bridge and overlook the banks of the ancient canal, it is still a residential building, built by the water. It seems to be conceivable that hundreds of years ago, round-trip ships docked at the water port in front of every household, and businessmen could not wait to receive their business customers. Its prosperity is worthy of the bustling scene of the riverside scene on Qingming Festival.
In the late Qing Dynasty, modern industry broke out at the southern end of the Canal, that is, the Chen Gong Bridge area where it was located at this time. Hundreds of enterprises in the textile industry, such as Hangyimian, Hangsilian, Yamato Machinery and Medicine Shipyard, Hangzhou Automobile Engine Factory and Huadong Medicine, have mushroomed and flourished. To the east of Chen Gong Bridge is a modern industrial workshop area, and to the west is a residential business area.
The ancient houses in Ming and Qing Dynasties, the foreign buildings and alleys in the Republic of China, the public houses in the 1950s and 1960s, and the tube-shaped houses in the 1980s. Hundreds of years later, the history of Hang Cheng was recorded by the years and engraved in the buildings around Chen Gong Bridge. West Street, a small historical area, is a microcosm of modern Hang Cheng.
Walking across the Chen Gong Bridge and arriving at the residential business district on the west bank, it seems that hundreds of years have not taken away the traces of life and trade around the Chen Gong Bridge. Public houses and tube-shaped buildings are also houses of local residents, and the narrow alleys are quite chronological.
Residents grow fruits and vegetables in alleys. There are several families in an alley, with battery cars parked in front and clothes hanging in front. As soon as I entered the door, it was full of neighbors and family. There is an inlet in front of the house along the river bank. In ancient times, ships docked to wash rice and vegetables, but now it is the most beautiful canal landscape in waterfront restaurants.
During the trip to water bus in Gongshu, Hangzhou, 3 yuan experienced the Millennium trade prosperity of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, visited the Chen Gong Bridge and learned about the modern history of Hang Cheng for hundreds of years. The most beautiful scenery is often the cheapest and most precious story.