All that remains now of the Badong County site of the Northern
Song Dynasty (960 - 1127) are some stones, bricks and tiles. But
its better protected overall arrangement and buildings were
considered more valuable since there are fewer unearthed large Song
Dynasty ruins. Kou Zhun, prime minister and famous judge of the
Northern Song Dynasty, began his official career in this small
county as its county head and made the county well known. This
historic cultural county hit the top ten greatest archeological
discoveries in China of 2002.
The ancient county government office
Taking a boat along the Yangtze River, a branch of the river works
its way through the north bank. Above it lies the site of the
ancient town of Badong.
From the river, a twisting footpath comes across the remains of
an old stone town -houses, slate roads and many barrel-drains. A
road travels south from what was a government office area down to
the river dockside. Kou Zhun more than likely used this as a
landing platform during his time as an official in the town.
Archeologists can still outline the ancient Badong county seat.
There was a group of official buildings of over 1,600 square
meters. In front of an official gate, a slope remains, on which are
some distorted clay patterns. Archeologists say that their identity
remains unconfirmed.
There were sidesteps on both sides of the slope that have now
disappeared. There are two stone columns, separated by 8 meters.
Archeologists suggest this is the gate to the government
office.
Once entering the office, a broad courtyard, an east-west slate
road connects two stone pools. It's also suggested that originally
there would have been two uncovered skylights surrounding them. But
archeologists say the two pools aren't from the Song Dynasty. This
argument is based on the fact that floods and mud-rock flows
destroyed that archeological section plane during the Northern Song
Dynasty. There is also a square flowerbed. More than 60 copper
coins were found there. Archeologists argue there was a tree there
in ancient times, and since many copper coins were found, perhaps
the ancient people believed it to be a legendary money tree.
Climbing some steps, the main building appears. It's a
38-meter-long, 15-meter-wide building. From the thick stone column
bases, with diameters of 40 centimeters each, the scale of the
building can be imagined. The building's foundation was made of
loess, and with the fact that local soil is of a different 'red'
variety, the importance of the building can be estimated as the
loess would have had to be imported from elsewhere.
To the east of the main building, there would have been a
13.8-meter-long, 11.7-meter-wide building. According to
archeologists, there was a rigid system of social stratification in
operation during that time and that according to the site and its
scale, this was likely to be an official building. Intact drinking
utensils, lamp stands, ink stones and seals unearthed at the site
provide some evidence of its use. Archeologists say there are still
many building sites to the north of this building, but so far none
has been excavated.
Badong official storehouses
On an upland to the west of the ancient county government office
site, archeologists found more than ten round and square
partially-submerged store houses, enclosed by walls. The round ones
have a diameter of 1.2 to 2.2 meters and the square one's sides
measure 3 to 4 meters each. There are pillar holes and ditches
arranged in order in the ground and around the building there are
steps down to the storehouses. In the center of one storehouse,
there is a pottery wheel with a diameter of 72 centimeters. A
well-protected flagon was also found there. Archeologists argue
that it was used as an ice cellar for food and wine. In another
storehouse building, archeologists found a round stove on a square
brick platform and argue that it was used to dry grain.
In this group of storehouses, a most important discovery found
two identical, polished pottery bowls, originally used for
measuring grain. The bowls are 13.4 centimeters high and have a
diameter of 20.4. In contrast to their size, the bowls are thin,
smooth and very light.
From the scale of the buildings, the archeologist Deng Hui,
believes they were official storehouses.
Kougong Temple
The brick road was paved during the Sui (581-618) and Tang
(618-907) dynasties but the poles were set in the Song Dynasty.
From the remains of the foundation, it is possible to see that the
temple was not on a large scale. During excavation many relics were
found: glazed ware, tiles and religious articles such as the spiral
hair of Buddha, the gathered hands and remaining parts of a Buddha
as well as a gold-plated copper Buddha. Wang Ran, an archeologist
working on the site believes there was a legendary Kougong Temple,
a temple built to commemorate Kou Zhun.
The Kougong Temple reflects the respect the people had for Kou
Zhun, a prime minister during the reign of the Song Taizong and
Song Zhenzong. At only 19 he took the imperial examination and was
given the rank of Jin Shi (palace graduate). Later, as just a young
boy, he was appointed to an official position. Kou Zhun served as a
county official in Badong for three years. He was known as an
honest and just-minded official. In those three years, the ordinary
people of Badong County made great progress. He was promoted
several times and finally became the premier of the Song Taizong.
He achieved many great things for the Song Dynasty. It's said that
every time Kou Zhun went to the imperial court, court officials
were scared of him naming their faults.
A story tells of the political talent of Kou Zhun. At that time,
local people weren't willing to pay their taxes and junior
officials were known to use extortion and corruption when they
tried to levy them. Kou Zhun made a decision to post the tax roll
and detailed information on the gate of the county. From then on,
everyone paid their taxes and no official dared use extortion or
corruption -- the earliest "open-government" system, perhaps.
There are still relics of Kou Zhun in the Badong County Museum
-- a sliding weight of steel, of 0.67 meters high, 1.3 meters thick
and 140 kg in weight.
There are two stories about this sliding weight.
According to Gao Yuanzhang, a scholar whose family lived in
Badong from ancient times, because of a long stone crossing the
river there were many whirlpools and rapids in that part of the
Yangtze River that crossed Badong County. Any boat passing was
likely to capsize. It is said that there were many holes on this
huge stone and it looked just like the beam of a "steelyard", the
holes like gradation markings. So the huge stone was called a beam
stone. It is said that when Kou Zhun came he ordered a cast of this
huge sliding weight or "steelyard" to press down on the beam stone.
The beam stone is now completely submerged by water due to the
Three Gorges Reservoir flooding program.
Li Qingrong, the leader of the Badong Museum, told the other
tale. According to the story, Kou Zhun's mother loved him very much
and he was also very fond of her. She always pushed him to study
hard for greater knowledge and a big future. Little Kou Zhun was
naughty and his mother always punished him. Once, when his mother
wanted to beat him, he ran away, and unable to catch him, she threw
a little sliding weight at him. From then on, he remembered his
mother's teaching and worked hard. When he became the county's
official he cast this huge sliding weight to remind himself of the
teaching of his mother.
The Kougong Temple was built and rebuilt several times during
the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and was finally destroyed
in the Qing Dynasty. When the Kougong Temple still existed
sacrificial ceremonies were particularly grand, especially on July
14, Kou Zhun's birthday.
Ever prosperous and busy
Many daily necessities have been unearthed at the site like bowls,
dishes, pots, flagons, earthenware, lights and basins. These relics
include pottery and porcelain, porcelain from both north and south,
with both folk finishes and formal "official" finishes. Amongst the
most interesting things are two flagons -- the larger 20
centimeters high, (holding one jin or half kilogram of wine), the
smaller 6.2 centimeters high, (not holding even two liangs or 0.1
kg of wine). Both are delicate and it is possible to see the
different temperaments and tastes of drinking at that time.
Many culture and entertainment artifacts have been excavated.
Ink stones are characteristic -- they were produced from the area,
and in all kinds. Entertainment artifacts include Chinese chess
with round chess pieces and dice.
What was perhaps most surprising were the kinds of little
pottery pots, from 4 centimeters to 8 centimeters, for raising
birds. These artifacts give life to the civilian life in the
Northern Song Dynasty.
The architectural material are all multiform -- ridges were
decorated with huge sparrow hawks' beaks and backs of beasts; even
the tiles were decorated with flowers, beasts' faces and human
faces.
Money as a symbol of a prosperous economy was also found there.
Money in its thousands was unearthed, left mainly from the Northern
Song Dynasty. There were 32 kinds issued in the Northern Song
Dynasty, in which 27 kinds were found at the Badong site.
The eclipsed Badong County
There's no large-scale official building on the site after the
Northern Song Dynasty. The county seat moved under the Jinzi Hill
on the southern bank of the Yangtze River. Archeologists say that a
recent study shows the county official site was hit by flooding and
mud-rock flows during the Northern Song Dynasty. After that, the
county official site had to move out of Badong. The exact time is
not clear but thought to be no earlier than in the Southern Song
Dynasty (1127 - 1279).
Nevertheless, Badong had its most prosperous time in the
Northern Song Dynasty and thereafter declined. Lu You, a poet from
the Southern Song Dynasty, described Badong County in his
Travel Notes to Sichuan: "The county is depressed: only
some one hundred families live there. The houses are all made of
thatch grass, not a single tile."
Li Qingrong, explained that the governors of all dynasties did
not support the development of the ethnic economy of the area south
of the Yangtze River. Its remote to the Central Plains, closed off
by mountains and without convenient traffic facilities. The
dwellers were conservative and took business as a debasing
activity. Together with the natural disasters -- floods, landslides
and mud-rock flows -- the productivity and culture there were far
inferior to that developed on the Central Plains.
Background to Badong County
Badong County began its prosperity in the Sui (581-618) and
Tang (618-907) dynasties, and had its heyday in the Northern Song
Dynasty. There were county sites early in the Northern and Southern
Dynasties (386-589), with names like Xinling County, and then
renamed Lexiang County. It was named Badong in 598 in the Sui
Dynasty.
The principal part of the Badong site is the whole county
area. The official site area was in the middle of the county,
including the government office, temples and storehouses. There
were business areas in the south of the official government site
near a brook, where archeologists found an alehouse and other shop
sites. The east and west part of the site were residential areas,
where more than 80 houses were unearthed. Specialists say that at
least 3,000 people lived in the county then.
Baiyun pavilion and Qiufeng pavilion, which were constructed
by Kou Zhun according to some historical records, have all
disappeared. There is still a Qiufeng pavilion at the Badong site,
but it was constructed during the Ming Dynasty. Kou Zhun wrote 120
poems in the three years he lived there, accounting for half of all
his work. Lu You, Su Shi, Su Sun and other poets wrote articles to
commemorate Kou Zhun when they passed through, leaving many works
behind.
(China.org.cn by Chen Lin and Daragh Moller, January 13,
2004)
