As we all know, cities are the product of historical development. When the productive forces and socio-economic development reach a certain stage, cities appear. Their origin is the relatively fixed villages or gathering places of the earliest primitive tribes and clans. As the Shuowen Jiezi said: "Cities are also used to enrich people."
The earliest primitive tribes in Jiaxing can be traced back to the Neolithic Age more than 7000 years ago. In the early spring of 1959, when the weather was warm and the grass was growing and the cauliflower was fragrant, a group of farmers came to dig a hole in Majiabang Natural Village of Nanhu People's Commune (today's Chengnan Street) to make compost. A large number of animal bones and relics of ancient ancestors were excavated, which shocked the Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Management Committee. They, together with the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, the Department of History of Hangzhou University, the Department of History of Hangzhou Normal University and other six units, formed an archaeological team and quickly came to carry out archaeological excavations.
So, in a land of 150 meters long from east to west, 100 meters wide from south to north and covering an area of about 15000 square meters, like a magician taking out a glass jar and a goldfish from under a big robe, stone (stone), stone axe, sharpening stone, stone spinning wheel, bone Si, bone whistle, bone arrowhead, bone awl, bone needle, bone chisel, pottery kettle, pottery pot, pottery bean, pottery pot, jade bead, wood oar have been unearthed successively, There are also carbonized hemp fabrics, round diamond...... According to scientific measurement, it is 6000 to 7000 years ago, belonging to the Neolithic Age, which also revealed the life scene of Majiabang people at that time:
At that time, Majiabang people had settled down and their production was mainly based on primitive agriculture, supplemented by fishing and hunting. Men had gradually become the main force to create wealth, so their status in the clan had been greatly improved. The marriage pattern also gradually appeared monogamy, and they began to have some private property.
At that time, Majiabang had dense forests, vast waters, numerous marshes and abundant water and grass. There were deer, roe deer, raccoon dog, Asian elephant, four unlike animals running from the forest. Carp, snakehead, black carp, crucian carp, as well as turtles, turtles, crocodiles, etc. grew in the water, making it an inexhaustible natural food for the ancestors. With the invention and continuous improvement of agricultural tools such as bone and wood sills, primitive agriculture has gradually entered into tilling sills agriculture marked by mature farming. The agricultural production technology of Majiabang people has become increasingly mature, especially in this soft soil and criss cross river swamp plain, rice fields have begun to take shape, and dogs, pigs, buffaloes and other livestock have been raised manually.
The Majiabang people, who live in marsh plains in the rainy and humid areas of the south of the Yangtze River, adapted to local conditions and created a form of "dry fence" housing architecture completely different from that of the ancestors in the Yellow River basin. There are three rows of column holes in the foundation of a rectangular house site in Majiabang, which indicates that the house at that time was dug first, with a base plate on it and wooden columns standing beside it to support the roof. This kind of wooden grass house is surrounded by ditches to facilitate drainage, which can not only avoid moisture or miasma, but also prevent snakes, insects or wild animals.
The spinning wheel used for twisting discovered by Ma Jiabang can be inferred that the original "waist machine" should have appeared at that time, and some upper clan leaders had worn (draped) fabrics made of wild kudzu. It conveys the ancient message that the textiles with simple patterns made of wild plants with fibers such as kudzu and hemp may have been invented by the Majiabang people.
In Majiabang settlement, people's life is relatively stable, the scale is expanding, and the internal structure is becoming more and more complete. The spatial distribution of living quarters, handicraft areas, public meeting places, and burial places has begun to form, and the city has begun to evolve or evolve. In the Majiabang cultural site, people found a rectangular house much larger than the surrounding buildings, with 13 pillar holes on the east, west and south sides. Could it be the public meeting place of the village [1]?
The continuous development of settlements began to evolve into a city during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In Jiaxing, there are the so-called "Eight Cities of Wuyue": the main city (today's Shuangqiao main city in Xiuzhou District), the new city (today's Xincheng Town in Xiuzhou District), Hecheng (today's Chongfu Town in Tongxiang City), Yancheng (today's Gaoqiao Town in Tongxiang City), Xuancheng (today's Chongfu southeast of Tongxiang City), and Gucheng, It is also called the Old City (near Zhapu, Pinghu City today), the Second City (the Second City of Haiyan County today), and Guancheng (Chang'an Town, Haining City today). In addition, there are Shexiang City (near Wangjiangjing Town, Xiuzhou District today), Mahao City (southeast of Wuyuan Town, Haiyan today), etc. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhang Yaotong wrote "Hundred Chants of Jiahe", in which there was a poem about the four cities of Wu and Yue: "Wu and Yue fight for supremacy, just in the use of troops, fighting for the battlefield, and everywhere is high." When Zhang Yaotong was commenting, he pointed out that the four cities are East Gu City, West New City, South City, and North City.
Although the eight cities of Wuyue are mainly military strongholds, residents can not be completely excluded. Among these cities, Changshui was at least an important settlement, and counties were set up in the Qin Dynasty at the latest. According to Jiahe Annals of the Yuan and Yuan Dynasties, in the sixth year of King Jing of Zhou (514 BC), in the tenth year (510 BC), Changshui County was set up, and in the Qin Dynasty, it was changed to boxing. However, there is no record of Changshui County's establishment in the ancient books and records of the Pre Qin Dynasty and the Geographical Records of the Han Dynasty. Therefore, whether there was Changshui County in the Pre Qin period has always been controversial. Therefore, according to the traditional records, the establishment of the county should begin with Youquan in the Qin Dynasty.
The meaning of Youquan, which is read in Vietnamese and Chinese, is incomprehensible. Now there is Youquan Mountain in Yuhang District of Hangzhou City. It seems far fetched to say that the first emperor of Qin saw the prisoners tired when he was patrolling here, because he called them tired and made false statements to justify his fists.
The jurisdiction of Youquan County in the Qin Dynasty was far broader than that of Jiaxing today, including Nanhu, Xiuzhou, Tongxiang, Jiashan, etc. Today, Qingpu, Jinshan, Songjiang, and Wujiang County in Jiangsu belong to Youquan County. So, where was the Yuquan County government at that time?
According to legend, the county government at that time had built the city of Tuoli. According to the Jiahe Annals of the Yuan Zhiyuan Period and the Jiaxing Prefecture Annals of the Ming Hongzhi Period, "Yili City is forty-five miles south of the county. It is two zhang high and one zhang five feet thick, and will be abandoned later." With a wall of two zhang high and one zhang five feet thick, Yili should be a city of no small scale. Where will this Li City be? Over the years, people have different opinions, which are hard to point out.
One said that the ancient Changshui County was located in Qingpu County of Shanghai today. In the Qin and Han Dynasties, it was trapped in the current lake. It was moved to Xiashi in Haining today. According to the Annals of Huating County by Ming Zhengde, "It is commonly said that in the midst of the Three Maos, the clouds open with every wind, and the Quzhou well is closed to see, which is covered by the old city of boxing." Since Tu Long, a dramatist of the Ming Dynasty who once served as the county magistrate of Qingpu, put forward this statement, it has become very popular for a time, and until modern scholars still believe that the ancient city of boxing in Changshui is in the midst of the Maos. But many people deny this statement. Tan Qixiang and other scholars believe that Changshui is the river from Jiaxing City to Haining Xiashi, and its name has not changed since ancient times. In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there was Changshui County, which was named after water. The city should be located in Xiashi and Jiaxing, not Qingpu. What's more, if there were settlements in the valley, it should have been silted up and submerged by the Wusong River during the Tang and Song Dynasties, but never in the Qin Dynasty. At the same time, the ancient Haiyan County is relatively close to Dianmao, so Changshui and Youquan County should not be or close to each other. In addition, the land formation in Dianmao area was late and the population gathered late. Now, the central part of Jiaxing City, that is, the area where Nanhu District is located, was earlier and the terrain is high, so the county seat should be here.
Another saying is that Changshui was governed by Quan County in the south of Jiaxing today. According to Taiping Huanyu Ji of the Song Dynasty, "the boxing city is located five miles south of the county". Therefore, many people hold this view. However, there are neither specific records in historical books nor visible traces of this saying.
There is another saying that the county seat of Changshui and Youquan is in Xiashi, Haining today. According to the Jin "Taikang Tunnel Record", the Quan Administration was originally located in Xiashi, and after the surrounding area was assigned to Yanguan County, the county administration was moved to the new site in Jiaxing. Those who hold this view believe that Taikang Tundao Ji is the earliest and more accurate ancient book to record the geographical situation of the Western Jin Dynasty, and its records are basically reliable, so the ancient boxing city should be near Xiashi.
It is difficult to determine which of the three statements is more accurate at present, but it can be roughly determined that there was Yili City at that time and it was built near Changshui, and its location can be basically determined along the coast of today's Changshuitang, that is, between today's Jiaxing City and Xiashi of Haining City.
In the Qin Dynasty, Guili City was abandoned and moved, possibly destroyed by floods and forced to move. The Story of Sounding the Gods, written by Gan Bao, a famous historian and litterateur in the Jin Dynasty, tells a story: "In the Qin Dynasty, there was a long history of Shuixian County. The first emperor's nursery rhyme said, 'There is blood at the gate of the city, and the city should be sunk into a lake.' Some women heard about it, and peeped into the courtroom. The gatekeeper wanted to bind it. For example, the back door would be painted with dog blood, and if they saw blood, they would walk away. Suddenly there was a flood, and they wanted to lose the county. The master of the book ordered him to work in Bering, and he said, 'Why do you suddenly make fish?' Gan said, 'The Ming government also makes fish.' So it became a lake. "
That is to say, in the time of the First Emperor of Qin Dynasty, Youquan County was also called Changshui County. At that time, a nursery rhyme was spread in the street that said, "When there is blood at the city gate, the city is sunk into a lake". An old lady went to the city gate to observe every day after she heard about it. The soldiers at the gate of the city suspected that the old lady should be arrested because they went there many times. The old lady explained why she went to the city gate to observe every day. The soldier laughed and let the old woman go, then he thought of mischief. He killed a dog and smeared its blood on the city gate. The next day, the old lady came to watch again. When she saw the blood on the city gate, she immediately turned pale, and hurriedly took her family out of the city regardless of everything. At that time, the flood suddenly came and flooded the whole city, turning into a vast lake.
This is a novel as well as a myth. However, from Jiahe Annals of the Yuan Dynasty to Jiaxing Mansion Annals of the Qing Dynasty, many local chronicles have quoted this legendary folklore. Myths and legends are often a true history. Then we can relate to the process and reason from Changshui to Youquan. "The first emperor of Qin patrolled eastward, looking at the air, and it was said that in five hundred years' time, there would be a heavenly spirit in Jiangdong. The first emperor ordered 100000 prisoners to dig up and pollute the land, which was called Youquan." It can be completely imagined or inferred that the city of Tuoli was destroyed by a huge flood at that time, and was forced to move.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the State of Wu dredged the Changshui River on the basis of natural rivers, and built the Yuli City near the Changshui River. Its walls, which are 20 feet high and 15 feet thick, show that it has a large city scale. In the Qin Dynasty, the First Emperor of Qin mobilized 100000 prisoners, many of whom were soldiers who dug the waterway of the mausoleum. Due to the change of terrain and river course, a huge flood hit, destroying and submerging the city of Guili. This made 100000 prisoners and soldiers who were exhausted from the heavy work of digging rivers and building weirs become more tired because of the flood, They fled in succession. Therefore, whether it is rumored or renamed, Changshui has become Youquan.
