蘇堤名探源

文/ 司馬一民

西湖蘇堤鎖瀾橋。肖奕叁/攝The Suolan Bridge along the Su Causeway on the West Lake. Photo by Xiao Yisan.

樓外樓頭雨似酥，淡妝西子比西湖。

江山也要文人捧，堤柳而今尚姓蘇。

這是民國二十四年（1935）夏，中國現(xiàn)代著名作家郁達夫在杭州西湖樓外樓寫下的詩《乙亥夏日樓外樓坐雨》。

民國二十二年（1933）四月，郁達夫由上海移居杭州，在杭州寫下了不少山水游記和詩詞。遙想當(dāng)年，郁達夫飲酒于樓外樓，恰逢細雨蒙蒙，眺望蘇堤，翠色蜿蜒，正所謂“晴西湖不如雨西湖”，興之所至，郁達夫吟出了這首詩。

這首詩突出了蘇東坡的文人地位，把杭州，特別是西湖景觀與文人的關(guān)系定位成以文人為主導(dǎo)，這多少反映了作者作為文人的自負。其實蘇東坡在修筑蘇堤時，倒真的只是從官員的身份出發(fā)考慮如何改善民生。

元祐五年（1090）四月二十九日，蘇東坡在杭州知州任上寫了一篇《乞開杭州西湖狀》上奏朝廷，列出了疏浚西湖的五條理由，得到了朝廷的同意。

蘇東坡有詩《軾在潁州與趙德麟同治西湖，未成，改揚州。三月十六日湖成，德麟有詩見懷，次其韻》紀事。此詩作于元祐七年（1092）揚州知州任上。元祐六年（1091）蘇東坡從杭州調(diào)任潁州知州，與趙令畤（原先字景貺，后來蘇東坡為他改字德麟，宋太祖次子燕王德昭玄孫，蘇東坡任潁州知州時，趙令畤為通判，二人為好友）一起疏浚潁州西湖。第二年，即元祐七年（1092），疏浚潁州西湖工程還沒有完工，蘇軾又調(diào)任揚州知州，后來趙令畤寄來詩箋，告訴蘇東坡，疏浚潁州西湖的工程已經(jīng)完成，蘇東坡便寫了此詩作答。在詩中，蘇東坡回憶疏浚杭州西湖的過程，湖中挖出的淤泥筑成了長堤，上植楊柳，又架筑了六橋，使杭州西湖面目一新。

此詩大意為：泰山高大，但不是最大的；秋毫細微，但不是最小的。事物的大和小只存在于相互比較之中。大千世界里，生成和毀滅總是從微小開始的，杭州與潁州的兩個西湖沒有優(yōu)劣之分。我在錢塘?xí)r疏浚西湖，使湖水清澈，男男女女在十里長堤上游樂。橫跨湖面的六橋看上去如同跨越在天上的銀河上，北山和南屏山因為有了長堤才開始相連。當(dāng)初人們驚訝二十五萬丈寬的葑田，如烏云密布般，如何處置呢？現(xiàn)在都被用來筑堤，這樣的廢物利用，變成了西湖的一道景色。前些天我在潁州西湖欣賞秋色，湖水猶如一條綠色的錦帶環(huán)繞著昭靈宮。此情此景，讓我想起了杭州的西湖，可惜我不可能再去杭州看看西湖了。現(xiàn)在借你的手疏浚潁州西湖，使得湖水清澈，即使要我用揚州二十四橋來換潁州西湖的綠水清風(fēng)，我覺得也是值得的。雷塘水已干涸并長滿了禾黍，種田人在淤泥中挖出了前朝宮人的金釵。如果明年你來揚州憑吊，我會和秋蟲一起在涼夜里陪伴你。

那么，何時有了蘇堤的名稱呢？

據(jù)吳自牧（南宋末年錢塘人，生平事跡不詳）所著的《夢粱錄》卷十二記載：“曰蘇公堤。元祐年東坡守杭，奏開浚湖水，所積葑草，筑為長堤，故命此名，以表其德云耳。自西迤北，橫截湖面，綿亙數(shù)里；夾道雜植花柳，置六橋，建九亭，以為游人玩賞駐足之地。咸淳間，朝家給錢，命守臣增筑堤路，沿堤亭榭再一新，補植花木。向東坡嘗賦詩云：‘六橋橫絕天漢上，北山始與南屏通。忽驚二十五萬丈，老葑席卷蒼煙空?！?/p>

可見，蘇堤的名稱應(yīng)當(dāng)始于南宋。

在南宋時，朝廷出資在堤上筑路，還對堤上的亭榭進行了修葺，并且在堤上廣種花木，真正形成了蘇堤景觀。

南宋時把西湖及其周邊的十處特色風(fēng)景稱為“西湖十景”，分別為：蘇堤春曉、斷橋殘雪、曲院風(fēng)荷、花港觀魚、柳浪聞鶯、雷峰夕照、三潭印月、平湖秋月、雙峰插云、南屏晚鐘。至于“西湖十景”具體形成于哪一年，無考。

南宋時，蘇堤春曉被列為西湖十景之首，元代又稱之為六橋煙柳，將其列入“錢塘十景”。蘇堤春曉是指寒冬過后，蘇堤花柳爭發(fā)，有報春的意思在里面。

蘇堤由南向北有映波橋、鎖瀾橋、望山橋、壓堤橋、東浦橋和跨虹橋，杭州人將這六座橋俗稱為“六吊橋”，現(xiàn)在蘇堤望山橋南面的御碑亭里立有康熙所題的“蘇堤春曉”碑刻。

（1）日照溫度荷載、驟然溫降溫度荷載與年溫變化溫度荷載均會在橋梁形成附加效應(yīng)，即溫度荷載效應(yīng)。因年溫變化相對簡單，且基本呈均勻分布狀態(tài)，同時工程設(shè)計階段經(jīng)常對這一因素予以考慮，所以本次只對日照溫度荷載與驟然溫降溫度荷載進行研究。

歷來詠蘇堤的詩詞有許多，南宋葛天民（生卒年不詳），字無懷，山陰（今浙江紹興）人，居杭州西湖，著有《無懷小集》，寫有《正月二十七雨中過蘇堤》：

一堤楊柳占春風(fēng)，柳外群山細雨中。

人苦未晴渾不到，只宜老眼看空濛。

此詩點出了蘇堤報春的特點，還借用蘇軾“山色空蒙雨亦奇”的意境來描繪蘇堤的景色。按葛天民生活的年代推斷，蘇東坡疏浚西湖并筑堤后大約七十年，就有了“蘇堤”的名稱了。

俯瞰蘇堤映波橋。肖奕叁/攝The Yingbo Bridge along the Su Causeway on the West Lake seen from above.Photo by Xiao Yisan.

The Origins of the Name “Su Causeway”

By Sima Yimin

“Rivers and mountains do need a literary hand, and the willows on the causeway are still surnamed Su,” thus wrote Yu Dafu (1896-1945), one of China’s most celebrated contemporary writers, in a poem as he visited the West Lake in Hangzhou city,sitting in the famous Lou Wai Lou Restaurant in the summer of 1935.

In April 1933, he moved from Shanghai to the city, where he composed quite a few travel essays and poems. At the time when he penned the above lines, the rain drizzled outside Lou Wai Lou,where Yu was enjoying his wine. Overlooking the winding Su Causeway, which was surrounded by green willows, he couldn’t help but utter his innermost feelings about the scenery. After all,“the West Lake on clear days is no match for the West Lake on rainy days”.

綠意蔥蘢的蘇堤。肖奕叁/攝The Su Causeway covered in greenery. Photo by Xiao Yisan.

More important perhaps is Yu’s highlighting the role of Su Shi(aka Su Dongpo, 1037-1101) in shaping the landscape of the West Lake as a literary figure. In fact, when Su decided to build the Su Causeway, he only intended to improve the livelihoods of the local people as a Hangzhou official.

In 1089, Su came to the city for a second time to serve as its prefect. A few months later, in 1090, he submitted a memorial to the Song (960-1279) emperor, seeking the approval to dredge the West Lake.

In the memorial Su presented five reasons for doing so,including securing the supply of drinking water for residents,helping irrigate farmlands and fostering the development of official brewing industry (an important source of tax revenue for the court), among others. The emperor granted his approval. During the dredging process, a causeway was gradually built with the recycled mud, on which willows were planted and six bridges were constructed.

In 1091, Su was appointed as the prefect of Yingzhou(present-day Fuyang, Anhui province). There, he started another dredging project: incidentally, the lake in Yingzhou was also called the West Lake. However, before Su could finish his job, he was transferred yet again the next year, to serve as the prefect of Yangzhou this time. While there, he received a letter from Zhao Lingzhi (1051-1134), who had been Su’s deputy in Yingzhou,informing him that the dredging project had been completed. In his reply to Zhao, Su couldn’t help but reminisce about the “old days” when he toiled around the West Lake in Hangzhou and helped build the Su Causeway.

To show appreciation for and commemorate the achievements of Su Dongpo in his management of the West Lake, local people later named the long causeway running from north to south in the West Lake of Hangzhou the “Su” Causeway.

But when did the name actually come up and start to catch on?

It is generally believed that the name emerged during the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). For example, in Mengliang Lu, or Dreaming Over a Bowl of Millet, the author Wu Zimu,who lived roughly in the late years of the Southern Song period,explained that the “… the Su Causeway… was built with the mud dredged from the West Lake when Su Dongpo served as Hangzhou’s prefect during the Yuanyou era [1086-1094]. Hence the name of the causeway… running for several kilometers,flowers and willows are planted on the two sides of the causeway.Six bridges and nine pavilions were then set up for visitors to enjoy the scenery. During the Xianchun era [1265-1274], the imperial court paid to pave the road on the causeway, renovate the pavilions and planted new flowers and trees…”

It was during the Southern Song dynasty that scenery around the Su Causeway had taken its shape as is known today. Indeed, it was also at the time that the epithet “Top 10 Sceneries of the West Lake” began to gain currency.

晨光中的蘇堤壓堤橋。肖奕叁/攝The Yadi Bridge along the Su Causeway in the morning. Photo by Xiao Yisan.