The Beautiful Morning Light and Shadow at the Confluence of Three Rivers | From Busy River Transport to Leisure Greenway

Since ancient times, the prosperity of a city has been inseparable from rivers. At the confluence of rivers, there often forms a commercial city based on river transport. Yanzhou is such a bustling river transport city. After the confluence of Xin'an River, Fuchun River, and Lanjiang River in the Yanzhou ancient city scenic area of Jiande Meicheng, they rush eastward into Hangzhou Prefecture and become the Qiantang River, which then flows into Hangzhou Bay. This ancient city with a long history borders Hangzhou, Jinhua, Quzhou, and Huizhou geographically. As the inevitable place for Huizhou merchants to go to Hangzhou, and an important confluence of river transport, it is naturally an important commercial city. From 225 AD (the fourth year of Huangwu in the Three Kingdoms period) to 1960, it was the county seat of Jiande County for 1736 years. From 697 AD (the first year of Shengong in Wu Zhou) to 1911 AD (the third year of Xuantong in Qing Dynasty), it was the prefecture of Muzhou and Yanzhou. Famous Chinese poets such as Fan Zhongyan and Lu You have served as the prefect of Yanzhou. From 1922 to 1959, it was still the location of a government institution equivalent to the prefecture level, serving as the prefecture for a total of 1263 years. Although the geographical name of Yanzhou or Yanling has been frequently heard in various film and television, literature and historical works, most people do not know where it is, because today's Yanzhou ancient city has been downgraded to the town level, and even the name of the town is called Meicheng Town. Some people say that Yanzhou is the most aggrieved ancient city in Zhejiang, which is indeed not wronged, because it is the only state that has disappeared in the administrative structure of Zhejiang that has basically been established since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Taking advantage of the time when the tourists have not arrived, I took a walk in the ancient city early in the morning, then went to the wharf by the Xin'an River, walked along the greenway parallel to the city wall, and walked to the confluence of the three rivers. With the importance of inland water transport almost exiting the historical stage, rivers are no longer a necessary condition for the rise of a city, but more often they give a city a different landscape. The thin mist in the early morning gives a Zen-like feeling unique to the winter in the south of the Yangtze River. The Nanfeng Tower on the opposite bank of the river and the Beifeng Tower on the distant mountain have been quietly guarding the once busy river surface since the Song Dynasty. More than 1300 years ago, on a dusk in the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, the poet Meng Haoran wandered here. After mooring the boat next to the smoky sandbank, he wrote the famous poem 'Staying at Jiande River', 'Move the boat and moor in the smoke, the sunset makes the guest worry. The field is vast, the sky is low, the river is clear, the moon is near the people.' I wonder how different the scenery the poet saw then is from today. Nowadays, there are only occasional ships passing by on the river, and what's busier are the citizens exercising on the Jiande Greenway on both sides of the Three Rivers. This greenway is part of the 'Three Rivers and Two Banks' greenway, known as the 'Water Tang Poetry Road' in West Zhejiang. This greenway has 235 kilometers within Hangzhou, which is really a good place for regular exercise running or long-distance cycling on weekends.