In recent years, the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage has successively achieved important archaeological achievements in cultural heritage such as Baifu Spring, Wanshou Temple, Yuhe Tonghui River, Xibanqiao, Qinggulun and Jing Princess Garden, Luxian Ancient City, Grand Canal Old Road, Xiaosheng Temple and Shanren Bridge. Among them, the ruins of the canal found in the sub-center of Beijing have a total length of about 3,000 meters and a width of 160 to 320 meters. It is speculated that this section of the relic should be the old road of the Grand Canal before the thirteenth year of Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty (1808), which is a clear proof of the rise and fall of the Grand Canal in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.
The 2021 Beijing (International) Canal Culture Festival, hosted by the Propaganda Department of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and China News Service, opened on the evening of the 9th. At the opening ceremony, the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage introduced the archaeological results of many places in the Grand Canal Cultural Belt.
Many archaeological excavations enrich the cultural connotation of the canal
According to the relevant person in charge of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Relics, in 2017, the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage conducted archaeological excavations of the Xibanqiao and river channel sites in the Ming and Qing dynasties in Xicheng District. The site of Xibanqiao runs north-south, with a square plan and a side length of 6.5 meters, arch circle net span 2 meters, height 1.7 meters. The length of river cleaning is 29 meters, and the mooring bank is well preserved.
The site provides new physical materials for exploring the historical appearance of the Neijinshui River system since the Ming Dynasty in the central urban area of Beijing, and plays an important role in enriching the cultural connotation of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt, the Old City and the Central Axis.
In 2018, archaeological exploration and excavation work was carried out on the vicinity of the Baifuquan site in Changping District, the theater, and the Dulong King Temple, with an archaeological exploration area of 12,000 square meters and an excavation area of 243 square meters. Through archaeological work, the outlet of the Jiulong Pool of Baifu Spring was discovered, and the scope of Jiulong Pool and the flow direction of Baifu Spring in ancient times were basically determined.
In addition, the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage also excavated the Qing Dynasty Void Harmony Hall, Jingsi Bao’en Hall, Xijingyuan Main House, Yuanguangmen, Screen Gate, Yong Road, veranda, stove and other ancillary facilities on Wanshou Temple East Road, and also cleaned up one building foundation site in the Ming Dynasty and one in the Republic of China period.
The sub-center found the ruins of the canal with a total length of about 3,000 meters
It is understood that since 2016, the Beijing sub-center has completed nearly 10 million square meters of exploration and excavation 16.560,000 square meters. A Han Dynasty city site (the old city of Luxian County) was discovered, and more than 7,000 tombs were excavated from the Warring States to the Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as kiln sites, ash pits, house sites, wells, roads, temple foundation sites and many other places.
The canal ruins found in the sub-center are about 3,000 meters long and 160 to 320 meters wide. The remains of this section should be the former road of the Grand Canal before the thirteenth year of Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty (1808). The discovery of the old road of the Grand Canal is of great significance to the study of ancient Chinese water transport and the history of canal changes, and is a clear proof of the rise and fall of the Grand Canal in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.
The archaeological excavations of the Xiaosheng Temple site have revealed a total of three places in the front and back halls and the base site of the temple gate on the north side, one stepping surface outside the north gate, and three remnants of the north, east and west courtyard walls. This is the first archaeological discovery of the temple site dedicated to the river god in the Beijing section of the Grand Canal, which is of great value for the study of the history of water transport and folk history.
The ruins of Shanren Bridge and Tongyun Bridge found in Guachang Village, Zhangjiawan Town, are important bridges on the Grand Canal water system, and are important water conservancy engineering relics of the Beijing section of the Grand Canal, a world cultural heritage, which is of great significance for promoting the protection, inheritance and utilization of cultural resources of the Grand Canal. (Xu Jing)