Dan River (China)
The Dan River, formerly known as the Dan Shui or 800 Li Black River, is a river located in Shaanxi province in the People's Republic of China. The longest tributary of the Han River, the Dan rises at Heilongkou in the Qin Mountains of Shaanxi province then flows south east through Shangluo City, Danfeng County, Shangnan County and Xichuan County, Henan province before joining the Han River at Danjiangkou, Hubei province.
Origin of the name
There are three different theories as to how the Dan River got its name:- When the Black River flooded in ancient times, Yu the Great assigned Dan Zhu the task of bringing it under control. Dan Zhu died during the work so the local people renamed the Black River in his honor.
- Following the Battle of Changping between the States of Qi and Zhao during the Warring States period, 400,000 bodies were dumped in the river causing its waters to turn red. Since in Chinese "丹" can mean "red", the river was renamed accordingly.
- Traditionally, the same is said to come from the "Dan fish", a token of longevity.
Geography
History
According to the Yu Gong, the geography section of the Book of Documents, the Dan River joined the Han River at a place called Laohe Kou.Later on during and after the Tang Dynasty under the Fan Zhen or "Buffer Town" system of administration, the Dan River area had the power to block transport on the Huai and Bian Rivers. As a result, the Dan became an important waterway in the Yangtze and Huai River region.
At the time of the Ming Dynasty and later, the Dan was used by merchants of the Guanlong Trading Bloc to transport goods to Xiangyang and Hankou, both in Hubei Province. At the same time many shipping and horse-drawn transportation guilds were established at Longju Village , illustrating the flourishing trade on the Dan River.
In 1693, during the reign of the Qing Kangxi Emperor, both Xi'an and Fengxiang County on the Guanzhong Plain suffered crop failure bringing famine to the region. Ding Sikong, governor general of the provinces of Hubei and Guangdong with the assistance of others, sent relief aid from Xiangyang via the Dan River into Shaanxi Province after carrying out dredging operations. Famine reoccurred later during Kangxi's reign in 1720 when 100,000 dan, equivalent to, of rice were shipped to Shaanxi from warehouses in Jingzhou, City, Hubei Province and other locations by boat along the Dan River to Longju Village. A decade later on the 16th February 1731, the Yongzheng Emperor ordered grain to be dispatched from Hubei and Guangdong to Shangzhou, Shaanxi as a contingency against food shortages. In 1737, during the Qianlong Emperor's reign, crops failed in Shangzhou and grain prices rocketed. To keep down prices and provide disaster relief, the authorities in Liguanqiao Town and Dengzhou City in Xichuan County, Henan procured 1880 dan, equivalent to, of foodstuffs which was shipped along the Dan River to Shangzhou. The Qing Guangxu Emperor's reign saw the 1890 occupation of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Alliance following the Boxer Rebellion. The emperor along with Empress Dowager Cixi escaped to Xi'an. Grain taxes from the Jingdai District were forwarded along the Dan River to Longju Village then on to Xi'an for use by the emperor along with his government and army.
With the advent of the Republic of China in 1912, a ballad spread amongst the people of Xichuan County featuring the words "The boatmen have three knives stuck in their stomachs: the river pirates, the bandits and the submerged reefs. They have only three choices: starvation, death by drowning or imprisonment." In turn, the boatmen themselves referred to the Dan as the "Black River", emphasizing the bandit problem.
At that time, three relatively large families controlled shipping; those of Ling Laosi from Jingziguan Town ，Guo Laopo from Laocheng Town and Liguanqiao Town's Jin Yulou, head of the Red Guild. They were all considered leeches and exploiters by the boatmen. Records show that cargoes carried on the Dan River included kerosene, tobacco, chinaware, silk, medicinal ingredients, walnuts, peach kernels and specialty products from the mountains.
During the 1940s onwards, waterborne trade on the Dan went into decline.
Reasons for the decline in trade
Three primary factors account for the decline in trade on the Dan River during the previous century. Firstly, wooden sailboats were a relatively backward technology. On the Shangluo section of the waterway a maximum of only 4 tons could be carried up river and 10 tons downstream. With calm water, the round trip from Longju Village to Jingziguan took 20 days and involved heavy physical work with little return. However, in transportation terms, wooden sailboats were quite advanced for the time and there was no better option available. With the rapid growth of rail and road transportation from the early days of the Republic of China the sailboat's days were numbered.The second factor concerns economic changes that occurred from the 1950s onwards. China's implementation of economic regionalization and a state monopoly on purchasing and marketing effectively severed the upstream/downstream trade links on the Dan River. A decade later the 1962 "Cut off the tail of capitalism" policy halted part-time shipping activities by the farming community.
Thirdly, with deforestation and the construction of reservoirs the water sources for the Dan River declined. Large quantities of silt in the river bed increased the number of dangerous reefs so that parts of the waterway became impassable.
Major floods and natural disasters
The following are recorded amongst the many natural disasters that have occurred through history in the Dan River region:| Date | Event |
| 1520 | The river flooded, inundating fields and destroying innumerable houses |
| 1572 | Floodwater from the Dan reached a depth of. |
| 1593 | Heavy rain began in April and continued until July. Widespread famine. |
| 1606 | Heavy flooding, plague epidemic – many dead |
| 1627 | Crops damaged by heavy rain, the Dan overflowed |
| 1642 | Drought followed by floods, fields destroyed |
| 1644 | Heavy rain from August until November caused the Dan to overflow |
| 1658 | Rain from August until November causing the Dan to flow in reverse |
| 1667 | Large scale flooding |
| 1677 | Large scale flooding |
| 1685 | Heavy rain, water level above the fields, impossible to plant crops |
| 1722 | Heavy rain, large scale flooding, harvest destroyed |
| 1890 | The Dan flooded, submerging more than 30 villages |
| 1907 | Flooding, many houses damaged |
| 1919 | On May 8, heavy rain fell and the river rose sharply, drowning many people |
| 1931 | Flood disaster in the summer and autumn, many houses on both banks of the Dan destroyed |
| 1935 | On June 6, a flash flood occurred inundating more than 270,000 Chinese acres of land. Liguanqiao Town submerged in several feet of water. Continuous rain pounded the Songwan region of Tanghe County for seven days and nights. |
| 1943 | Rain fell for 49 days during April and May causing the Dan to burst its banks |
| 1950 | In the autumn continuous heavy rain fell, Liguanqiao and Bukoujie suffered heavily. The Dan flowed backwards due to the sheer volume of water. In October, the next season's crops were planted in the rain. |
| 1951 | At the end of May, heavy rain was followed by hailstorms which destroyed innumerable crops in Jingziguan, Songwan, Hushan and Liguanqiao |
| 1952 | In May, torrential rains caused the Dan to flood damaging fields and houses. As winter approached snow fell for twenty or more days. Sweet potatoes froze in the fields. Three hundred and thirty-seven houses collapsed and 270 oxen perished. |
| 1953 | On June 13, torrential rain fell and continued for a month. The Dan River overflowed, drowning ten people, destroying 36,000 Chinese acres of crops and causing more than 3,500 houses to collapse. |
| 1954 | During July and August heavy rain fell, the Dan rose, reaching a peak flow rate of per second. Along the river 52 villages were damaged. |
| 1955 | Continuous heavy rain fell during August, flash floods occurred destroying 88,000 Chinese acres of crops. |
| 1956 | Heavy rain in May caused the Dan to overflow; newly planted wheat rotted in the fields |
| 1957 | fell in one continuous period destroying 72,000 Chinese acres of crops and causing 3,000 houses to collapse. The Dan reached a peak flow rate of per second |