The Oblivion of the Imperial Capital: an Ancient Journey on the Huaihe River

Based on the Huaihe River as the framework and the Mingzhong capital on the Huaihe River as the fulcrum, the book vividly tells the regional historical and cultural changes from the beginning of Huaiyi culture to the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. The author has conducted fieldwork in the middle and lower reaches of the Huaihe River and the Jiangnan area more than ten times over the past few years, traveling to Nanjing, Huai'an, Xuyi, Fengyang, Dingyuan, Mengcheng, Lai'an, Mingguang, Bengbu, Chuzhou, Suzhou, Changzhou, Songjiang, Jiaxing, Zhuji, Qingtian and other cities and counties discovered, excavated, studied historical materials, and conducted in-depth field visits to rural ruins, connecting the origins and development of Huaihe culture and Jiangnan culture, as well as the different characteristics formed by the two. Through the rise and fall of the capital city in the middle of the Ming Dynasty built by Zhu Yuanzhang on the Huaihe River, this paper explores the reasons for the decline of the Huaihe River Basin culture in the early Ming Dynasty and its radiating influence on the economy and culture of Jiangnan. The Ming Dynasty was an important stage in China's imperial autocratic society for more than two thousand years. Zhu Yuanzhang's appearance in a specific historical period in China is in line with historical necessity. However, the system he formed and the method of governance he vigorously promoted directly led to sluggish development and even regression in the past three hundred years.