The culture of Fengtu Yicang

China’s warehousing culture has a long history. Warehouses are built to accumulate grain in good years, and warehouses are opened to provide relief in disaster years. Yicang, also known as Shecang, is a public granary built by the people. In 585 AD, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty Yang Jian adopted the advice of his ministers and built a free warehouse for the first time. Official warehouses guard against major disasters, and free warehouses guard against minor disasters. The warehouses are located in the countryside and are not managed by state officials. They are convenient to open. In the event of a disaster, the warehouses can be opened at any time to provide relief on the spot.

The Fengtu Yicang in Chaoyi Town, Dali not only has precious cultural relic value, but is still in use today after more than a hundred years of ups and downs. In 1958, the country built the Sanmenxia Hydropower Station and implemented the resettlement project. The old county seat of Chaoyi where Fengtu Yicang was located was merged into the current Dali County of Shaanxi Province. Chaoyi became an ancient town in Dali. Fengtu Yicang was changed to Chaoyi Town Grain Station and became the local An important grain storage base. Fengtu Yicang has been used by the Chaoyi Grain Station since liberation, fulfilling its functions of storing grain for the country and sharing the worries of the people. It has played an immeasurable role in alleviating the local grain storage difficulties in Dali, ensuring food supply for the troops and residents, and promoting the development of regional grain economy. Chaoyi Grain Station has 31 registered employees, including 22 on duty. Chaoyi Grain Station built a new modern granary on the basis of making full use of Fengtuyi warehouse to store grain. The existing total warehouse capacity is 10,000 tons, with an average annual storage and distribution of more than 8,000 tons of grain. For more than 40 years in a row, this warehouse has been identified as a four-free granary with no rats, no mildew, no pests, and no accidents.

With the acceleration of the development process of the western region, Shaanxi’s position in the western region and even the whole country is becoming more and more important. As the seat of the royal capital of thirteen dynasties, Shaanxi is a major tourism province with far-reaching and broad tourism development prospects. The driving and pulling role of tourism revenue in the province's economic development has been valued by leaders at all levels. Shaanxi Province has included the development of the tourism corridor along the Yellow River from Tongguan to Hancheng into its official plan. Fengtu Yicang is located in the middle of the passage and is a unique tourist attraction.

With the continuous deepening of the reform of the grain circulation system, Chaoyi Grain Station is doing a good job in grain management. Vigorously develop diversified businesses. Make full use of the historical resource of Fengtu Yicang and actively develop tourism projects. The warehouse is also used as a patriotic education base in the county, and young people are organized to visit and study, so that the next generation of China can learn and inherit the spirit of hard work and ingenuity of the Chinese nation, and establish an enterprising spirit that will never stop rejuvenating China. It has received millions of tourists and primary and secondary school students from all over the world. Wang Guangmei, wife of former Chinese President Liu Shaoqi, Bai Meiqing, former vice minister of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and director of the State Grain Reserves Bureau, Li Jinai, member of the Standing Committee of the Military Commission and director of the General Armament Department of the People's Liberation Army, and famous writer Jia Pingwa, etc. have visited Fengtu Yicang for guidance.

Whether it is in terms of historical and cultural connotation or scenic supporting facilities, it is in line with people's tourism concepts in the 21st century, and the number of tourists is increasing year by year. After the visit, leaders of relevant parties repeatedly instructed that the tourism resources of Fengtu Yicang should be developed as soon as possible. Comrade Jia Zhibang, the former governor of Shaanxi Province, after visiting the warehouse, wrote an inscription: "Manage Fengtu Yicang well and benefit the people of Dali." The central, provincial, municipal and county grain and cultural relics management and tourism departments also plan to develop Fengtu Yicang as a national grain museum.