The ancestral home is almost 100 years old, and the grandfather is left behind by Xu Zifa, now he is 72 years old. It started raining in the afternoon of Quanzhou in early August. Xu Zifa stood in front of the window of the back house and looked around. A bridge was separated by the Maritime ruins. "Old Customs", he is used to calling it like this.
The past has lasted thousands of years, and this was once the customs in ancient China. At the time of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Maritime Department was set up along the Jinjiang River in Quanzhou, which manages marine trade affairs, and the status of Quanzhou's official foreign trade port was established.
This is also the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. In Marco Polo's travel notes, there are many merchants in the 公司公司 . 30 years ago, the UNESCO delegation came here, and the marine commerce story of ancient Quanzhou began to be revealed to the world.
3 years ago, Quanzhou's application for World Heritage was once "to be discussed"; until July 25 this year, the application project for "Quanzhou: China's World Marine Trade Center in Song and Yuan Dynasties" was approved at the 44th World Heritage Conference in and was successfully included in the World Heritage List.
is to be discussed and included. The connotation of Quanzhou's series of heritage systems has been further explored: 22 representative monuments, ruins, and their related environments and spaces. Li Qun, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said that according to the recommendations of international organizations, the entire Quanzhou ancient city will be included in the buffer area of the World Heritage Site.
The living protection of the entire ancient city undoubtedly touches on the "deep water zone" of the professional project of World Heritage Protection. Behind this is not only a proof of the existence of Chinese maritime civilization history, but also a far-reaching breakthrough of the entire human race’s understanding of cultural heritage.
Pilgrims worshipped in Quanzhou Tianhou Palace . Photography/Intern Reporter of Beijing News Hu Xianhe
The air of fireworks
There is a trench at the door of the house, and the river is covered with shallow ground. Xu Zifa said that this trench has a great background. Ancient merchant ships came from afar, and the small cargo ship supported Jinjiang and followed this river to the Maritime Bureau for "customs declaration".
When Xu Zifa was a child, he could still sail in the river. If you jump over the window, you can jump onto the passing boat. When the ship owner discovered it, he quickly swam into the river and hid. Occasionally, when fishing for crabs by the river, he would accidentally fall into the river, so he shouted for help from the house.
Quanzhou local chronicles record that the Maritime Bureau is located in the northwest of the Nanxunmen (Shuimen) site in Zhu Street, Shuimenxiang, Neishuimenxiang, Quanzhou City, to the west, to the Narcissus Palace, to the east, to the Sanyi Temple, and to the north of Hongcuo Mountain in Mabanxiang.
The total number of the ruins of the Maritime City Site is not preserved, and the remaining part is called the Narcissus Palace ruins. Through a very short stone bridge on the east side of the Narcissus Palace, you can reach the back door of Xu Zifa’s ancestral house.
A fire more than 20 years ago, and the ancestral home has been abandoned for many years. Xu Zifa and his 63-year-old third brother Xu Zibiao and his wife lived in the back room of their ancestral home. A low-rise house with green vines climbing up to the roof effortlessly. At the corner of the abandoned toilet wall, a cultural relics protection stele of the Maribosi site was inlaid with the signature of 1959.
A large number of indigenous people live in the ancient city of Quanzhou. In the words of Li Qingjun, deputy director of the Cultural and Protection Department of Quanzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, Quanzhou's heritage is still an inseparable part of the lives of Quanzhou citizens and is still continuing its functions and functions a thousand years ago.
The south gate of the ancient city " Deji Gate " is a symbol of the ancient thorny city. It borders it is the square in front of the Tianhou Palace. Huang Hanqin, who just graduated from junior high school, works in a summer job at a snack bar. The background wall of his WeChat is a photo of a Guandi Temple. The temple is located in his hometown, Guifengyan in Luojiang District. Here, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism coexist. There are more than 20 gods who are worshipped and worshipped by the three temples. It can be seen that the people in Quanzhou believe that the gods worship each other and give each other.
"If you ask a Quanzhou native to pick up a star at four o'clock, he may not get up. If you ask him to pick up a god at three o'clock, he will arrive at two o'clock." Huang Hanqin said.
-day harem is also one of the heritage sites, and it receives Mazu Faith worshippers from all over the world every day. On the right side of the main hall, there are Mazu main god Twenty-four sects. On both sides of the statue of the Twenty-four sects, there are different prayers left by worshipers, and the words "Golden List Title, Success in Study" are scrolling in a loop.
The most lively time of the year counts around the Lantern Festival. Quanzhou Tianhou Temple and Penghu Tianhou Temple jointly held a turtle begging event.People rushed to watch the giant "rice turtle" formed by Ping An Milei, and touched it to get lucky - "Touch the glans to build a building, touch the turtle's mouth to be rich, touch the turtle's body to turn over, touch the turtle's feet and eat it without any effort, touch the turtle's tail until it has a head and a tail."
In the words of Wang Yongli, secretary of Quanzhou Municipal Party Committee, most of Quanzhou’s heritage is alive, and Quanzhou’s cultural relics and their protection are full of the “fireworks” of the world.
Many heritage points are the daily scenes of the people in Quanzhou. Every month it is the "Diligence Day", and tens of thousands of people flock to the northwest of the ancient city, Kaiyuan Temple . "Qin" means "circling" in Minnan . People keep walking around the temple and the court. The temple fairs that last hundreds of meters are surging, and endless worshippers come from all directions. The school will start at the end of August, and the Quanzhou Confucian Temple will hold a Confucius event.
"Discover" Quanzhou
Quanzhou citizens are best at telling the "ways" of ancient cities. There are many bridges in Quanzhou, and there has always been a saying that ", Fujian-centered , Fujian-centered , Quanzhou-centered junctures". More than 100 bridges were built in the Song Dynasty alone. Chen Deshan lived in the old street of Luoyang when he was a child. He liked to pester his father and tell the story of Luoyang Bridge the most.
Luoyang Bridge was built in 1059 in the Northern Song Dynasty and is erected on the river of Luoyang and is an important transportation route to the north of Quanzhou. In summer, the elderly in the village are talking, and the one they love to talk about is Luoyang Bridge. 30 years ago in 1991, an Maritime Silk Road inspection team formed by UNESCO came to Quanzhou. The expert of the inspection team, Dr. Dean, asked: "Why is the Luoyang Bridge built a raft-shaped bridge pier on one side, but there is no on the other side?" Chen Deshan asked with a smile: "Do you think it is the power of rising tides or the power of falling tides?"
He explained that in order to reduce the impact of the low tide on the bridge, the ancients built a raft-shaped bridge pier on one side of the bridge, and the impact force was small at high tides, and such a pier was not needed on the other side.
From west to east, the team leader of Dean retraces the Maritime Silk Road and stays in Quanzhou for 6 days. Dean said that the inspection in Quanzhou brought the entire inspection activity to a climax. He said, "The Quanzhou we see is a city where different beliefs, different ethnic groups meet, cultural exchanges and coexist. China's openness to the outside world is fully reflected in Quanzhou."
This is an investigation that is crucial to Quanzhou's application for World Heritage, marking the beginning of the story of marine trade in ancient Quanzhou to emerge in front of the world.
As early as before the Song Dynasty, Quanzhou gradually established an outward-oriented marine trade development system. The Quanzhou Overseas Transportation History Museum collects an important cultural relic - the Dharani Stone Sutra Pagoda by Wang Jixun, the governor of the State of Min. Lin Han, deputy director of the museum, introduced that this stone sutra tower was originally located in the Liusanniang Pagoda of Kaiyuan Temple. "In the 1980s, an typhoon overwhelmed the tower, revealing the sutra tower. The words engraved on the sutra tower included 'Quoli Yuan' and 'Seaway Commander', indicating that Quanzhou had established a special maritime trade management agency and special official positions at that time."
The "Zhifanzhi" of the Song Dynasty recorded 58 countries and regions that conducted marine trade with Quanzhou. In the "Hong Kong 1 Yuan Dynasty ", the number of countries and regions that traded with Quanzhou increased to 99. According to the annual customs tax statement of the Maritime Bureau of the Yuan Dynasty, whether it is commodity tax revenue or the number of countries that trade, Quanzhou Port at this time had become the "most largest port in the East."
In 2001, Quanzhou, as the port city on the eastern end of the Maritime Silk Road, officially embarked on the road to apply for World Heritage. 20 years later, Quanzhou successfully told the world the story of " China Marine Trade Center in the Song and Yuan dynasties" in the form of a series of heritages.
A thousand years ago, a merchant ship full of cargo entered Quanzhou from the southern coast. What kind of scene could you see along the way?
There was a clear line in Lin Han's mind - after the merchant ship entered Quanzhou Bay , he first saw Wanshou Tower , and then transferred the goods at Shihu Wharf. Then he drove to the inland port through Liusheng Tower , and went up along Jinjiang to Jiangkou Wharf, and entered the ancient city from Shunji Bridge .
Quanzhou Maritime Ruins.Photography/Intern Reporter of the Beijing News Hu Xianhe
Behind the application for World Heritage
In 2018, Quanzhou's application for World Heritage was "to be discussed"; on July 25, the application for World Heritage "Quanzhou: The World Marine Trade Center of Song and Yuan Dynasties" was approved at the 44th World Heritage Conference and was successfully included in the World Heritage List.
In the past three years, Quanzhou has improved and adjusted the application project several times. During this process, Huang Mingzhen, director of Quanzhou Museum and expert of Quanzhou Heritage Application Team, felt that Quanzhou's understanding of "series of heritage" is also deepening.
First, the name of the World Heritage Project was changed to "Quanzhou: The World Marine Trade Center of Song and Yuan Dynasties". There are 6 new heritage sites, namely Anping Bridge , Shunji Bridge Site, Maribosi Site, Nanwai Zongzhengsi Site, Anxi Qingyang Xiacaopu Iron Smelting Site, and Qudougong Dehua Kiln Site. Behind
, after more in-depth research by the World Heritage Application Team, the relationship between heritage points in space and function has gradually become clear. The Luoyang Bridge, which Chen Deshan once explained to the inspection team, was originally a representative of the bridge part of the heritage site. Later, the Anping Bridge, a land transportation node in Quanzhou Unicom's southern coastal area, joined, and the bridge site points then presented a "one north and one south" pattern.
The Heritage Application Team has carefully considered the determination of the Shunji Bridge site.
"Shunji Bridge has become a ruin," Huang Mingzhen said, "but considering that Jinjiang is the mother river of Quanzhou, the establishment of Shunji Bridge communicates the south and north banks of the Jinjiang River. With the advice of domestic and foreign experts, we have included the Shunji Bridge site." On the
map, three bridge heritage points lead to the north and south, connecting the north and south sides of the Jinjiang River, and intuitively presenting the communication path of the road traffic system in the Song and Yuan dynasties.
Except for 2 bridges, the four new heritage sites were all new archaeological excavations.
Previously, the World Heritage Application Team had marked the general locations scattered in various places in Quanzhou based on the literature records. In 2019, UN World Heritage experts came to Quanzhou for inspection and gave specific suggestions on the supplementary and improvement of the number and content of the heritage sites. Quanzhou has since begun archaeological excavations of the new heritage sites.
Lin Han participated in the investigation of the iron smelting site in Xiacaopu Qingyang, Anxi. Among the 16 original heritage sites, which represent the commodity production bases in the marine trading system, only the Cizao Kiln site located in the southwest of Quanzhou City is included. "Currently, Quanzhou retains 78 ancient kiln sites from the Song and Yuan dynasties, but if it represents exported goods, the ancient kiln sites still only represent one type. At that time, we wanted to find out if there are other types of production." Lin Han said.
However, the silk fabric production base in Quanzhou during the Song and Yuan dynasties has not been retained to this day, and the Song Dynasty ancient tea tree that can reflect tea planting has not been found.
By looking up the literature, archaeological investigators found in the "Zhufanzhi" and "Suanyizhi" that Quanzhou also had iron foreign trade in the Song and Yuan dynasties. In addition, a large number of iron products found on the " Nanhai No. 1 " shipwreck in the early stage of the Southern Song can also provide evidence, and more than a dozen iron smelting sites were found in Quanzhou census.
Quanzhou invited ancient metallurgical archaeological experts to select the sites, and finally selected the Anxi Qingyang Xiacaopu iron smelting site for archaeological excavation. Lin Han said, "The Qingyang site was selected because we found iron raw material pits around, and also found ancient roads and ancient ferry crossings for transporting goods. This means that this site shows the entire process from raw materials to smelting to transportation."
At present, Peking University has established a workstation in Anxi , and will continue to research and excavation in the future. This summer vacation, students from Peking University learned iron smelting technology at the workstation, combined with modern aesthetics to create artworks, and continued the process of inheriting this craft.
aerial photography Quanzhou Kaiyuan Temple . Photo/IC photo
"Series of Heritage"
Following the navigation trade route of the Song and Yuan dynasties, a series of heritages composed of 22 representative historic sites and their associated environment and spaces, extending from the harbor through the Jiangkou Plain to the hinterland mountainous area - this is the story that the Quanzhou Heritage Application Team successfully told the world.
"The whole they constitute fully reflects Quanzhou's highly integrated ‘production-transport-sales’ integrated overseas trade system in the Song and Yuan dynasties, as well as the diversified social system composed of systems, communities and cultural factors that support its operation." Fu Jing, deputy director of the Institute of Architectural History of the Chinese Academy of Architectural Design and head of Quanzhou's Heritage Application Text.
supports the overall value of the series of heritage, 22 heritage points that were integrated and "packaged" by Quanzhou highlight different value characteristics.
Officially established the Maritime Trading Site to manage maritime trade affairs, as well as the Jiurishan wind praying stone carvings for overseas traders, which reflect the official system to ensure the operation of trade; Buddhist temples Kaiyuan Temple and Islamic temple Qingjing Temple reflect the diverse communities brought by trade; Luoyang Bridge, Shunji Bridge Site, Shihu Wharf, etc. reflect the powerful transportation network for overseas trade.
The term "series of heritage" has appeared more and more in the world heritage nomination projects over the past decade.
Among the 66 world cultural heritage included in 2015-2018, 21 are considered as series of heritages, accounting for about 31.8%; among the 24 world cultural heritages included in 2019, 14 are considered as series of heritages, accounting for 58%. The cognition and protection methods of a series of heritage have gradually become an important issue in the professional field of world heritage sites.
The Heritage Application Text Team led by Fu Jing studied and studied a series of guiding documents such as the "Operational Guidelines for Implementing the World Heritage Convention", and finally established the construction method of the Quanzhou series of heritage and its components. The series of heritage components of the Quanzhou project include administrative management institutions, key urban structure facilities composed of city gates, city walls, road networks, etc., religious buildings and statues from diverse communities, cultural memorials of geographic historical sites, urban roads and water systems, ceramic and iron smelting production bases, and an aquatic and land transportation network composed of bridges, docks, and navigation towers.
From the perspective of the distribution area, Quanzhou City has 12 counties, cities and districts under its jurisdiction, 9 of which have heritage points, and each heritage point has its own heritage area, buffer zone, and landscape control area. The total area is about 200 square kilometers, accounting for more than 2% of the total area of Quanzhou.
The resolution passed by the World Heritage Committee believes that a series of heritage components in Quanzhou highlights the highly integrated regional structure and key administrative, transportation, production, transaction and socio-cultural factors - "It is these that made Quanzhou develop into a world-class trade center and an important commercial hub during the period of high prosperity of Asian maritime trade in the 10th and 14th centuries, demonstrating Quanzhou's great contribution to the economic and cultural development of East and Southeast Asia."
"The purpose of Quanzhou applying for a world cultural heritage is to protect and inherit it." Huang Mingzhen introduced that since there are 8 heritage points within the Quanzhou Ancient City, the entire ancient city is designated as a buffer zone to better preserve the traditional style of the ancient city.
Li Qingjun feels that as long as there are indigenous people, the ancient city will always preserve its original historical style.
Now, there are a group of ancient city tour guides active in Quanzhou’s ancient city. Most of them grow up and live in the streets and alleys of the ancient city, just like Xu Zifa. After training, they explained the history and culture of the ancient city heritage sites and ancient streets to tourists.
At present, the ancient city tour guide has reached the ninth session, and the quota is always in short supply. "Everyone just holds a simple concept: this is my family, I want to inherit and protect it." Huang Mingzhen said.
UAV photographed by Quanzhou Shihu Port container terminal, waste material stone terminal and Lingang Free Trade Zone under construction. Picture/IC photo
Inheriting the past and future
"series of heritage" is that it has value connectivity, so it also has higher requirements for protection. Du Zhengui, the maintenance staff member of the harem of 0 days, was previously responsible for the daily inspection of the heritage area boundary stakes. When working every day, he would use the walkie-talkie to connect with the World World Application Office and report the inspection results.
In 2017, Quanzhou successively demarcated the protection scope of heritage areas and buffer zones for each heritage point, and installed boundary piles to distinguish the boundary between the heritage area and the surrounding environment.Before installing the boundary piles of
, relevant staff will conduct on-site surveys and designs, define the installation location of each boundary pile, and locate the accurate latitude and longitude of each point through GPS, and conduct data entry simultaneously. In wild environments and remote areas of urban areas, triangular column boundary piles are mostly used, while in some densely populated residential areas or commercial pedestrian streets, embedded boundary monuments are more adopted that do not affect travel. There are QR codes on all sectors of the stakes. Through the scanning function of the mobile phone, you can learn about the Chinese and English introductions of the corresponding heritage points.
Now, Du Zhenlan’s main job is to repair and protect the Tianhou Harem. "If there is a slight damage, you need to inspect it repeatedly." He explained that the problem must be checked and found out, and it will not be repaired when it is serious.
Li Qingjun introduced that Quanzhou has set up a terminal platform for monitoring 22 heritage points. Small meteorological stations are placed around many heritage sites such as Liusheng Tower to monitor the impact of meteorological changes such as temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind speed, and wind direction on the heritage in real time every day. In addition, the terminal platform also monitors the tourist carrying capacity of heritage sites. In the future, a tourist reservation system will be set up for 22 points based on the tourist volume control data.
There are differences in the architectural characteristics of a single heritage point, and the protection methods are also tailor-made. Li Qingjun introduced that Quanzhou will build a site-type heritage site into a site park for protection, regularly kill termites and regularly inspect the heritage site of wooden structures, and try to protect and reinforce the Jiurishan Fengfeng Stone Carvings. In the living Confucian Temple, educational exhibitions will be held to let the people understand the functional value of the heritage. On the shore of Shihu Wharf, a cultural relics protection and management station was built in 2017 and is responsible for the protection and management of two heritage sites, Shihu Wharf and Liusheng Tower. The site has 3 staff members and 4 security personnel, responsible for the protection of cultural relics, and also responsible for the environmental sanitation of the scenic spot and the reception of tourists. On the office wall of the management station, 3 screens display 2 heritage points in real time 24 hours a day surveillance screens at different angles. Guo Zengpei, 28, is the person in charge of the site. He rides an electric bike through heritage sites at both ends of the village every day.
Shihu Wharf is located on the peninsula of Shihu Village, Shishi City, southern suburbs of Quanzhou City. Locals are used to calling it Linluandu . The old man in the village said that the pier was built by Tang Dynasty navigator Linluan .
connecting village head and Shihu Pier is a walkway built from granite, which is very regular. This stone path, which is as old as the pier, is roughly parallel to the coast. Lu Huawen, a staff member of the Cultural Relics Protection Station, said that whenever there is a typhoon or heavy flood, the stone path will be flooded by sea water. But more often, especially after the tide is low in the morning, large slimes of silt on the coast will be exposed, and the stone paths leading to the pier will lie in the silt. Due to the varying time of soaking in sea water, the color of the cross-section of the stone path also gradually changes from light to dark.
Standing on the ruins of Shihu Wharf, looking around, the silt on the coast is almost flush with the wharf. This millennium wharf no longer has the function of mooring boats.
There are several cargo ships farther away, and what is more conspicuous is the Quanzhou Bay Cross-Sea Bridge , and an elevated building under construction parallel to the cross-sea bridge. The cross-sea high-speed rail is under construction. On the other side of the Shihu Village Peninsula is Shihu Port, a 10,000-ton multi-purpose wharf, which is open and busy. After the decline of shipping in the Inner Port of Fengjiang in the 1920s, Shihu Port gradually became the main anchorage for ships to Quanzhou for overseas seas. It has now become the main trading container hub port of Quanzhou Port and the largest stone trading market in Southeast Asia.
Liusheng Tower is a landmark of ancient merchant ships sailing from the main channel of Quanzhou Bay to the inland river port. Modern navigation no longer requires stone towers as navigation beacons, but the ancient tower still stands by the sea of Quanzhou Bay. Standing on the top of Liushengta Park, you can overlook Shihu Port Area from afar. Has this rising modern port now replaced the function of the Thousand-year-old Shihu Pier?
"It inherits the functions of Shihu Wharf." Guo Zengpei corrected.
Beijing News reporter Feng Yajun Intern reporter Hu Xianhe
editor Zhang Chang Proofreading Liu Baoqing
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