一个老人的运河史

AN OLD MAN'S CANAL HISTORY

1927年的中国正是风云际会之时，各方势力角逐于舞台。这一年四月，蒋介石发动了酝酿已久的“四一二”政变，大肆捕杀共产党员和革命群众。3个月后，在武汉的汪精卫政府选择步蒋介石后尘，第一次国共合作破裂，大革命失败的阴影笼罩在中国的上空。

In the early days from Ming to Qing Dynasties, the government ordered hundreds of thousands of canal troops to transport millions of dan of grain(1 dan=50 kg) to the capital city and border towns every year. These soldiers had to make a long and arduous journey, but could only get poor pay.Thus, the government allowed them to use the ships to transport a certain quantity of duty-free private goods, and to sell such goods along the canal so as to subsidize their livelihood.In the Daoguang Period of the Qing Dynasty, as sea transport took the place of canal transport, a large number of canal sailors became unemployed.However, Qingbang(a folk group)derived from Caobang finally became an important force in the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty.Qjngbang is known as "Anqingbang"to the local elderly in Taierzhuang.98-year-old Xu Deguang is the sole surviving member of Anqingbang in Taierzhuang. In Anqingbang, Xu Deguang had a teacher and disciples.Unlike those teachers who taught work songs, his teacher was from Anqingbang.On a grain ship, if a man joined Anqingbang and formally acknowledged someone as his teacher, it would be helpful to his manner, work and social intercourse.Xu Deguang recalled that the title of Taierzhuang as "No.1 Village in the World" is age-old. When he was young,his father said, "Taierzhuang is wealthy unlike other places. There is no city wall in other villages, but there is a city wall in Taierzhuang. So it is the No.1 Village in the Word."