Luo Qi is not a silkworm farmer

Mondo Social Updated on 2024-01-19

As everyone in old Hangzhou knows, the earliest residents of Hangzhou came from Liu, known as the "Eighteen Families of Stay". However, there are different legends about when the "Eighteen Families Left Behind" appeared. According to the record of "Old Things in Hangyuan", during the Huangchao Uprising at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Qian Biao, the king of Wuyue, had joined the army in Yanxiao and became a small leader of the army. At that time, Huang Chao wanted to march to Lin'an through Hangzhou, but Qian Biao ambushed near Lin'an and successfully killed Huang Chao's vanguard, causing his army to be in turmoil. Huang Chao mistakenly believed the spy report, thinking that Qian Biao's troops were strong, and hurriedly retreated to stay to rest. In the process, only eighteen bustling towns remained. Hence the name of the place left behind.

Another legend comes from "The Legend of West Lake". In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, Shi Le, the general of Jin Wushu, the leader of the Jin soldiers, led a large army south, and on the way to plunder, he came to the north of Xixi City in Meilin. One day, they saw a middle-aged man in the woods, tying a child to a plum tree, while he was carrying another child on his back to escape. The soldier rushed forward and took the middle-aged man into the camp for questioning. It turned out that the man's name was Zhang Yingren, and in desperation, he had no choice but to explain what happened. After hearing this, Shi Le was quite moved, and felt that the people in Xixi were simple, so he ordered to "stay" Zhang Yingren's father and son, and stop the pursuit. Hence, "Leaving Eighteen Families" got its name.

Until today, those who are identified as "real Hangzhou people" can only be called the ancestors of Hangzhou people by "leaving eighteen families". This is also the origin of Xixi City's renaming as "Stay Town". As for which eighteen?Let's count them: three surnamed Zhang, four surnamed Li, five surnamed Wang, and six surnamed Zhao, totaling exactly eighteen.

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