"Century-Old" Suzhou Numerals Marker Appears Along the Hebei Section of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway
A Suzhou numerals marker is mostly stuck in the mud, with its carved symbols plastered flat.
June 17, 2018, Legal Evening News, Page 04
June 17, 2018, Legal Evening News
Legal Evening News (Reporter Cui Yifei) — As early Chinese civilian commercial numbers, "Suzhou numerals" rarely appear in people's daily lives today, but the presence of "Suzhou numerals" can still be found along the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. Recently, two railway cultural scholars, Wang Wei and Chen Peiyang, drove 170 kilometers on a special trip to search for an abandoned Suzhou numerals mileage marker.
Wang Wei, author of My Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, has been dedicated to the cultural relic protection of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway for more than a decade. Recently, a friend provided him with a clue: a Suzhou numerals concrete marker had been discovered along the Hebei section of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, sticking right beside the railway track. This pleasantly surprised Wang Wei.
Wang Wei called upon his good friend Chen Peiyang to set out from downtown Beijing, driving about 170 kilometers to the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway (between Xuanhua and Shaling section). According to the location provided by the informant, they found a round-headed concrete pier beside the railway track, firmly stuck in the ground.
The Suzhou numerals marker, abandoned for many years, shows no obvious damage to its exterior, except that the carved symbols have been plastered flat with cement, and the majority of it is stuck in the mud.
Wang Wei told Legal Evening News reporters that this concrete marker is about 1.5 meters long and about 20 centimeters thick, gradually narrowing from bottom to top until it reaches an arc-shaped top. Based on past experience, this is an original mileage marker of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway with a history of over a hundred years, which was abandoned as the times changed.
Wang Wei recorded the location where this Suzhou numerals marker is situated and took photos to prepare for future protection and research.
Follow-up: Fewer Than 20 Suzhou Numerals Markers Discovered in Beijing
Suzhou numerals are early Chinese civilian "commercial numbers," evolving from counting rods in Chinese historical tradition and originating in Suzhou, China. They were mostly used for numerical records in old commerce, handicrafts, pawnshops, contracts, bookkeeping, and more. Today, they can occasionally be seen in markets, old-style cha chaan teng (cafes), and traditional Chinese medicine shops in Hong Kong and Macau.
In the railway field, Suzhou numerals mostly appeared on "gradient markers, mileage markers, and bridge markers."
When Zhan Tianyou built the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, he chose to use Suzhou numerals with domestic characteristics.
In 1922, the Qing-system Chinese li were converted to kilometers, and most of the original Suzhou numerals markers were moved and their numbers changed. They have been abandoned from use for many years.
According to the information mastered by Wang Wei, fewer than 20 Suzhou numerals markers survive as railway relics in the Beijing area alone. Among them, 3 are in the China Railway Museum, and 8 are preserved inside Qinglongqiao Station on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, mostly protected voluntarily by railway workers.
They are unique witnesses to the initial construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway.
Text and photos by / Reporter Cui Yifei
