The past and present of 'Xijin Ferry' in Zhenjiang

Xijin Ferry, a place well known to locals in Zhenjiang, but little known to outsiders; Xijin Ferry, a famous ferry crossing in the Yangtze River in ancient times, is now a national 4A tourist attraction. During the Three Kingdoms period, Xijin Ferry was originally named Suan Mountain Ferry, renamed Jinling Ferry in the Tang Dynasty, and was not called Xijin Ferry until the Song Dynasty. Records show that the history of Xijin Ferry can be traced back to the Six Dynasties period, about 1800 years ago. Over the centuries, many historical events and cultural anecdotes have taken place here, enough for people to reminisce and ponder. Despite the changes of time and the cycle of centuries, Xijin Ferry remains. Since the Six Dynasties of China (222-589), Xijin Ferry has been a key water and land crossing point on the Yangtze River. During the Yongjia period (307-313), there were many years of war in the Central Plains, and the northern gentry and people could not bear the ravages of war. Hundreds of thousands of people landed south from Xijin Ferry, which is the famous 'Yongjia South Crossing' in history. Over the past century, the number of people from the north who have moved south through Xijin Ferry is no less than a million. Now, in the southern wing of Jiangsu and in Huzhou and Hangzhou, Zhejiang, where the Wu dialect is spoken, many villagers can speak standard Mandarin. This may be related to the fact that people from the Central Plains in the north settled in the south via Xijin Ferry, and their descendants inherited the dialect of their ancestors. Over the centuries, there have been hundreds of important battles at Xijin Ferry, so in ancient times, it was also a strategic military fortress for the north to enter the south. Tang Dynasty poets Li Bai and Meng Haoran, Song Dynasty Wang Anshi, Lu You and others have all waited for boats at Xijin Ferry, waiting to cross the river and leaving many moving poems for later generations to chant. Among them, the most popular is the poem 'Title Jinling Ferry' by Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Hu. The poem writes: 'Jinling Ferry's small mountain building, a night traveler can worry. The tide falls in the night river under the slanting moon, two or three star fires are Gua Zhou.' The whole poem is beautiful in words and poignant in artistic conception, highlighting the poet's loneliness, confusion, and desolation at the time. The Jinling Ferry in the poem is actually Xijin Ferry. To commemorate this Tang Dynasty poet, the local authorities have erected a bronze statue of Zhang Hu and a stele of this poem on Xiaomatou Street in Xijin Ferry for tourists to admire. Inside Xijin Ferry Scenic Area, there are many historical and cultural relics, including the British Consulate in Zhenjiang built during the Qing Tongzhi (1864) period, Fifty-three Slopes, Guanyin Cave, Shaoguan Stone Pagoda and Waiting for the Ferry Pavilion. The most famous is the Shaoguan Stone Pagoda. Because its shape is similar to a bottle, it is also called the Bottle Pagoda. It is reported that the Shaoguan Stone Pagoda is a relic of the Yuan Dynasty and has a history of more than 700 years. Its preservation is amazing. The Shaoguan Stone Pagoda is now a cultural relic protection unit in Jiangsu Province, and many well-known experts unanimously praise the Shaoguan Stone Pagoda as the only well-preserved and oldest street stone pagoda in China. Since the Yuan Dynasty, Tibetan Buddhism has flourished and there are many sects. Its penetration is very strong and its influence is widespread at home and abroad. The Shaoguan Stone Pagoda is a strong evidence of the penetration of Tibetan Buddhism into Zhenjiang. The shape of the Shaoguan Stone Pagoda comes from a kind of covered bowl pagoda, which is a Lama pagoda, from which we can see the shadow of the Indian Stupa. Of course, various types of pagodas in China are also combined with China's actual conditions and evolved from the ancestor of the pagoda - the Indian Stupa. In fact, this kind of conical stone pagoda is common in the Qinghai-Tibet region of our country, but it has become a rarity in the mainland. According to Buddhist interpretation, the pagoda is the Buddha. Therefore, when we pass through the coupon door under the Shaoguan Pagoda, we are worshiping the Buddha and paying homage to the Buddha. Today, with the change of environment and the decline of ferry function, Xijin Ferry, as a well-known tourist attraction in Zhenjiang, has gradually become known to tourists, and the number of visitors is increasing year by year. In recent years, the local government of Zhenjiang has invested funds on the north side of Xijin Ferry Ancient Street to expand the scale of the scenic area, attract well-known merchants to settle in Xijin Ferry, and create a 'eat, drink, play, live' comprehensive tourist complex for tourists, actively explore, develop and protect the existing local tourist resources, and make great efforts to play the tourism card, providing more tourist attractions for tourists visiting Zhenjiang.