Zaozhuang, the city’s seat, formed a village during the Tang and Song Dynasties. It was named Zaozhuang because of its many jujube trees. The name was officially used after the city was established in 1961.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court allowed private mining. In the Luyi area, "villagers dug mountains to get stones for grinding and grinding, and dug wells to get coal for fuel." With the mining of coal, immigrants gradually moved to live around the "Yibei Kiln Farm".
In each settlement, people are marked by their surnames or names such as geographical features and village records. The more famous villages include: Jinzhuang, Sanhezhuang, Zaozhuang, etc. In the first year of the Republic of China, the "Articles of Association of Zhongxing Company" was officially implemented, which stated: "The company's main mine is located in Zaozhuang, north of Yixian County." At this point, the place name Zaozhuang began to become famous in society.
Extended information:
There were human activities in Zaozhuang City four to five million years ago. As early as the Neolithic Age 7,300 years ago, our ancestors created the "Beixin Culture" on this land. It is the oldest culture discovered by archeology in the Huanghuai region and the source of Dongyi culture.
In the pre-Qin period, Zaozhuang was home to seven ancient city-states: Xue, Teng, Zhu, Ni, Xiaozhu, Zang, and Biyang. It was the area with the densest distribution of ancient capitals in China. one.
Zaozhuang has produced numerous celebrities in the past dynasties, including Xi Zhong, the originator of human car-making, Mozi, a scientific sage who advocated "universal love and non-aggression", and Mengchang Jun, who was "hospitable and nourishing scholars". He was resourceful, eloquent, and Mao Sui who dared to recommend himself, Kuang Heng, the famous prime minister of the Western Han Dynasty who "cut through walls to steal light", and Jia Sanjin, the author of "Jin Ping Mei". It is also the hometown of He Jingzhi, a famous contemporary poet and literary and art master, and Wang Xuezhong, a famous calligrapher.
The history of Zaozhuang is closely connected with the canal. According to archaeological discoveries, the earliest canal in the territory, the Biyang Canal, was excavated in the Spring and Autumn Period. The Zaozhuang section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal was excavated in the 32nd year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty. It flows through Taierzhuang, Yicheng, Xuecheng and Tengzhou in the city. It has a total length of 93.9 kilometers, from Lijiagang in Xia Town to the mouth of Pizhou Zhihe River and enters the Yellow River. Because the Bah River is It mainly supplements water sources and is known as the Jia Canal in history.
Its opening changed the situation of the Beijing-Hangzhou transportation road being blocked due to the flooding of the Yellow River. For hundreds of years, it played an important role in transporting grain from the south to the north, material circulation, and cultural exchanges. The completion of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has also promoted the economic prosperity of the areas along the canal.
Taierzhuang along the coast has rapidly developed into an "important town in southern Shandong". "Yixian Chronicle" records: "Taierzhuang is close to the canal, where merchants gather, and the fields are endless. It is also a city in Yanjian." It is a gathering place for merchants. With the fusion of cultures, the ancient city of Taierzhuang has also become a typical representative of canal culture. It has the most distinctive characteristics of the fusion of north and south cultures and the fusion of Chinese and Western cultures on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
Zaozhuang is known as Shandong Coal City, with a long history of coal mining and excellent coal quality. Li Hongzhang once said that Zaozhuang coal is "particularly better than Japan's finest coal and similar to British pine white coal."
The "Yixian Chronicle" of the 30th year of Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty records: "The mining industry was first seen in the first three generations...it was not abandoned until the Tang and Five Dynasties." There is also a record: "There are many old wells from the Tang and Song Dynasties in the Zaozhuang mining area. There are many shallow wells dug by native people everywhere. "Coal was mined and transported in large quantities in the Qing Dynasty.
In the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang, governor of Zhili and minister of Beiyang, reported to the Qing government and sent Dai Huazao, magistrate of Zhili, to raise 50,000 yuan to open the Yixian Zhongxing Mining Bureau in Zaozhuang.
In the 25th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, Zhang Lianfen of Yanyi Cao Jibing Road came to Zaozhuang with the approval of the Qing government to co-operate the Zaozhuang Coal Mine and founded the "Commercial Shandong Yixian Zhongxing Coal Mine Co., Ltd.", which was the first national company in China. capital joint-stock enterprise and issued China's first stock.
Li Yuanhong and Xu Shichang, two presidents of the Republic of China, both served as chairman of the board, and Zhang Xueliang is also one of the largest shareholders. In the 1930s, Zhongxing Company adopted mechanized coal mining and became the third largest coal mine in the country after the Japanese-owned Fushun and the Sino-British joint venture Kailuan.
With its performance and scale, ZTE has had a profound impact on Chinese history. It is the largest shareholder of China’s first railway, the Jingpu Line; it built the Longhai Line; it participated in the construction of Qingdao Port, Lianyungang, Hankou Port, Jiangyin Port and Shanghai Port; the first presidents of the board of directors of Fudan University and Shandong University were dispatched by ZTE.
ZTE has become an iconic enterprise in the industrial history of the Chinese nation. Zaozhuang has therefore become the birthplace of modern national industrial civilization. After the founding of New China, it became the old industrial base of New China.
Zaozhuang is a heroic city with a glorious revolutionary tradition. In the 27th year of the Republic of China, under the leadership of Li Zongren, commander of the Fifth War Zone, the vast southern Shandong area with Taierzhuang as the center launched a war with the Japanese invaders. In the large-scale Battle of Taierzhuang, the Chinese army won an unprecedented victory since the Anti-Japanese War. In the 29th year of the Republic of China, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the railway guerrillas established in Zaozhuang battled wits and courage with the Japanese army and defeated the Japanese invaders with guerrilla tactics.
Reference materials:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Zaozhuang