Origin of Changzhou "Dragon City";
In ancient legends, the dragon is a magical animal with scales, horns, whiskers and claws. It is also a symbol of the emperor of the feudal dynasty and has supreme authority. Changzhou, known as Dragon City in ancient times, is full of dragon spirit and is regarded as an auspicious place where people and wealth flourish.
There are different opinions about the origin of Dragon City.
(1) is related to the shape of Changzhou city wall. Changzhou City Wall was built in the Taikang period of the Western Jin Dynasty (280-289). In 892 AD, "Neizicheng" was built in the Tang Dynasty, with a circumference of about 2 li. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, in 92 1 year, the "Waizi City" was built, which was 7 miles around the city and 2.8 feet high. It is called the "Golden Fighting City", and the poem says that "Piling City is like the Golden Fighting Party". 1936, "Los Angeles" was built, with a circumference of 27 miles and a height of 1 foot. From Shuimen Bridge in the east to the west along the Grand Canal, it passes through De 'an Bridge and Guanghua Bridge, and extends to Xixinqiao, Qingshan Bridge and Xiaodongmen Bridge in the north to reach Shuimen Bridge. In this way, Changzhou has formed three overlapping city walls. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang sent general Tanghe to guard Changzhou. The first important event of Tanghe defending Changzhou was the construction of a new city in 1369. Luocheng, built in the Five Dynasties, was "too big to keep". Tanghe reduced three walls in the southeast and west, and set up seven gates. The city wall is 2.5 feet high, and the circumference of the city is more than 10, so-called "new city". In this way, during the period from the construction of the city in the Jin Taikang period to the Ming Hongwu period 1080, four city walls, namely, inner city, outer city, Luocheng and new city, were built in Changzhou. Changzhou folk once circulated such a ballad: "Luoli City, outer Luocheng, middle square, Forbidden City, Third Ring River, and four sets of cities". The origin of Changzhou Dragon City is probably related to the city wall. Among the four city walls, Luocheng and Xincheng are very turtle-shaped. Luochengtou extends to Qianshilongzui outside Chaojingmen, and Guiwei is at the customs clearance of today's Shuimen Bridge. 1369 The new city is more like a tortoise crawling with its head held high. Qingshan Gate in the north is like a turtle's head, Dean Gate in the south is like a turtle's tail, Hezheng Gate in the northeast (i.e. small north gate) and Chaojing Gate in the west (old west gate) are like two front paws of a turtle, and Guanghua Gate in the southwest and Tongguan Gate in the east (east suspension bridge west) are like two rear toes of a turtle. A half-moon urn outside Qingshan Gate looks like a turtle's food basin, and there are two wells near Qingshan Gate that look like turtle's eyes. What a vivid turtle-shaped wall. The ancients called it turtle dragon species) o So Changzhou predecessors did not directly call it turtle city, but called it "Dragon City". "My county is Gulong City" in "Wuyang Zhiyu" written by Guangxu in Qing Dynasty. This is what Changzhou said, "The land has a dragon shape, hence the name Longcheng".
(2) Second, it comes from a myth circulated among the people in Changzhou. Legend has it that a long time ago, there was an ancient temple in the northwest of Changzhou. One night, Hongzhi, the monk in charge of the temple, dreamed that the mountain god said to him, "I am the mountain god of Jiulong Mountain, the nine princes of the East China Sea Dragon King. I am guarding these mountains with eight brothers. Recently, eight brothers came to occupy my hill, which will be a fierce battle. Please lead the monks in the temple to ring gold and beat drums to help me win. " Two days later, on the fifth day of May, the sky suddenly became overcast and the wind was like a dragon. Hongzhi led monks to beat gongs and drums, chanting Buddha and chanting scriptures. About half an hour, the wind stopped and the peace of the past was restored. That night, the monk dreamed that the mountain god said to him, "Thanks to your drumming, you have won now. Now the two dragons you led have fled to Yixing Mountain, and the other six dragons have gone to the county seat. Please go to the county to appease them. I hope they can live and work in peace and contentment and benefit the people. They can meet in Yunxi on the fifth day of May every year. " After learning that Six Dragons came to Changzhou, people in the county built six-color dragon boats every year and competed in the Baiyun Stream. Therefore, Changzhou has been known as "Six Dragon Cities" and "Dragon City" since ancient times. Hong recorded in his Family Biography that there are dragon boat races in Baiyun Stream around the Dragon Boat Festival every year. There are five-color dragons in the city, large and small dragons in the east gate, golden dragons and white dragons in the west gate and oolong in the north gate. Umbrellas are flying, gongs and drums are loud, and six colorful dragon boats are swaying in the stream, competing to reflect. There is also the phrase "There are six dragons in Lanling since ancient times" in his Yunxi Du Jing Ci. Zou Zhongying in Ming Dynasty said in Preface to Mountain Records: "Six dragons gather in Piling. The mountain on the right is covered with an iron urn, and the mountain on the left is outside the city. If it is an east-west gateway. " This is from the topography that Changzhou is a land of hidden dragons and crouching tigers.
(3) It is also said that there were 15 Qi Liang emperors in Changzhou during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The ancient dragon was the symbol of the emperor. It is said that there were many emperors in ancient Changzhou, so Changzhou is also called Dragon City.
All the above statements are about the origin of the name of Changzhou Dragon City, but when did the name of Changzhou Dragon City begin?
According to historical records, in the sixth year of Qin Long in the Ming Dynasty (1572), Changzhou Magistrate built the "Longcheng Academy" and named it Longcheng. It can be seen that Changzhou had the name of Dragon City more than 400 years ago. Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty visited the south of the Yangtze River six times and went to Tianning Temple in Changzhou to burn incense and worship Buddha three times, and wrote the inscription "Dragon City Elephant Religion" with imperial pen. The emperor is the king of a country and has supreme power. He can write a large plaque for the temples in Changzhou, which shows that even the emperor at that time confirmed that Changzhou was called Longcheng.