A river flows through the land, giving it the names of Jinan and Jining.

That river is called Jishui.

Names of places remember the things of the earth.

Jishui was once an important tributary of the lower reaches of the Yellow River, originating in Jiyuan in Henan Province, flowing through Shandong and finally into the Bohai Sea. In ancient times, Jishui and the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and the Huai River were called the four desecrations, which are the representatives of the river gods in Chinese folk beliefs.

The Yellow River has been diverted many times, and the water source of Jishui itself is slender and the slope is gentle, and Jishui is finally covered by the Yellow River, and the name of the river is still there, but the river channel has disappeared from the earth.

Jining is located in the middle section of Jishui, the terrain is higher, many years to avoid floods, the people are happy to work and peaceful, so it is named Jining.

Jinan is located in the south of Jishui, naturally named Jinan.

Wherever people go, there are people who have walked the way. Wherever water goes, there is a path that water has traveled. The more restricted, the softest water becomes "hard", so most of the rivers on the earth are their own paths.

The Grand Canal is a road walked by water, but its earliest road was dug out by man, so the Grand Canal is a road that people and water walked out together.

The Grand Canal once flowed through Luoyang, and then because other rivers were dug and no longer flowed through Luoyang, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal passed through the city from Jining, which once became a very important section of the Grand Canal. Over the course of thousands of years, the Grand Canal has been constantly changing its course and appearance. According to the years of people's growth, the Grand Canal should reach the time of middle age or even old age today, and looking at the endless fleet on the land of Jining today, the golden reeds on both sides of the river, and the rippling clear water in the river, the Grand Canal seems to still be "youth". The emperors of all dynasties took a boat from the Grand Canal down to the south of the Yangtze River, and Beijing was the boarding point. The Grand Canal flows to this day, and Jining has become the northernmost departure point of the Grand Canal, and sails are rarely seen north of Jining.

The Grand Canal has given Jining the largest water transportation, and it is a prosperous water transportation place in a place, and it has also started a prosperous journey in a place.

If you want to get rich, build roads first. The Grand Canal is the ancient "highway", and almost all the cities that the Grand Canal passes through are the richest and most prosperous cities in China, especially those cities in Jining, Suzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou, Changzhou, Shaoxing and other canal nodes.

If Chinese culture is a heavy book on the earth, the Grand Canal that runs through the north and south is a spine of this book.

"A Grand Canal, a thousand miles of clear water. The head and tail titles of the sailing ship have passed through Jining Prefecture. "Jining watched over the very special section of the Grand Canal, from the Yuan Dynasty to the Ming and Qing dynasties, here are sent to have the highest management agency - the river governor Yamen, which is not in the capital office, but resident in Jining, Jining has become a veritable "Chinese canal capital", a canal gives Jining the height of the water.

When there were airplanes in the sky and cars and trains on the earth, the Grand Canal was gradually left out in the cold, and sails were rare on the river. You can't see the Grand Canal, you can't see the white sails on the boat, you can't hear the boatman's horn, and it's not just the Grand Canal that is cold.

　　2019年前后，大运河仿佛突然醒来，运河上的船帆多了起来，大运河又回来啦！2023年4月，大运河再次实现全线水流贯通。

Fishermen along the canal row their boats every morning and cast their nets on the sparkling surface of the river to catch fish. They sing ancient fishing songs and tell stories that have been with the canal for generations. When the sun sets, the fishing boats are moored on the shore, and the smoke of cooking begins to rise from every house......

Now, the ships transporting grain and coal on the canal are connected from head to end, no longer relying on the power of the sails, but by a power boat to pull, most of which are 9 boats to form a fleet of more than 0 meters long, becoming a "water train". Looking at the flotilla on the canal, it seems as if each flotilla is made up of 0 boats. I asked a captain I just met why this was, and he said no, don't the Chinese like the number 0 the most? Isn't it inconvenient to have one more boat on the canal, and isn't there one less boat?

This is a captain who has traveled from south to north, walking on the canal all year round, and his face is the same canal red as all canal boatmen, and his answer is very interesting.

I met the captain and his fleet on Weishan Island, the ships in the fleet were made up of their village or his relatives' families, and this time they transported tens of thousands of tons of coal, and they had to travel from Weishan Island to Changshu for a month.

运河通，济宁通。 济宁通，天下通。

The Grand Canal is not only a flowing water, but also has an inseparable relationship with the economy and culture, and also has an inseparable relationship with the cultural personality and character of the Chinese.

When it comes to water transport in Jining, we must also talk about a river.

This river is Surabaya, also called Sihe River or Surabaya River. Surabaya once flowed into the Grand Canal, and now Surabaya is a tributary of the Nansi Lake, which is connected to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and the water of Surabaya merges with the Grand Canal through the Nansi Lake.

Speaking of Surabaya, I also want to say a poem: "Shengri seeks the shore of Surabaya, and the boundless scenery is new." Waiting for leisure to know the east wind side, thousands of purples and thousands of reds are always spring. "The person who wrote this poem is called Zhu Xi. When it comes to Surabaya, you have to talk about a person, and you will be even more in awe of the river. Baotu Spring, Washing Bowl Spring, Xiangshui Spring, and Hongshi Spring converge into a river at the foot of the East Companion Mountain in Quanlin Town, Surabaya County, Jining, so it is called Surabaya. Surabaya flows all the way, and many sections of the river are almost straight, but the ancient Surabaya flows through Qufu but meanders, as if wandering, waiting for a person, this person is the great thinker and educator - Confucius.

A group of people traveled thousands of miles to Qufu, that is, they came to the Confucian Temple and Surabaya, which is a thinking river. The banks of the Surabaya River are quiet and beautiful, and although we missed the pink and willow green season, we caught up with the fullest season in Surabaya, and the fields on both sides of the river were golden. Confucius was born in Qufu, a small city surrounded by Surabaya. Confucius may have walked along the riverside countless times, and his broad doctrines such as "benevolence", "propriety", "gentleman's way" and "learning and teaching", these lighthouse-like words are like clear Surabaya, flowing through our hearts, lighting up the lamps in people's hearts, and allowing us to walk freely and steadily.

The saint is gone, but the mind lives on. Standing by the Surabaya River, talking to the river, and talking to the great soul who is far away, my heart is very bright.

Looking at the beautiful Surabaya, looking at the vast Weishan Lake, looking at the ancient Grand Canal in the distance——

"The deceased is like a husband, reluctant to give up day and night."

The saint is sighing, and the earth is echoing.　　　　　　　　　　  Title photo by Guo Gang