Chang Men: Why is Su Beiren fascinated by it?

"The first-class land of wealth and romance in the world of mortals"

-Cao Xueqin's Dream of Red Mansions

she

Like Panman.

Originated in Wu Zixu.

The same 2500 years of vicissitudes

Guard a city and surround a river. Everyone is an old man who has experienced many vicissitudes of life and has endless stories.

She is the protagonist today-Changmen.

Changmen comes again

"Wu has his own history, please start from Nagato." This is the first sentence that Lu Ji mentioned Suzhou in Wu Chuxing. In the first year of Helu (5 14 BC), Wu Zixu was the capital of Jianwu, and Nagato was the first gate of this city.

Nagato, located in the northwest of Suzhou City, was founded in the Spring and Autumn Period. According to "Wu Yue Chun Qiu", "Those who set up a regular door, such as Tianmen, are connected with the wind." Therefore, it is also called a door.

The word "shovel" means passing through the weather, which means that the Wu army, which is about to go to Chu from this gate, will be blessed by the gods and become stronger every day. Because Wu wants to destroy Chu, the gate is facing Chu, so it is also called Truman.

When the Wu army led by Wu Zixu invaded Chu, it started from this gate and finally returned home in triumph, and entered through this gate. The broken Truman was affectionately called the gate of victory by the people!

Is it extremely prosperous?

The most prosperous city gate in Gusu is undoubtedly Nagato. The famous painting "Suzhou Shengshi Tu" in the Qianlong period vividly depicts the ten-mile long street from Nagato to Qiao Feng and the gathering of thousands of businessmen. According to records, there were tens of thousands of shops in and out of Nagato at that time, and all walks of life had everything.

In the Qing Dynasty, Sun Jiagan described Nagato in "A Journey to the South": "There are many goods and mountains, pedestrians are flowing, and signs are listed." At that time, it was one of the largest commercial distribution centers in China, from Tielingguan by the canal to the suspension bridge. Teahouses, hotels, restaurants and stalls of various colors abound.

Unfortunately, the prosperity of Nagato was destroyed by a sinful fire. When the Taiping Army marched eastward, Ma Dezhao, the defeated soldier of the Qing army, set fire to the soldiers when he fled. From Hushu Pass to Nagato, it stretched for more than twenty miles, and the fields were scorched and in ruins.

As a result, Nagato was severely weakened, and the commercial center of Suzhou began to develop into the urban area. First of all, it is a city in the west and gradually develops eastward. After the Republic of China, Guanqian Street emerged.

? Seek roots through the gate

Zhang Shicheng succeeded and Zhang Shicheng failed. For many people later, Nagato became a family totem. A great migration, starting from Zhang Shicheng and starting from Nagato, took 400,000 people and their families to northern Jiangsu.

It is said that the Ming Dynasty has been built, but the people in Suzhou are still obsessed with Zhang Shicheng. Zhu Yuanzhang felt that his regime was threatened, so he ordered that more than 4,000 households in Susong, Hangzhou, Jiahu and other places be moved to Lin Hao to cultivate fields, and that 140 households in the south of the Yangtze River be moved to Fengyang.

Countless Suzhou people packed their bags and embarked on a road of no return. Since then, my hometown has become a stranger, a door and a symbol of my hometown passed down from generation to generation by wanderers. This is the famous Hongwu drive away in history.

In Xinghua, Taizhou, northern Jiangsu, many people call sleeping "going to the Tiger Hill". If you still dream, call it "going to Suzhou". This statement is strange, but it is not groundless.

It is said that more than 70% of the residents in Yangzhou, Taizhou, Huai 'an and Yancheng in northern Jiangsu now claim that their ancestral home is Nagato, Suzhou, and their ancestors moved to northern Jiangsu because of the "Hongwu drive away".

Now, next to the newly renovated Nagato, there is a Little Square with an octagonal pavilion, which is a memorial hall for those immigrants who moved out of Suzhou. For tourists who come here by chance, maybe your ancestors were wanderers who were forced to leave home in those years.

Nagato is the last stop for migrants who have left their homes. In this way, the city gate has become a symbol of hometown and a carrier of homesickness. Nagato has become the "root" in the minds of these Jiangnan descendants in the past, and it has become their long-cherished wish to seek the roots and ask their ancestors.

Tasting tour?

As a native of northern Jiangsu, standing at the Nagato Pier of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, I imagined that my ancestors left their native land and set foot on a land they could not give up, struggling to survive.

In today's Nagato, cars are coming and going, and the ancient rhyme is still there, but it is not as prosperous as it was hundreds of years ago.

In the absence of old friends, I can only talk about the taste of old Suzhou to comfort my heart.

It is said that many diners specially queue up to take the bus, just to taste the flavor of 30 years.

I have only drunk sweet soybean milk before, and it is the first time to drink salty soybean milk. I thought it was soy sauce in soybean milk at most, but I didn't expect enough: oil residue, fried dough sticks, mustard tuber, shrimp skin and shallots. It tastes quite good.

Nowadays, the grand occasion of Ming and Qing Dynasties has gradually recovered in Nagato and abroad. Shantang Street is full of merchants and tourists, and there are many restaurants in the old dock. Xishi Street still has many old brands, showing the world the prosperity of the world.

How come there is no door in Suzhou?