What is the difference between Zhangzhou and Quanzhou?

Historically, the two states have been collectively referred to as Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, so people feel that there is not much difference between Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. In fact, the difference is quite big.

This time, let’s talk about the misunderstandings and illusions that are easily caused by the name of the Pan-Southern Fujian region.

History has always used "Zhangquan" to refer to Zhangzhou and Quanzhou in southern Fujian. Some people superficially believe that it is because Zhangzhou was historically stronger than Quanzhou, so it was called Zhangquan, ranking Zhangzhou second. In the front, Quanzhou is in the back, and I feel dissatisfied with the history of Quanzhou.

Whether it is Fujian or Zhangquan, it is very superficial to use the title as a criterion to rank the status. In addition to the function, the title also needs to consider rhyme and smoothness. The earliest example was during the Five Dynasties when Liu Congxiao had a separate regime of Zhangquan and Quanzhou, which were called "Zhangquanliu clan" and Zhangquan and Quanzhou in the "History of the Song Dynasty". , it goes without saying that Quanzhou was the absolute center at that time. The "Zhangquan Road" established in the early Ming Dynasty was also centered on Quanzhou. Xingquan Road and Xingquan Province are centered on Quanzhou and Xinghua is a subsidiary. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Tingzhang Road and Tingzhanglong Road that divided Zhangzhou, Tingzhou, and Longyan were centered on Zhangzhou urban area. Therefore, the ranking of status according to the order of names cannot withstand slight scrutiny. If Just looking at the name can cause some superficial people to be dissatisfied with the history of Quanzhou. So we can only explain the history in a simple way to see what is so dissatisfied?

Before the Ming Dynasty, Zhangzhou was at the level of Xiazhou, while Quanzhou had reached the level of Shangzhou in the Tang Dynasty. Quanzhou became Wangzhou in the Song Dynasty. In the Yuan Dynasty, Quanzhou was at the level of Shangzhou Road. In fact, Zhangzhou lags behind Quanzhou by several levels in terms of regional development, and there is no comparison at all in terms of its historical glory.

Some people have said that Quanzhou did not exist when Chen Yuanguang established Zhangzhou in 686. In fact, he only saw the surface of the name and did not see the connotation. The scope of Zhangzhou initially established by Chen Yuanguang in the early Tang Dynasty was only the southern part of present-day Zhangzhou. In the area, the state government was located in Xilin Village, Yunxiao County (30 years later, in the fourth year of Kaiyuan (716)), it was moved to Zhangpu County. It was not until 100 years after the establishment of Zhangzhou (786) that the state government was moved to the current urban area of ??Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. The location of the state center was determined in 700, when the center of Zhangzhou was still in Yunxiao County). When the word Fujian first appeared in the 21st year of Kaiyuan of the Tang Dynasty (733), Longxi County in Zhangzhou (including the essence of Zhangzhou Plain, today's urban area of ??Zhangzhou and Longhai) still belonged to the jurisdiction of today's Quanzhou in southern Fujian. In the 29th year of Kaiyuan ( It was ceded to Zhangzhou only in the year 741). In the eleventh year of Dali of the Tang Dynasty (776), Huangfu Zheng, the observer envoy, asked Longyan County of Tingzhou to belong to Zhangzhou. It was approved the following year, and Zhangzhou had jurisdiction over three counties: Zhangpu, Longxi and Longyan. Longxi is located between Zhangpu and Longyan counties, and is the center of the state. Therefore, it was established in the second year of Zhenyuan (786). The state government office was moved from Li Aochuan, Zhangpu County to Longxi County (today's Zhangzhou urban area).

There is also Changtai County in Zhangzhou, which is close to Quanzhou. Like the Putian area, it was not separated from Quanzhou until the early Song Dynasty. Not to mention that before the Tang Dynasty, the Zhangzhou area had long been under the jurisdiction of Quanzhou's Dong'an County, Nan'an County, Fengzhou, etc., with Quanzhou Fengzhou (ancient Nan'an Fengzhou now part of Quanzhou Fengze District) as the regional center.

Quanzhou occupies a favorable position as the core of the Pan-Southern Fujian region, so Quanzhou was the head of the Pan-Southern Fujian region in ancient times. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, when the Fujian Kingdom was established, the three kings of Fujian took Quanzhou as their base camp. Zhangzhou and Quanzhou belonged to the confidant state. At the end of the Five Dynasties, Liu Congxiao ruled Zhangzhou and Quanzhou separately. Until the Ming Dynasty, the "Zhangquan Road" (the jurisdiction included Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, and Putian) were all It is centered on Quanzhou.

Since the late Ming Dynasty, the status of Xiamen, which shares the Jiulong River estuary with the Zhangzhou Plain, has improved, and it has even become an independent city of Quanzhou. Since then, the core of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou has been separated by Xiamen. With Xiamen as the boundary, the Xingquan area forms a core. Since the Qing Dynasty, Xingquan Yongdao, Xingquan Province, and Jinjiang Prefecture have included Putian and Quanzhou, with Quanzhou as the center. The Zhangzhou and Tingzhou (Longyan) areas form a core, Ting-Zhang Road, as well as the "Ting-Zhang Long Road" in Tingzhou, Zhangzhou, and Longyan (similar to the Xingquan Yong Road in Putian, Quanzhou, and Yongchun). Zhangzhou, Tingzhou and Longyan are bundled into one area.

Through the connection between Mazu, Chen Hongjin, Cai Jing, Cai Bian, Cai Xiang and Quanzhou at the intersection, we can see the driving influence of Quanzhou’s core culture.

Since the implementation of the sea ban policy in the Ming Dynasty, the official sea ban allowed merchants to secretly trade in remote places. At that time, there were many records of private merchants living on the sea along the Zhangquan coast. "Records of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty" Volume 54: In the fourth year of Jiajing's reign (1525), Shi Pan, the censor of Zhejiang Province, said that the cunning soldiers and civilians of Zhangquan Prefecture secretly built a two-masted boat and put it into the sea. He was named a merchant. Plagiarism occurred from time to time. Please arrest and punish him. . Zhang Xie, a native of Longhai, Zhangzhou, wrote in the "East-West Yang Kao" written during the Wanli period: In the 26th year of Jiajing (1547 AD), "there was a Folang engine ship carrying goods at Wuyu Island, and people from Zhangzhou and Quanjia went to trade and patrol." Ke Qiao, the sea envoy, sent troops to attack the barbarian ships, but the traders continued. "Gu Yanwu's "Book of Benefit and Diseases of the Prefectures and Countries of the World" during the Ming and Qing Dynasties stated that merchants from Quan and Zhang counties were trading in the east and west oceans, and they were very profitable on behalf of the farmers. So far, with the promotion of Zhangquan merchants, Yuegang at the junction of Quan and Zhangzhou has become a new type of port for Chinese and foreign maritime merchants to conduct international trade. Since the international trade of private merchants in Yuegang has become an established fact, the Ming Dynasty had to recognize it. In the first year of Longqing (1567 AD), Fujian Governor Tu Zemin's "proposal to lift the ban" was adopted by Muzong of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty was forced to open up. The sea is prohibited, and it is allowed to trade in both the east and west oceans. Since then, Yuegang has become the center of China's foreign trade, and the governor's rate office was subsequently established. Historically, the prosperity of Zhangzhou Yuegang at the junction of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou was inseparable from the injection of Quanzhou's power; this was also the most glorious and prosperous period in Zhangzhou's history. This shows Quanzhou’s driving influence on surrounding areas. As mentioned in the book "Mazu's People", Quanzhou, which was the first to enter maritime commerce, definitely played a leading role in Zhangzhou's maritime trade in the Ming Dynasty.

Yan Siqi (descendant of Yan Zhen in Yongchun, now from Qingjiao, Haicang, Xiamen) who lived at the junction of Quan and Zhangzhou at that time was a representative figure of ancient Zhangzhou maritime merchants (Zhangzhou Plain and Xiamen were separated by the Jiulong River) Haikou). Among the 28 sworn brothers, they were from Quanzhou, including Nan'an County and Jinjiang County. It is also inseparable from the support of Quanzhou forces. Most of the people led by the Quanzhou Zheng Group are Zhangquan people.

Quanzhou’s influence and driving role on Zhangzhou’s maritime trade is also certain.

The leading position of Quanzhou people can also be seen from the two representative figures at the junction with Quanzhou. At the junction with Putian is Chen Hongjin, who stayed in Quanzhou to develop the separatist forces of the Qingyuan Army and established the situation; Chen Hongjin accepted the land and became his vassal, and imposed heavy taxes to amass wealth, which led to an uprising among the farmers in Xianyou and Putian's independence. At the junction with Zhangzhou is Yan Siqi, who occupies a favorable position in Yuegang Private Commercial Port to form an alliance. After Zheng Zhilong took over, it formed a monopoly, and the Zheng Group expanded its territory and established a political power. The two forces were led by Quanzhou people in terms of opening up territory and separatizing one side to establish the overall situation.

The Song Dynasty emphasized literature, opened up and lowered the threshold for imperial examinations. Compared with the blocked roads in the Tang Dynasty, in the Northern Song Dynasty, the roads from Fujian to the north were opened up, and the geographical location was closer and more convenient (Jinshi were mainly concentrated in the Jianzhou (near the main roads in the north) was "a narrow land with poor people, and there were only ten families studying and farming but only five or six." Therefore, during the Northern Song Dynasty, the number of Jinshi in Jianzhou was the highest in Fujian.

The Southern Song Dynasty was relatively peaceful in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. There were constant wars in the north. Often, only students from the surrounding provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian took the imperial examinations. There were very few from other provinces. Fuzhou, which was geographically closer and more convenient, was The number of Jinshi during the Southern Song Dynasty was also the largest in Fujian.

Different from Jianzhou, Putian, and Fuzhou, which emphasize agriculture, "poor people study" is Quanzhou, which emphasizes business. People in Quanzhou do not only have the option of farming and studying. Therefore, Liu Kezhuang, a Putian native of the Southern Song Dynasty, wrote in a poem: " Fujian people also know books, and if you don't do woodworking and farming, you will become a Confucian; only outside Tongcheng Nanguo, the original constitution of the court was Mo Tao Zhu. "It is said that Quanzhou people are not like the traditional Fujian people who only know how to farm and read. They not only value literature but also business. The quality of Quanzhou’s imperial examinations is outstanding. The ultimate purpose of the imperial examination is to select talents and officials for the imperial court. Rather than just swarming with farmers and taking the imperial examination as the only way out of poverty. Quanzhou had numerous high-ranking officials in the Song Dynasty. Therefore, although the number of Jinshi in Quanzhou during the Song Dynasty was the smallest among the four major imperial examination centers in Fujian, Quanzhou was historically defined as one of the four major imperial examination cultural centers in Fujian during the Song Dynasty. Not only because of its outstanding quality and indispensable influence, Quanzhou Jinshi are mainly concentrated in Jinjiang County, the center of functional business.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Quanzhou's private business began to flourish, which was also the time when Quanzhou's imperial examination culture was at its peak.

The Zhangzhou region lacks the overall strength to support it. The urban area of ??Zhangzhou has never truly become the core of the southern Fujian region. Even during the Yuegang period, the most prosperous period in Zhangzhou’s history, Zhangzhou only flourished in a local area. To be precise, the peak of Hong Kong was the peak of the Jiulong River estuary area at the junction of Quan and Zhangzhou. Yan Siqi, the leader of Zhangzhou maritime merchants at that time, is now a native of Haicang, Xiamen. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty when it reached its peak in Yuegang, Quanzhou's imperial examination culture was at its peak, ranking first in Fujian, and Jinshi, senior officials and all kinds of talents emerged in large numbers; at that time, private businesses along the coast of Jinjiang were developed, with Yongning Acropolis, Anping, Qingyang, Shihu, etc. Both cities experienced prosperous urbanization. In its heyday, Zhangzhou did not have an absolute advantage over Quanzhou, so the foreign trade center was moved to Anping, Quanzhou in the late Ming Dynasty. Both Yuegang and Minnan Dharma Protector District developed because Zhangzhou's remoteness became an advantage, not because of the prosperity of Zhangzhou itself. The history of Zhangzhou is quite different from that of Quanzhou.

As a core of the Pan-Southern Fujian region, Quanzhou had an important influence on Putian in terms of imperial examination culture. Economically and culturally, doing business can influence Zhangzhou, and it can influence business. Since ancient times, Quanzhou has not only been a geographical center, but also a cultural center. Quanzhou has truly deserved its reputation as the core of the Pan-Southern Fujian region since ancient times. So don’t make a superficial conclusion about the ranking just by seeing the superficial name “Zhangquan”.

You can check the historical branch map of Zhangquan and the population map of Zhangquan through the ages. What is amazing is that the population map of Zhangquan through the ages is actually roughly equivalent to the historical development map of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. Except for Zhangzhou in the mid-Ming Dynasty, Due to the official sea ban policy, private merchants in Zhangquan went to remote ports to trade secretly and developed into China's foreign trade center (located in the Jiulong River estuary area at the junction of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou at that time). The foreign trade center was transferred to Anping Port in Quanzhou), and Zhangzhou was mediocre at other times. The history of Zhangzhou is quite different from that of Quanzhou. Whether in Fujian or southern Fujian, Quanzhou is a "truly" uncrowned king.