Gaoyou history · History of Gaoyou
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History of Gaoyou
History of Gaoyou
The first record of Gaoyou’s residents resides at the Longqiu archeological site just north of Gaoyou. There, scientists have uncovered a 7,000-year-old village where farmers grew rice near an ancient river. The Chinese Government has recognized the significance of this site and given it national level protection.
Emperor Ying Zheng founded Gaoyou in 221 BC, during the Qin Dynasty, when he had a relay station for the postal courier system built on the site of today’s city. This post gave Gaoyou its name, with Gaoyou meaning “High Post”. In AD 1375, the Ming Dynasty upgraded Gaoyou’s postal services with the building of the Yucheng Post station. Located adjacent to the Grand Canal, the station made it possible for imperial special messengers to not only change horses, but also utilize boats and ferries, which were always at their disposal.
Gaoyou has two ancient pagodas, the Jingtu and Zhenguosi Pagodas. The 30-meter high Jingtu Pagoda, in central Gaoyou, was constructed in AD 1612 during the Ming Dynasty, and has recently gone through an extensive renovation. The 25 meter Zhenguosi Pagoda is located on a small island on the western side of the Grand Canal. Although the 1,100+ year old Pagoda is in poor repair, the adjoining Buddhist temple has undergone an extensive renovation, and a new bridge now allows access to the island.
In 486 BC, The Grand Canal was constructed through Gaoyou. It finally reached its maximum length in AD 1291 stretching 1794 kilometers from Beijing in the north, to Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province in the south. The canal has gone through many cycles of building, use, disrepair, and rebuilding over the centuries and has been a significant factor in the development of China. Today the canal is still a busy waterway used to transport massive quantities of gravel and other bulk goods for China’s bustling economy.
Gaoyou Lake and the Grand Canal are suspended above the surrounding plains by an extensive system of dikes. Over the centuries, breaks in the dikes have lead to massive floods, including a flood in 1931 that killed as many as 3.7 million people. On the grounds of Wenyou Tai, a historic site on the north side of the city, there is a museum dedicated to remembrance of the1931 floods featuring aerial photos of a flooded Gaoyou taken by Charles & Anna Lindbergh.
Several notable figures in Chinese culture and history are associated with Gaoyou. Among them are Qin Shaoyou, a well-known poet of the Song Dynasty; Wang Nian Sun and Wang Yin Zhi (father and son), celebrated classics interpreters during the Qing Dynasty; Sun Yunzhu, the modern paleontologist; and Wang Chenqi, the contemporary writer.
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Gaoyou Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.