台儿庄:漕运繁华商都兴

TAIERZHUANG:BUSINESS TOWN BOOMS WITH PROSPEROUS CANAL TRANSPORT

明万历三十二年（1604年），京杭大运河洳河段疏浚，全国漕粮三分之二由此北上，台儿庄成为傍水而筑、因河而兴的商贸重镇。从此，这个原本普通的村落开始了作为地域商都、水陆码头的繁华历程。

In the Wanli Period of the Ming Dynasty, there were up to 100,000 boats and merchant ships passing by Taierzhuang every year. Bamboos,porcelain, silk, tea, cane sugar, paddy rice, and so forth from Jiangsu,Zhejiang, Hubei and Hunan were transported to the docks of Taierzhuang for wholesaling. Coarse cereals, fruits,wood, crude medicine, hides, coal,etc. from northern provinces were transported southwards by way of Taierzhuang.In the Ming and Qing Dynasties,there were over 100 shops in Taierzhuang. For the convenience of cargo handling on water, such shops built a dozen stone docks on the north bank of the canal. Such docks are still well-preserved today, and are now the only ancient docks of the Ming and Qing Dynasties along the Grand Canal. Northbound ships, traveling merchants or the people going to the capital to sit the imperial examination from the south of the Yangtze River or south of the Five Ridges had to transfer at Taierzhuang after arriving at a dock of Taierzhuang along the canal. They often stayed here for a few days, promoting the business of hotels,restaurants, depots and shops along the canal. Therefore, Taierzhuang is also known as the "Thoroughfare of Nine Provinces".In the Daoguang Period of the Qing Dynasty, there were more than70 large shops in Taierzhuang. An old local resident recalled, "In the 1920 s and 1930 s, it is true that shops were not closed even at night in Taierzhuang.Every day when a ship came, the dock was crowded with people with no room for turning around."