The North of Jiangsu in the eyes of Southern Suzhou people, the core of Huaihai city cluster

-Fengshi Junyi -

North-South Hub

The Core of Huaihai City Cluster

There is such a magical place in China, where people from the north look at her as the south, and people from the south look at her as the north, and the location is not south, not north, not east, not west, and the climate is not dry and wet. strong> not south, not north, not east, not west, the climate is not dry and not wet.

She has surrounded by mountains, a vein into the city, two rivers embrace, four lakes reflecting the city .

She enjoys the logistical convenience of a postal zone and the heating of winter.

Her dialect is not the soft Wunong of the southern part of the province, but closer to the northern accents of Shandong and Henan.

The SA soup and chicken in the ground pot here is the tongue language of the people of northern Anhui, Lunan, and northern Jiangsu***.

The train station ads here are full of "hardcore": steel structure, hydraulic parts, excavators ...... She is - Xuzhou

Located in the northernmost tip of Jiangsu Province Xuzhou, in the junction area of Shandong, Anhui, Henan and Jiangsu provinces . "East lapel quasi-sea, west of the Central Plains, south screen Jianghuai, north choke Qilu".

More than 90% of the total area of the Great Plain is the main tone of the land of Xuzhou, only 361 meters above sea level Dadong Mountain for the city of Xuzhou's highest peak. Numerous rivers originating from the mountainous regions of Lunan flow towards the Xuzhou Plain, making up Xuzhou's rich water system.

The Yellow River Era

Before the Yellow River captured the Huaihuai River, water transportation in Xuzhou area was mainly utilizing the natural water system.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Gangan Ditch and Honggou were opened, connecting the water systems around Xuzhou with each other. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, the southern waterways were connected from Yangzhou via the Huaihe River to the Bianshui River in Xuzhou, and then to the Luoshui River, which led directly to Luoyang. Xuzhou connects the north and south, running through the east and west, and becomes the water transportation hub of the Jianghuai River to Luoyang in the Central Plains.

According to the Records of the Grand Historian (史记-河渠书), the first recorded Yellow River flooding in Xuzhou occurred in the third year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (汉武帝元光三年 (132 BCE). Since the Western Han Dynasty, the Yellow River has flooded 1,500 times and diverted its course 26 times, and Xuzhou has been affected 132 times. The temperamental nature of the Yellow River has forged the spirit of the people of Xuzhou, who are not afraid of difficulties, not afraid of defeat, not afraid of difficulties, and capable of gnawing on hard bones.

During the period from the great Yellow River break in 1194 to the diversion of the Yellow River to Shandong in 1855, the Yellow River carried a large amount of sediment and invaded Yishui, Shushi, and Surabaya many times: Yishui accumulated on the west side of the Maling Mountains and formed Loma Lake; Shushi River was diverted to the east and fell into the sea; Shushi River diverted and flowed eastward into the sea. strong> into the sea; Surabaya River paused between Jining and Xuzhou to form Nansihu. In the Tang Dynasty, the scene of "Surabaya flowing, Bianliang flowing, flowing to the Guazhou ancient ferry" no longer exists. Relying on natural waterways, the canal slowly fell out of favor, and artificial canals rose.

Canal Age

The Yuan Dynasty successively excavated the Jizhou River and the Tonghe River, through the north and south of China's Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal opened, Xuzhou once again became the hub of the transportation. Supplies from the affluent Jiangnan through the Grand Canal to Beijing, according to statistics every year through the north of Xuzhou grain ship as many as 12,000 ships , transporting grain as much as 4 million stone , at this time the Xuzhou put the empire's economic lifeline .

After the Ming Dynasty moved the capital to Beijing, the abolition of sea and land transportation. The north-south transportation almost depended on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and the geographical advantage of Xuzhou was even more prominent. From Xuzhou, the Grand Canal provided access to Su, Lu, Henan, Anhui, and Hebei provinces, which gave Xuzhou the name of "the thoroughfare of five provinces".

The Grand Canal has led to the economic prosperity of Xuzhou, and many towns along the river have developed into material distribution centers, and Yingwan Town is the star of the show. The ancient town is surrounded by water on three sides, known as "Little Shanghai in North Jiangsu" and "Golden Triangle of Golden Waterway". During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the town had a population of 80,000, and merchants from 18 provinces set up chambers of commerce here, as well as missionaries and businessmen from more than 10 countries.

In the fifth year of the Qing Dynasty (1855), the Yellow River migrated north and the Grand Canal embankment was washed away, and sea and land transportation was replacing the canal. In 1900, the Taierzhuang-Huaiyin section of the canal almost lost its navigability, canal transportation was stopped, the Grand Canal was no longer a north-south transportation artery, and Xuzhou lost its advantage as a water transportation hub.

The Railway Era

Xuzhou once again on the stage of the times, or because of the transportation, but this time it is no longer the canal, but the railway.

Compared to other cities that have fallen by the wayside due to the decline of the canals, Xuzhou is undoubtedly fortunate. From the early days of China's railroads, Xuzhou has been on this steel "beast". The Jinpu Railway opened in 1911, and the Longhai Railway opened in 1935. The two east-west and north-south railroads, the Longhai Line and the Jinpu Line, intersected in Xuzhou, just as the Yellow River and the Canal intersected in the same year, and Xuzhou ushered in a new life.

Foreigners invested in, designed, and operated railroads, which began to enter China in the late Qing Dynasty. The Jinpu Railway was built by Britain and Germany, and the Longhai Railway was built by Belgium and the Netherlands. The various "owners" led to differences in railroad parameters, which greatly affected capacity. When the Jinpu Railway was opened, the passenger speed was only 22 kilometers per hour, and the Longhai Railway passenger speed was only 23.7 kilometers per hour.

Even if modern people seem so "turtle speed" of the railroad, but also for Xuzhou has brought unprecedented changes. The railroad replaced most of the land and water transport, increased traffic speed and capacity, and promoted urbanization and industrialization, the city extended along the railroad line to the north, south, east and west in a strip, Xuzhou city opened up nearly a hundred years of growth .

One hundred years later, Xuzhou has once again caught up with the premiere lineup of China's high-speed rail era. Xuzhou East Railway Station is 692 km from Beijing South Railway Station and 626 km from Shanghai Hongqiao Station, Xuzhou is connected to the political and economic center of China with a middle C position. The east-west Zheng-Xu Passenger Specialty and Xu-Lian Passenger Specialty were completed and opened to traffic in 2014, making Xuzhou a crossroads of China's four longitudinal and four transversal high speed railways, and one of the hubs of China's high speed rail network.

"Xuzhou for the north and south to be, the capital of the eastern counties and euphony also sent.

Its land is surrounded by mountains on three sides, only its west hundreds of miles of flat river,

West to Liang, Song, so that the Chu switch to extend the enemy,

really like from the house on the water."

-- Su Shi

Su Shi, who has served in Xuzhou, said the characteristics of Xuzhou: Gateway to the South, the key to the North, Suzhou, Lu, Henan, Anhui throat, since ancient times, is the place where soldiers must fight .

Emperor Yao's Pengzu built the Da Peng's Kingdom here, the earliest city in Jiangsu. As one of the once nine states of China, the name Xuzhou continued, although the geographical concept has changed. On December 28, 256 BC, a baby boy was born in Feng County, Xuzhou, named Liu Bang, beginning the most glorious period of the two Han dynasties in the spectrum of Chinese history in Xuzhou.

In a time of chaos, Xuzhou, the "thoroughfare of five provinces," was extra important. If the northern regime holds Xuzhou, it is not safe for the south to spy on Huainan and Jiangnan; if the southern regime holds Xuzhou, it is not safe for the north to reach the northern provinces with the convenience of boat and car transportation.


At the end of the 20th Century, the Chinese government decided to create a new state of China, which would be the first state of China in the world. During the 407 years of the two Han dynasties, Xuzhou was always the heart of the empire .

"The capital of Huaihai province" This terrier looks like a kind of flirtation, but it also tells the status quo of Xuzhou. In Jiangsu Province, Xuzhou's total GDP is ranked 6th with more than 710 billion yuan, which is only 37% of that of Suzhou (ranked 1st), and its per capita GDP has fallen to 9th in Jiangsu. But in terms of the Huaihai Economic Zone, Xuzhou's economy is the top of the list of cities.In 2018, the National Development and Reform Commission released the Huaihe River Ecological and Economic Belt Development Plan, which explicitly defines Xuzhou as a regional center city. In the 2020 Xuzhou Municipal Government Work Report, the Huaihai Economic Zone was mentioned 10 times .

Xuzhou's mineral resources are second to none in Jiangsu. Coal is transported to the whole country by Xuzhou's convenient railroad facilities, which drives Xuzhou's social development and drives Xuzhou to become a city of heavy industry in the north of Jiangsu Province.

Xuzhou is the national "capital of China's construction machinery", and its construction machinery economy accounts for 80% of the industry in Jiangsu Province, accounting for 20% of the total sales revenue of the national industry.

Xuzhou has a well-developed education and healthcare system. The number of colleges and universities and the number of students enrolled in them are second only to Nanjing in Jiangsu. Residents of other neighboring provinces may not think of going to the provincial capital to see a doctor, but come to Xuzhou instead.

Xuzhou has the largest food city in East China, Huaihai Food City

Xuzhou has the largest railroad yard in East China, Tongshan Yard

Xuzhou has the largest soybean milk company in China, Wei-Wei Group .

Xuzhou is home to China's largest construction machinery company, Xugong Group

Xuzhou is home to China's earliest mining school, Chinese University of Mining and Technology

Xuzhou is home to China's first underwater Terracotta Warriors and Horses museum, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum. Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum ......

In recent years, the economic development of Xuzhou, an old industrial city, has been faced with numerous "internal and external problems", on the one hand the depletion of resources, on the other hand the increasingly fierce competition from sister cities.

In the 3rd national list of 25 resource-exhausted cities, Jiawang District in Xuzhou has become the first national resource-exhausted area in Jiangsu Province. Jining and Linyi are two cities whose GDP is directly comparable to Xuzhou's; Shangqiu is making every effort to build a "regional center city in the junction area of Henan, Hubei, Suzhou and Anhui"; Fuyang, Huainan, and Bengbu are working together to develop the city.

Xuzhou is like a robot cat "any door", a unique geographical location to the world . The east-west Longhai line, north-south Beijing-Shanghai line crosses in Xuzhou, which is the second largest railroad hub in the country; five highways run through the city, which is one of the first 13 important highway hubs in the country; the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal passes through the city, and there are 133 ports and harbors.

Xuzhou is like a theater stage with the backdrop of Huaxia . In the 6000 years of civilization and 2600 years of city building history, various powers have taken turns to make their presence felt. It is the hometown of Peng Zu, the hometown of Liu Bang, the capital of Xiang Yu, and is called the "Home of Emperors".

This is Xuzhou, she is the energy town, heavy industry base, the city of northern Jiangsu, Huaihai Economic Zone C position.

- END -

Article 丨ZZZ

Image Editor | Taozi

Map Editor | Wu Pan

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References

REN Yadong, "Study on the Optimization of Xuzhou's Urban Spatial Structure Driven by Industrial Transformation"

DAI Peichao, "Historical Era Study on the Changes of Water Environment and the Rise and Fall of Cities in Xuzhou

Meng Zhaoyi, "Study on the Historical Geographic Characteristics and Regional Cultural Characteristics of Xuzhou.