Page 10 - The Shores of Jupiter - February '23

Page 10, The Shores
Wuxi, China And Life On The Grand Canal

Previously submitted by the to Shanghai for reshipment. The grain
late Don Kiselewski, MCC, trade increased even more when the rail
D.S., Palm Beach Gardens line was completed between Nanking
Travel Leaders to the northwest and Shanghai to the
Although not exactly a east, with Wuxi becoming the central
household name or familiar collection point for grain in the line.
spot on the globe, Wuxi Having ridden on the passenger service
is nonetheless one of the on this section of China’s railway, I can
important cities in China. attest to its cleanliness as well as lack
However, it is one of those of concern for punctuality.
places that you must want Wuxi is also one of the centers of
to visit, because it is rare the traditional (hand-operated) textile
to find it on any of the industries, being engaged in both
regular tours that visit cotton textiles and silk reeling. The
sites in China. The city, cotton yarn produced is woven not only
pronounced “woo-she,” in the city itself but also in Zhangzhou Wuxi’s city center
lies on the Grand Canal – and Suzhou (or Soochow). Silk reeled
which stretches more than in Wuxi is most often woven into cloth in Suzhou and
1,000 miles from Beijing Shanghai. The production of silk was developed by a group
to Hangzhou – near the of Shanghai merchants, all of whom were former residents
northeast corner of Lake of the Wuxi area. Since 1970, Wuxi has been the center
Taihu. of silk reeling in China. Because of the close line of the
Wuxi is one of the oldest two cities, Wuxi was known colloquially before WWII as
cities in the Yangtze River “Little Shanghai.”
Delta area. It was originally Modern fabrics and manufacturing processes have
known as a source of tin, changed the character of the manufactured goods that
however, by the time the A man fries seafood in a food emanate from the city. Today, food processing, machine
county was founded under market in the center of Wuxi. tools, engineered products and the like are the backbone of
the former Han dynasty Wuxi’s industry. However, silk is still the jewel of the city,
(206 B.C. to A.D. 8), the deposits were exhausted and so and no trip to the city is complete without experiencing
it was named Wuxi, meaning “without tin.” its silk industry, from the worm to the thread. The maze Sunset on Lake Taihu near the shores of Wuxi
Since early times, the area around the city has been of smaller lakes and canals fill the area and produce still
extremely fertile, and after the completion of the Grand another crop for the area: fish. Fish farming of carp, catfish
Canal in A.D. 609, Wuxi became the transshipping center and other freshwater fish in these waters provides a major
of grain destined for the capital, Beijing. It thus became portion of the necessary food. Fish and rice are the two
one of the greatest grain markets in China, handling vast main staples of the Chinese diet.
quantities of rice annually, and was the seat of a complex No story about Wuxi would be complete without
commercial organization made up of extremely wealthy further details of the Grand Canal, from which it gained
merchants and middlemen. its geographic prominence. The canal was started in fourth
When the Grand Canal fell into decay after 1850, Wuxi century B.C., and was extensively rebuilt in A.D. 607. It
retained its importance as a rice market, exporting grain was originally named the Shanyang Canal, and was cut
between the Yangtze and Huang Ho (Yellow) rivers. In
recent times this portion of the canal has been called the
Southern Grand Canal.

An old vessel docks along the Grand Canal in Wuxi.

Another major portion of the canal was completed
during the Sui dynasty, at the same time the original canal
was being rebuilt. The New Pein Canal was an east-west
link between the Huang Ho and Huai Ho rivers. This
served the needs of the Chinese until the 13th century,
when during the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty, the need to bring
the waterway to Beijing was fulfilled. At the time, the
capital was Beijing, but several centuries later during the
Ming dynasty, it was moved to Nanjing, which launched
the building of the various interconnecting canals until
the 19th century.
Traditional houses near the Grand Canal in the center
of Wuxi Wuxi, China on page 11

Knights on horseback fight out an ancient war in an outdoor It’s The Law!

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