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Ancient Wenzhou |
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Ancient WENZHOU ...............温州旧地
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The Big
Dipper-shaped Mountains and lock protection functioned city |
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The ancient geomantic
theories emphasize that “each state or city should has its own prominent
feature.” Therefore, although we may find that there are many common
grounds in cities’ construction layout while viewing many ancient maps,
when they were being constructed, adjusting measures to local conditions
is the most important point. It is pointed out in GUANZI CHENGMA that “
When the location of a capital is chosen, it is either on the root of
big mountains or over great rivers so that it is not too high to suffer
drought or too low to suffer flood but of sufficient water and free from
building flood control systems. It is unnecessary to construct a city
according to routine or build a road with the help of ropes for
measurement, which demonstrates the principle of adjusting measures to
local conditions.” |
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Overlooking south OUJIANG River from north OUJIANG River
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Vast and
mighty current, mist-covered water all sides. The OUJIANG River
brings infinite poetry to WENZHOU city. Overlooking south
OUJIANG River from north OUJIANG River, between the water and
the heaven, the city is no longer comparable by the city
designed and constructed in GUOPU’s era. Numerous high
buildings, which have broken the restraint of old rampart, stand
tall and upright besides the OUJIANG River like a special scenic
spot while the exuberant islet in the center of OUJIANG River
enhances the artistic conception of its view. The JIANGXIN Islet
had ten scenic spots, such as, “Misty rain of spring city”, “
HAIDING Sunglow”, “ OUJIANG Moonlight”, “ LUOFU Snow Shadow” and
so on. How can we say that a city with these views is not a city
of good geomantic omen? |
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Therefore, the theories of
geomantic omen are both complicated and flexible. Among them, there is
one idea for the pursuit of “Universal View”, that is, to design cities
as the symbols of constellations. This kind of programming method is not
a simple comparison but the comprehension of ancient people towards some
kind of relations with the same form and structure among heaven, earth
and human beings. It is a kind of worldview: “ The combination of heaven
and human beings”. Meanwhile, the idea of “ terrain priority” in
geomantic omen stresses the point of making use of natural barriers as
shelters. For example, it is said in ZHOUYI that” the advantage of
heaven for sheltering is that you cannot climb up to it and the
advantage of land for sheltering lies in its mountains, rivers and
foothills. Emperors make use of these advantages for protecting their
countries.” It is also pointed out in ZHOULI XIAGUAN that “ if there is
any mountain or river in the location of city which will be constructed,
just depend on it for the purpose of protection.” Therefore, the
construction location of Ancient WENZHOU, which located in the flatland
between ZHEJIANG and FUJIAN Provinces, backed on sea and was surrounded
by mountains, is the best representative. |
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The lamps of JIANGXIN tower illuminate OUJIANG River
through the night
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It began to be prevailing in
building temples and towers in WENZHOU since TANG and SONG
dynasties. The temple on the JIANGXIN islet of OUJIANG River was
built after TANG and SONG dynasties. There are two towers on the
islet. One is the East Tower that locates in the DONGFENG
Mountain of GUYU and the other is the West Tower that locates in
the XIFENG Mountain. The two towers stand facing each other and
seem to reach the clouds. Except their function of “winning
resounding fame throughout the region” and “ driving demons
away”, they stand on the port as a mark. It is recorded in
WENZHOU Annals that the bottom of OUJIANG River is arenaceous.
The sand beach always changes because of water flow, especially
when typhoon, flood or big spring tide happen, which will bring
bigger changes to sand beach and the route becomes deeper or
shallower accordingly. The to-and-from ships can see the two
towers after passing MEIYUAN. Therefore, the two towers on the
JIANGXIN Islet become the pharos for navigation. From SONG
dynasty to GUANGXU era of QING dynasty, the Buddhist lamps in
each floor of the towers illuminate OUJIANG River through the
night. |
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Ancient WENZHOU was called
OU. In the year 675, GAOZONG, one of the emperors of TANG dynasty came
here and named it WENZHOU. From then on, the name “WENZHOU” has been
kept for 1300 years and there was no big change happened to the
territory of WENZHOU city. The only difference is that the appearance of
old WENZHOU city has disappeared in or been covered by the modern and
prosperous WENZHOU city now.
It is recorded in ZHISHU
that the original location layout of WENZHOU city, which was
administrated by YONGJIA County at that time, was decided by GUOPU, who
is both a philosopher and geomantic prophet in DONGJIN era. GUOPU is a
genius who is accomplished in poems, ode and Confucian classics of
ancient China. In order to keep away from chaos caused by war, he went
along southward from SHANXI province then resided in WENZHOU. It was the
very moment that YONGJIA Wanted to make choice of constructing its
county city. Therefore, the local people requested him to make
divination for county city. According to the general laws of geomantic
omen theories, the city should be constructed on north coast, standing
on north and facing south. However, after field survey by himself, he
made sample comparisons of soil between south coast and west coast and
found that the soil in south coast was heavier than it was in the north
coast. Therefore, he decided to construct the city on south coast. |
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WENZHOU White Elephant Tower Shadow
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WENZHOU is an old city with
landscapes and 1600 years’ history. It locates on the verge of
OUJIANG River and faces sea in the east. The river in the
picture below is the WENRUI Pond River, which locates in south
OUJIANG River, is called the mother river of WENZHOU. The WENRUI
Pond River was manually excavated in DONGJIN period. After
dredging up and constructing of the latter generations, the view
of “Eighty Miles’ Ponds” appeared, which is an important mark of
WENZHOU landscape city. Now, WENZHOU plans to build WENRUI Pond
River a City Pond River, Zoology Pond River, Culture Pond River
and View Pond River. From cantonal NAN Pond River to WENRUI Pond
River in XIANYAN scenic spot, the “Eight Views of Pond River”
will reappear. The view in the picture lies in south city and
gets its name “White Elephant Tower Shadow” because of the White
Elephant Tower built in BEISONG dynasty. Crooked rivers embrace
the vitality of WENZHOU. The implication between old and new
WENZHOU city is embodied by the crooked watercourse and straight
express highway. The picture on the right is the view of old
WENZHOU city. |
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At that time, When GUOPU
mounted the XIGUO Mountain, which was renamed GUOGONG Mountain, he found
that the interlaced ridges and peaks looked like the shape of the Big
Dipper and HUAGAI mountain locked up its mouth. He said to the fellow
local people: “ if we construct our city outside of the mountains, we
can lead a rich life but cannot keep away from probable wars. If we
construct our city inside of the mountains, the invaders could not enter
the Big Dipper -shaped city so that long-term safety and comfort can be
available. Because the city was constructed inside of mountains, it was
called the Big Dipper-shaped city. GUOPU also designed to excavate 28
wells in the city to settle the problem of city residents’ demand for
water, (there are still several wells well-kept), which stands for the
28 constellations in the heaven. Meanwhile, he also considered the
dangers brought by probable wars that the city was surrounded and the
water supply was cut off. Subsequently, five ponds were constructed.
Each pond was connected with river and finally poured into OUJIANG
River. In geomantic omen theories, it was explained that “the five ponds
in the city were constructed according to the collocation of WUXING so
that the water of the ponds would not overflow even meeting heavy rain.”
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Ancient and contemporary maps of WENZHOU
click to enlarge |
The Big Dipper-shaped ancient WENZHOU city
click to enlarge |
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The construction of old WENZHOU
city is a representative for adjusting measures to local
conditions and also possesses the factors of “Universe Mode” in
geomantic omen. The location choosing and layout of WENZHOU city
is the masterpiece of GUOPU, who is a philosopher and
archeologist in DONGJIN Period. According to the principle of
geomantic omen, a city should be constructed backing on mountain
and facing sea or river. However, after GUOPU’s investigation
about the soil status here, he decided to construct the city on
south OUJIANG River because the soil in South OUJIANG River is
heavier than it is in North OUJIANG River. The reason is that
because the soil of north coast is composed of Silt sediment by
swashing of river current, which is not solid and cannot
withstand heavy load. However, the soil of south coast is
composed of sand and gravel sediment from mountainous areas
swashed by current, which is solid and of strong load ability.
When he went across the river to XIGUO Mountain to survey the
terrain, he found that there were seven mountains standing like
a ring (it is said that there are nine mountains, which includes
two small ones), which shaped like the Big Dipper. Then, he made
swift decision to constructing the city depending on the Big
Dipper-shaped Mountains. The city was embraced by mountains and
the seven mountains became the lean of city, which made the city
impregnable. It is said in a tale that when the city was
constructing, one white deer came across the heaven with flower
of almond held in its mouth. People regarded it as symbol for
good luck. Therefore, old WENZHOU city was called both “the Deer
city” and “the Big Dipper-shaped city”. We can see the ordered
layout of old WENZHOU city in the above old map. We can also
find the geographical advantage of its location in the
contemporary map of WENZHOU below. |
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This is a picture that briefly
describes the Big Dipper-shaped ancient WENZHOU city. We can
find that the natural terrain of it is quite similar with the
permutation and combination of the Big Dipper even without extra
explanation. Among them, HUAGAI Mountain, SONGTAI Mountain,
HAITAN Mountain and XIGUO Mountain are called “DOUKUI” (the four
stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper). JIGU Mountain, XUNJI
Mountain and RENWANG Mountain are called “DOUGOU” (the upper
three of the Big Dipper). LINGGUAN Mountain and HUANGTU Mountain
are the complement. By discovering the supernatural terrain,
GUOPU made up his mind about the layout of WENZHOU city. He
suggested constructing the city across the mountains so that
long-term safety and comfort can be available. Therefore, the
city is also called “the Big Dipper shaped city”. In WENZHOU
city, there are many places that embody the design idea of “ The combination of heaven and
human beings”, such as the excavated 28 wells which stand for
the 28 constellations in the heaven and the five ponds that were
constructed according to the collocations of WUXING. The idea of
constructing city according to the law of nature and its
development is totally the wisdom of Orient people.
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700 years later, a man
called FANGLA gathered people and launched an insurrection against the
government of BEISONG dynasty. The insurrection was overwhelming and the
insurrection army occupied JIANDE, SHEXIAN, JINHUA, HANGZHOU, QUXIAN,
and LISHUI continuously in three months. However, when the insurrection
army attacked WENZHOU city, they could not occupy it and had to retreat
although it had been besieged for about forty days. In JIAJING era of
Ming dynasty, Japanese pirates invaded our coastal area, which is equal
to the places of JIANGSU, ZHEJIANG, FUJIAN and GUANGDONG provinces,
occupied many cities. In 1155, the 34th year of JIAJING era,
they invaded HANGZHOU and burned down the LEIFENG TOWER. However, from
the 31st year of JIAJING era to the 42nd year of
JIAJING era, WENZHOU city suffered six times of invasions from Japanese
pirates but not one Japanese pirate was able to enter the city. The
merit for which would greatly owe to the GUOPU’s design of the Big
Dipper-shaped city except the army-civilian’s brave resistance. In
ancient WENZHOU, there was one song made to praise the design. It said,
“ The seven mountains look like the Big Dipper. There are several city
protection systems. Where is the mouth of the Big Dipper? It is the
HUAGAI Mountain.”
On the basis of city
constructed according to the design of GUOPU, WENZHOU city had become
very prosperous in BEISONG Dynasty after continuous development and
improvement. It is described in a poem that: “ WENZHOU is a prosperous
seashore city who got the nickname “ Small HANGZHOU” at the very
beginning. The street-like layout of rivers and ponds in it looks like
the layout in the game of I-go. The mountains surround the picturesque
buildings like natural barriers. It seems that flowers are smiling at me
everywhere and the moon is always following people to have a tour at
night. When it comes to the festival to win the award by rowing dragon
boats, many damsels would keep the curtains of their windows open to
watch the game.” |
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click to enlarge |
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The geomantic idea about
the construction design of ancient WENZHOU is ingenious. It embodies the
idea: “The combination of heaven and human beings” through the
collocations of the Big Dipper, 28 constellations and WUXING, which
would probably still be useful for the programming of modern cities as
reference. The issue of weighing soil by GUOPU also shows the principle
of science to some extent. Nowadays, the geological exploration has
proved that the geological condition in north coast is not as good as it
is in south coast because the soil of north coast is composed of Silt
sediment by swashing of river current, which is not solid and can not
withstand heavy load. However, the soil of south coast is composed of
sand and gravel sediment from mountainous areas swashed by current,
which is solid and of strong load ability so that a stable ground base
for city can be guaranteed.
The brilliant masterpiece
of GUOPU has brought safety to WENZHOU people for generations.
Accordingly, WENZHOU people praised him a lot for his contribution and
the GUOGONG temple was built for commemorating.
Translated from Chinese
by Dean Yu |
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