The Formation of Huangpu Ancient Harbor
Guangzhou is the birthplace of China's Maritime Silk Road, and is also the oldest qualified, successive generations, the only everlasting foreign trade port in history. As the external port of Guangzhou foreign trade, the Tang Dynasty, located in today's Huangpu Nangang Miaotou village of pineapple temple, to the Qing Dynasty, Huangpu village gradually developed into the external port of Guangzhou foreign trade. Especially in the 24th year of the Kangxi (1685), the Qing government in Guangzhou set up Guangdong Customs, and in the south of Huangpu Village Jiao Yuan pier set up after the Huangpu registered port, Huangpu Village has become a necessary place for trade between China and foreign countries and foreign merchant ships to collect tariffs of the place.
Qianlong 22 years (1757), the Qing government announced the abolition of Jiang, Zhejiang, Fujian Customs, only to retain the Guangdong Customs, and made the decision on "subsequent ports set in Guangdong", barbaric ships "only allowed to collect berth trade in Guangdong". In this way, the large Chinese maritime foreign trade concentrated in Guangzhou a mouth, and continued to Daoguang 20 years (1840), up to a century long.
After the Opium War, Guangzhou's primary position in foreign trade was replaced by Shanghai, and the ancient port of Huangpu gradually lost its prosperity, and the Jiao Yuan pier was abandoned due to the yearly siltation that was not conducive to the berthing of ships. During the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty (1862-1874), the Huangpu port of the Guangdong Customs was moved to Cheung Chau Island, but the name "Huangpu" was still used.
A Journey of Discovery
Ancient harbor dead, but still alive
From the brand new Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center all the way to the west, you'll see a large plaque marking Whampoa Village. There are many well-preserved Qing-style buildings in Whampoa Village, and there are many places to see. I took the opportunity to look for the Whampoa Ancient Harbor Historical Exhibition Hall, and turned around in the village for a while, and really enjoyed some of the ancient legacy of this ancient village.
The essence of the history of the Whampoa Ancient Harbor Historical Exhibition Hall
The Whampoa Ancient Harbor Exhibition Hall is transformed on the basis of the village ancestral hall of the Liang family name, with a total area of about 2,000 square meters, by the mural area, the physical area, and the center of the exhibition of the three parts of the composition. In the large courtyard, the most eye-catching is a 31-meter-long, 1.5-meter-high large alabaster gold mural. This mural depicts, is when the ancient port of Huangpu, "a port for business" period of 10,000 ships to the port of the prosperous scene, which is particularly prominent, is the famous Swedish "Goetheberg" and the United States of America's "Chinese Queen The most prominent of them are the famous "Gothenburg" of Sweden and the "China Queen" of the United States. Such a scene of ten thousand boats, a thousand sails full of river, in the early export painting is a more common theme, when the foreigners came to Guangzhou left a vivid sketch, this mural is based on the reproduction, vividly reflecting the Huangpu ancient harbor once bustling scene.
Because it is the theme of Huangpu ancient port exhibition hall, is located in the second floor of the exhibition center is naturally a must-see place. The layout of the exhibition is quite distinctive, with the ancient architectural style of the Qing Dynasty, according to the traditional shape of the "wok house" designed panels bit "nine curves and eighteen bends", the splendor of the ancient port of Whampoa and the history of Whampoa Village narrated.
It is worth mentioning that the Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang period of the four pieces of restoration of the South China Sea Temple inscriptions are also collected here. In the courtyard of the physical exhibition area, scattered in the Whampoa ancient village of more than 40 pieces of historical building materials, such as stone beams, stone pillars, stone carvings, etc., was centrally placed here, giving a person a kind of "ruins" feeling, intentionally or unintentionally, the vicissitudes of history and the ancient port of Whampoa in the past found some kind of connection.
The aunt who manages the exhibition hall is from Huangpu village, and said with a smile that she was not aware that this was once a world-class port, and only began to gradually know some of the information over the years. During my visit, it so happened that an older aunt in the village also came to see the exhibition. Indeed, the ancient port of Huangpu needs more people to recognize.