Eternal beauty by the Jialu River丨郑州有一河，名“贾鲁”
There is a city named "Zhengzhou" in the Central Plains. There is a river named "Jialu" River in Zhengzhou.
中原有一城，名“郑州”;郑州有一河，名“贾鲁”。
The river named "Jialu" has a long history of 2,400 years. Originated in Xinmi, it flows through Zhengzhou, Zhongmu, Kaifeng and Weishi, joins Shaying River at Zhoukou, and finally meets Huaihe River. The river has a total length of 255.8 kilometers. It may be even more meaningful to Zhengzhou than the Yellow River, because the Zhengzhou proper basically belongs to the Jialu River basin. Standing on the midpoint of the timeline of history and looking back, you’ll see that Jialu River originated in the pre-Qin period and developed in Han and Wei Dynasties; it prospered in Sui and Tang Dynasties and underwent great changes in Song Dynasty; it revived in Yuan and Ming Dynasties and declined in late Qing Dynasty. Looking ahead, it has rose from ashes to seize the day.
这条名为“ 贾鲁” 的河， 至今已有2400 年高龄了。它发源于新密，流经郑州、中牟、开封、尉氏，后至周口入沙颍河，最后流入淮河。贾鲁河全长255.8 公里，相比于黄河，这条河对于郑州的意义也许更加非凡：几乎整个市区都是在贾鲁河流域。当站在时间轴的中点，向左看，它起源于先秦，发展于汉魏;兴盛于隋唐，巨变于两宋;中兴于元明，衰落于晚清。向右看，它重生于涅槃，愿景于当下。
The ancient river is closely related to Zhengzhou
这条古老的河与郑州息息相关
In ancient times, there was plenty of water in the Jialu River with smooth flow of ships and frequent flooding. Therefore, the ancients called it "Little Yellow River". Today, although it is a shallow river of which the riverbed is visible and the flow is intermittent, it is still the longest river in Henan Province with the widest drainage area second to the Yellow River.
古时的贾鲁河水量充沛，舟楫畅通，洪水泛滥也不少见，因此，古人又将它称为“小黄河”。今天的贾鲁河虽然浅可见底，时断时续，但它仍是河南省境内除黄河以外河道最长、流域面积最广的河流。
Although Zhengzhou is very close to the Yellow River, it would be precise to say that Jialu River feeds most Zhengzhou people.
郑州虽然离黄河很近，但确切地说，是贾鲁河水养育了大部分郑州人。
Moreover, Zhengzhou's history and culture is partly related to this river. For example, at the 38th Session of the World Heritage Committee on June 22, 2014, the Grand Canal of China was inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Zhengzhou section of the Grand Canal’s Tongji Canal, namely today's Suoxu River, joins the Jialu River at Xiangyunsi village.
而且，郑州的历史文化也有一部分与这条河有关。比如说，在2014 年6 月22 日第38 届世界遗产大会上，中国大运河获准列入世界遗产名录。大运河通济渠的郑州段，是今天的索须河，在祥云寺村汇入贾鲁河。
The proposal of building the historical and cultural blocks of the Grand Canal in the Protection Plan of Zhengzhou Historical and Cultural City (2015 ~ 2020) is in fact based on the Jialu River.
《郑州历史文化名城保护规划(2015~2020)》里提出的修建大运河历史文化街区，其实就是以贾鲁河为依托的。
The "Eight Scenes" in Zhengzhou during Ming and Qing dynasties were closely related to the Jialu River.
明清时期，郑州出现的“八景”，大多也和贾鲁河有关。
However, it was not known as Jialu River over two thousand years ago.
但2000 多年前，它的名字并不叫贾鲁。
From "Honggou" (lit: wide drain) to "Jialu River", it has walked through over two thousand years
从“鸿沟”到“贾鲁河”，它走过了2000 多年
According to researches, the predecessor of Jialu River is the "wide chasm" in the Chu-Han war (civil war after Qin dynasty’s collapse). As a key point for strategists, Honggou was of great military importance. In late Qin Dynasty, Chu’s king Xiang Yu and Han’s king Liu Bang confronted here and agreed that they would "divide the country by the wide drain: the west belongs to Han and the east belongs to Chu." Therefore, confrontation between Chu and Han and Honggou as a boundary became important cultural symbols. In Chinese chess, two opposing sides are called “Chu” and “ Han ” , and the dividing line honggou.
据考证，贾鲁河的前身是楚汉相争时的“鸿沟”。作为历代兵家必争之地，鸿沟具有十分重要的战略地位。秦朝末年，楚霸王项羽与汉王刘邦在此对峙，后楚与汉约定“以鸿沟为界，中分天下，割鸿沟以西者为汉，以东者为楚”。由此，以鸿沟为界、楚汉对峙成为中国象棋棋盘上数千年不变的格局。
In late Yuan Dynasty, the Yellow River frequently burst its banks, flooding more than 10 states and counties in Henan, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu and other regions, and making people suffer. In 1351, 55-year-old Jia Lu was commissioned at the critical moment. He took the post of Minister of Works and head of Flood Prevention, and levied 170,000 civilian workers and soldiers in Henan and Shandong to start a massive river regulation project.
到了元朝末年，黄河决口频繁，淹没河南、山东、安徽、江苏等地十多个州县，两岸百姓苦不堪言。1351 年，55 岁的贾鲁受命于危难之际，出任工部尚书、总治河防使，征发河南、山东17万民工与士兵，开始浩大的治河工程。
Huge as it was, the project lasted for nine months. Jia Lu ultimately blocked the burst and controlled perennial floods by combining dredging and blocking. He had dykes and dams built, and introduced a "sunken ship" method. In less than 300 days, they sunk 127 large ships, used over 20,000 wooden stakes, 7,335,000 bundles of weeds such as pampas, 625,000 bamboo poles, 2,000 ships of gravels, 57,000 ropes as well as countless goods and materials such as reed mats, bamboo splits, iron wires, iron anchors and large needles.
工期持续了9 个月，工程量也十分巨大。贾鲁采取疏浚和堵塞并举的方法，修筑堤坝，首次采用“沉船法”，最终堵住了决口，平息了多年的水患。在这不到300 天里，木桩子用了2 万多根，蒲苇之类的杂草用了733.5 万余束，竹竿62.5 万根，碎石2000 船，绳索5.7 万根，所沉大船127 艘，其余苇席、竹蔑、铁线、铁锚、大针等物资不计其数。
In the process of harnessing the Yellow River, Jia Lu has dug a new diversion channel from today’s Xinmi, Zhengzhou. After passing through Zhengzhou, Zhongmou and then to the south of Kaifeng, it passed through the ancient canal and joined the Huaihe River. That is the flow direction of Jialu River today. To commemorate the famous water control expert, people called this canal "Jialu River."
在这次治理黄河的过程中，贾鲁从今郑州新密开凿了一条新的引水河道，经郑州、中牟向南到开封，而后通过古运河入淮河，这就是今天贾鲁河的流向。为了纪念这位著名的治水专家，人们把这条运河称为“贾鲁河”。
A vast battle of harnessing opened up the new chapter of the Jialu River
一场浩大的治理战开启了贾鲁河的新篇章
After Jialu River was open to traffic, water transport prospered and business flourished rapidly. Zhuxian Town and Zhoujiakou both benefited from the river. However, prosperity declined before mid-Qing Dynasty. Floods on the Yellow River at the end of the 19th century often choked Jialu River with silt. In June 1938, the Huayuankou burst left Jialu River in disrepair.
贾鲁河修通之后，漕运大畅，商业也很快兴盛起来，朱仙镇、周家口，都是贾鲁河的受益者。不过，繁盛局面仅仅维持到了清朝中期。19 世纪末黄河的几次泛滥，让贾鲁河频繁淤塞。1938 年6 月，花园口的大水让贾鲁河彻底荒废。
In 1950, Zhengzhou municipal government recruited tens of thousands of workers to excavate silted Suoxu River and Jialu River. The painstaking project took several decades. As the river was restored, since 1952, over ten large and small reservoirs have been built on Jialu River successively, such as Nanyang Dam in 1952 and four small hydroelectric power stations in Sanli, Shuimo, Liuhutong and Shangyandong built in 1953 and 1957.
1950 年，郑州政府动员了上万名民工，扛着铁锨开挖淤塞的索须河和贾鲁河，从此开启了近几十年的努力。随着水流的恢复，从1952 年开始，贾鲁河上陆续出现了大大小小十几座水库，比如当年兴建的南阳坝水利工程，1953 年和1957 年的三李、水磨、刘胡同、上阎垌四处小型水利发电场所。
In 1957, Zheng zhou minicipal government dredged another 27-kilometer of the Jialu River. In the late 1960s, the city hired 60,000 people to regulate Jialu River in a complete manner.
1957 年，郑州政府又为贾鲁河疏浚了27 公里的河道。到了20 世纪60 年代末，郑州动用了约6 万人，开始了一场声势浩大的贾鲁河治理战。
The harnessed river was so clean, beautiful and lively. Writer Cao Di described the Jialu River in his book River in My Memory in 1958 that "This is the Jialu River. It is not very wide, several zhangs (unit of length, equal to 3.33 meters) at its widest point and several meters at its narrowest point. The river flows with joy. Originated in the southwest mountain streams and the spring water at the foot of the mountain, the river is so clean and clear. It is totally fine to wash your clothes in it. And it is more than enjoyable to swim in it on a hot noon.
这次，被治理后的贾鲁河是那么清净和美丽，充满生机。作家曹地在《记忆里的河》里这样描述1958 年的贾鲁河：“这就是贾鲁河，不宽，宽的地方几丈，窄的地方只有几米。河水欢腾地流着。因它的发源地是西南的山涧及山脚下的泉水，河水清亮洁净。衣裳脏了，拿到河里去洗;天热后，常在中午到河湾里游泳，可谓其乐无穷。”
Reborn with a vision for the present
重生于涅槃，愿景于当下
Later, the Jialu River once suffered water scarcity. In 1969, Zhengzhou started the project of diverting water from the Yellow River to Zhengzhou and introducing water of the Yellow River into Jialu River on western outskirts of the city. In a way, the measures alleviated urban water scarcity. However, huge amounts of sediment in the Yellow River blocked the Jialu River again. Therefore, since July 1, 1970, more than two years were spent to build a irrigation station that ranged from the Yellow River in the north, came across the Mangshan Mountain as well as the Ku River and Suoxu River and reached the edge of Zhengzhou in the south.
后来贾鲁河一度闹起了水荒。 1969 年，郑州开始了引黄河水入郑工程，把黄河水引入输送到郑州西郊的贾鲁河河道。这在一定程度上缓解了城市的干渴，但是，黄河水含沙量实在太大，不久，贾鲁河就出现了严重淤塞。于是，从1970 年7 月1 日，又用了两年多的时间，建成了北起黄河之滨，跨过邙山，穿越枯河、索须河，南到郑州市边沿的提灌站。
In 2006, Zhengzhou launched an ecological water system program, focusing on 12 rivers (six flow from east to west, and the rest from south to north), 12 reservoirs and three lakes near the city. The RMB3.3 billion program covers an area of 1,010 square kilometers water. Jialu River is a key project in the picture.
2006 年，郑州启动了生态水系规划，以城市周边“六纵六横”12 条河渠、12 座水库、3 个湖泊为主线，对1010 平方公里的水域面积进行了规划，规划总投资33 亿元。其中的重点就是贾鲁河。
In 2016, beginning year of the "13th Five-Year Period". the city proposed another regulation plan for Jialu River which covered 62.77 kilometers, from the upstream Jiangang reservoir to Zhengkai border of Dawangzhuang road curve in Zhongmou County.
再后来，2016 年这个“十三五”规划的开局之年，郑州政府再次出台了对贾鲁河的治理方案。此次综合治理长度62.77 公里，从贾鲁河上游尖岗水库至中牟县大王庄弯道的郑开界。
As for the latest comprehensive Jialu River treatment project, the city plans to build 12 parks and three wetland lakes, namely Xiangyun Lake, Jialu Lake and Putianze Lake along the river.
在最新的贾鲁河综合治理工程中，贾鲁河沿线要建12 个公园，还有祥云湖、贾鲁湖、圃田泽3 处湿地湖泊。
In the future, water will flow again with boats shuttling on the river, green trees lined on river banks and birds' twittering among flowers. The river will make surrounding lands fertile and bring prosperity to everything.
未来，贾鲁河水将再次滔滔流淌，河上舟船穿梭，两岸绿树成行、鸟语花香，流域沃野千里，一切欣欣向荣……
Interviewed by Wang Shijin
Photos: Interne
