汹涌钱塘，血气方刚。钱塘江上游，却是涓涓细流纯洁清亮。

　　其中一脉叫做须江，流到仙霞岭下一个叫作“清湖”的地方，数条支流同时汇合，江面豁然开阔。这儿正是海上丝绸之路陆上通道仙霞古道的起点。水深、流缓、波平，没有比这里更适合船儿启航与归航了。

　　据《中国古今地名大辞典》（1931年版）载：“清湖镇，在浙江江山县南15里。为浙、闽要会，闽行者自此舍舟而陆，浙行者自此舍陆而舟。官置浮梁，以济行旅。商务为全县中心，繁盛胜于县城。”

　　有多繁盛？清顺治年间，清湖尚有造船厂14家，船篷厂5家，船只1000多条，货运竹筏难以计数，装卸埠头多达17个。

　　浙江江山市有位“清湖小子”，用十多年时间收储了200多幢历史建筑。他就是土生土长的清湖企业家夏介仁，他要重现清湖十七埠的繁华。

海陆丝路交汇处忙碌的钱塘江

　　公元前141年，年仅16岁的汉武帝刘彻登上了皇位。当时27岁的张骞也仅是一个名不见经传的朝廷事务见习官。但张骞从长安出发了，义无反顾。一条辉煌的丝绸之路从此打开。

　　传统的陆上丝绸之路指以西汉首都长安（今西安）为起点连接地中海各国的陆上通道。后来，又将古代中国与世界更多区域进行经济文化交流的海上通道称为“海上丝绸之路”，广州、泉州、明州（宁波）为重要的三大起点港口。

　　之所以命名为“丝绸之路”，与其运送的主要商品为丝绸有关。另外还有茶叶、瓷器等，这些商品除了从两条丝路起点的周边区域就近收购，多数来源于江南。

　　于是，“钱塘自古繁华”——江南腹地杭州商贾云集，百业兴旺。她身边的钱塘江就成了那个最忙碌的“外交官”，也成了海陆两条丝路间一道明晃晃的“分水岭”：无论是商贾还是商货，从钱塘江出发兵分三路，沿京杭大运河浩浩荡荡北上走“陆上丝路”，沿浙东运河弯弯曲曲东去走“东洋丝路”，或在钱塘江逆水行舟风雨无阻地南下走“南洋丝路”。

　　历代封建王朝对海外贸易均设置障碍，清代对“东洋丝路”明州港（现宁波）施行永禁：“所有贩茶赴粤之商人，令由内河、过岭行走，永禁出海贩运。”（《光绪·大清会典事例》）

　　这“岭”就是“浙闽咽喉”仙霞岭，这“内河”即仙霞古道北端的钱塘江和南端的闽江。而沿钱塘江逆水行舟前往“南洋丝路”的这一脉，七百里水路就到了江山清湖。

在沧桑建筑中重现丝路古渡

　　站在“清溪锁钥”遗址观望江面，虽然江水较浅，依稀可见当年清湖水域的宽广。史载清湖水域常年可通航14舱至8舱（10吨）木帆船，清顺治年间清湖最为繁盛，当时“万商云集，百货星罗”，有绍兴帮、徽州帮、江西帮、福建帮等几个主要商帮，并建有江西会馆与福建会馆。

　　目前，重现清湖古渡繁华有了两方面重要的基础资源：一是200多幢历史建筑，二是详实的清湖古渡原貌数据还“活着”。

　　木匠出身的夏介仁详细记录了收储材料的原建设技艺。他收储的初衷是“心疼”。他当年做木材生意时，发现新木料中常掺杂一些老木料，一问，原来是老房子拆下的。好奇的他去追看“源头”，这一看，就心疼了。他嘱咐这些“上家”拆老房子时一定要通知他。从此，小心拆卸、精心记录，积累多了，逐渐萌生了为家乡清湖做件好事的想法。

　　清华大学陈志华教授主编的“中国乡土系列丛书”中，有一本罗德胤教授于2005年撰写的《清湖码头》，其中，有大量清湖遗址和历史建筑的测绘图。史料记载：“沿江上段有埠头4个，以装卸粮油、桕蜡、禽蛋、生猪为主。中段埠头8个，以装卸丝绸、布匹、药材、南北货为主。下段埠头3个，以装卸茶叶、瓷器、竹木为主。另有竹木筏埠头两个，可停筏数百条。”更珍贵的是，在这个史料基础上，清湖有位叫邵善祥的老人凭记忆手写出了17页1万多字的“花名册”，详细记录了清湖古渡的埠头、庙堂、店行、作坊等，并有详细的可追溯线索。

钱塘江与仙霞古道的千年之合

　　清湖为浙、闽要会，闽行者自此舍舟而陆走仙霞古道，浙行者自此舍陆而舟进入钱塘江。

　　仙霞古道的历史可追溯到汉建元三年（公元前138年）。据《汉书》载：是年，汉武帝发兵攻闽越，兵分海陆两路，陆路越仙霞岭入闽。唐乾符五年（878），黄巢率军逾仙霞岭“刊山开道七百余里直趋建州（福建建瓯）”，进一步拓展了仙霞古道。

　　清湖古渡和仙霞古道在历史文献中的出现，也大约是同时的。南宋时的文献，出现了“清湖渡”和“仙霞路”。吕祖谦于南宋淳熙二年（1175年）去福建会朱熹，取道仙霞岭，由衢州至清湖的过程是：“二十五日，早发衢州……二十六日，五里，江山县。五里，烟萝洞……一里，东折入仙霞路。十里，清湖渡。”

　　清湖古渡也与钱塘江北岸的柳浦码头相生相合。

　　京杭大运河的“京”历经西京、东京、北京、南京等，但“杭”一直没变。京杭运河与钱塘江的接口一直在钱塘江北岸今杭州江干区境内，即目前的六和塔和南星桥一带。大船停泊在柳浦渡，然后换作能在钱塘江逆水行舟的小船。

　　徐映璞《两浙史事丛稿》称：“自江山而衢州、龙游、严州、桐庐、富阳，至杭州江干。上下七百里间，大小船艇，多至二三千只。钱塘江上所有船户，大抵可分四帮，以江山帮为第一。”

　　至今，钱塘江沿线包括江干古码头一带江山籍人极多，并有江山人集聚成的村庄，先辈均以船为业。

　　当年，白居易就是在江干柳浦码头上船，逆流而上到了清湖古渡下船。那时，清湖还不叫清湖，仙霞古道也还没被黄巢大军开凿。白居易沿仙霞古道走着走着，便与江郎山一见如故了。

　　中国多有“望夫崖”，仙霞古道边却立着三块一反传统的“盼妻石”。一直放不下初恋姑娘的白居易，挥毫写下“林虑双童长不食，江郎三子梦还家。安得此生生羽翼，与君往来醉烟霞”。意即：林虑山的两个童子不吃饭想成仙傻不傻呀，你看江氏三兄弟却想回家！我怎么样才能长出一对翅膀，与江郎君一起沉醉烟霞守护爱情？

　　那天，白居易逛罢白堤看完“潮头”，又往江干柳浦码头多看了几眼，从此铭心江南。著名的《忆江南》三首词中良辰美景的背后总有远眺的目光，那是他在目送开往清湖古渡的船儿。

船夫和挑夫用生命撑起的繁华

　　清湖于唐开元年间建乡，当时称景星乡。

　　这是钱塘江上游去往南洋丝路最后一个可通行大帆船的码头，是钱塘江航线最南端的始点。清顺治年间码头每天有几百条船停泊，桅杆林立，像箸（土话，筷子）笼里插的箸一般。

　　如此多的商货，如何往来汹涌澎湃的钱塘江？如何穿越“千盘难度鸟，万岭欲藏天”的仙霞古道？

　　千百年来，这里一直活跃着一支庞大的“挑浦城担”的挑夫队伍和“撑江山船”的船夫队伍。他们的人数现在已经很难统计了，但史料中的他们依旧栩栩如生。

　　关于船夫，赵彦卫《云麓漫钞》中如此描述：“水势喷激怒如瀑，而舟人所用器，特与他舟异，篙用竹，加铁钻，又有肩篙拐篙，皆用木加拐，如到书某字于其上。每遇滩碛，即舟师足踏樯竿，手执篙，仰卧空中撑舟，忽翻身落舟上，覆面向水急撑，谓之身攧篙。舟师每呼‘肩篙’‘头篙’‘转身篙’‘抢篙’，诸人即齐声和曰‘嗷嗷’，诸人皆齐力急撑。”

　　关于挑夫，江山市作协主席蔡恭在《古道沧桑两千年》中写道：“挑浦城担的全是强壮汉子。他们头戴竹笠，脚穿草鞋、布袜，小腿上紧紧地打着绑腿。使用着经官方注册的特制的硬木扁担、担拄和箩筐。一般肩挑75公斤。凌晨，他们几十个人一伙，从县城或清湖等地出发，到终点站浦城县城，一般歇三个夜，走四天。在常人空手难行的山路上，每天行走30多公里。回头时，换一批货物，还是同样的重量。”

　　从明清“三路合一”到民国三年江山最后一位驿丞撤离还乡，这一撑一挑，起码又是300年。在丝绸之路研究专家们将明清两代定位为“海上丝绸之路衰落期”时，钱塘江上游的这个古渡、这批浪遏飞舟的船夫、这批跋山涉水的挑夫，硬是将南洋丝路又延续了300年。

（本文图片摄影：沈天法）

Qinghu: Glorious Trade Town on Silk Road

The 459-kilometer-long Qiantang River runs through Zhejiang Province with many tributaries flowing into it before the river merges into the East China Sea at the wide-open Hangzhou Bay. The Xu River is one of the numerous tributaries in the upper stretch of the river. At the foot of Xianxia Mountains and by the Xu River, Qinghu Town used to be a trade center in the southwest of Zhejiang Province. A town on the river and 7.5 kilometers from the county capital of Jiangshan, Qinghu was a key town on the trade route that connected Fujian province to the south of Zhejiang Province. Goods from Fujian were loaded on the ships here and the ships then set sail down the river and eventually reached Qiantang River. Goods from other parts of Zhejiang were shipped to Qinghu, unloaded there before they were transported to Fujian province through the ancient trade route snaking through the mountains.

In its prime times, Qinghu was more prosperous than the county capital of Jiangshan. By the early years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Qinghu had long passed its most glorious years, but it still had 14 shipyards and 5 factories that made and supplied sails for shipbuilders. The seventeen docks at the town saw hectic times serving the 1,000 ships owned by the river town’s trade businesses, let alone numerous bamboo rafts which outnumbered the ships.

The glory of the trade town is attributed to the Silk Roads in ancient China. A big producer of silk, tea and porcelain, Zhejiang exported its goods in three directions. Part of the goods went northward through the Grand Canal system from Hangzhou to the national capital more than 1,000 kilometers in the north. Some goods were shipped across the sea to Japan and Korea to the east. And some goods went up to the upper stretch of the Qiantang River on their ways to the south before they were shipped overseas through the Maritime Silk Road.

Qinghu Town retains the past glory in the form of over 200 historical houses. In recent years, Xia Jieren, a native entrepreneur of Qinghu, has bought all these houses in order to safeguard the historical sites.

Histories, ancient books, records, memories combine to explain how Qinghu became strategically important and how it prospered as a business center.

Professor Luo Deying wrote a book on the docks of Qinghu in 2005. According to the professor, of the 17 docks, four in the upstream part of the town handled cereals, edible oil, chickens, eggs, pigs and wax; the eight docks in the middle part of the dockland handled goods such as silk, cotton fabrics, medical herbs, and groceries; the three downstream docks loaded and/or unloaded tea, porcelain and timber. There were two docks specially assigned for bamboo rafts where hundreds of bamboo rafts could be moored. An old man named Shao Shanxiang in Qinghu searched his memory with the assistance of information of the book and wrote down a list of 17 pages documenting the docks, clan memorials, temples, shops and workshops in Qinghu. In more than 10,000 words, the list adds up to a precious historical document.

Qinghu as a town was first established in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Travelers destined for Fujian to the south took a boat ride to Qinghu and then started their land travel from there. In 878, Huang Cao led his rebels southward. The army widened the road for more than 350 kilometers all the way from Qinghu to Jianzhou, the present Jian’ou in Fujian Province.

Though the Grand Canal’s northern destination changed again and again through centuries as dynasties replaced each other and the capital city rose and fell and relocated, the canal’s southern end Hangzhou was always there. The southern end of the Grand Canal also served as the departure point of a giant transport river system in the south across the province. The shipping routes ran through the Qiantang River and its numerous tributaries. The most southern tip of this giant system was Qinghu, about 350 kilometers from Hangzhou. And the biggest fleet on the river system was operated by captains from Jiangshan. Even now, there are many villages along the Qiantang River where descendents of ship crew still live.

Silk Roads experts say that the Silk Road in the southern direction began to decline in the Ming and the Qing Dynasty which lasted from 14th century up to the 20th century. Even in these centuries, the route through Qinghu still prospered. Cai Gong, president of Jiangshan Writers’ Association, discusses in an article about long-distance carriers that carried goods all the way to Pucheng, a county capital in Fujian across Xianxia Mountains. According to Cai, these carriers worked in teams. Usually a team had about several tens of strong men. Each carried about 75 kg of goods and traveled 30 kilometers a day on the mountain path. They covered a distance of about 120 kilometers in four days before they reached Pucheng. On their way back, they carried the same weight, but different goods all the way to Qinghu. The trade route stopped functioning in 1915 when the last government official in charge of goods carrying between Qinghu and Pucheng retired.