那一座叫龍泉的城

一

寶劍與青瓷漸次發展，使龍泉成為遠近聞名的城市。

最早的龍泉城，應是由于歐冶子在龍泉鑄劍而形成的。鑄劍要選礦挖礦煉礦，伐木燒炭，鑄劍磨劍，它是一個系統工程，每個環節必然都要由一大批人來完成。無論這些人是從外地或是從龍泉鄉下而來，他們長年累月聚集在一起，便有了當時的城市雛形。

龍泉城的形成是在隋唐時期，南北統一、京杭大運河開通、休養生息的政策，促進了江南經濟的快速繁榮。唐代龍泉置縣，直接帶動龍泉城的發展。盡管秦始皇統一之后，朝廷禁止民間生產武器，而從李白《送羽林陶將軍》“萬里橫戈探虎穴，三杯拔劍舞龍泉”的詩句中，我們可以斷定，當時龍泉寶劍的生產早已如火如荼。

龍泉城的第三次發展應是在宋元時期。南宋時政治中心南移，遷入龍泉的人口大增。越窯的沒落，大批技工的轉移，遠離兵亂的龍泉成為了出口瓷的重要生產基地，青瓷技術發生革命性進步，并成為了中國瓷業中心。這一時期，龍泉城市經濟空前發達。據史料記載，在宋元時代，“甌江兩岸，瓷窯林立，煙火相望，江中運瓷船只來往如織”。

龍泉城市發展的第四個黃金時期是在明代。到了明代前期，龍泉青瓷迎來了第二個高峰期，不少龍泉窯還為宮庭燒制御用品。盡管到了明中后期，龍泉青瓷業開始沒落，然而龍泉的治礦、造紙、紡織業仍空前發達。據史料記載，明代，歲“上貢歷日黃白紙五萬三千七百九十六張”。明代龍泉有銅礦、銀礦、鐵礦等，成化《處州府志》記載：“歲賦鉛治課鈔五百九十錠二貫一百文，銅錢五千九百四十文。”加之這一時間，香菇生產的興起，使龍泉在許多方面的技術都處于全國領先方面，不僅使龍泉成為當時名副其實的工業城市，積累了多種技術，在各個生產領域也均領先于人。

清代中期，龍泉寶劍生產又迎來了新發展，如今一批生產龍泉寶劍的百年老字號，都是源于那一時期。

新中國成立后，寶劍、青瓷生產相繼得到了恢復，還涌現出了一大批大師級的人物，他們傳承技藝，弘揚文化，再創劍瓷的輝煌，也再次吸引世人對龍泉的注目，推動了龍泉城走向繁榮。

二

龍泉人，有才情。

劍養神氣，瓷潤生活，龍泉劍瓷滋潤著歷代的龍泉人。

南宋中期，有“括蒼（古縣名，治所在今浙江麗水東南一帶）達官最盛”的說法。而其中，龍泉與青田是最為顯著的。龍泉有三大家庭，在南宋朝都有一定的影響，分別為何氏家族、葉氏家族和管氏家族。

何氏是龍泉的旺族，宋史專門記載了曾任知政事的何澹是個大帥哥，“美姿容，善談論”。而他的先人何執中受到曾鞏的欣賞，擔任過宋徽宗的老師，在北宋時兩度為相。而何家最早出名的是何琬，何琬職不高，但是影響非常大，與蘇軾、陳師道、秦觀、釋道潛等人都有所交集。宋神宗曾書有屏風稱：政事何琬，文章葉濤。可謂對龍泉人的重視。

葉氏家族的葉濤，是王安石變法的追隨者，宋神宗曾對其文章大加贊賞。而龍泉葉氏，還有大家熟悉的葉紹翁，他的“滿園春色關不住，一枝紅杏出墻來”，真可謂是千古名句，而其所著的《四朝聞見錄》也具有非常高的史料價值。葉氏的子孫葉適則是永嘉學派的代表人物，其主張“經世致用，義利并舉”的功利思想，作為儒家學派中的一種重要思想，引領中國社會發展。

龍泉的管氏，也名不虛傳，管師仁是北宋的知名副相，宋徽宗曾點贊說：“有臣如此，朕復何憂！”管師仁的弟弟管師復也是飽學之士，但他隱居故里，稱為臥云先生，有詩文傳世。

莫言就是管氏后人，前些年他曾回龍泉認祖歸宗，因為山東高密管氏是從浙江龍泉遷過去的，莫言表示，“這在高密的管氏族譜上有詳盡記載，當年管氏先祖生活在龍泉石馬崗”，“我應該是高密管氏的第二十四代子孫、龍泉管氏的第三十六代子孫”。

（圖片來自“視覺中國”）

Longquan：

City?of?History?and?Culture

By?Jiang?Nan

In?history，?swords?and?celadon?made?Longquan，?a?city?in?the?south?of?Zhejiang?Province?in?eastern?China.?Today，?Longquan?is?a?city?of?legends，?history?and?culture.

The?birth?of?Longquan?goes?back?to?Ou?Ye?Zi，?a?sword-making?master?in?Longquan?who?made?the?countrys?best?swords.?It?wouldnt?be?difficult?to?imagine?that?sword-making?of?that?time?was?a?system?that?needed?the?synergy?of?different?craftspeople，?engaged?in?raw?metal?mining，?smelting，?wood-cutting，?charcoal-making，?sword?making，?and?polishing.?This?system?would?need?qualified?professionals?who?lived?conveniently?in?close?neighborhood?if?not?in?the?same?community.?Some?of?them?might?have?come?from?other?parts?of?the?country?and?some?might?have?come?from?local?rural?communities.?They?worked?together?and?gave?birth?to?the?city?of?Longquan.

Historians?agree?that?Longquan?transformed?into?a?full-fledged?city?in?the?Sui?Dynasty?and?the?Tang?Dynasty?（618-907）.?Jiangnan?（the?south?of?the?Yangtze?River?Delta）?witnessed?an?economic?boom?during?the?Tang?thanks?to?the?unification?of?the?country?and?the?birth?of?the?great?canal?system?that?stretched?from?present-day?Hangzhou?to?the?central?China.?In?the?Tang，?Longquan?became?a?county?in?the?national?government?system.?Though?weapon?making?in?the?private?sector?was?banned?by?the?government?as?of?the?Qin?Dynasty?（221-207BC），?sword-making?masters?somewhat?survived?in?Longquan.

The?third?developmental?boom?of?Longquan?occurred?during?the?Song?（960-1279）.?The?royal?house?of?the?Song?dynasty?came?south?and?founded?the?Southern?Song?in?Hangzhou.?A?large?number?of?people?followed?the?royal?house?and?the?population?in?the?south?boomed.?As?the?Yue?Kiln?in?the?eastern?part?of?Zhejiang?declined，?a?large?number?of?skilled?potters?came?south?to?Longquan，?making?it?into?Chinas?powerhouse?of?celadon?making.?During?this?period，?Longquan?exported?a?large?quantity?of?porcelains?to?the?international?market.?According?to?historical?literature，?the?Ou?River?was?flanked?by?rows?of?kilns?on?the?river?banks?and?ships?came?and?went?busily?during?the?Song?and?the?subsequent?Yuan?（1279-1368）.

The?fourth?boom?of?the?city?came?in?the?Ming?（1368-1644）.?In?the?early?part?of?the?dynasty，?some?kilns?custom-made?celadon?wares?for?the?royal?house?of?the?Ming.?Though?celadon?making?in?Longquan?began?to?deteriorate?during?the?second?half?of?the?Ming，?other?industries?such?as?mining?and?smelting，?paper-making，?and?textile?industries?prospered?in?this?small?city，?which?was?tucked?conveniently?away?from?war?and?chaos.?In?a?sense，?Longquan?remained?a?leading?industrial?center?of?the?country?at?that?time.

It?was?not?until?the?middle?of?the?Qing?（1644-1911）?that?sword-making?staged?a?big?comeback?in?Longquan.?Some?sword-making?brands?flourishing?today?in?Longquan?were?born?during?that?miraculous?comeback.

The?birth?of?the?Peoples?Republic?of?China?in?1949?brought?on?a?renaissance?of?celadon?and?sword-making?in?Longquan.?The?restoration?has?given?birth?to?a?generation?of?masters?and?boosted?the?development?of?Longquan.

Longquan?has?more?than?industry.?It?has?culture.?While?the?Southern?Song?Dynasty?sat?in?Hangzhou?and?ruled?the?country?from?there，?three?families?in?Longquan?were?made?famous?by?the?talented?people?they?produced.?The?Ye?family?produced?statesmen?and?poets.?The?glory?of?the?three?families?in?Longquan?started?long?before?the?Southern?Song.?He?Zhizhong?（1044-1118）?from?Longquan?served?as?a?private?tutor?to?a?crown?prince?and?later?served?as?prime?minister?twice.?He?Wan，?though?never?a?high-ranking?court?official，?was?befriended?by?many?contemporary?poets?such?as?Su?Dongpo，?Chen?Shidao，?Qin?Guan.?Ye?Tao?（1050-1110）?from?Longquan?was?an?excellent?essayist?and?his?prose?style?was?highly?appreciated?by?an?emperor.?Ye?Shaoweng?（1200-1250），?a?poet?of?the?Southern?Song，?wrote?a?short?poem?titled?Visiting?a?Private?Garden?without?Success.?It?has?remained?one?of?the?best?known?poems?in?China.

The?Guan?Family?in?Longquan?prospered?during?the?Song.?Guan?Shiren?（1045-1109）?served?as?a?vice?prime?minister?during?the?Northern?Song.?His?younger?brother?Guan?Shifu?was?a?prominent?scholar，?but?chose?not?to?work?as?a?statesman.

Mo?Yan，?2012s?winner?of?the?Nobel?Prize?for?Laureate，?is?a?descendent?of?the?Guan?Family?in?Longquan.?His?family?in?Gaomi?County，?Shandong?Province?originally?hailed?from?Longquan.?This?fact?is?written?in?the?genealogy?of?the?Mo?clan?in?Gaomi.?Mo?Yan，?born?as?Guan?Moye，?is?a?24th-generation?descendent?of?the?Guan?clan?in?Gaomi，?which?equals?a?36th-generation?descendent?of?the?Guan?clan?in?Longquan.?In?August?2010，?the?novelist?visited?his?ancestral?roots?in?Longquan.