Text and pictures/Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter Deng Qiong (except for another signature) Video/Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter Deng Qiong Literature and Art
When the phrase “Kaifeng Zhou Bridge and Bian River Site” suddenly appeared at the launch conference of the “Archaeological China” major project of the National Bureau of Culture and Culture on September 28, people did not realize that one appeared more than a dozen times in “Water Margin”, and there was a special chapter in Meng Yuanlao’s “Dream of Tokyo” that Wang Anshi, Fan Chengda, Mei Yao and other sages are remembered in the poems of the ministers and other ancestors. The cultural landmark of Babaylan, the prefecture bridge in Tokyo, Northern Song Dynasty, has seen the light of day again.
Ming Dynasty Zhouqiao Restored Picture Kaifeng Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism Li Chen Hand-painted
In fact, even in the 4,400 square meters of exploration site at the intersection of Zhongshan Road and Liberation Road in Kaifeng City today, the archaeologists in Henan who had been digging for several years were not until the winter in December 2021, carefully, shoveled and chiseled, and excavated the giant seahorse and beast stone wall relief from both sides of the Bian River, and realized that a classic archaeological example of “mutual verification of culture and objects” was born from them.
The sixth phase of the main body excavation of the Zhouqiao Main Body (from east to west) Photo provided by Kaifeng Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism
The results notice of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage pointed out that the discovery of the Kaifeng Zhou Bridge and the Bian River site in Henan has outstanding universal value for studying the structural layout of the Beijing City in the Northern Song Dynasty and the history and culture of the Grand Canal, and has great practical significance for protecting and inheriting the Yellow River culture and promoting the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt.
Sometimes, a reporter from Yangcheng Evening News walked into this latest major archaeological site and intuitively felt a search process that wiped away the smoke and dust of history and reproduced the prosperity of thousands of years.
1. Bianhe Prefecture Bridge, a country that has been known for thousands of years. Why is the Prefecture Bridge so important?
“Standing on the state bridge is truly a thousand years old.” Wei Peishi, director of Kaifeng Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism, was very contagious. Zhouqiao was built in the middle of the Tang Dynasty (7From 80 to 783), it developed into the transportation hub and urban coordinates in the center of the capital Bianliang (now Kaifeng).
Zhouqiao Mingyue was once the “Eight Scenerys of Bianjing” Kaifeng Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism Li Chen Hand-painted
“Zhouqiao” is a common name for the folk throughout the ages. It was renamed “Tianhan Bridge” in the Song Dynasty because it faces Danei Yu Street, also known as “Yuqiao”. This important bridge across the Bian River section of the Grand Canal was not only frequently seen in various documents and literary works of the Song Dynasty, but was also used throughout the ages until it was buried underground as the Yellow River flooded in the late Ming Dynasty. Although the bridge is gone, “Zhouqiao Hu La Soup” and “Zhouqiao Snacks” have always been vividly left in the lives of Kaifeng people.
Archaeological site at the Zhouqiao site
On the huge archaeological site in front of you, between the exploration sites, walls and gullies that are excavated and protected in stages, it is no longer easy for viewers to judge the direction of the bridge deck and river. Wang Sanying, deputy director of Kaifeng Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute, patiently pointed out for us that “the bridge spans north and south, and the Babaylan River flows from west to east.”
Historical records show that Zhou Bridge is located on Yu Street, the central axis of the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, crossing the Bian River (i.e. Kaifeng section of the Grand Canal). To the north is Xuande Gate, the majestic imperial city, looking north, and there are many government offices; to the south is Zhuque Gate, the south gate of the bustling inner city, with merchants gathering; the Bian River, which undertakes important functions such as canal transportation and transportation, flows through under the bridge. Historians have long confirmed that the population of Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty exceeded one million, and it was the largest city in the world at that time. Zhouqiao uniquely connects the three functional areas of politics, commerce and residence, which shows its advanced and prosperous history in the history of urban civilization development.
It is not difficult for us to understand why the famous book “Water Margin”, which takes the Northern Song Dynasty and Bianjing as important time and space backgrounds, appeared in the Zhouqiao area dozens of times: the hero Yang Zhijing guided him to the ZhouqiaoSelling knife; Lu Zhishen asked for directions to find Daxiangguo Temple, and the neighbors said that it was not far from Zhouqiao; Song Jiang, Lin Chong, Yang Xiong, Shi Xiu, one of them had all gone to the restaurant beside Zhouqiao to sit down…
In Meng Yuanlao’s “Dream of Tokyo”, Zhouqiao has not only become an important coordinate for positioning urban scenery, but also has a special chapter called “Zhouqiao Night Market”. He has troubledly listed more than 60 attractive food and snacks in summer and winter, which is extremely important to say that it is open all night and does not waste the cold and heat.
People can therefore better understand why Wang Anshi, a famous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote a poem to recall: “The Zhouqiao step on the moon and thinks about the mountain pepper, but look back at the sorrow and not feel the distance. I heard the old sob again tonight, but I looked at the mountain moon and talked about the Zhouqiao”;
The Southern Song poet Fan Chengda went to the Jin Dynasty and passed by the former capital of Bianjing. Why did the “Zhouqiao is the sky street in the north and south, and the elders waited for the return of every year. I endured my tears and asked the envoys, when would the six armies really come?”… The thought of family and country supported by famous quotes made the Zhouqiao sound louder for thousands of years.
Judging from the current excavation situation, the river channel from Bian River is narrower, so the length of the north and south of the Zhou Bridge is only about 26 meters, but the width of its east-west bridge deck is more than 30 meters because it must match the width of the Yujie Street at both ends. Such a unique shape with a width greater than a length is very rare in the history of ancient Chinese bridge construction, and it can also vaguely see the prosperity of the “Bridge City” back then.
2. For more than thirty years, the remains are gradually seeing the light of day
Where is the Zhou Bridge? Archaeologists actually knew for a long time that it might still be preserved below the ground of today’s Zhongshan Road, the central axis of Kaifeng, which has not changed for thousands of years.
Kaifeng was the imperial capital of all dynasties, but due to the redirection of the Yellow River, the city encountered more than once a “destroyment” of floods. The city of Kaifeng in the Qing Dynasty, Kaifeng in the Ming Dynasty, Bianjing in the Jin Dynasty, Dongjing in the Northern Song Dynasty, Bianzhou in the Tang Dynasty, and Daliang in the Wei capital of the Warring States Period, six cities overlap from top to bottom, buried about 3 to 14 meters below the ground today – this is Kaifeng’s unique “city-crossing city” phenomenon.
With the high groundwater level of the city in Komiks, this ancient capital guards such a “cultural rich mine”, but it has been difficult to carry out large-scale urban archaeology for a long time.
In 1984, when Kaifeng built a large sewer pipe in the middle section of Zhongshan Road, some of which were discoveredThe Zhouqiao Bridge Deck was found by archaeologists to go down to the bridge hole to inspect the existence of the Zhouqiao Bridge and confirmed it with the location recorded in historical records. But at that time, the conditions for excavation were not met, and the groundwater level was too high, so the ruins could only be backfilled for future generations.
The Qing brick bridge deck of the Ming Dynasty Zhouqiao excavated today is a shocking glance, but also a discovery: Qiu Gang, who was once the captain of the Kaifeng Cultural Relics and Archaeology Team, once wrote an article in the 1990s that the wooden paper base found at the bottom of the Zhouqiao was earlier than the Southern Song Dynasty designs discovered in Jinji Bridge, Quanzhou, Fujian, which led to the Northern Song Dynasty in advance when my country used this technology in ancient times.
In 2014, the Grand Canal of Sui and Tang Dynasties in China was successfully applied for World Heritage. Although Kaifeng is at an important node of the Grand Canal, no visible sites can be included. Driven by the construction of the National Grand Canal Cultural Belt, the excavation of the Bian River site has been put on the agenda.
Since 2018, the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Kaifeng Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute have carried out continuous archaeological excavations of the Bian River and Zhouqiao sites.
The archaeological team members first started the exploration on the east side to reveal the Bian River in Kaifeng City layer by layer in the section; in March 2020, excavation work on the west side of the Zhouqiao Bridge began, and even more amazing discoveries were waiting for them. 
Wei Peishi (left), Wang Sanying (right) and others inspected the porcelain pieces unearthed from the Zhouqiao site
3. Work tirelessly and explore the “Great Song Dynasty” styleCinema
Cancema discovery can only stop at the remains of the Ming Dynasty?
Standing on the Zhouqiao Bridge deck at the archaeological site, you can clearly see the blue bricks, ruts, etc. preserved from the original traces. Wang Sanying introduced that the structure and bridge body of this Ming Dynasty prefecture bridge are basically complete, with bluestone paved bridge decks and brick arches. The geese wings extending to both sides of the strait are also brick and stone structures.
The remains of the Four Kings of the Golden Dragon from the late Ming Dynasty were also found on the bridge, which was related to the sacrifice of the River God, and three exquisite gold-plated bronze statues were unearthed. The temple has occupied a considerable part of the bridge deck on the east side of the bridge, which can be seenThe appearance of Zhouqiao in the Ming Dynasty changed, but it was still a prosperous city here.
Restoration of the Ming Dynasty Zhou Bridge Kaifeng Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism Li Chen Hand-painted
Previously, a photo of the state bridge with a hole released by the media caused questions. Because Meng Yuanlao recorded in “Dream of Tokyo” that the Northern Song Dynasty Bridge was not an arch bridge, it should be a column-beam flat bridge with “stone columns under the bridge”, which was low and not covered with boats, and Cinema was convenient for the emperor’s car to drive on the bridge.
For this reason, Wang Sanying specially led the reporter to the underpass and explained that the small bridge hole seen from the outside is actually the foundation of the Four Kings Temples of Jinlong, and the taller bridge hole inside belongs to the Ming Dynasty Prefecture Bridge.
Arch under the body of the Zhouqiao Bridge in the Ming Dynasty
In order to allow the large canal transport ship to pass, the Zhouqiao Bridge was converted into an arch bridge in the Ming Dynasty. The bridge hole was tall, and the distance from the top of the cave to the bottom of the river was more than 6.5 meters, which was in line with the description of the Ming Dynasty historical records that the Zhouqiao Bridge was high and the water depth, “no boat could pass without getting rid of the mast.” But the Babaylanzhou Bridge was not moved, but used the bridge foundation of the Song Dynasty.
Although it is undoubtedly a prefecture bridge, since the archaeological excavation began in 2018, the “Great Song Dynasty” style that people hope for is still only a glimpse, which disappoints the archaeological team members somewhat. Because the most important mission of Kaifeng City archaeology is to find the original remains of the Song Dynasty and restore the scene of the imperial capital. To this end, they worked tirelessly in the bustling city center, hoping to find “empirical evidence”.
4. Stone carvings and murals, empirically, “Menghualu” Zhouqiao
It was not until December 2021, the coldest season, that the archaeology of the Zhouqiao site was almost over, and a huge turnaround was ushered in.
At that time, the archaeological team members were planning to explore the strata from the east side of the state bridge and then along the north bank of the river, but unexpectedly found traces of the stone wall from the unusual cracks. The further they went, the more intense the surprise they felt.
Some parts of the stone walls on the north bank of the Zhou Bridge
Ming Dynasty bricks, peony carvings, curly grass patterns, and auspicious clouds, cranes, and auspicious beasts with unicorns… This is very consistent with Meng Yuanlao’s description of the Northern Song Dynasty Zhou Bridge—
“The pillars are all made of bluestone, stone beams, stalagmites, and railings, and the two sides of the bridge are all stone walls, carved and engraved with seahors, water beasts, and flying clouds, and stone pillars are densely arranged under the bridge”—they have long been able to recite.
So, from the most reliable The northeastward extension of the geese wings near the bridge body began. Archaeological team members advanced east along the river bank and found giant stone murals with good preservation, extended length of more than 21 meters and patterns of about 3.3 meters high. Then, at the corresponding location on the southern bank of the river, they found “same style” stone murals with extended length of more than 23 meters.
These rare treasures, which brought Shouze, a craftsman of the Song Dynasty, finally confirmed the existence of the Northern Songzhou Bridge with cultural relics.
Some parts of the stone walls on the south bank of Zhouqiao
The murals of Zhouqiao currently found are concentrated on the east side of the excavated bridge, embedded in the embankments on both sides, each made of hundreds of stone slabs densely built. Each stone slab is carved toward the facade of the river, and is stacked like a puzzle, forming a graceful relief mural that can be seen on the bridge and in the river.
The murals on both sides have three groups of patterns, each group consisting of a sturdy and galloping unicorn “sea horse” and a crane and auspicious clouds, and go up against the water. Two horses, one in front and one behind, their heads are raised, their manes fluttering, and one in the middle looks back and looking at them. CinemaI think of their eyes.
The “sea horse” auspicious beast on the stone wall of the south bank of the Zhou Bridge still flows in gas. The white marks on its body are caused by the modern building above the original site when it was constructed and piled. The archaeological team members speculated that there should be murals of the same size on both sides of the west bank of the Zhou Bridge. The two sides are added together, and the bridge body of the Zhou Bridge itself will reach a total of about 100 meters. href=”https://funnybookish.com/”>Komiksright, which can match the width of the streets at both ends.
Scholars then found another document, Babaylan proves the origin of the stone wall of the prefecture bridge. According to Zhang Zhifu’s notes in the Song Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Zhezong of Song Dynasty, Prime Minister Zhang Dun appointed Jia Zhongmin to repair the prefecture bridge. Jia first changed the bridge to a stone bank, but was laughed at by a water-controlling official Song Yongchen, saying, “The stone bank is very unique, but it is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom! “Jia hurriedly asked for advice, and Song suggested: “Please be a seahorse and make it bigger. “Jia then did as he did.
Looking back then, the Zhouqiao was between the bright moon and the clear waves, and the Ruijian beasts on both sides of the straits were rushing, connecting the rivers and the seas. What a vast and graceful imperial capital atmosphere!
Auspicious clouds and cranes on the stone wall
5. A rare treasure, enough to update the history of art
At present, archaeological operations are still continuing, and the lower edge of the stone wall on the south bank has been promoted to the cleaning of the word “tian” layer. At the same time, the special protection plan for stone carvings and murals is constantly being improved and unfolded.
Wang Sanying pointed out a detail: these carved stone slabs are obviously made and numbered separately, and then “assembled” into an overall pattern in sequence, and each stone slab does not affect it. href=”https://funnybookish.com/”>CinemaThe carved space is shallowly engraved with numbers. For example, the reporter randomly identified the words “Sitting Twelve”, “Shift Mountain” and “Wild Twenty-seven” at the scene.
The code “Wild Twenty-seven” visible on the stone wall on the south bank Photo provided by Kaifeng Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism
The vertical serial number is arranged from the bottom to the top, and the north wall is taken from the Song Dynasty from the sentence “Superior from the mountains and riversCinema, the middle man sits in the bamboo forest, the king has his own nature, Pingzi is paying attention to it, the southern wall uses the “Heaven and Earth, the universe is vast and vast, the sun and the moon are full of, and the Chen Su is in the “Thousand Characters” in “The Legend of the World”
From west to east, it is based on the overlapping positioning of the first, second, and third groups of Chinese counts, and it is not messy at all, which is of a unique interest.
On the construction site, some technicians call these murals “big treasures”. They have been protected with appearance and are only for public visits for about two hours a day.
The murals on the north bank are more complete, but because they are facing the sun, the weathering is slightly heavier, and the patterns are not as clear as those on the south bank; while the murals on the south bank are beautifully undulating, but there are some traces of destruction and disturbance in later generations on the upper edge, and some Komiks carved with peonies and curly grass patterns, and it looks no longer in its original position… There are even several traces of modern engineering pile driving, which are very “approaching” the stone reliefs, which makes people feel a sense of “living after the disaster”.
The full view of the huge stone carving auspicious mural’s southern wall Photo provided by Kaifeng Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism
Liu Haiwang, director of Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, mentioned in his report to the State Administration of Cultural Relics that the main body of the Zhouqiao discovered now uses a binder mainly composed of lime, which is in line with the characteristics of the Ming Dynasty; while the binder of the stone walls on the river bank is mainly sand, which is in line with the characteristics of the Tang and Song dynasties.
In addition, according to the detection of X-fluorescence spectrometer and X-ray diffractometer, the oxide composition, phase composition and content of the stone walls on both sides of the banks are very close to the stones in the section of the Yingyang Duangou River in Henan Province.
At the expert discussion meeting held in September this year, Beijing <a Professor Zheng Yan of the School of Art of Komiks University believes that the discovery of giant stone carvings and murals in Zhouqiao can be written into Chinese art history textbooks, and their formats and quality can basically represent the highest specifications of the stone work system in the Northern Song Dynasty and the highest level of carving technology; and in addition, many of the contents in the Northern Song Dynasty classic "Creation of the French" can be combined with the stone carvings of seahorse and auspicious beasts found this time to be understood, which is also very important.
Stone wall on the north bank of Zhouqiao – Post-production gold-tracing line version Photo provided by Kaifeng Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism
6. ExaminationThe ancients are deeply studied, and the history is connected to the reality. At present, with the popularity of TV series such as “Menghualu”, “Qing Pingle”, and “Babaylan”, the cultural enthusiasm caused by Song Feng and Song Yun is unparalleled.
The archaeological achievements of Kaifeng Zhou Bridge and Bian River ruins, especially the huge stone murals of Zhou Bridge, are re-expected, marking the astonishing height of Chinese civilization a thousand years ago through the “mutual verification of culture and objects”, telling the archaeological story of Komiks in the era with “Chinese style”.
The greatest charm of archaeology lies in connecting history, reality and the future.
Northern Song Dynasty porcelain unearthed from the Zhouqiao site Photo provided by Kaifeng Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism
At present, scholars represented by Liu Qingzhu, former director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, are advocating in-depth research on Zhouqiao and the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty to explain the value of the national political etiquette and the form of Chinese civilization, connecting the dual historical veins of Yellow River culture and Grand Canal culture;
The Northern Song Dynasty ship lamp unearthed from the Zhouqiao site Photo provided by Kaifeng Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism
The leaders of archaeological work such as Liu Haiwang and Wang Sanying hope to achieve a new breakthrough in archaeology in the Northern Song Dynasty through the excavation of the Zhou Bridge; Wei Peishi is busy taking into account the “excavation, protection, planning, and display” and is running for the next step of building a national-level large ruins park integrating archaeological sites, archaeological museums, and cultural parks…
Citizens and tourists came to appreciate the Zhou Bridge, look at the murals, and send children to the newly established “public archaeological study demonstration base”, experience the simulation exploration method, enhance cultural confidence, and touch the history and culture of our nation with their own hands.
(For more news, please follow Yangchengpai pai.ycwb.com)
The original article was published in the A03 edition of “Yangcheng Evening News” November 1, 2022
Source | Yangcheng Evening News·Yangcheng School Editor | Editor Lu Dejie | Proofreader by Zhou Xinyi | Gui Qing