老布是个好同志。有一次偶然聊起运河,没想到他极有兴趣,找了许多资料来看,还约了我明年春天沿运河骑淮安——宿迁——邳州这一段,现场采风一下,而这也正是我运河北段骑行的一部分,于是一拍即合。
找了些我收集的资料给他,没想到两天之后,竟收到写的邮件和为某网站写的关于运河的文章。和运河申遗办公室联系了一下,准备介绍他去那里工作,毕竟申遗工作还有大量的英文文本需要撰写和润色,让他也找点事干吧,反正他是乐在其中。
下面就是老布写的《中国古运河——伟大的复兴》一文。
China’s Ancient Canal – A Grand Resurgence
The Grand Canal of Eastern China (Da Yun He, or Great Transport River) is entering a new phase in its long history. During more than two millennia of existence, the canal has played many critical roles – in the exercise of political power and military control, as an essential conduit for trade, and serving attempts to control the waters that periodically wreak havoc on the communities of its low-lying locales. At other times, it has suffered from periodic disuse and neglect, to the point where quite recently it was in places described by local officials as an embarrassment, the black water a lifeless stink for the local people to endure. Today the waterways that collectively comprise the Grand Canal, or at least what is left of it as a living thoroughfare, are emerging as a focal point for tourism in the cities and regions concerned. In seeking to elevate the canal’s status to levels that will attract both local and international attention, respective authorities are now addressing years of environmental deterioration while raising public awareness of the canal and its legacy.
位于中国东部的大运河,正在进入一个新的历史阶段。在长达两千多年的漫长时间里,运河曾经扮演过许多关键的角色——扩张政治影响力,扩大军事控制力,开展贸易的重要通道,控制给低洼地带带来周期性灾害的水患。但在历史上的某些时候,它也遭到阶段性的弃用和忽视,时至今日,甚至变成了毫无生命迹象的黑水河,当地的官员也坦言“这有点令人难堪”。如今,那些构成大运河的河段,或是曾经的遗迹,如今正在变成旅游景点。为了提升大运河的地位,以吸引更多来自国内和国际的目光,各级政府都在宣传历经多年的环境破坏,以唤起人们对大运河和它的历史文化遗产的重视。
The Grand Canal has been a work in progress for centuries, from the pre-unification era of the Eastern Zhou right up to the present and beyond. As commonly understood today, the canal stretches 1794 km from Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province to Tongzhou on the outskirts of Beijing. Some 1500 years ago, it connected as far as Luoyang in modern-day Henan Province, the eastern capital of theTang dynasty (618–907). Then it’s total length exceeded 2700 km, utilising in parts one of the many former riverbeds of the capricious Yellow River (Huanghe). During the Yuan Dynasty, (1271-1368) the canal was straightened to approximate its current course, thus serving a more direct link to Beijing, which under Kublai Khan, the Dynasty’s first ruler, became the imperial capital. Despite the fact that 45% of the Yuan canal is now dry, what remains is still on such a vast scale as to defy attempts at describing it in singular terms. The Grand Canal needs to be seen for what it is; a network of roadways for use by waterborne traffic, lying north/south to provide an arterial link between the natural watercourses that flow from mountainous Western China through the Eastern plains. These major rivers, primarily the Yellow and the Yangzi (Changjiang), were key determinants in the formation of China as a great civilization, and the Grand Canal’s foundation and development over centuries significantly aided that process. In greatly easing the burden of transportation, the canal enabled the wealth and influence of China’s rulers to grow and prosper on the back of relatively efficient movement of both goods and people.
大运河的建成并非一日之功,而是历经了几个世纪,上至西周,下到当今,而且还会在将来一直延续下去。众所周知,京杭大运河南至浙江的杭州,北抵北京郊外的通州。一千五百年前,它还把连接了如今河南省的洛阳,当时是唐朝的东都,所以那时它的长度超过了两千七百公里,其中有不少的河段是利用了变幻莫测的黄河旧河道。到了元代,运河截弯取直,直通北京,其基本的形状和如今的大运河相似。当时的北京叫大都,是元代第一个统治者成吉思汗的都城。尽管时至今日,45%的元代运河已经干涸,但其存留下来的部分还是很难用一个小数字去形容。考察大运河,需要看它的本质:它构成了一个水路交通网络,纵横南北,构通了从西部山区流向东部平原的几大水系,而其中的黄河和长江,则是孕育中华文明的摇篮。千百年来,大运河的形成和演变,也对中华文明的发展起到了推动作用。它极大地缓解了交通的压力,在更加方便快捷运送物品和人力的基础上,大运河使统治者的财富和影响力大大增强。
On its navigable sectors the Grand Canal remains a busy thoroughfare for trade, although in many places the original course has been corrected or bypassed to improve efficiencies and make way for urban development. Those locations where commercial use has waned are in many cases ideally situated for the new phase in the canal’s long life – its growing attention as a tourist attraction. China National Tourism Administration is overseeing a collective approach to the restoration of historic stretches in various cities along its original route, linking the efforts of numerous local authorities. A Grand Canal Joint Bidding Office has been opened in Yangzhou, scene of the canal’s earliest manifestations, to oversee an application for UNESCO World Heritage listing. The tourist dollar is a major catalyst for the recognition now being afforded this most expansive of historical artifacts. That development is not without controversy, as academics readily point out that the essence of this great achievement must be retained as part of rejuvenation works. Commercial success is only possible due to the cultural legacy left during the canal’s long history. At the same time, economic imperatives can now provide the means by which the Grand Canal’s rich heritage, its untold stories, its huge benefits to the building of a nation and the price that had to be paid can now come to the fore.
大运河上那些通航的河段,往来贸易依然十分繁忙,而在许多地方,原先的河道则进行了治理或者舍弃,让位于城市的发展以提高效率。对于那些运河的商业用途处于衰落的地方来说,却正好为它的长久生命力找到了一个新的阶段——越来越成为旅游观光的好去处。中国国家旅游局正在负责一个总体的规划,与大运河沿岸城市的各级政府一道,将运河沿岸的历史遗存进行恢复。运河联合申遗办公室也在扬州挂牌成立,它将负责向世界教科文组织申报世界遗产名录。这样的发展并非没有异议,正如有的学者指出的那样,伟大的成就必须也要限定在复兴工程的范围之内。只有大运河的悠久历史所形成的文化遗存,才会带来经济上的成功。同时,经济上的必要保证,才能提供大运河丰富的历史遗存,它未被诉说的历史,它为整个国家的建立所做出的贡献,以及必须要付出的代价。
2009年12月
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