The history of Dongqian Lake

Dongqian Lake is also an important water conservancy project in Ningbo. There are seven weirs and nine ponds surrounding the lake. The seven weirs are: Qian weir, Meihu weir (obsolete), Sumu weir (obsolete), Mozhi weir, Pingshui weir, Dayan weir and Gaoqiu weir. The nine ponds are Meihu pond, Meihu weir pond, Sumutang, Mozhiyan pond, Dayan pond, Pingshui pond, Qianyan pond, Fangjiatang and Gaoqiu pond. The Dongqian Lake area has a subtropical monsoon climate, with an average annual precipitation of about 1,374 mm, a minimum temperature of minus 8.3°C, a maximum temperature of 38.5°C, and an average annual temperature of 16.2°C. Because the lake water regulates the temperature, it is not only suitable for intensive agricultural cultivation, ensuring harvests during droughts and floods, but also for shipping and cooling off from the summer heat. The water from Dongqian Lake irrigates more than 500,000 hectares of farmland in eight townships of Yin County, Fenghua and Zhenhai, making the farmland around the lake prosperous year after year. There was a saying in Ningbo in the past: Farmers need Dongxiang, and children need their own children. The fields in Dongxiang have high yields every year, relying on the water of Dongqian Lake. Moreover, most of the drinking water in Ningbo urban area also depends on this lake.

During the entire Paleozoic era, the area around Dongqian Lake has experienced no major changes except for slow ups and downs and localized transgressions. At the end of the Quaternary Period, there was obvious subsidence, and a large number of thick layers of alluvial material were deposited, while the periphery developed into a sandbar. Due to the action of coastal currents and tides, siltation areas gradually formed outside the sandbar, and Dongqian Lake became One of the many sea-marked lakes. Dongqian Lake has been recorded as early as the Jin Dynasty. The famous scholar Lu Yun of the Western Jin Dynasty (Shilong) said in "Answers to Che Mao'an" that Luan County has a large lake in the west, famous mountains in the north, forests in the south, and a huge sea in the east. At that time, the county seat of Luang County was in Luoshan Mountain, and the lake was to the west of the county seat. It can be seen that Dongqian Lake was already called a big lake during the Jin Dynasty.

Dongqian Lake was called Qian Lake in ancient times, named after the water that carries Qian Dai; it was also called Wanjin Lake because of its benefits. It was called "West Lake" in the Tang Dynasty, when the county seat was in Luang The mountain is named after the lake is located in the west of the county; it was called "East Lake" in the Song Dynasty because the county was located at Sanjiangkou in the Song Dynasty and the lake was located in the east, hence the name.

During the imperial edict of Tianbao, Lu Nanjin served as the magistrate of Luan County. In the third year of Tianbao (AD 744), the terrain was opened up and widened, and several gaps in the mountains in the northwest of Hubei were connected by embankments to form an artificial The lake, according to Li Dun's "Review of Xiu Dongqian Lake", there were 121,213 acres of abandoned farmland at that time (according to "Yongshang Water Conservancy Chronicle", 21,213 acres of abandoned farmland), eight ponds and four weirs were built, water was stored in three and a half rivers, and Qixiang was irrigated. With more than 100,000 acres of farmland, the tax on the abandoned lake farmland is allocated to the beneficiary acres, with an additional rice rate of 0.376 per mu.

In the first year of Tianxi of the Song Dynasty (1048 AD), after Wang Anshi was appointed as the magistrate of Luan County, he organized the people, repaired the defects, built lake boundaries, dredged waterways, built embankments and weirs, and cut ponds to benefit water and land. After hard work, Dongqian Lake was transformed into a clear and vast lake, like a large mirror hanging in the air. Since then, the people of Qixiang have no worries about bad years despite the drought. During the reign of Emperor Jiahu of the Song Dynasty (AD 1056-1063), the leader Bo Luxian rebuilt the six embankments, namely Fangjiatang, Gaoqiu Pond, Meihu Pond, Sumutang, Pingshui Weir and Qianyan Pond.

In the fifth year of Qiandao in the Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1169), Dongqian Lake was infested with fungi and more than 20,000 acres of water were silted up. The water storage was sharply reduced and the people were unable to use it. Zhao Bogui followed up the plan of clearing Feng, and with the permission of the imperial court, he sent the county magistrate Yang Bi to make detailed measurements. It was found that the removal of Feng Jun Lake would cost 165,888 guan and 27,678 stone meters. However, due to the huge cost of the project, it could not be implemented because of the inability to raise funds. In the fourth year of Chunxi in the Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1177), Yao Zhe, the county magistrate, restored the Qing Kaihu Lake. At that time, the prince Wei Wang Yuekai was guarding Mingzhou, and he was transferred to the Qing Dynasty. He spent 50,000 yuan in internal funds and 10,000 shi in charity warehouses. He also provided labor and tools according to the acres of land to be benefited. He also sent water troops to move the crops and dispatched chief officials. Mo Ji and Sima Chen Yannian went back and forth to supervise the construction, which lasted for half a year and covered 21,213 acres. However, most of the wild rice plants removed at that time were not moved out of the lake. After the water level rose, the lake was backfilled, and the success was in vain.

In the seventh year of Jiading (AD 1214), Cheng Tan acted as the county magistrate, raised 32,000 guan of government funds, and established the Kaihu Bureau. He wanted to buy 1,000 acres of land and collect rent of 2,400 shi per year. In the evening, farmers were recruited to collect weeds in their spare time, and each boat was rewarded with millet according to the amount of harvest and the distance. It is estimated that 20,000 ships can be repaired every year. It is a pity that his good strategy of eliminating thorns was not implemented well by the subsequent county magistrates. The purchased fields and rent-collecting grains were used for other purposes, while the unpurchased money was kept in the treasury. As a result, the bamboo trees in the lake grew longer and the moon grew longer, encroaching on the waters. In the second year of Baoqing (AD 1226), Hu Ju guarded the county along Shu. At that time, the Fengcao was very silted up. He raised 15,000 shi of rice and ordered the navy to assist, and the farmers accepted the farmland for service. When the clearing was unsustainable, he reported to the Ming court that the remaining money and grain from the project would be purchased in the fields, and the grain rent collected every year would be paid to the head of Qianfeng Township Gu Yongzhi took charge of his work and divided 500 fishermen into four corners. Each of them was given six stones of grain, and all kinds of grass were exterminated. After this large-scale clearing, there was no problem of shoe grass for sixteen years, and thousands of hectares of grass were found in Dongqian Lake. The desolate place was restored to its old appearance as clear as a mirror. However, the removed grass cannot be picked out of the lake. After heavy rains and floods, it becomes cold in the lake.

In the second year of Chunhu (AD 1242), the secretary compiled the county governor Chen Kai. Seeing the harvest, he implemented the strategy of buying grassland. He cleaned up the income from the past lake fields and appointed Lin Yuanjin and Shi Xiaoguang to implement it. The farmers responded one after another, sailing boats to fetch crops and traveling back and forth, sometimes hundreds to more than a thousand. It has a very good effect on removing the fungus.

During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, there was no large-scale dredging of Dongqian Lake. Especially after the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, farmers discovered that the fungus could fertilize their fields, so they competed to use it to prevent the fungus from causing trouble.

In the 18th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1892), due to the siltation of Dongqian Lake, Zhang Zuxian, a native of Luan County, initiated the movement, but it was not accomplished. His disciple Xin Jinya inherited the legacy of his ancestor and continued to call for help for twenty years. It was not until the second year of the Republic of China (AD 1913) that Chen Xiezhong, a wealthy businessman from Zhenhai, donated a huge amount of money to establish the Lake Industry Bureau in Qingshan Temple. It first dredged Mei Lake and then the entire lake, which lasted three years.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, from 1951 to 1976, Dongqian Lake was renovated many times. Thousands of manpower were mobilized, huge investments were made to clear out weeds, and comprehensively repair lakes, ponds, and ponds. Weirs and dams, waste gates, lake boundaries were cleaned up, Tongpen Gate, Qiuhong Gate, Jiepai Gate, and lake ponds were raised, which greatly increased the water storage capacity of Dongqian Lake.

In 1961, when the Sanxipu Reservoir was built, the heavily silted Meihu Lake was abolished. In 1976, a pond in the middle of the lake was built to facilitate dredging in turns.

Dongqian Lake not only has the advantages of irrigation and navigation, but also has the disadvantages of siltation. Therefore, the debate between defending the lake and abolishing the lake has been fierce throughout the ages. During the Wudaide period (AD 1297-1307), the local Yi people asked for a certain area of ??land to be rented to the officials on the grounds that the lake was silted up. The Shuiyingtian Branch of Jingdu pursued the restoration of the lake. During the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1426-1435), Wang Shihua participated in politics and settled in the Dongqian Lake. He maintained his power and opened the lake for farmland. The people of Qixiang sued the Supervisor before he was recognized and suspended. During the Zhengde period and the ninth year of Jiajing, the Ningbo garrison requested that the lake be abandoned for farmland. However, due to the obstruction of the county governor Kou Tianxu and the county magistrate Huang Renshan, the lake was not abandoned. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the King of Lu supervised the country. Wang Zhiren, the commander-in-chief, and Zhou, the commander of the camp, wanted to abolish the Hu farmland due to insufficient military pay. However, the county magistrate Yuanzhou Zuoshen voted to stop it, and Dong Shouyu, the head of the household department, fought to the death, and the lake was finally not abolished. become. However, the number of people who invaded the lake fields increased day by day. During the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, it was only after Lu Yuding spoke to the court that they were strictly prohibited. In the fifth year of Tongzhi (AD 1866), Hu Jie and others requested to dig a mountain in the Jian River to open a river and divert lake water to Zhenhai Taiqiu and other townships. Shizhi sent people to investigate and found that Zhenhai's terrain was high, the project was difficult, and the lake water was insufficient. The farmers of Shangluan County strongly opposed it, and with the approval of Governor Zuo Zongtang, they erected a monument of eternal ban in the Fuchenghuang Temple. Before liberation, wealthy households and tycoons occupied Meihu Lake as farmland, which caused many water conservancy disputes and even armed fights over water. Dongqian Lake has gone through many vicissitudes of life, ups and downs, and finally has achieved great results after 2000 years. In this way, we can also comfort the people with lofty ideals in the past generations who have worked hard for this pearl in eastern Zhejiang, a land of plenty. In order to inspire and commemorate the local officials who contributed to the dredging of the lake, the local people built the "Er Gong Li and Lu Temple" in Qingshan'ao of Dongqian Lake.