Si River
35°13′31.01″N116°39′13.00″E/ 35.2252806°N 116.6536111°E TheSi River(Chinese:Tứ hà,pinyin: Sì Hé; formerlyTứ thủy,pinyin: Sì Shuǐ) is ariverinShandong Province,easternChina.It also ran through the area of modernJiangsu Provinceuntil floods changed its course in 1194.
Course
[edit]The Si rises in the southern foothills of theMengshan Mountains( mông sơn ), then flows throughSishui Countyand the cities ofQufuandYanzhoubefore emptying intoLake Nanyang( nam dương hồ ).
History
[edit]In antiquity, the river was a major tributary of theHuai Riverin central China. Tributaries such as the Fan ( phản ), Sui ( tuy ), Tong ( đồng ) and Yi ( nghi ) swelled its banks as it passed through present-dayYutai,Pei,Xuzhou,Suqian,andSiyangcounties in Shandong and Jiangsu. Its confluence with the Huai occurred at Sikou ( tứ khẩu ) or Qingkou ( thanh khẩu ) at present-dayHuai'anin Jiangsu.[1]
From a very early date, the Huai was connected with theYellow Riverthrough theHonggou Canal(tHồng câu,sHồng câu,Hónggōu,"Canal of the Wild Geese" ).[2]In 486BC,King FuchaiofWubuilt theHangou Canal(tHànCâu,sHànCâu,Hángōu), connecting the Huai and Honggou to theYangtze Riverto their south.[3]Amid his ongoing wars againstQiandJin,in 483 and 482BC, he further expanded this network with theHeshui Canal(tHà thủyVận hà,sHà thủyVận hà,Héshuǐ Yùnhé), connecting the Si with theJi River,[3]which ran parallel to the Yellow River through densely peopled districts in what is now western Shandong.
In 1194, at the time of the Song and Jin Dynasties, theYellow Riveraltered its course southwards,[4]engulfing the lower reaches of the Si River below Xuzhou City and those of the Huai River below Huai'an. As a result, the Si River no longer exists in Jiangsu Province.
During the1851–1855 Yellow River floods,the Yellow River once more altered its course northwards, assuming the course of the formerJi Riverand again passing north of the Shandong Peninsula in 1852. However, due to the large amount ofsiltcarried by the river, it left behind a 4-to-6-metre (13 to 20 ft) high layer of mud in the lower reaches of the Si River’s former course.
Legacy
[edit]The philosopherConfuciusis buried on the north bank of the Si River where it passes throughQufu.The river was also traditionally regarded as a place where theNine Cauldronswere lost. Its name was preserved in the imperialSi Prefecture and Subprefectureand the present-daySi CountyinAnhui.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^Li Daoyuan,‘’Commentary to the River Classic’’
- ^Needham & al. (1971),p.269.
- ^abZhao (2015),p.206.
- ^René GroussetThe rise and splendor of the Chinese Empire,University of California Press, 1959, 3rd printing, page 303 (map)
Bibliography
[edit]- Needham, Joseph;et al. (1971),Science & Civilization in China,Vol. IV:Physics and Physical Technology,Pt. III:Civil Engineering and Nautics,Cambridge:Cambridge University Press,ISBN9780521070607.
- Zhao Dingxin (2015),The Confucian-Legalist State: A New Theory of Chinese History,Oxford: Oxford University Press,ISBN978-0-19-935173-2.
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