“三江”的变迁与元代刘家港的形成

Evolution of the Term “Sanjiang” and the Formation of Liujiagang in the Yuan Dynasty

《尚书·禹贡》中的"三江",已经难以确指。太湖流域的三江,始见于东晋文献的记载。今江苏省太仓市境内的浏河,其前身为昆山塘,入海口一段在南宋末已经称刘家港,至明代被认为是古代三江之一的娄江。宋元之际,随着吴淞江的淤塞,太湖之水向东北经昆山塘、刘家港入海(长江),刘家港由此壮大。元代的刘家港因其优越的自然条件,成为太湖地区的主要海港。天妃宫(在今浏河镇)附近是海舶入港或起航之地。太仓城是装卸货物和进行贸易的地方。每当漕粮起运季节,约有数百至上千艘大小海舶停泊在从太仓县城至天妃宫的刘家港中,江浙漕粮由此海运北上。

It is hard to pinpoint the exact location of Sanjiang,found in the"Tributes of Yu"chapter in the Book of Documents.It probably referred to three rivers in the Lake Tai basin.One of them,the Liuhe River in presentday Taicang,Jiangsu Province,was formerly known as Kunshan Pond.By the end of the Southern Song,the section at the mouth of the river had come to be called Liujiagang.Its emergence owed to the silting of the Wusong River,causing the water from Lake Tai to flow northeast through Kunshan Pond and Liujiagang into the sea via the Yangzi River.Because of these ideal natural conditions,Liujiagang became the main seaport in the Lake Tai area during the Yuan Dynasty.Seagoing vessels would enter or depart the port from Tianfei Palace(present-day Liuhe Township).At Taicang,they would load and unload goods and trade.Grain from Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces would be transported northward.During the grain shipping season,there were thousands of large and small ships berthed in the Liujiagang area.