Home » Evidence that the millennium commercial port reappears the prosperity of the “Maritime Silk Road”——A breaking latest news of the Protection and Excavation of Shuomen Ancient Port Site in Wenzhou, Zhejiang_Hangzhou Net

Evidence that the millennium commercial port reappears the prosperity of the “Maritime Silk Road”——A breaking latest news of the Protection and Excavation of Shuomen Ancient Port Site in Wenzhou, Zhejiang_Hangzhou Net

by admin
Evidence that the millennium commercial port reappears the prosperity of the “Maritime Silk Road”——A breaking latest news of the Protection and Excavation of Shuomen Ancient Port Site in Wenzhou, Zhejiang_Hangzhou Net

Evidence that the Millennium Commercial Port Reappears the Prosperity of the “Maritime Silk Road”——A breaking latest news of the Protection and Excavation of Shuomen Ancient Port Site in Wenzhou, Zhejiang

Eight Song docks of different shapes, two sunken ships of the Song Dynasty, tons of porcelain fragments, and the Shuomen Weng City built twice in the Song, Yuan and Ming and Qing dynasties…

The ruins of Shuomen Ancient Port in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, with complete elements such as wharfs, waterways, and navigation marks, have demonstrated the prosperity and survival of the ancient “Maritime Silk Road” and filled a major gap in related research. It has important cultural value and international significance . The top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country in 2022 were announced in Beijing a few days ago, and the Shuomen ancient port site was selected.

The remains of the ancient port of the Song and Yuan Dynasties show their true appearance

In the middle of spring, the banks of the Oujiang River, the second largest river in Zhejiang, are full of spring. Adjacent to the south bank of Lucheng District, Wenzhou City, Oujiang River, Wangjiang Road and Jiangxin Islet, a local scenic spot, face each other across the water. A relic of an ancient port in the Song and Yuan Dynasties is showing its true face to the world.

“After more than a year of work by the archaeological team, the ruins including the ancient urn city, ancient wharf, ancient shipwreck and other elements are gradually complete.” Following in the footsteps of Liu Tuanhui, deputy director of the Wenzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the reporter saw clearly distributed at the archaeological site. remains.

Wenzhou Shuomen Ancient Port Ruins and Jiangxin Islet face each other far away (taken on October 10, 2022, drone photo).Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Weng Xinyang

This archaeological discovery originated in March 2021. At that time, in order to improve the traffic congestion problem of key road sections, Wenzhou Lucheng District started the Wangjiang Road Underpass Tunnel Project. Liang Yanhua, director of the Wenzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that as early as 2004, the site of the North Gate (Shuomen) of the ancient city of Wenzhou was discovered in this area, and the wharf was also marked on the ancient map. Therefore, the construction project was carried out with extreme caution.

Part of Wenzhou Shuomen ancient port site, taken on February 23, 2023.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Junlu

In October 2021, during the excavation of the road surface, construction workers discovered some ancient stone strips. Based on these clues, the cultural relics department gradually discovered more remains in the nearby area, confirming that there was an ancient port in the area, and the project was immediately suspended. Subsequently, Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology and Wenzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology jointly entered the site for exploration and excavation.

Because it is close to the south bank of the mouth of the Oujiang River, the tides that rise and fall every day bring great challenges to archaeological excavations. The reporter saw at the archaeological site that there were many cement water-stop piles around the archaeological site. It is understood that there are more than 2,000 of these water-stop piles, which were laid by the construction unit to prevent the infiltration of river water, which created favorable conditions for the excavation work.

See also  Elim CAN 2023/J6: Paolo Duarte "This match is more important for me..."

“After the discovery of underground cultural relics, the underpass project was immediately suspended, and the Wenzhou Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government immediately decided to adjust the construction plan.” Chen Long, director of the office of the Jiangxin Island Reconstruction and Upgrade Headquarters in Lucheng District, Wenzhou City, said.

Overlooking Wenzhou Shuomen Ancient Port Ruins (taken on October 10, 2022, drone photo).Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Weng Xinyang

“After exploration, we found that the age of the ruins continued from the Northern Song Dynasty to the Republic of China, mainly in the Song and Yuan Dynasties.” Liang Yanhua introduced, “Including the ancient urn city in the early and late periods, 8 ancient piers in different periods, and 2 ancient ships from the Song Dynasty. Shipwrecks, as well as ancient river embankments, ancient buildings, ancient bridges and sluices, as well as ancient cargo accumulations mainly made of celadon, and many other important relics.”

“During the archaeological excavation, we also found 5 groups of stilted buildings.” Following the direction of Liu Tuanhui’s finger, the reporter could vaguely identify the position of the wooden piles, “They are like ‘houses on stilts’ and may be used as Wine shops, docks, etc., provide people with a space to imagine the prosperous scene of the dock at that time.”

Archaeologists read ceramics unearthed from the Wenzhou Shuomen Ancient Port Site in the warehouse of the Wenzhou Museum (photographed on October 11, 2022).Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Weng Xinyang

Porcelain waist drums, porcelain bowls, porcelain vases… Porcelain unearthed from the site is dazzling. “They include porcelains from nearby Longquan Kiln, Ou Kiln and other porcelain kilns, as well as porcelains from Ding Kiln and Cizhou Kiln in the north. Among them, Longquan celadon is the main one.” Wu Xianjun, a researcher at Wenzhou Museum, said that up to now, a large number of porcelain and lacquer wares have been unearthed from the site , metal wares and their fragments, there are about 10 tons of porcelain fragments alone, and more than 3,000 cultural relics can be restored.

“The local government and the cultural relics department have done a lot of work from basic construction archaeology to active excavation.” According to Wang Wei, member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and chairman of the Chinese Archaeological Society, “This is a new era of archaeological cultural heritage protection. A classic example.” It is understood that the follow-up excavation of the site, anatomical mapping, special protection and research are all in progress.

An excellent interpretation of the “Maritime Silk Road”

“One pillar of the river crosses the sea, and the two towers reflect the rainbow in the sky.” The ancients used poems to vividly describe the appearance of the East Tower and West Tower on the central island of the Oujiang River.

The Jiangxin Islet Twin Towers are famous ancient navigation marks in my country and even in the world, built in Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty respectively. The ancients built such magnificent two buoys precisely because there is a prosperous port nearby. In the Southern Song and Yuan Dynasties, Wenzhou had set up foreign trade management agencies.

See also  158th anniversary of the Port Authority Corps

Porcelain from the Longquan kiln unearthed from the Shuomen ancient port site in Wenzhou (montage photo).Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Weng Xinyang

“Porcelain is the bulk of the ancient ‘Maritime Silk Road’, and this ‘Silk Road’ can be said to be the ‘Maritime Porcelain Road’ to a certain extent. According to historical records, during the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Longquan celadon was China’s export porcelain” The main force’. Longquan and Wenzhou are connected by the Oujiang River, and Longquan celadon is the most convenient way to export from Wenzhou.” said Shen Yueming, executive vice president of the Chinese Ancient Ceramics Society and professor of the Department of Culture and Museum of Fudan University.

Many archaeological experts said that the Shuomen ancient port site truly reproduced the scene of an important node of the “Maritime Silk Road” about 1,000 years ago, filling a major gap in the port archaeology of my country’s “Maritime Silk Road”.

Overlooking Wenzhou Shuomen Ancient Port Ruins (taken on October 10, 2022, drone photo).Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Weng Xinyang

Liu Qingzhu, member of the academic department of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and former director of the Institute of Archeology, said that the core of the “Maritime Silk Road” is the port, and the previous related archaeological work did not include the content of the port. Wenzhou Shuomen Ancient Port Site is currently the port site with the most complete structure and the clearest age discovered in China, which is of key significance for the study of the “Maritime Silk Road”. “From relics to relics, it provides sufficient evidence that the ‘Maritime Silk Road’ entered its heyday during the Song and Yuan dynasties.”

Archaeologists display fragments of Longquan kiln celadon at the excavation site of Shuomen ancient port site in Wenzhou (photographed on October 10, 2022).Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Weng Xinyang

“Usually research on the ‘Maritime Silk Road’ is mainly divided into three links: production, transportation and market. In this site, the kiln industry related to the three links, as well as cities, docks, ships, routes and beacon towers, all the elements They are all very complete.” Sun Jian, deputy director of the Archaeological Research Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said that Wenzhou Shuomen Ancient Port Site is by far the most complete port site related to the Maritime Silk Road. He also said that the core period of Shuomen Ancient Port was from the late Northern Song Dynasty to the late Yuan Dynasty. This period was just before the age of Columbus’s great voyages, and it belonged to China’s nautical age.

Throughout the world‘s famous seaport ruins, Wenzhou Shuomen ancient port can be regarded as “the only one”. Jiang Bo, vice-chairman of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and a distinguished professor at Shandong University, said that other important seaport sites in the world lack the strong support of port archaeological achievements. A precious heritage of outstanding value in the history of marine civilization.

The millennium commercial port glows with the vitality of the new era

Unfolding the “Jiangshan Shenglan Picture Scroll” by Wang Zhenpeng, a painter of the Yuan Dynasty, the prosperous scene of Shuomen Port is vivid on the paper: merchants gather, boats travel like weaving, a large number of “Made in China” are exported from here, and sell well overseas.

See also  Focus on the Service Trade Fair | 2021 China International Service Trade Fair opens in Beijing on the 2nd, Chongqing delegation presents the latest products and services of the "Smart City" online and offline_Trade

A black lacquered wooden comb unearthed from the Wenzhou Shuomen Ancient Port Site (photographed on February 23, 2023).Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Junlu

“As early as the Eastern Wu period, Wenzhou was an important shipbuilding base. Zhou Daguan, the envoy of the Yuan Dynasty, sailed from Wenzhou Port to ancient Cambodia, and wrote “Chenla Fengtu Ji”.” Jin Baidong, the former curator of Wenzhou City Museum, said.

In recent years, archaeological discoveries related to the “Maritime Silk Road” have been emerging, such as the Fancunjing site in Taicang, Suzhou, and other related new discoveries, including “Quanzhou: The World Ocean Commerce Center of Song and Yuan China” included in the World Heritage List “, more and more attracted the attention of the academic circles and society. Wang Wei said that the discovery of the Shuomen ancient port site provided new information for related research.

The Yuan Dynasty painting “Jiangshan Shenglan Scroll” (partial, photocopy) shows the prosperous scene of Shuomen Port in Wenzhou (reproduced on February 23, 2023).Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Junlu

Through history, the foreign trade container business of Wenzhou Port has developed rapidly in recent years, the foreign trade route network has been further woven, and the route service capability has been gradually improved. Currently, there are 11 near-ocean routes. At present, Wenzhou is anchoring the new direction of “Millennium Commercial Port, Happy Wenzhou” and promoting the linkage of “five ports” of logistics port, commercial port, financial port, headquarters port and digital port. In the next five years, Zhejiang will fully participate in the joint construction of the “Belt and Road”. Wenzhou recently issued “Several Policy Opinions on Further Accelerating the Development of an Open Economy”, which will vigorously promote the construction of Jinliwen’s opening-up channel, accelerate the development of a higher-level open economy, and build a higher-level opening-up system.

On the other hand, Wenzhou is speeding up the preparation of relevant plans to provide a basis for the protection and utilization of cultural relics; at the same time, in cooperation with the Archaeological Research Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, it plans to rely on the ancient port site to build a high-standard Shuomen Ancient Port Site Park and fully excavate the Maritime Silk Road. culture. According to the preliminary idea, there will be a ruins museum in the park, where the unearthed cultural relics will be displayed indoors, and the exhibition areas will be built outdoors at iconic relics such as ancient docks, ancient shipwrecks, ancient official boardwalks, and ancient porcelain accumulation belts, and digital technology will be used to Restoring the original appearance of the Wengcheng not only protects the cultural relics, but also allows the audience to have close contact with the relics.

Witnessed by the ruins of the ancient port, the “Millennium Commercial Port” is rejuvenating in the new era.

Source: Xinhua News Agency Author: Reporters Wu Huanqing, Feng Yuan, Wang Junlu, Wei Yijun Editor: Wu Yangjie

You may also like

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More

Privacy & Cookies Policy