明清广州琶洲塔与珠江口航道的关系

Research on the Relationship between Canton Pa-Chow Pagoda and the Pearl River Estuary Waterway in Ming and Qing Dynasties

琵琶洲位于广州附近珠江水道要冲,宋时已是广州海舶停靠之处。明万历时,地方官绅于洲上修建海鳌塔(琶洲塔),最初希望以此巩固地方风水,振兴文教。由于琶洲塔在广州中外商贸黄埔港旁,清代东印度公司在许多珠江口航道测绘图中将琶洲塔标为外国商船驶入黄埔港的重要航标。因此在西方人的记载中,琶洲塔得名“黄埔塔“”中途塔”,其航标作用在后世逐渐凸显。清道光时,广州十三行行商捐资重修琶洲塔,加强了琶洲塔与广州贸易的联系。明末至清,珠江口沿岸的莲花塔、琶洲塔、赤冈塔逐渐成为珠江口航道的航标与地标,三塔中尤以琶洲塔令外国人印象深刻。

Pi-Pa Island, located at the key point of the Pearl River waterway near Canton, has already been a carrack anchorage of Canton since the Song Dynasty. During the Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty,local officials and gentry built the Hai’ao Pagoda(today it’s named Pa-Chow Pagoda) on the island, initiallyhoping to consolidate the local feng shui and revitalize culture and education. Since Pa-Chow Pagoda is beside the Whampoa Anchorage in Canton for Canton Trade, the East India Company in the Qing Dynasty marked it as an important navigation beacon for foreign merchant ships entering the anchorage in many navigation maps of the Pearl River Estuary waterway. Therefore, in the records of Westerners, Pa-Chow Pagoda was called“Whampoa Pagoda”or“Middle Pagoda”, and its role as a beacon gradually became prominent in later generations. During Emperor Daoguang’s reign(1821-1850) in the Qing Dynasty, hong merchants donated money to rebuild Pa-Chow Pagoda, which strengthened the connection between the Pagoda and Canton Trade. From the late Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, the Shih-Li Pagoda, Pa-Chow Pagoda and Chih-Kang Pagoda along the Pearl River Estuary gradually became the navigation marks and landmarks of the Pearl River Estuary waterway. Among the three pagodas, Pa-Chow Pagoda was particularly impressive to foreigners.