Cultural Observation: How to Follow "The Old Mayor" Su Dongpo on a City Walk in Hangzhou?
2026-06-16
The clear and shimmering water is the best, and the misty mountains are also unique. "Nearly a thousand years ago, Su Shi, a literary giant of the Northern Song Dynasty, served in Hangzhou twice and wrote a famous line in the misty rain of West Lake. He is not only a connoisseur of West Lake, but also a manager of Hangzhou.
Today, more than 900 years later, if we want to take a walk in Hangzhou like Su Dongpo, which path should we take? What sights are you looking at? Where can we meet him from afar?
Recently, the author followed Professor Wu Zhengqiang from the School of History at Zhejiang University to participate in the "Su Dongpo Hangzhou Day Tour" Hangzhou Cultural Relics Tracing City Walk activity initiated by the Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Cultural Relics. Starting from the inscription on the cliff at Damailing in Hangzhou, the author strolled along the Su Causeway and stopped at the Qianwang Temple. Following the inscription, long embankment, and inscriptions left by Su Shi, the author embarked on a journey across time and space to explore West Lake. Exploring how this' old mayor 'walked through Hangzhou between lakes and mountains, and how he remains unforgettable even after a thousand years.
A stone carving, leaving a friend circle of nearly a thousand years
Following the small path at the northeast foot of Santai Mountain, the rocks below the Half Mountain Pavilion are rugged, which is the inscription on the cliff of Damailing. Due to its remote location, this stone carving has been able to survive for nearly a thousand years in wind and rain, and is the only reliable original inscription by Su Dongpo that still exists in Hangzhou.
The cliff is 1.4 meters high, 1.8 meters long, with a diameter of about 10 centimeters. It is engraved in regular script and written on the right side, "Wu Zhengqiang pointed his finger gently to the rock surface." The inscription on it reads' Su Shi, Wang Yu, Yang Jie, Zhang Zhu, traveled together to India and crossed Mailing Ridge. '
He crouched down and pointed to the rock, "The cliff inscriptions are arranged from left to right, with Su Shi's name first, implying his official position as the governor of Hangzhou
Yang Jie, Wang Yu, and Zhang Zhu were colleagues or friends of Su Shi after his second visit to Hangzhou. Wu Zhengqiang introduced that according to the "West Lake Chronicle", Su Shi had a total of five inscriptions by the West Lake, most of which were chiseled and destroyed during the "Yuan You Party Prohibition", and only this one survived.
Tracing back to the second day of March in the fifth year of Yuanyou (1090). In the spring of March, the mountain flowers are in full bloom. Su Shi, who was in his fifties, came to Hangzhou for the second time with a cheerful mood. He invited three or five colleagues to travel to India and arrived at Damailing. Seeing the peach blossoms, willow trees, birds singing, and flowers blooming, he decided to take a stone as a souvenir at this moment.
Wu Zhengqiang led the author along the possible route of the past and speculated, "Coming out of India, crossing Mailing, you can reach Nanshan. Su Shi and his delegation should have taken a 'golden tourism route' of Hangzhou in the Song Dynasty
In just over ten words, it records the leisurely moments of this literati governor wandering between lakes and mountains. Su Shi once said, "When I was five years old in Hangzhou, I felt that I was originally from Hangzhou." Hangzhou was not only a place for officials to visit, but also a second hometown for his spirit.
In the depths of a misty lake, there lies a bank that will benefit the people for generations to come
Following Su Shi's footsteps back then, he walked out of Damailing and arrived at Su Causeway by West Lake. The long embankment lies across the lake, connecting the north and south lakes and mountains along the way. Walking along, the lake surface is wide and the distant mountains are in sight. The scenery of West Lake slowly unfolds with each step.
But what Su Shi saw back then was far from the poetic painting of today. "Standing in front of the" Su Causeway Spring Dawn "Imperial Stele Pavilion, Wu Zhengqiang recounted the past of managing the lake.
In the fifth year of the Yuanyou reign of the Northern Song Dynasty, Su Shi was appointed as the governor of Hangzhou. At that time, West Lake was "harmonious and the flat lake was overgrown with water and grass, and most of the lake surface was swallowed up. He wrote on the "Hangzhou Qidu Di Kai Xihu Zhi" and exclaimed, "Hangzhou has Xihu, just like people have eyebrows and eyes.
Su Shi strongly advocated dredging West Lake, "Wu Zhengqiang explained a detail. The most difficult problem in dredging West Lake is that the excavated silt has nowhere to be piled up. Su Shi sought advice from the people and decided to build a long embankment across the north and south of West Lake using silt, which would not only save the trouble of transportation but also facilitate people's travel. But the silt is too soft and needs to be mixed with Chishan hard soil.
This move was strongly opposed by the monks of Goryeo Temple, claiming that Chishan is a feng shui treasure land and digging it will cause disasters. The project was forced to be put on hold, and Su Shi rushed to the scene upon hearing the news, exclaiming with emotion, "Between heaven and earth, the people are of paramount importance; in all things, the people are the greatest." Eventually, the dam was able to continue construction.
This is not just a water conservancy project, but also a concentrated embodiment of Su Shi's people-oriented ideology, "Wu Zhengqiang said." As Su Shi's political heritage, the Su Causeway was once destroyed in the vortex of the old and new party struggles. Later generations have different interpretations of this. It is not just a scenery, but also a projection of the history of the Song Dynasty, reflecting Su Shi's ups and downs in his life trajectory and the fate of the court
After the embankment was completed, it stretched for nearly 3 kilometers and later became known as Su Causeway. During the Southern Song Dynasty, "Su Di Chun Xiao" was listed as the top ten scenic spots in West Lake. In 2011, the West Lake Cultural Landscape was included in the The World Heritage List, and Su Di, as an aesthetic model of "harmony between man and nature", was recognized by the world.
Nowadays, strolling along the embankment, one can see the beautiful scenery of lakes and mountains, while stepping on the most tangible legacy of an 'old mayor'.
One side of the monument bears the responsibility of crossing the party struggle
Searching for the last stop, we arrived at the Qianwang Temple by West Lake. There are three stone tablets standing in the hall, with strict clerical script. These are remnants of the Ming Dynasty's re engraved "Biaozhongguan Stele".
The original stone carved in the Song Dynasty has long been destroyed, "said Wu Zhengqiang standing in front of the monument." The Stele of Loyalty Observation "was written and written by Su Shi in the first year of Yuanfeng in the Northern Song Dynasty (1078). The governor of Hangzhou, Zhao Hao, requested the restoration of the Qian family tomb temple in Wuyue. Zhao Hao specially sent people to Xuzhou to ask Su Shi to write a book. Su Shi recorded the achievements of the three generations and five kings of the Qian family in governing the two provinces of Zhejiang and returning the land to the Song Dynasty, and praised "their people who died of old age without understanding the military revolution".
Although the inscription depicts the old events of the Qian family, it reveals Su Shi's understanding of 'meritorious service to the people' - regardless of background, only virtue is revered. "Wu Zhengqiang pointed out that Su Shi was repeatedly demoted due to party struggles throughout his life, but in the inscription, he unabashedly praised his political stance of" upholding the loyalty of officials "and" protecting the territory and ensuring the safety of the people ", which in itself is a sense of responsibility that transcends party struggles.
Regarding the fate of this monument: the original stone of the Song Dynasty was destroyed by the party ban at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, and was later re engraved based on the original version of the Northern Song Dynasty; The re engraved fragments of the Southern Song Dynasty were repeatedly unearthed in the Qing Dynasty, but were completely destroyed in the 1970s. The existing Mingke is the post robbery Yu Zhen. During the renovation of Qianwang Temple in 2020, four pieces of Song Dynasty carved residual stones were unexpectedly excavated.
Wu Zhengqiang sighed, "Su Shi experienced great ups and downs throughout his life, serving three terms and three dismissals, but he never changed his obsession with 'doing things for the people'. He dredged two rivers, renovated six wells, and established one of China's earliest public hospitals, 'Anle Fang', in Hangzhou. Managing West Lake was just one of his many beneficial causes for the people
The three locations are connected by the triple figure of Su Dongpo, the "old mayor" of Hangzhou: the literati and scholars strolling through the mountains and waters on the cliffs of Damailing, the governor who works hard and benefits the people on the Su Causeway, and the politician who conveys the message through literature in the "Loyal Observation Stele". Triple identity, merged into one between the lakes and mountains of Hangzhou.
As Su Shi once said, "In my previous life, I arrived in Hangzhou, and it was like visiting an old place." Hangzhou and Su Dongpo have already achieved each other and become each other's hometowns. (Outlook New Era)
Edit:Luoyu Responsible editor:Zhoushu
Source:chinanews.com
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